this sunday, election interference. president trump says yes, he would accept information on an opponent from a foreign country. >> let me call the fbi. give me a break. it. insists everyone do >> i think i would take it. >> then gets slammed by democrats. >> that's just dangerous, appalling, unethical, unpatriotic. you name it. >> he does not know right from wrong. >> by some replicans. >> i'm calling the fbi. i think most people would. frankly, i think the president would. >> before backing off. >> of course, you give it to the fbi. >> how serious is president trump about protecting our election? the democrats debate stage is set, both of them. 20 candidates, twonights. a brewing generational divide. >> it would serve us well to have a new generation of l.adership stepping forward at the highest leve >> people have a right to question all of our ages. all i can say is, watch me.

just watch me. >> my guest, mayor pete buttigieg.s. the u. blames iran for attacks on tankers and considersde oying ships. i will talk to steve scalise and richar engel reports from the region. leibovich, are mark danielle pletka, george will and helene cooper, pentagon en correspo correspondent. welcome to sunday, it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washinon, theongest running show in televisi history, this is "meet the press" witchuck todd. >> good sunday morning.fa happy er's day to all the dads out there. we're going to get to president trump and election interference and poll numbers in a moment. we will start with the tension

between the united states and iran. the u.s. is blamior iran f attacks on two tankers. iran denies it responsible. there are fears handliners will e the incident to push for a military confrontation. richard engel is in turkey with the latest. first, is the u.s. allegation against iran that they did it being takenheeriously in t region and with western allies? >> reporter: i think it is being taken seriously. sources i have been speaking to are not doubting the american's accounting of events. they think that the iranians did it. they think they did it in such a way to show their displeasure, to show their anger that they have been boxed in by eysanctio. thhink that the iranians didn't want to attack u.s. interests in ord not to provoke at least at this stage any kind of shooting war. but sources i'm speaking to re -- i'm not hearing other

accounts of who was responsible. >> richard, there clearly is divides in iran on how aggressive to get. there's divides in our own country. i kno there's concern of an accident happening. first walk us through the iranian divide. >> reporter: so the issue is not so much an accident. we talk about this like we're on a slippery slope toward war. we have been put in this position. there have been a sees of events that have put us right where we are right now. let's start with the iranian side. there are hardliners in iran who said for a long time that they should be taking a stronger actiona more confrontational approach vis-a-vis the united states, particularly after the united stas started to ratchet up sanctions, put iran into a corner, back them into a position where they fear they ve no other economic options. they have been -- those voices, those hardline voices have been losing out to moderates.

but as the sanctions get tighter and tighter, the hardliners are now -- they think it's a good idea, apparently, to attack commercial shipping in order to show their displeasure and to show their strength. you also have hardliners in the united states o put us in this situation, who may have made the sanctions on iran so impossible that iran felt backed into a corner and it is reacting. it is very predictable. i have been watching this for a oong time. i could have t you if you ratchet up the sanctions to a point they are unbearabl on iran, that iran would react and the hardliners would get the upper hand. i think a lot of people around president trump, bolton among them, know exactly that that's how iran would react. >> very quickly. i assume -- is the u.s. navy going to be used as essentially a military escort for tankers

pretty soon? >> reporter: we could get to that stage. at sident trump said in phone call with fox and friends that the straits will remain cost.almost at any u.s. military escort would be an escalati escalation. let's see if it has to come to that. >> richard engel in istanbul, turkey. as always, thanks very much. turning tocs poli it has become something of a cliche from the moment donald trump came down that escalator four yearsda ago to he has changed the rms of our politics. whether as a candidate or as president or declaring there was fine people on both sides of the neonazi protests, there's a familiar pattern. stem one, stayng or do somethi startling. step two, public and press react with shock, outrage, approval or all of the above. step three, say or do something else startling.

step four, public and press forget about step one. wash, rinse, repeat. the latest example,ayrump sg i would take incriminating information about an opponent from a foreign government. many heard that as, mr. trump saoung, russia, if yre listening, come on in, the water is fine, if you can help again, i will take it. perhaps e mostmarkable thing about the four-year sickle of this cycle is how steady and mediocre the president's approval ratings have remained. 44% approve of the president's job performance. 53% disapprove. always hoeldzing between 43% and % consistently. all of which is to say, mr. trump's style is a weakness and strength. a weakness because the controversy that kept his approval rating from reaching 50%. a strength because with eac new controversy it becomes easy to forget what last week's fuss was all about. >> they have information.

