Plus growing tensions with iran. The administration sending troops to saudi arabia. The president has approved the deployment of u. S. Forces, which will be defensive in nature. As President Trump weighs military and economic responses to that attack on Saudi Oil Facilities. Theres the ultimate option and there are options a lot less than that. My guest this morning, treasury secretary steve mnuchin. And as joe biden and Elizabeth Warren separate themselves from the field. Hello, iowa the rest of the candidates are on notice, with cory booker saying hell get out in ten days if he cant raise enough money. Youve got to grow. Grow or get out. Joining me for insight and analysis are nbc News White House correspondent kristen welker, robert costa, National Political reporter for the Washington Post, former democratic congresswoman Donna Edwards and former republican congressman carlos curbelo. Welcome to sunday, its 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. Were following two huge stories today, both of which could have farreaching consequences at home and abroad. One involves war and peace. Will the United States respond militarily against iran for last weeks devastating attack on saudi arabias chief oil facility . President trump is weighing the risks of war against the cost of appearing weak and encouraging more aggression. Here the president is seen as acting conventionally, in the public interest, and in a manner many of us expect from a president. Then theres the other story. That one concerns multiple reports involving a whistleblower, President Trump and the mixing of Foreign Policy with 2020 politics. At issue, the allegation first surfaced by a whistleblower that President Trump pressured ukraines president to create an investigation into joe biden and perhaps withheld military aid as an inducement. Here the president is accused of acting unconventionally in his own personal interests testing the limits of the constitution again. And yet, its in a manner many of us have come to expect from this president. And thats where we begin this morning, with the charge that mr. Trump tried to engage a Foreign Government to go after the democratic candidate he sees as his chief political rival. It was a totally appropriate conversation. It was actually a beautiful conversation. President trump responding to reports that he repeatedly pressed ukraines president in a july 25th phone call to work with his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to investigate political rival joe biden. It doesnt matter what i discussed, but i will say this. Somebody ought to look into joe bidens statement. That phone call is part of a broader set of facts named in a secret august 12th whistleblower complaint to the intelligence communitys inspector general. Mr. Trump reportedly pushed ukraines president zelensky to pursue the probe of a Ukrainian Gas Company with links to bidens son, hurnter, accusing joe biden have a conflict of interest. Not one single credible outlet has given any credibility to his assertion. Not one single one. Giuliani denied putting pressure on ukraine. Did you ask the ukraine to investigate joe biden . No. Actually i didnt. Before reversing himself and admitting it. You did ask ukraine to look into joe biden. Of course i did after ukraines new president won in a landslide in april, mr. Trump and giuliani began pressing him to investigate the bidens. In may im hearing its a major scandal, major problem. Very bad things happened and well see what that is. Its a case that is crying out to be investigated. Then in june President Trump made it clear that if a Foreign Government offered him help to win in 2020, he would take it. If somebody called from a country, norway, we have information on your opponent. Oh, i think id want to hear it. Days after the two president s spoke on july 25th, giuliani met with a ukrainian official in spain to press him again to pursue a probe of hunter biden. Right around the same time, the United States froze military assistance to ukraine, prompting questions from lawmakers. The implication seems to be to the ukrainian president that if he does what Rudy Giuliani is asking him to do and investigates the bidens, maybe he will get the money that the president is holding back. The white house finally released the aid last week. The details in the whistleblowers complaint are still unknown. President trumps newly appointed director of national intelligence, joseph maguire, is refusing to release it to congress. This was about wrongdoing and the idea that that complaint, which was intended for congress, should instead end up in the white house is disturbing beyond belief. You should be looking at trump. Trump is doing this because he knows ill beat him like a drum. He was using the abuse of power and every element of the presidency to try to do something to smear me. Joining me now is democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut who actually recently met with president zelensky in ukraine. Senator murphy, welcome back to meet the press. Good morning. So tell me what your conversation was like with the president , because i believe you met with him before the aid was released. Right. And it was during this time that the aid passed by congress, but for some reason was being held up by the administration. Tell me, was this meeting in kiev, number one, and what was the circumstances . I went to kiev because i heard the concerns that the government and zelensky was worried about these overtures he was getting in particular from Rudy Giuliani. He didnt understand if this was an official government position, these requests to investigate the former Vice President. So