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Transcripts. Meet the Press – May 18, 2025 Fmr. Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Andrea Mitchell, Amna Nawaz, Stephen Hayes and Ashley Etienne. May 18, 2025, 11:49 AM EDT. KRISTEN WELKER: This Sunday: out of office. My exclusive interview with former Vice President Mike Pence. FMR. VICE PRES. MIKE PENCE: I've never been a fan of American presidents criticizing America on foreign soil. KRISTEN WELKER: His thoughts on the second Trump administration and the direction of the Republican Party. FMR. VICE PRES. MIKE PENCE: There's no question in this administration that he is...

Former CIA Director John Brennan said Friday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that former FBI Director James Comey was not advocating violence with his social media post about President Donald Trump that featured a photo of seashells arranged to read, “86 47.” Brennan said, “It’s unsurprising that someone like Tulsi Gabbard would say something like that, but there’s absolutely no basis or reason for a director of National Intelligence to comment at all on this matter, much less say that a former director of the FBI should be in prison. I know Jim Comey worked very closely with him, didn’t always agree...

A key prosecutor on the classified documents case against President Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a congressional interview Wednesday, .... Jay Bratt had been subpoenaed to appear before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee for a closed-door interview but did not answer substantive questions because of his Fifth Amendment constitutional right to remain silent. Bratt spent more than three decades at the Justice Department before retiring in January, just weeks before President Donald Trump took office. He was a key national security prosecutor on special counsel Jack Smith’s team, which in 2023 charged Trump with illegally...

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Tuesday on CNN’s “New Central” that no world leader should “equate” the opinions of the American people with those of President Donald Trump. Bolton said, “I think Trump is ripping through decades of American effort to build up good faith, trust, reliance, counting on the United States in times of crisis. And the economic cost of the tariffs are going to be bad.” He added, “I think you saw a little bit of that in the meeting today. The leader who was backing down in that meeting was Trump. He’d already made all...

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Monday on MSNBC’s “Ana Cabrera Reports” that if President Donald Trump attempted to take control of Greenland with military force, it “would provoke an impeachment crisis almost immediately.” On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump downplayed the likelihood but did not completely rule it out. He said, “I don’t say I’m going to do it, but I don’t rule out anything. No, not there, you need that. We need Greenland very badly. Greenland is a very small amount of people which will take care of and will cherish them and all of that, but...

On Sunday, during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) did not rule out impeaching President Donald Trump if Democrats take control of Congress. Host Dana Bash said, “Your colleague from Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff told voters at a town hall that he strongly agrees that President Trump should be impeached. Do you agree with him? Would that be a priority if Democrats were to take back Congress?”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that if President Donald Trump disobeyed a Supreme Court order, “extraordinary action will be necessary.” Jansing said, “The Supreme Court said the administration must facilitate the return of Kilmer Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. That has not happened. Are we at the point, Senator, where you feel extraordinary action is warranted?” Schumer said, “Look, the case will be back to the Supreme Court, they sent it down to the lower court judge. But if the president disobeys a Supreme Court order, extraordinary action...

CNN's Jake Tapper launched a scathing attack on CBS owner Shari Redstone for 'bending the knee' to Donald Trump on Tuesday, following the resignation of longtime 60 Minutes producer Bill Owens. Owens, 58, had been the executive producer of the CBS news magazine since 2019, but told staff in a memo on Tuesday that he has come to realize he is no longer able 'to make independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes, right for the audience' amid the president's $20 billion lawsuit against the network, the New York Times reports. Trump has claimed the network deceptively...

Veteran reporter Bob Woodward said Monday on MSNBC’s “Inside” that President Donald Trump is “throwing bombs of ignorance” onto the U.S. economy. Woodward said, “He thinks tariffs are good remedy. Well tariffs are a tax on consumers. I mean consumers wind up paying. There may be some benefit but if there was real benefit we’d feel it in the economy now. And we basically have a good economy that he’s meddling with in a way, throwing bombs of ignorance right in the middle of a process that, you know, should be allowed to go on naturally. It’s a shame and...