i think i would ke it. >> fou years after coming down anat escalator and announcing his cdacy, mr. trump is preparing to kick off his re-election campaign on tuesday in battleground florida. this week, he made it clear, if a foreign government offers him help to win, he will take it. >> this is somebody that said, we have information on your oppone opponent. let me call the fbi. give me a break. life doesn't work that way. >> the fbi director says that's what should happ. >> the fbi director is wrong. >> his campaign calls those comments a directive. >> the president's directive as he said, cas by case basis, he would likely do both, listen to what they have to say but also report it to the fbi. >> after some republicans condemned the idea of accepting foign help again in 2020 -- >> it woul strike at the heart of our democracy. >> i think it's a mistake. i think it's a miste of law. >> the chair of the federal election commission pointed out that taking information of value fr a foreign national is illegal. >> it's actually a matter of black letter law. it's pretty straightforward.

>> on friday, the president tried to backtrack. >> of course, you have to look at it, because if you don't look at it you are not going to know if it's bad. of course, you give it to the fbi or report it to the attorney general. >> still, mitch mcconnell blocked a bill that woulqu ire fbi disclosure of any foreign assistance. while democrats competing to take on trump pounced on his comments. >> i believe he is wrong. >> he was willing to break the law. >> it's illegal. >> what he said was openly treasonous. >> it's terrorism. >> it's like the guy hates america. >> mr. trump's opponents are ruggling with how far to go. >> would you want the department of justice, now that he is no longer a sitting president, to go forward with obstruction of justice charges? >> i believe that ths. should, ye there has to be accountability. >> by friday, harris was trying to backtrack. >> you would prosecute donald trump. >> no. i said that the department of justicwill need to go and

follow the facts wherever they lead. >> ahead of their first debate, the 2020 democratsre trying to prove they are best equipped to take mr. trump on. >> a giganticm take if democrats, 20 or whatever number we have, go after each other. >> former pospisvice-president n rivals are playing up this. >> if we are perceived as replicatg a system that let people down economically and politically, we could lose again. >> the same people say, we have to have somebody new.ng we have to chae the system. guess what. systems work pretty damn well. constitutionhe >> joining me now is the mayor of south bend, indiana, pete buttigieg. welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. good to be with you. >> i want to start with sort of the news of the moment that we're all dealing with as a country, what's going on in the middle east. do you believe the administration has provided enough proof that iran was behind these tanker attacks?

>> i think what we have seen is compelling. there seems to be more information that w a chance to see. it's a little distressing to think that because this administraison's credibility so low in general, i think a lot of people are thinking twice in a moment when america's words should beiv decis when the u.s. says this is something that has happen and this is theen conss of our administration, that should be something that goes without question. of course, that's just not the case in an administration that has been extremely unreliable in so many ways. that being said, this is not inconsistent with iranian behavior that has beennd aggressive a often malignant in the region. the real question is, what can we do given the facts on the ground to ensure a measured response that will deescalate rather than inflame tensions in the region. t what is that measured responseat a president buttigieg would do at this point? i know you want to go back into the nuclear agreement. it did nothing about the

behavior of iran. >> we would consult and coordinate with allies. everybody has an interest in the region becoming more stable. >> let me pause you there. our closest allies in the middle east, saudi arabia and israeln particular, they seem to be in a different place on iran than the united states ev.>> well, our allies in the middle east are going to be itncerned first and foremost with their own sec we need to make sure that we have tensions deescalating rather than escale when i comes to what's going on. what we see out of the white house is something disturbingly reminiscent of the accelerating drumbeat that got us into the wa in iran. it has some of the same cast of characters. i'm mystified who john bolton is said to be behind a lot of the policy on iran. it's not only alli in the region but allies across the globe who have an interest in stopping any pathway toward the

middle east becoming more violent, morunstable than it already is. >> do you take comfort at all that president trump appears care about this. >> the president has said that he does not want a conflict. of course, it's very difficult to take the president at his word any time he says anything. to the extent that we believe hie real question is, is a dynamic underway in the administration just as much as in the middle east that could get out from control of the president. i'm concerned about that. it's one more reason why we need stable leadership in the united states and a stable international community where our alliances are steady and our word is taken seriously. >> do you think it's -- would it be appropriate if they ordered -- if they had the u.s. military essentially in the gulf of oman as a police escort for tankers? >> it could be appropriate for h.s. to use our sea power to make sure te is safety and freedom of passage in that part