i went there to make it clear to him that the worst thing that he could do for the u. S. ukraine relationship was to get involved in an election here in the United States. I will say, what was interesting to me was that he dispensed with the diplomatic protocols of that meeting as soon as we sat down at the table in the president ial palace. He asked us what was going on with the aid, why was it being withheld . He seemed very concerned i think out of sorts about it. And then later in the meeting i raised with him these overtures from the trump campaign. He gave me a very strong answer. He said they had no intention to get involved in an american election. That they knew what damage it would do to them. I left that meeting fairly confident that he understood. What did the Trump Administration tell you officially when you were trying to figure out why what the holdup was . So the reason that was given in particular to senator johnson, who i was there with. Ron johnson, republican from wisconsin. Republican from wisconsin who talked to the president shortly before our visit to kiev. The reason that was given was that the president was concerned about corruption in ukraine and he thought that the europeans should be providing the aid instead of the United States. Those are the two reasons that were stated to us as we went. The embassy there didnt seem to have really a readout from the white house at all when we asked them about it. Do you have any reason to believe that the aid was suddenly released in connection with the discovery of this whistleblower complaint to the public. The timing is obviously incredibly suspicious. There was also a pending vote in the Appropriations Committee that was going to require next years aid to be released outside of the discretion of the president. There are likely a bunch of different explanations. Political pressure was mounting on the president from republicans. Obviously the timing of this looks really terrible. I want to show you another coincidence that we noticed here. These are the departures among people that were involved in russian and ukraine policy decisions inside the Trump Administration. The two top officials from dni, july 28, august 8. Then three top officials in and around the state department or nsc. The ambassador of ukraine in may was forced out. The president s russia advisor resigned in june, the ambassador to russia, jon huntsman, in august. Maybe theyre all coincidences, im not saying that. Anything about that timeline of all those folks that you find troubling, because its all happening at the same time that giuliani is doing his thing and the president is doing his thing. So the departure of the ambassador, one of the individuals on that screen, was very troubling to many of us. She was a credibly experienced, very well thought of diplomat. There seems to be no reasons for her departure. Its one of the reasons why in may i sent a letter to the Foreign Relations committee in the senate asking them to investigate these overtures that giuliani had been making and whether one of the demands that was being made was that this ambassador leave, because perhaps the ambassador at the time was frustrating the trumps campaigns efforts to try to get this new president to investigate bidens. I want some clarity here. Is the allegation that Rudy Giuliani was trying to get this ambassador out or the ukrainians wanted our ambassador out . I think the worry is that it may have been amongst the trump campaigns demands. I think its really important to get to the bottom of why she left, under what circumstances she left and what was she unwilling to do. I want to put up a tweet that you sent out, i believe yesterday, if im not mistaken. Dont get creative, you write. Dont look for new interesting angles. This one is as simple as it gets. If an american president gets away with bullying Foreign Countries to do his political bidding, then we should just give up and accept our new banana republic. Whats the next step . I dont frankly think it matters whether there was an explicit quid pro quo in this conversation with zelensky. I think if an american president is asking another foreign leader to interfere in an american election, essentially what were trying to figure out what was going on between trump and putin, then there has to be consequences for that. We spent a year trying to figure out whether he had asked putin to interfere. We just found out he asked zelensky to interfere. I dont think that it matters its another country. So youre saying an impeachment investigation should be opened up right now . Youre a former house member, youre now in the senate, you could be a juror, i understand that. It sounds like youre saying this one is open and shut. You just said here, dont get creative. I think this one would be open and shut if we had more information than simply Anonymous Sources that newspapers have written on. I think the whistleblower has to come forward. I think that republicans who claim to be National Security experts need to demand that the whistleblower present himself or herself before congress. But i think if we do have evidence from this whistleblower that the president indeed tried to bully a foreign power into affecting our elections, then we have to do something about that. By the way, when the aid got released, they got an additional 140 million. Where did that come from . Maybe an overcorrection on behalf of the president. Do you know where that came from . No, i dont know the source of that secondary funding. Did you guys appropriate this money . The president certainly has discretionary money thats available to him. It may have come from those accounts. But you