jeh johnson served as the head of homeland security -- it's the bodies to owe -- body that oversees theyou won. i want to start with the secret service. it is an agency with a lot of missiles attached to. it they have obviously an incredibly important and crucial job. there's a lot of people who work there who are patriots who take the job very seriously. institutionally, the story the secret service is telling here doesn't really add up. and i am wondering your perspective as a person who worked -- how are you hearing all of this? >> chris, first of, all thanks for having me on. my internet connections a little bit unstable so you might lose me and you'll end up talking to yourself. but i was the -- of secret service for three years. i was the protective secret service for three years. i was in their constant company. a little perspective here. the secret service is trained to take a bullet for the protectee. on occasion, even, the secret service is trained to save a protectee from himself, as we saw on january 6th. i would be, i have to say, i would be very surprised to learn that the

joining me are jeh johnson, alli vitali matthew cognetti and marianna sotomayor of the washington post welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history this is "meet the press" with chuck todd >>> good sunday morning. i hope weekend even as the countrveary of our independence, the lines that separate us seem to be growing bolder and brighter by the day abortion rights advocates versus abortion opponents americans eager to limit the availability of guns versus second amendment enthusiasts climate change versus drill, baby, drill. blue versus red. left versus right. no person disunifies our wounds than donald trump. on tuesday in the unscheduled fifth hearing of the january 6th committee we heard shocking testimony that has been compared to watergate's john dean former white house aide cassidy hutchinson described nothing less than a vai owe lent coup attempt urged on by a president who was more active participant than passive observer. cassidy testified that mr. trump knew the mob was armed, wanted to go

joining me now are former homeland security secretary jeh johnson. nbc news capitol hill correspondent. the american enterprise institute. and marriana sotomayor of "the washington post." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> a good sunday morning. i hope you're enjoying this july 4th weekend. but even as the country celebrates, the 246th anniversary of our independence, the lines that separate us seem to be growing bolder and brighter by the way. abortion rights advocates versus abortion opponents. americans eager to limit the availability of guns versus second amendment enthusiasts. climate change versus drill, baby drill. blue versus red, left versus right. and nobody aggravates our wounds more than donald trump. on tuesday in the unscheduled fifth hearing of the january 6th committee, we heard shocking testimony that has been compared to watergate's john dean. former white house aide cassidy hutchinson described nothing

. >>> our security jeh johnson and sotomayor with "the washington post."atthew, let me start with you, is this the one? is this week the one >> no. >> there is been so much smoke from these smoking guns over six years that it clouds your eyes there is questions about the testimonies of hutchinson. it is still a long way from her testimony to getting merrick garland to file charges against the former president of the united states. while i think this is a reminder to the country of donald trump's impeachable action after the election of 2020 >> anything changing for trump >> there is so much space between those things when you see people like the washington kexaminers coming out he should not be president republicans were always comfortable saying privately on texts than on television that this is a bad thing. the thing indi dispute here is grabbing a steering wheel. he wanted to go to the capitol to lead the rioters. >> have you heard from republicans uietly, all right, i am out from that end >> oh no, i was texting a couple of aides who are still very clo

jeh johnson texted me so i got confused. michael, give me your reaction to that moment. >> oh, oh, katy, that was just absolute political gold last night. it was -- it was a complete and utter political emass could you emass could you lags. if twitter is any gauge how you create a meme, that is it right there. because it really spoke volumes about the duplicitous nature of all of this, this kind of i'm with you! you know, we're going to -- we're standing together! and then in the moment all those folks say oh, yeah, we're coming, they are out the door. they are not there. and it really is this image of the fist and then the scurrying away is so much what the republican party is about. as jake pointed out, you have mccarthy standing in the chamber going on about this is donald trump's fault and donald trump is responsible, and then two weeks later, he is running down to mar-a-lago to kiss the ring. so it is all about, and still is, not about the country, it is not about what happened on january 6, it is about their political