of the world that's so vital to the worldmy eco >> you are making a generational argument during the campaign, being the youngest contend. in the race the youngest top tier contender in this race. it's an obvious thing for you do. let me ask this about joe biden that you have been ducking all week long. what can joe biden do to convince you he is future oriented? >> i think evene of us is running our own playbook. a candidate af age could speak about the future. i think not every candidate is doing that. the future can't just be a bump sticker word or vague idea we throw out there. i want us to be forming policies today that are going to make sense in the 2050s that we're going to look back. >>k you th somebody in their 70s can't have a good vision of what 2050 is going to look like in america? >> of course they can. i have the best one. my plan is to go out and compete with it. >> that's a fair point

let me ask you this about the president's comments having to do with accepting foreign interference. if somebody offered your campaign dirt on either presidentr trump o a democratic candidate, what would you do with that dirt? >> you wouldn't do anything with that dirt. fbi.would call the this isn't even -- >> would you look at it? >> no. you call the fbi.th moment that you look at it, you have implicated yourself. i don't think you would want to do that. me things are complicated in politics and ethics. this is not. this is nottheoretical. a hostile foreign power successfully attacked our democracy in the last election. there's no indication that they are going to back off from trying do it in the n. exton electi it's shocking to hear the president say what he said. he specializes in shocking us so we can't talk about anything else. i hope that while we a forcefully responding to the

outrageous suggestion that he would do something illegal in that situation, it's not making us less able to talk about our own agenda of making americans' lives better off of delivering better wages, better living stand aa and health care. he needs us talking about him so we're not talking about voters. when wealk about voters, we win. we will call out his wrongdoing and return to our message, because that's what's going to make for a better america all the way to the 2050s. >> you responded to a question about the idea of prosecuting a former president trump, possibly having the justice department look at the obstruction case. you are open to this idea that if that's what the justice department says, then they should pursue it. how do you -- if you are elected president, one of the ryosons got elected is you would have convinced the country it's time to change the channel. you change the channel and prosecute the former president at the same time? >> america can do many things at the same time. it's not the president's jo to prosecute a foreign president. changing the channel means

focusing on how we can make people's livesbetter. if in parallel there are investigations going on ito criminal behavior by people who were formerly at some of the highest levels i our government, so be it. that's how the justice system works. the most important principle here is the independence of the judiciary, the ind pin independ the do is not something this president respects. he treated it like it ought to be his personal law firm. >> this won't be a litmus test for your attorney general. look at if you want to. i'm not going to tell you which way to come down on whether to prosecute the formerof presiden he united states? >> prosecution decisions shouldn't be made by politicians. what i will say isto any atey general that i would appoint is somebody who will faithfully apply the concept that no one is above thelaw, that everybody ought to be held accountable, whether they are a former president or whether they are en ebody who has never b anywhere near the halls of power. that's the point. it's that justice is blind.

i will appoint an general and for that matter justices and judges who uphold that. >> if there is -- final topic i want to get to is your ability to win this democratic general.on in if there is one whisper that democrats have candidatec candidac but can he get african-american support. i want to read you a quote from a pastor at the uplift church is indianapol it's going to be an obstacle, the fact that you are married to another man. guarantee it's an obstacle. it's a touchy subject, especially in the african-american church. i think it could be overcome. we are getting to a point of-- i don't want to say accept, but realizing this is the culture we have to begin to live with and

adapt to it. i know you are having these conversations with a lot of african-americans. how are they going? >> they are going well. we are working hard to engage people across the party but especially black voters who expect you to demonstrate, especially when you are new on the scene, what your values are and how you are goingte to promo policies that lift them up. i think we have a moment on our hands when we can do the exact posite of what the president has done. the president has used identity as a wedge, used race a as width to divide people who have common interests. we have an opportunity to reach into our own entities and use them to build bridges, to reach out to people different from us, knowing that anybody who has been on the short end of an equation of exclusion has a way to sympathize with people who have had different experiences with exclusion in this country. if we a build solidarity around that, then people who have for whatever reason felt a lack ofb

nging or felt exclusion or felt discrimination in this country, even though those patterns of discrimination are very, very diff when all of us come together, we win and we are all better doff. >> i want to follow up, i have talked to african-american congressmen who like you and want to support you where some of their more conservative religious constituents who vote straight ticket democrat would have trouble voting for you. what do you say to those politicians in washingon who want tet behind your candidacy but are nervous about this? >> i would invite them to look at what happened in south bend. a socially conservative community. when i came out, we didn't know what the effects would be. it was during an electionyear. mike pence was the governor of our state. he was popular at the time. what happened was, i won with 80% of the vote. what that tells you is that people if you give tanm the ch will evaluate you based on what you aim to do, what the results are, what the plicies