have no idea and suddenly they got more aid. So do you view as that troubling . Listen, i think this whole timeline is hard to figure out. There may be someone who can tell us more about all of it, and that whistleblower individual has to come before congress. Senator toomey is going to come on here right after you. Were going to be discussing some other issues, but one of them is guns. Hes pushing for manchintoomey. Where are you on this . Did beto Orourke Chuck Schumer is almost essentially pointing the finger that beto orourke has set things back. Has he . I dont think thats true. Listen, i think republicans who dont want to vote for a background checks bill are going to look for any excuse to do it. Betos comments may be their latest hook. The fact of the matter is if donald trump supports a bill that expands background checks, we will get 60 votes for it in the senate. The attorney general brought up to Congress Last week a fairly reasonable proposal that would expand background checks to commercial sales. Theres some things i dont like about it but its absolutely a platform for negotiation. The nra opposes it. So the critical question now is sitting on the president s desk. Is he willing to take on the nra . If he is, well get a background checks bill. By the way, you sound like a guy who says, hey, take what you can get every time you have a chance. Dont try to let the perfect be the enemy of this. On this issue, this is about life and death, right . There are very few issues like it. I also think maybe whats most important in the long term perspective of the antigun Violence Movement is breaking this rock Solid Alliance between the nra and republicans, and this may be our chance to do it. Democratic senator chris murphy from connecticut, thanks for coming on and sharing your views. Of course. Joining me now is Senate Pat Toomey of pennsylvania. Welcome back to meet the press. Good morning, chuck. Thanks for having me. I invoked your name there. We will get to the gun issue in a second. I want to ask you about the top story weve been dealing with this morning. The president has actually already commented again, as hes headed down to texas for an event with the Prime Minister of india. He is admitting that he did bring up joe biden in the phone call with the president of ukraine. Does this look like a president asking for foreign assistance for his president ial prospects . Very hard to say, chuck. I dont know what the conversation was. I just told you. He said he did bring up biden. Was that appropriate on any level . I dont know the context, i dont know what was said. Look, it is not appropriate for any candidate for federal office, certainly including a sitting president , to ask for assistance from a foreign country. Thats not appropriate. But i dont know that thats what happened here. Do you think congress should get its hands on this whistleblower complaint . Well, as you know, this is an example recent example of cases that have gone back from the beginning of the republic of the tension between the executive over private conversations versus congress obligations and responsibilities for oversight. So what i think ought to happen here is what happens typically in these cases. You get some kind of negotiated agreement whereby the administration shares what they think is not doesnt need to be protected from National Security purposes. It satisfies the members of the intelligence committees and allows us to determine whether this is something that really requires further investigation or not. At this point we dont know anything. Were getting a bunch of leaked rumors and thats all we have. Are you at all concerned, though, that aid was delayed for as long as it was and now at the same time were finding out something there was a second track of conversation that was going on while this aid was being delayed . Does that at all concern you enough to say, you know what, it is Congress Responsibility to look into this . So we should find out why that was the case. Now, we also know that we have a president whos always been very skeptical about u. S. Foreign aid to almost any country. So there might be a reasonable explanation for this and there might be a troublesome one and we should understand why that happened. But you do think congress should be looking into this in any way, shape or form at some point. This is their job to figure out i mean you guys appropriated the money. I would assume youd want to figure out why it was delayed and why Rudy Giuliani may or may not have been involved with it . I certainly would want to know whether the law was followed, whether the president was exercising the discretion he actually has and for what reasons if there were delays. I dont know the relevance of Rudy Giuliani. Hes not part of this administration. But we certainly should understand how the funds that have been appropriated end up getting delivered. Do you think Rudy Giulianis role has been important . Apparently the state department set up one of the meetings. Im not aware of that. All right. Let me move to the issue that i was discussing there at the end with senator murphy. The last time there was a vote on your bill on manchintoomey was in 2015. Sadly, and you know this already, i think, 5 of the 10 deadliest Mass Shootings have taken place since then. Vegas, orlando, sutherland springs, el paso, parkland. I dont have to say anything other than those names. Youre very aware of it. Is this now the time, you say it is. Its stunning to me what has happened in the last four years when you look at it from that perspective. It is stunning, chuck. Of course im making an allout effort to get our legislation passed. I will