. >> jeh johnson, think you so much for hanging out -- hanging with us through those technical difficultiesly appreciate it. always good to see you, thank you very much. >> thanks. >> all right, here is a tease. i don't get to do very often. late breaking good news from the u.s. capitol. i swear. that's next. do you have a life insurance policy you no longer need? now you can sell your policy - even a term policy - for an immediate cash payment. we thought we had planned carefully for our retirement. but we quickly realized we needed a way to supplement our income. if you have $100,000 or more of life insurance, you may qualify to sell your policy. don't cancel or let your policy lapse without finding out what it's worth. visit coventrydirect.com to find out if your policy qualifies. or call the number on your screen. coventry direct, redefining insurance. at xfinity, we're constantly innovating. and we're working 24/7 to connect you to more of what you love. we're bringing you the nation's largest gig speed network. available to more homes than anyone else. and with xfi complete, get 10x f

before we get started here, i want you to take a listen to jeh johnson from the obama administrationlking this morning about the topic. >> i don't know that joe biden has definitively made up his mind to run in 2024. i'm sure at some point he's going to have that conversation with his family. my advice would be unconventional, if you are not running, make that announcement sooner rather than later. >> alicia: sooner than later, what do you think the cal lags is there? -- what do you think the calculation is there? >> well, i think the former homeland security secretary johnson was thinking in terms of what's best for the democratic party. this could give the democratic party more time to find a successor to joe biden. i think what joe biden hears is no, no way because the moment he announces he's not running again, all of the talk, the whole conversation turns to who is going to be the next democratic nominee for president. now, if the president himself is not running for reelection. it is kind of like the situation you have in the republican party where if donald trump announced tod

jeh johnson obama's homeland secretary, said 1000 is a crisis.t's a crisis. a thousand a day. seven or eight times that. if they care joe biden would come to texas to help us start dealing with the problem. he has not shown up one time to address this issue and doesn't take it seriously or at the very least, has no interest in it. it is very disappointing to me when we see the consequences of this affecting human life, people dying because he has chosen these policies. elizabeth: so he has been in office, he has been in d.c. since the nixon, nixon white house. he has never been to the border ever. you know you got democrat representative henry cuellar of texas, he is saying in the laredo area down to the valley, only 30% of border agents are on the border working. the rest are doing processing administrative work. so that has the drug cartels pouring in. your final word? >> i feel sorry for the border agents. they're not allowed to do their jobs. they have been taken off the border, taken away from what they were hired to do, the process, that is

. >> jeh johnson on "meet the press" yesterday said the president should announce his plans before thep for 2024 if he decides not to run. he is "annoyed at questions surrounding his plans for 2024." some lawmakers have been fretting about his leadership as he struggles to advance his agenda. >> we have a multifaceted approach not only to work with our partner countries but to bring law enforcement to bear to attack the smuggling organizations in an unprecedented way. we are doing so much. we are doing a good job, we need to do better. >> record numbers of migrants keep illegally entering the u.s. and after what his own department because the deadliest human smuggling case in modern history, 53 migrants found dead last week in a sweltering semi truck in san antonio. the driver on meth, by the way. u.s. border patrol chief and former acting i.c.e. director joins us now. i was watching a video and i frankly couldn't believe what i was hearing. he talked about things are good and that the multifaceted approach is working, is he talking about the border with the united states or is he talk

and when jeh johnson in 2014 under the obama administration said that we'd a crisis with a thousand peopley. when i was down there i met with people coming from cuba, from venezuela, nicaragua all explaining how they pay cartels to come here talking about having to deal with rampant problems we've got down of the border, they are dealing with the heat, their kids, they're having all sorts of dehydration issues, and border patrol has to step in and help them. border patrol is processing human beings. i went to a brand-new facility in eagle pass designed to process people and release them. not a silent claims, they are releasing them. texas bears the brunt of that. we are dealing with an invasion. we are dealing with texans dying from sentinel pouring into our communities. our ranchers are getting overwhelmed. our communities are dealing with that. all of these leaders in the counties in south texas are asking for is that texas step up and we go do what the federal government refuses to do. people are going to say this is somehow a slap at governor abbott, they are stepping into the breach i