are. i have every confidence that american voters, especially democratic voters, wll not discriminate when the opportunity comes up to choose the right leader for the future. >> petebu igieg, i appreciate you coming on, sharing your views with us. stay safe on the trail. >> thank you.>> thanks for coming on. i will talk to the house i will talk to the house mi openturning 50 opens theuard. do.. to a lot of new things. like now your doctor may be talking to you about screening for colon cancer. luckily there's me, cologuard. the noninvasive test you use at home. it all starts when your doctor orders me. then it's as easy as get, go, gone. yo u get me when i'm delivered... fr right to your t door and in the privacy of your own home. there's no prep or special diet needed. you just go to ther athroom, to collect youmple. after that, i'm gone, shipped to the lab for dna testing that finds colon cancer and precancer.

cologuard is not right for eryone. it is not for high risk individuals, including those with a history of colon cancer or precancer. ibd, certain hereditary cancer syndromes, or a family history colon cancer. maybe i'll be at your door soon! ask your doctor if cologuard is right for you. covered by medicare and most major insurers. the one thing you learn pretty as a small bquickly,owner, is that there's a lot to learn. grow with google is here to help you with turning ideas into action.b putting yourusiness on the map, connecting with customers, and the skills to use w tools. so, in case you're looking,l we've pue ways we can help in one place. free training, tools, and small business resources are now available at google.com/grow plaque psoriasis get clearer. with modate to severe and stay clear. most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at c weeks stayedlearer through 48 weeks.

don't use if you're allergic to tremfya®. tremfya® may lower your ability to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tb. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya®. stay clearer. janssen can help you explore cost support options. welcome back. republicans have found themself in a politically awkward position on the subject of eltion interference. you may think stopping foreig r foreigners from interfering would be an easy vote. but mitch mcconnell blocked a vote. kevin mccarthy took pains to avoid criticizing president trump's i would take it comments. joining us is steve scalise

whose book is now out in paperback. congressman scalise, welcome back to "meet the press." nice to see you. >> good morning, chuck. good to be back. with you >> let me start with this election interference bill. i know you voted against what the hseemocrats billed as hr-1, this large voting rights bill that they p together. if they carved out the parts just on election security -- there was an eleion security portion requiring paper ballots, establishing better cybersecurity standards, also would include think what mark warner wants to see, immediate reporting to the fbi, could you vote for that bill? >> well, i had a lot of concerns with hr-1, not the least of which were the first amendmen violations. you had everybody from the aclu all the way to national right to whfe come together against that bill because of it did to limit the free speech rights and

religious freedom rights of millions of americans. that bill is riddled with problems. it puts tens of billio of dollars taxpayer money into political campaigns, something i don't think most americans want to see their tax dollars used for. that bill had massive problems. interesting that it was the very hose toill nancy pelosi move through the house was a bill that far left. it's been an example how s e's run the house. not addressing real problems. >> let's go to election security. let's talk -- i'm asking about just the election security. this was not a small event. this seems to be not unreasonable ideas here when it comes to the cybersecurity portion of the bill, what mark warner is calling for. could you support that? >> there's a lot on cybersecurity i think we can come to an agreement on. i would like to see details on how she would work with us on some of th things we tried to get through congress that are bipartisan dealing with cybersecurity, because there are

concerns not only for election security but the corporasi . you have seen personal data, private data stolen through attacks primarily from foreign ate operators, whether it's russia, china, north korea or so many others. >> i want -- there's a w story in "the new york times" today that highlights a more aggressive tact that the u.s. government is doing now against ssia in planning potential essentially forms of malware into the russian power grid, taking a more offensive approach, rather than just doing this on defense. s do youport that new policy? >> look, you have to take every step po oible first all to make sure what happened in 2016 with t when obama was president doesn't happen again in 2020 or any other election. i'm glad that the administration has been taking aggressive action, including if you saw in the executive order the president issued a few -- over a

year ago, allowing dod to be more aggressive at making sure they can protect not only our grid but go aer anybody whos going to try to mess with our election security. >> it was interesting -- i want to point out one nuget in that story. apparently, the president was no fully briefed on this operation. i want to show you one part of this "new york times" story about that. it says, pentagon and intelligence offials describe broad hesitation to go into detail with mr. trump about operations against russia for concern over his reaction anib the possity he might countermand it or discuss itgn wth forei officials as he did in 2017n he mentioned an operation to the russian foreign minister. the president was upset about the story, even getting in the public domain as he tweeted about it last night. do you believe that these officials made ake mistaot briefing the president about this operation? >>chuck, the president and the white house have pushed back against a number of elements of the story. the bottom line is the president