have to acknowledge that its not clear that had manchintoomey been law that any one of those particular shootings would have been prevented, although i think the shooting in odessa might have been blocked had manchintoomey been law. But look, i think theres momentum now that we didnt have before. We have republican senators who are reconsidering e whole issue of expanding background checks to commercial sales, which is all were talking about here. Weve got a republican president whos very interested and personally engaged, so i dont know how this is going to turn out, but im hopeful and im going to keep pushing. I want to put up some quotes here. It seems to me theres a whole bunch of your republican colleagues who are essentially saying im not going to tell you where i stand until the president says where he stands. Let me put up some of these. Roy blunt, this does not go anywhere unless we explicitly know what the president s willing to do. Chuck grassley, we arent going to do anything that the president isnt going to sign anyway. John thune, in the end, trump is going to have to make a hard decision. You guys are playing a game of chicken a little bit. At what point do you need to force the president s hand and pass something . Well, the problem is if we attempt to force the president s hand and pass something, it might very well not pass. Having the president onboard would make all the difference. Part of it, chuck, is the president has a unique bully pulpit. He can explain what this is, expanding background checks to commercial sales is very widely supported, even among gun owners and nra members. Part of the problem weve always had is the mischaracterization of the legislation. The president can uniquely cut through that, make it clear what this is really about. I think wed have a big collective sigh of relief from pro Second Amendment people, which i consider myself one of them, and then we could pass something really meaningful. How much has senator mike brauns argument carried the day with some skeptical republicans. Hes been making an interesting case essentially for your bill. Not quite saying it that way but if you dont do what is commonsense reforms now and another five years goes by with no Movement Since the last time there was a vote on your legislation and that suddenly it wont be just background checks that has popular support. Look, its a strong point. Im not sure quite how much its persuading people, but i can tell you a number of republican senators are open to this who were not in the past. I do think that beto orourke does not help things when he advertises that his real plan is to confiscate guns. Thats not helpful to this conversation. But the attorney general has been very constructive, very helpful. The president is engaged. Weve got broader interest among republican senators than weve ever had. One quick question on iran. Does the president have authority to strike iran right now or do you believe he has to come to congress . I think its extremely unlikely that we would have a unilateral strike against iran. By the way, the sanctions are working very, very well and this next round is likely to be devastating to the iranian economy. I do think that its essential that we reestablish deterrents and the iranians have been demonstrating recently they dont feel very deterred. I would prefer that be led by a coalition of our gulf states, probably with u. S. Support. That i think the president has full authority to do as commander in chief. Senator pat toomey from pennsylvania, much appreciate you coming on and sharing your you coming on and sharing your views. When i lost my sight, my biggest fear was losing my independence. Mmm. Good. So ive spent my life developing technology to help the visually impaired. We are so good. We built a guide that uses ibm watson. To help the blind. It is already working in cities like tokyo. My dream is to help millions more people like me. For mildtomoderate eczema, its steroid free. A. It is already working in cities like tokyo. Do not use if you are allergic to eucrisa or its ingredients. Allergic reactions may occur at or near the application site. The most common side effect is application site pain. Ask your doctor about eucrisa. Doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. But were also a cancer fighting, hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. From the day youre born we never stop taking care of you. Spokesman fraudsters theyre meout to get from the day youre born your medicare number so they can bill fake claims in your good name. Dont give them that chance. Fraudster just calling to confirm your medicare number. Do you have your card available . Spokesman for example, if a caller says theyre from medicare, watch out. Its probably a scam. Dont give out your card number. And always check your claim statements for errors. Report fraudulent charges to 1800medicare. Guard your card. Learn more at medicare. Gov fraud. The panel is lphere. Carlos t curbelo, Donna Edwards nbc News White House correspondent kristen welkernrnd robert costa, political reporter for the Washington Post and moderator of wash ton week on ] pbs. The president is busy this morning, hes on his way toni texas for what will be annr eve with Prime Minister modi down there in houston. As he does allr kristen, he stopped to speak with reporters and het appearso have admitted that, yosz n he brought up joe biden with the president of ukraine. Here help is. We hadr the conversation i had was u jnr largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place, was largelyq the fact that we dont wantxd our people like Vice President biden and hisnr sonw3 creatingfa to the