Rep. Jamie Raskin threatened foreign leaders who “facilitated authoritarianism in our country” by currying favor with President Trump on issues like deportation — saying that Democrats will not “look kindly” on his supporters when they “come back to power.” Referencing El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele specifically, Raskin (D-Md.), 62, suggested that Dems should keep score of foreign leaders who brownnose Trump, 78, during his second term. “Implicit in it should be the idea that if and when we come back to power — and we will — we are not going to look kindly upon people who … facilitated authoritarianism...

Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) claimed Wednesday on CNN’s “News Central” ” that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was a “great judicial hero” for finding probable cause to hold the Trump administration in criminal contempt for disobeying his order to halt deportations. Raskin said, “Judge Boasberg goes to great pains to restate the precedent going back to 1967, Walker vs. Birmingham, holding that you’ve got to comply with a court order, even if you know, they were in the wrong court, even if for some reason there’s a change. Look, Judge Boasberg, who was a President Bush appointee when he originally...

U.S. President Donald Trump's moves to take China to task on trade are likely to backfire as his sweeping global tariffs hit allies as well as rivals, according to former national security advisor John Bolton.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed a bombshell Wall Street Journal report on former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline a month after the California Democrat confided in friends that she was alarmed by how much he had aged, according to a new book. “He was not the same Joe Biden,” Pelosi reportedly told a friend of the then-president’s condition after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom award during a May 2024 White House ceremony. The claim is from author Chris Whipple’s new book, “Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History.” Whipple wrote...

James Boasberg isn’t just some random DC judge—he’s the Deep State’s go-to gavel. He’s a loyal foot soldier in the left’s lawfare machine. When the Swamp needs a ruling to punish the right and protect their own, Boasberg always delivers. And nowhere is that more obvious than in the case of the very mysterious character Ray Epps. ... After Epps was finally charged—with a single count of disorderly conduct—he was rewarded with a wrist slap from Boasberg: one year of probation. No jail. No lectures. No talk about mobs or responsibility. Just a quiet walk out the back door.....

When asked if he agrees with scholars who say the U.S. is in a constitutional crisis, Schumer responded, “Yes, I do.” “And democracy is at risk. Look, Donald Trump is a lawless, angry man. He thinks he should be king. He thinks he should do whatever he wants, regardless of the law, and he thinks judges should just listen to him,” Schumer told moderator Kristen Welker. The full interview will air on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

Former Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) are joining the board of directors for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a prominent Washington, D.C.-based think tank focused on fiscal policy. Maya MacGuineas, the president of the organization, said in a statement on Wednesday that the additions underscore “the committee’s longstanding commitment to fostering bipartisan solutions to our nation’s fiscal decline and working to put forward solutions for America’s elected leaders.” “Both former senators have been staunch advocates for responsible budgeting, but more than that, they have not shied away from working across the aisle to find solutions...

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger is urging President Trump to prosecute him after declaring Joe Biden’s pre-emptive pardon null and void. Posting on TRUTH Social on Sunday Trump declared that former Joe Biden’s pre-emptive pardons, issued during the final days of his administration, are “void, vacant and of no further force or effect.” Trump argued that the pardons are invalid because Biden used an autopen to sign them, claiming the former president had no direct knowledge or involvement in granting these pardons. ..... Snip..... In a video uploaded to the X platform, Kinzinger challenged Trump to go after him: So I...

John Bolton says that a ceasefire isn't in Ukraine's best interest

Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) claimed Tuesday on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that it is “disgusting” that President Donald Trump is not standing with democracies like Ukraine. Co-host Pamela Brown asked, “Is the United States on team Russia now?” Warner said, “This has been a, you know, a two week streak. Remember a week ago last Monday, for the first time ever, America in the United Nations voted with with Russia, Iran, North Korea, Nicaragua denying who started the war in Ukraine. The whole world knows Russia started it. Now you’ve got these this effort after the breakout in the White...

Alexander Vindman a USAID recipient, the U.S. Agency for Internal Development provides humanitarian and development assistance to a family who were offered no pardons