is taking aggressive action against russia. i wish that would have happened in 2016 when they were trying to meddle with our elections. i think the message is being sent now. if the russians try to take some action against our elections or any other country, we are already ready to go after them. it should have happened in 2016. i'm gladhe president is being aggressive against any foreign country who is going to try to meddle with our election. >> do you think the republican campaign arm of the house ought to pledge not to use any stolen material, haceld t i know there's been attempts to get all -- both political parties to sign pledges. there's been hesitation on the house side. >> i'm sure they will look at that. i think it's interesting that the entire t basis of mueller report was information that the democrat party got from russia. they solicited using foreign spies of all people and used that to turn it over to the fbi and unfortunately, had you some people in the fbi with a political agenda against president trump who used that as

the basis for an to spy on then candidate president trump. there are a lot of concerns i think in n things thatd to be rooted out within the fbi to make sure that doesn't happen again either. >> let me turn to iran here. at what point do you t the president needs to go to congress to approve any sort of escalation with iran? where is your comfort level on what you believe he has the ability to do now and what he needs to come to congress for? >> the white house has been briefing congress happening in iran and how this has been building up. of course, this does go back to the iranianeal that was agreed to in the previous administration. donald trump, when he was a candidate, expressed his realns concer with that deal as so many of us in congress opposed it back then and even our allies poke israel opd the iran deal when it went through congress. you saw prime minister netanyahu

give a compelling speech against it. what president trump has been doing to makee that we're going to stand up to russia -- our sanctions have been very effective. that's why you are sing iran take action. this shows you, chuck, do you really want a nuclear-armed iran? this is why the world, not just america, but aour allies are concerned. this is what they did without one. >> do you think the presiden has the authority, due to the aumf, from in 2002, does he have the authority now to conduct a military operation against iran? >> we don't want to see it escalate to where it is a military eration. u are seeing the president take action and make sure that we have protection against american interests in the middle east. including in the strait there where you saw this explosion, where the bomb was detonated. the president ismaking sure that he is protecting american interests. i don't want to see it escalate just like i don'tk thinybody

else does. we have to stand up to iran. this is one more example of why we need to be concerned about theirio a. >> before i let you go, one thing about your book. you wrote abouthe issue of social media, talking about the person that shot you. his post dripping with scorn and hate toward the republican party and president trump fuelled him more. e was living a double assistance. he was angry and confrontational online. a combatant when provided the anonymity of an online avatar. the same idea, social of taking over this man's life. how do you not violate the first amendment and have the social media companies purge the folks before they commit violence? >> chuck, what i have always said is we can have political disagreement. when you cross the line and start inciting violence against other people, that's where

there's no place for that in politics. we saw it in the case of the shooting in my case with the baseball field shooting. as with others, you saw somebody trying to not only disagree but where they took action and tried to take out people ocause political belief. fortunately, police were there on the scene. law tenforcemenade sure it didn't happen. thank god they were there and many other heroes and miracles d talkbout. >> social media companies, can they get rid of these people before they commit violence? do you think that's a violation of firnt amendme rights? >> that's up to each of them. you are seeing social media companies take action to try tom stop people frinciting violence or in cases even like the florida shooting where they saw the kid tsay, i wan to be a school shooter. that gets turned over to law enforcement. they dropped the ball on that case. they should have been able to follow through more.

>> steve scalise, number two republican on the house side, thanks for coming on and sharing your ews. you look at good as ever two years later. nice to see you. >> feeling great. happfather's day to you. >> happy father's day to you. when we come elback, tion interference plus the trump versus biden polls that the president said didn't exist. president said didn't exist. well, they sir, you're a broker. what do you charge for uh, i'll look into it. (phone rings) lisa jones!