corruption already in ukraine. Nothing is done by accident, kristen welker. Suddenly he is admitting the biden portion of this conversation. That sounds like somebody who just ww3nni reminded what he sa jf right. May have ixevisited the transcript and the contents of the phone call. Its also moved theni needle fr what he said toi] me in the ova office on friday when i asked him if he discussed joe biden as afai] part of this conversation he said it doesnt matter what r w cussed is the pres euvmn tryinglp to this into the headlines, thisqf story, this controversiali] sto which is unsubstantiated of course. The Biden Campaign uwigrscores al against the formere Vice President have never beennr suboq q1n theres never the bottom line is from the president s perspective, the only way to put this story toni t; release the transcript. I can tell you theres a debate right now in the white house whether or not to do that. What would the< implications i can tell you this, secretark rr who will be on in a little bit, its my understanding ,h riup[ nownr thats winning they is dont,co it sets a bad xd precedent. Robert nicosta, are we being gaslit here . Meaning they have tried tod h create this story line of i aaaj jjat uq to den. There had been noxd takers and w all of a sudden because of the lengths with which theq presidet has gone, this is actually in somelp waysxd strategic . They may haveco a political strategy at the white house, but the storyko remainsni the president s conversations with the president of ukraine zelensky, this former comedian and actor, i was in the room with zelensky earlier in month in warsaw andni talking to ukrainian coofficials. They have felt this has been a bizarre experience for them for months. They had Rudy Giuliani coming over to talk about maybe having an investigation into joe biden, this phone call with President Trump and then Vice President pence went over in a meeting in poland with zelensky andok said you better investigate corruption. The ukrainians have said to themselves does this mean we must investigate corruption in order to get that 250 million. Carlos,i] the president has admitted that he brought up joe biden with the president. At this point he has asked t how is that not asking for foreign assistance,qi] and if s lets not get creative here, as chris murphyw3 said has he committed an impeachablei] violation. I want to point tonr your interview with patr because most republicans tend to be elusive when asked specific questions. You asked him is this appropriate and he said absolutely not. It is not appropriateni for the president , any president to reach out to a foreign leader to ask for help fort his election. Pat toomey said it. Most republicans still will not say it and thats what we have to focus on here. Sure, theres the biden angle and everything else, but at the end of the day its the president asking another foreign leader for support for a u. S. Election. That is troubling. Now, politically could this end upfa helping him . This is going to uktua impeachment talks in the house. This is i nancy pelosi again to take that step and we know people in the white house would the president impeached because they think it would helpmy him politically. Donna, take a look at the pressure already this morning. Im going to put up and tweets. Alexandria ocasiocortez, the bigger National Scandal isnt the president s law breaking well, i agree. I mean i think that thisxd is a president mywho, you coknow, cy you give him anh]inch, he take two miles. Hes done that every time he moves the bar. R in this instance he learned nothing was going to happenni after the Mueller Report and so il every single opportunity. And, chuck, i thinkt the divisions, thejf confusion over impeachment was laid bare this \qqi during the Corey Lewandowski hearings when democrats seemed ill prepared to deal with some of his barbs. This is adding fuel to the impeachmente1 momentum kboouch ua sjutayni ive talked to capitol hill and ive talked to capitol hill and they said were still not there yet. Nancy pelosi wants theco investigations to play out. They also raised the fact we dont knogn specifically yet wt happened. Q the frustration among House Democrats isnt just the ukrainian story. You lookfa at Corey Lewandowski coming to capitol hill. Defiance at every turn, blocking ofjf documents, witnesses. Thist xd white house keeps sayio democrats in congressq were no cooperating at anyw3 level and thats why democrats are simmering. I want to get the two ofx welcome back to the middle east, mr. President. Do you think he miscalculated on ther thisq isq a president many feared would be extremely impulsive and get us into unnecessary wars. Here hes showing restraint and those who criticize him have to choose. Are they going to critintuzq hi for beinglpc too aggressive or theyre sayinge hes sending mixed messages. Secondly to ignatius fapoint, iran is a terroristfa t regime. They were goingw3 to carryi] ou this expansionistt okcni campa the middle east regardless of the president how do we know that . co because they were doing it after president obamat signed e Nuclear Agreement with them. So to say thatlp iranlp is actin thise way in reaction to the president , i dont think thats really fair either. Ko i think thejf president does ri speaking loudly and carrying a small stick, the opposite of what Teddy Roosevelt used to say. Wow, what a beautiful wedding as your second cousin and number one broker. Youre welcome. Remember, carl, we havent been investing with you for a while. Hmmm . Because schwab makes planning for things like this easier. Yeah, with schwab we get automated investing and integrated planning help. For a low Monthly Subscription price. Why would schwab do that . They help you plan for the things that matter. Subscription pricing. Schwab introducing subscription pricing with oneonone guidance. 