lisa: (on phone) hey carl, what are you charging me for online equity trades? (nervous chuck lisa: and do i get my fees back if i'm not happy? like a satisfaction guarantee? ugh. schwab! lisa: oh right, i'm calling schwab. thanks, carl! wait, lisa! lisa... are you getting low costs backed by a satisfaction guarantee? if not, ta to schwab. a modern approach to wealth management. but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ..nd brake too hard. with fee ack to help you drive fer. giving you the power to actually lower your cost. unfortunatelt can't do anything about that. now that you know the truth... s? are you in good hand

now that you know the truth... (crunch! crunch!) arwhoosh! (sniff sniff) no way sister! try listerine ready! tabs. they turn into liquid as you cw, so you can swish and clean your whole mouth on the go. try listerine ready! tabs and see men in black international in theaters. welcome back. nelists here, george will, whose latest book is "the consvative sensibility," helene cooper, danielle pletka and mark leibovich.e, welcverybody. i want to combine two thoughts

here, george. we have election interference and what the president said at first and then he backtracks it. i want to read you sos thing jameholman wrote that had to do with the hatch act. president trump's announcement that he will not punish kellyanne conway captures his belief that the rules apply to him and his loyalists the way they do everyone else. it seemed to me these are connected in that if he thinks it has nothing to do with him or helps m, ignore it. >> article twore is spa in describing the duties of the president and basically they come down to taking care the laws are faithfully executed. there's an asterisk over that. >> didn't the president repeal it? if he doesn't act, he repealed it. >> yes. it's called a -- they call it

enforcement discretion. the enforcement mechanisms are spread thin. with regard to thein election rfe interfe interfer interference, he is a complete amateur in american public life and the rules and norms aro mysterious tm. besides, he campaigned on the promise, we knew thisse promi was going to be kept, that he would continue to do what he did in campaign, which was violate all existing rms. no one should be surprised. >> not surprising at all. >> the problem in washington is that donald trump takes what are, i think norms and runs with them. the hatch act is violated every single day in multip ys. i spent ten years on the hill. i can't count the number of times i saw irsenators, the staff violating the hatch act. it's rather inconvenient. you can'to political business from your senate office.

if you want to call a donor or anything else, you have to leave, you have to go elsewhere. of course, it gets vithated. problem with trump is that he has taken what is sort of a bandwidth and just tossed it all out and said -- taken it to the logical end, which is violating it. >> the thing is that norms are things that ary essentiall respected within a very, very small bubble, which is basically washington. the publiclife. most people in mesh don't know what the hatch act is. >> and don't care. >> i don't know if they care. wait, don't -- isn't kellyanne nway supposed to defend the president and attack his -- there's a level of common sense that iink the president does align with that do win over a lot of his supporters. >> and yet he is chipping aw at the things. they are little ones. the consequence of this could be come november that the losing side, no matter, doesn't believe the result. >> i think that's absolutely

true. i think that -- it's not just thhatch act. i cover the military. i pay a lotat of ntion to tr trump as a commander in chief. he has gone so far on the whole violating this principal of not politicizing the military. the whole thing withhe uss mccain back in tokyo when he was visiting last month, wasr anothe example of this. when you have this sort of thing repeatedly, i wonder what happens to us once trump is gone and what happens when you have taken so many of the accepted norms and ways ofdu coning ourselves and how does the next person -- >> i have no idea how you bring it back. let me turn to the president's political prospects. he is launching his re-election campaign tuesday. the inmouspolls, we got our hands on pretty much all of

them. let me show you them and why the president didn't like that they went public. here is virginia, maine, minnesota, michigan. he40 is the best oes in any of those with biden -- these are just biden/trump matchups. strongest.he look at biden's numbers. look at this. north carolina, iowa, ohio. states that hree trump carries. he is down eight in north carolina, seven in iowa, just one. that tells you more about where ohio is headed. we also had intexas, trump was only up two. in georgia, our source tells us that biden is upsix. he had double digit leads in wisconsin, aennsylvaniand florida. by the way, the campaign didn't dispute the numbers. caadaign manager b parscale gave us this quote. all news is completely false. the president's new polling is extraordinary and his numbers have never been better.

my colleague is reporting right now with the trump campaign is going to be firing llsters, believing they were behind this leak. george, these numbers aren't surprising to me. >> no. shooting the messenger isn't rprising either. in fact, there are worse numbers in the sense that in a dozen states he carried in 2016, his disapproval is over 50%. those are state s he carried. if you have to bet on, bet on anybody but trump. >> do we believe the polls? >> wow. >> sorry. >> the president doesn't. >> i'm just saying afr 2016, i'm not entirely sure that this soon in the game we paying any attention to any of this. >> except the president pays a lot of attention to this. that is what is sort of -- is he can't -- never let them -- he never wants to show weakness. >> ath poll -- where he has flatlined is the band between 42% and 46%.

that's not -- it's not early to say that almost two years of this, that represents his floor and ceiling. >> here is a bigger problem. the job number and his personal rating are all aligning. usuall a successful re-elected president has one as a positive way, a winning personality. hedoesn't have that. >> right now, it's -- there's no choice. do you like donald trump or don't you like donald trump? a generic democrat -- he will run against a real n.p >> this was against joe biden. >> joe biden is a stand-in for a generic democrat. >> fair enough. he will represent that remark. >> he is someone people know. people know what they're getting with him. he will be fined. if he goes against warren, buttigieg, it's a different dynamic in the race. >> it is. we will see. the president -- i have a feeling, they will release new ll numbers that show just him winning.

winning, winning, winning. when we come back, americans have nver been more united on abortion. and more divided at the same and more divided at the same time. ♪ e girls t in school because of economic issues and they have to work. at the malala fund, we help girls stay in school. the malala fund invests in education champions

who work in the community and pave the way so that girls can actually go to school. rtto have our financial par guiding us is very important. the fact that citi is in countries ere girls are vulnerable ensures that we're able to get funds to the people that we're working with.en whirls go to school, we're going to maximize their talents. we could have a solution for climate change in that girl. that girl could be the next nobel peace prize winner. ♪ my ideal cloud? it has to work like air traffic control. it's gottlet new data integrate with data from our existing systems. ♪ ♪ be able to pull rmom reservation platfos built 20 years ago. and also be able to use apps to book super-personalized trips on hiny new phones from the future. plus, i need freedom to move my workloads wherever, whenever -

frt manage it all right here. cl and that's the d i want. simple, right? expect more from your cloud. ibm cloud. welcome back. data download time. this week's poll saw the highest percentao of americans wh think abortion should be legal all or most of the time. when you dig into the responses, it shows a laer trend that has major implications for both political parties. overall, the number of americans saying abortion should be legal all or most of the time has climbed to 56%. that is actually up seven points since 2008. 11 years ago. what's remarkable is the consisten consistency. it's up amongst all groups. the percentage of men saying abortion should be legal all or most of the time has climbed two points, among women, 11 points. 13 points among rdemocrats, fou

among republicans. but those numbers don't meanco e try has made a final decision on this issue. we noticed another trend. a hardening of views onoth sides. this poll showed a record number of people who want abortions to be illegal in allc es. but it shows a jump in the number of people who want abortion to be legal without exception. legal in all cases is at 34%. that's up three points from last year. illegal withouton excepti is at 12%. that's five points higher than march of 2018. you can probably guess what's driving this movement. the partisan divide shows up in the hardening of the views among core republicans. those that strongly back the y, part7% say abortion should be illegal with no exception. that's up nine points from 18% in 2018. among core democrats, 58% say they want abortion to always be legal. that's up eight points from march of 2018. yes, overall, the movement is

towardseg lity. not away from it. but underneath those numbers you see just another sign of the political realy in 2019. the middle ground has eroded. that might be because on the issue of abortion, there's not a lot of appetite for a middle ground anyway. when we come back, democrats running for president find a as a small business owner, the one thing you learn pretty quickly,a ais that there's lot to learn.s grow with googlere to help you with turning ideas into action. putting your business on the map,ti connecng with customers, and getting olthe skills to use new tos. we've put all the we can sohelp in one place.ooking,wa free training, tools, and small business resources are now available at google.com/grow

wearing powerful sunscreen? yes! neutrogena® ura sheer. unbeatable protection helps prevent earlwith a clean feel.skn cancer the best for your in. ultra sheer®. neutrogena®. so chantix cp yout quit slow turkey.rkey. along with support, chantix is proven to help you quit. with chantix you can keep smoking at first and ease into quitting. chantix reduces the urge so when the day arrives, you'll be more ready to kiss cigarettes goodbye. when you try to quit smoking, with or witht chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. stop chantix and get help right away if you have changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, depressed mood, suicidal thoughts or actions, seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking, orife-threatening allergicd s.

decrease alcohol use. use caution driving or operating machinery. decrease alcohol use. tell your doctor if you've had mental health problems. the most common side effect is nausea. quit smoking slow turkey. talk to your doctor about chantix.

back now with end game. were telling you the democratic candidates have a new target. it's not president trump. take a listen to how comfortable some of the candidates are getting going after joe biden. >> joe biden the return to the past? >> he is.

that cannot be who we are going forward. >> does joe biden represent the future? >> no, i don't think so. i think we -- it's time for a new generation of leadership. >> democrats can no more turn the clock back to theth 1990s republicans can return us toe 1950s. we should not try. >> joe biden in the crosshairs. the restof the field figured out joe biden is ahead. >> they have. it's natural political gravity. you can't talk only about donald trump. ankly, joe biden makes a pretty easy foil. he has run unsuccessfully for president twice. he was beloved but in a goofy uncle way. you do sort o wonder -- how he is going to work as a coenrast item gationally and as all three of the democrats just said, as someone who is just the return to yesterday. these are three democrats under the age of 55. p