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Joining me now is President Trumps treasury secretary, steve mnuchin, who was involved in getting those sanctions imposed. Secretary mnuchin, welcome back to meet the press. Good to be here with you. Before i get to iran, this situation between the president , this whistleblower, his conversations with ukraines president and this issue of an investigation, i assume you dont know some of these details but let me just ask this. Do you know why the president hasnt gone to the fbi about these allegations . I dont. Let me just say i wasnt on this call but ive been on many calls with World Leaders. First of all, there are multiple people on these calls. I think it would be highly inappropriate to release a transcript of a call between two World Leaders. I think the bigger story here is really what went on with biden and his son. He came out over the weekend and said he never spoke to his son, yet the facts are his son said they had spoken. I dont understand how that i dont understand how that has anything to do with whats going on with this situation. Going back to what you just if the president believes an american is committing something doing something wrong, why didnt he go to the fbi . Why is he outsourcing the investigation to the Ukrainian Government . I dont know if i wouldnt know if he i dont believe he did outsource the investigation. I wasnt on the call. Okay. And i dont know what conversations the president has had with the attorney general. He may have had conversations already. Do you know if why the aid was delayed, and did it have a connection to the ukrainian president s decision not to work with Rudy Giuliani . Well, that i can tell you that there was no connection. I have been involved with secretary pompeo and others on the National Security team on the issue of the aid. How do you know . How do you know for sure . Is there do you know 100 . Well, what i know is ive been in discussions when we discussed that and that issue never came up. During your meetings. Absolutely. With the president. And can you explain how all of a sudden when the aid got released more money showed up . Where did that money come from . There was 250 million and they got an additional 140 million that they didnt expect. Where did that do you have any idea where that came from . Well, it was appropriated money that came through the state department. So was there they didnt know they were getting this money. There is any indication why they got the money when they did . Im not sure its correct for you to say they didnt know they got the money. The president said he was surprised to get it. The president of ukraine said he was surprised to get an additional 140. He said it was a pleasant surprise, but that he was surprised. I think he was referring to his expectations as opposed to surprise. Youre getting into details again, these are Foreign Policy issues, they have been discussed at the National Security council at the principals level. These were not connected issues. But do you have any problem with Congress Looking into any of this . What i have a problem with is Congress Asking for a transcript between World Leaders. I think that those are confidential discussions and thats a difficult precedent. But does the president have any he says he said nothing inappropriate, so why not release the transcript . Because, again, i think that these are confidential discussions between World Leaders and World Leaders expect that theyre going to be kept confidential. It has nothing to do with this call per se. Okay. Let me move to iran. Thank you, because that is the bigger issue. Look, war and peace, im with you here. Let me ask you about iran. You guys made a decision to do more economic sanctions. It has led to a lot of us to say whats left to sanction economically. Is there a point where these sanctions have diminishing returns . Well, let me just put this in perspective and then ill comment on the details of the sanctions. This was clearly an iraq an event against from iran against not just saudi arabia but really against the World Economic system, and thats why the president has reacted. The first thing he did was authorize more sanctions against the central bank and against the sovereign wealth fund. Although were pretty much maxed out on iran, we will begin to sanction thirdparty entities where we see violations. And we take our responsibility very serious low. Third party meaning other countries that accept iranian oil or anything like that . Correct. We will begin to go after. India was doing this. I assume they have since stopped, but theyre not happy that they cant get iranian oil. I cant comment on whether theyre happy or not happy. I think our allies understand what were doing with iran. This is a maximum Pressure Campaign so that iran stops exporting terrorism and attacking their neighbors. Is there any acknowledgement here that the campaign is not working, meaning, i think the theory of the case was maximum pressure, more sanctions, get out of the nuclear deal, theyll come to the table. They have since shot down an american drone, done what they have done hijacked tankers, this attack in saudi. Obviously its not working. No, i think i mean if theyre not coming to the table, its not working. Whats the next step if you still cant get them to the table after all of this . I think quite the contrary. I think this is an example of its absolutely working because what weve done is weve cut off the Iranian Regimes money. And they are now desperate. So all these actions are because their economy is suffering, theyre running out of money and these are all signs of desperation. So our maximum Pressure Campaign is about weakening iran so that they cant spend money on terror. So i think this is absolutely a sign of desperation that the campaign is working. What are you saying to folks like senator lindsay graham, let me put up the tweet. The measured response by President Trump regarding the shooting down of an american drone is clearly seen by the Iranian Regime as a sign of weakness. Many of your allies that are a little more hawkish than the president believe the iranians are simply testing the electrical fence essentially. And every time we dont respond to something, it means we can keep going. Do you buy that . I like lindsay a lot. I consider lindsey a good friend. I dont agree with him on this. I think the president has specifically said, he said this in the oval office with the australian Prime Minister, it would be very easy to make the decision to attack. Its actually the decision of restraint. So the president is on a threepart plan at the moment. One is sanctions, two he authorized troops to go to saudi arabia for defensive purposes which saudi has questioned and were expediting arms sales. The military option is always on the table. Theres a headline in the Editorial Board of the Washington Post that simply says should u. S. Troops put their lives on the line for saudi arabia . Its complicated. Its a simple question with obviously a complicated answer. But speak to the parents of troops that are thinking about that question. Well, look, when the president thinks about these issues, the first thing he thinks about is the issue for the troops and i will say i have tremendous respect for the military and the sacrifice these troops make every day. So thats an issue that im sure the president always thinks about. On the other hand, this is responding to an ally and friend of ours and this is not just an attack on saudi arabia, this is an attack on the World Economic system. We are sending troops there in a defensive posture. Secretary mnuchin, treasury secretary for the president of the United States, thanks for coming on and sharing your views, i appreciate it. Thank you. When we come back, the latest from our nbc news wall street journal poll, why the good news for democrats could turn out to be bad news for them. As we go to break, there are two passings that we want to note. We lost sandra vanocre who woorkd right here and was one of the panelists at the Kennedy Nixon debate in 1960. The correspondents, im sander vanocre, nbc news. He also interviewed Robert Kennedy shortly before kennedy was assassinated in los angeles. He was 91. We also lost Cokie Roberts at the age of 75. Cokie was more than a tv journalist, she was a friend, a competitor and a sunday morning comic. She was a cohost of this week from 1996 to 2002. A louisiana native, she was famously the child of politicians, the daughter of hale boggs who died in a plane crash and of lindy boggs. She was celebrated for helping young women break into a business that was not always welcoming to them but Cokie Roberts wanted to be remembered for something more personal. Id like to be remembered as id like to be remembered as a mother and a wife as a Small Business owner, the one thing you learn pretty quickly, is that theres a lot to learn. Grow with google is here to help you with turning ideas into action. Putting your business on the map, connecting with customers, and getting the skills to use new tools. So, in case youre looking, weve put all the ways we can help in one place. Free training, tools, and Small Business resources are now available at google. Com grow doprevagen is the number oneild mempharmacistrecommendeding . Memory support brand. You can find it in the vitamin aisle in stores everywhere. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. But were also a cancer fighting, hiv controlling, joint replacing, and depression relieving company. 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What about providing college for socalled dreamers. 89 of democrats support that along with 67 of registered voters. Again, some synergy there. Remember when supporting a public option was considered risky. 78 approve of buying Health Coverage through a Medicare Coverage along with twothirds of registered voters. As some democrats have argued, not all progressive ideas have a majority support among all voters. Take certain parts of health care. While 64 of democrats want to give Government Health care to undocumented immigrants, only 36 of all registered voters agree. 63 of democrats support a medicare for all Single Payer Health care system in which, quote, private Health Insurance would be eliminated compared with only 41 of registered voters who would like to see that. Look, for the past generation pollsters have found this to be a center right country on some of these policies, something that has favored moderate republicans on some fiscal issues. 