>> let me up the debate matchups here for our big first round of debates. night one, the big name is elizabeth warren. you have klobuchar, booker, o'rourke, people that six weeks ago would have said, this inithe bit of the debate. look at night two, which is e z joe biden night. george will, youth look at e lineups. should warren be happy she's not -- she gets a night essentially as the frontrunner e' the debate sh participating in? >> sure. to not be on the stage with biden. other nine me the people who are on stage with biden will do their duty, which is to treat him as a pinata. she stands above it. there will be lots of other debates when she will be next to

m. by then,he will be scarred. >> it's interesting, held eveen. are you enthusiastic about the idea of this person g for president? this is just among democratic primary voters. we have been testing it all for the first six months. as you can see, biden and sanders, their enthusiasm up ins have dropped since march. elizabeth warren's number has gone up since march. more enthusiastic among democratic primary voters than the other two. >> that was interesting seeing her jump over sands as well. . think she has -- she has a lot of room to move i think on the biden issue, it's just -- to me, it feels really obvious. these guys are going after biden because he's the guy to beat. is henot? there's a reason why he has assumed this frontrunner status. listening to buttigiegand listening to o'rourke, there's a

lot of concern. they feel this is t whoy are going to have to defeat in order to win the nomination. >> this feels like -- >> you are so cynical. >> you know why? the republican party in the run-up to the last election was just such an awful spectacle. watching one person after another go after each other in this circular firing uad. i actually feel a little bad for poor old joe biden. of course, joe biden is old but so is bernie sanders. so is ee llizabeth warren. >> elder statesmen can be a double-edged sword. >> it can be. what we are going to watch for the next year and a half is the democratsf going ar their number one person in the polls. warren, they're coming for you next. >> doesn't matter h many of the democrats attack biden. as long as trump keeps attacking biden, he can be happy. 1966, nixon's campaigning around the country for leaders.

he gets under johnson's skin. johnson denounces him as a chronic campaigner making him the focus of the republicans. he went on to be elected. >> that is something -- it's interesting here. the tmp campaign has been trying to get the president to direct his tweets at people other thanbien. go after warren. go after bernie. do something to make the democrats have t own the farther left candidates rather than biden. >> i think that's right. donald trump looks at polls. we know that. he is very present, focused. he sees biden against him. hes going to focus on joe biden. i don't think the president really -- i think t president is struggling on how to define joe biden. joe biden is such a known entity, certainly in america and the democrat party. donald trump has an easier me talking about people who are out in the public sphere. >> he is not going to -- i don't

know why his campaign is second guessing him so much. this is the one ing that actually has shown some -- >> he has a little gut instinct. >> a good feel for it. he is after biden now. he will be after whoever is next when the time comes. >> it'sg interest how he is very dismissive of kamalas harri and pete buttigieg. i don't understand why he is that dismissive right now. >> he knows joe biden. he is used to going after -- he hasn't been able to come up with a good enough name. buttigieg embraced newman. sleepy joe hasn't worked that well. he is more comfortable going -- kamala harris will beob prmatic for him. that one -- he will have to really temper his natural sort of sexist tendencies. >> that's my curiosity. i think he doesn't kow yet -- you are right about harris. i think the same with buttigieg. they have not figured out how to

go after this guy. >> that's right. sleepy? i want a sleepy president. no, i think that's right. i thinke is uneasy when he cannot pigeonhole somebody. >> the other thing about trren, to sorof not talk about this as so much of a horse race, is one of the reasons she's doing better is people say she's runninru running a very good campaign. >> she said yesterday, i have a plan for that and people applauded. people are noticing. >> exactly. >> she's playing tortoise here. it seems to be working. ank you very much. that's all we have for today. thank you for watching. happy father's day to all you dads out there. 'smember, we'll be back next week because if itunday, it's "meet the press."

i find congress more difficult, frankly, than many of the foreign aders. >> from presidential powers to the polls, presideve trump makes was with a wide ranging interview. the lesson he says he learned from richard nixon >> the shockg showdown caught on camer the fallout after phoenix police officers held a family at gunpoint >> a target for trouble. inside the tech woes at one of over the weekendgest >> a szling summer job how you can get paid to trav the country and eat barbecue "early tod" starts right now good morning i'm dara brown >> and i'm frances rivera. one day beforeff