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Quit smoking slow turkey. Talk to your doctor about chantix. Back now with end game. Something happened this week in the president ial race. The polls that are out is showing a similar finding which is the sorting has begun. Here it is in iowa, Elizabeth Warren sitting at 22 , joe biden at 20 , then a ninepoint gap between second and third place to sanders at 11, buttigieg 9, harris 6. Donna edwards, it does look like our poll basically had a 56 of democrats choosing either biden or warren, 41 choosing the other 22. I think were starting to see a sorting here. What does this mean . This is a race. Its a twoperson race in my view. I think that you can see whos gaining and losing in the poll. I mean bernie clearly losing and Elizabeth Warren gaining. Kamala harris and Pete Buttigieg especially buttigieg looks like it all went to her. And voters are saying were going to have two really good choices here, we want to hear from them. What surprised me is that Elizabeth Warrens like sort of unfavorability, people who were detractors, has actually gone down, which is very significant in terms of her being able to secure a nomination. In our poll, her personal rating is getting better. Joe bidens personal rating is not. This is putting downward pressure on a couple of candidates. Cory booker and Kamala Harris in particular are not hiding the desperation. Take a listen. This is a determining moment for us. We either are going to reach a 1. 7 million to stay in this race or were going to have to make really tough decisions at the end of this quarter. I dont know if you heard, but im kind of planning to kind of live in iowa. Kristen. I think it underscores the fact that those are two candidates, booker and harris, who are running as moderates and it feels as though this moment is about, you know, joe biden, obviously representing one side of the democratic party, Elizabeth Warren representing progressives. And it seems like shes surging because there is that energy within the democratic party. I also think its notable that the difference between sanders and warren is larger than the difference between sanders and buttigieg. Theyre divided by just two points. Buttigieg, by the way, his campaign feels like, look, we still have some room to grow because his favorabilities are so high. Well have to see, time is running out. Bob, is third place going to matter if one and two is warren and biden. It may not, especially if senator warren keeps gaining this kind of traction. You listen to her speech earlier this week in new york city speaking to 20,000. Shes not just running as a massachusetts senator, shes running as a message. This is an economic populist who started with Consumer Protection work for years. And she is running as a counter to President Trump on that economic populist message and that is what makes her a powerful candidate in a field full of people who are running as different kinds of personalities or policy pitches. She has a broad theme that has carried her to this point. Shes also going to get the frontrunner status the frontrunner treatment. Lets see what she looks like in six months. And this is also becoming a race about two strategies, right . Do democrats go for a base versus base strategy, the liberal Democratic Base against trumps base or do they go for a candidate that can build a coalition, reach out to those swing voters. That is going to be the choice a lot of democrats are going to be making when they go to the polls. Donna, i want to show you something because you and i have seen this through previous democratic campaigns and its the two coalition that warren and biden have put together. Biden has a coalition of africanamericans, men that are over the age of 50, men and women over the age of 65 and selfdescribed moderates conservatives. The warren constituency is liberals, kroej educated women, men and web under 50, those who want largescale change. When i saw that, i did not automatically assume, oh, warren is on the move. I said, oh, that looks like gary hart, paul tsongas, bill bradley, howard dean. She needs africanamerican voters and theres yet to be any clue shes going to win them over. I think thats true. But when you look at Elizabeth Warren, i remember in the spring she started out with like 1 approval among africanamericans and that number actually has started to tick up. I saw her in the lower teens among africanamericans. But they dont know her. And they trust biden and they know him. And so i think its going to be a tough call. Once you get out of iowa and new hampshire, youve got to go to South Carolina where there are africanamerican voters and thats where shes going to have to win this election. And thats sort of the im not sure whos got the bigger challenge, biden winning over the skeptical progressives or warren winning over sort of the skeptical small c conservative democratic voters who are like, look, its about getting trump. Thats right. I think, look, biden knows that he has a lot of support among africanamericans, so that could make a big difference for him. Elizabeth warren, as she tries to win them over, shes going to have to answer tough questions about her policies, including her Health Care Plan whachl. What does it mean for middle class taxes. And moderates may start looking around. The fall matters. Do you think so . At this point theyre with Vice President biden but with senator booker out there and mayor buttigieg drawing a big crowd in iowa, you could see senator klobuchar, buttigieg, booker, others starting to get a look as the moderate wing wonders is biden truly viable in a general election and to be the nominee. Ill have to leave it there because this is a conversation on that score that i know well continue to have. I think youre right, biden warren may be the topic quite some time. Thats all we have for today. Thank you for watching. Well be back next week. Because if its sunday, its meet the press. A president ial tweet storm as donald trump triples down on the scrutiny over his biden discussion with ukrainian leaders heats up ahead of his u. N. Meetings with World Leaders. And the emmy goes to peter, game of thrones. It was a huge night at the emmys. Weve got you covered. Away from the parking lot get away from there