PLUS: Sen. Lankford (R-Okla.) Doesn’t Feel the White House Has Been Fully Transparent With the American Public About What They’re Trying to Do About the Border Crisis
EXCLUSIVE: Sen. King (I-Maine): This is “More of an Asylum and Refugee” Crisis
EXCLUSIVE: King Opposes Abolishing ICE, But Says “Looking at It Makes a Hell of a Lot of Sense”
TUNE IN TONIGHT: “Dateline: The Dividing Line,” a Special Hour on the Border Crisis at 7 p.m. ET With In-Depth Reporting from MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff
JUNE 24, 2018 – “We know where every single child is” and “the adult they came with,” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) tells “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd of migrant families separated at the border in an exclusive interview.
When asked if he feels “the White House has been fully transparent with the American public about what they’re trying to do” on the border crisis, Lankford replies, “I don’t, actually. Now this has been one of the great frustrations. I think the White House has not been clear on how bad the Flores Settlement is. They tried to say it and say it and say it. The challenge is, you shouldn’t just allow anyone to be able to come in at any time, to be able to view a spot where there are children present.” Watch the full interview.
In an exclusive interview this morning, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) tells Todd that this is “more of an asylum and refugee” crisis: “This is very different from the waves of illegal immigrants coming across the border 15, 20 years ago, mostly from Mexico, simply looking for jobs.”
On calls for abolishing ICE, King says, “I don’t know how you abolish an agency without abolishing the function, and I think the function is necessary. … I don’t know if I say abolish, I don’t think that makes a lot of sense. But I do think looking at it makes a hell of a lot of sense.” Watch the full interview.
The violence, drug cartels, gangs and poverty ravaging Central America, including countries like El Salvador, have been driving people to the United States for years. El Salvador “felt, in some ways, very much like a war zone,” says NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, after reporting from the country, which has one of the highest homicide rates in the world. “We went to a prison and we met some very hardcore gang members, and one of them bragged to us that he had killed 35 people, just himself. And when you have that number of dangerous people who feel that emboldened, it is not surprising that people want to leave the country and seek different opportunities and don’t want their children to get sucked into the gang life and have them become the next generation of killers or victims.” Watch Engel discuss his reporting from Central America with Todd.
The Resurgent’s Erick Erickson, The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes, NBC News’ Kasie Hunt and Demos’ Heather McGhee join the broadcast for insight and analysis on the week in politics, including President Trump’s retreat this week on separating families at the border. Hayes notes, “It was the public pressure. I mean, the president didn’t do this easily. This is an ad hoc president with an ad hoc decision-making process, leaving his staff and congressional Republicans to scramble in his wake and try to make things right.”
Read the full transcript of “Meet the Press” this morning.
Follow the show on Twitter and on Facebook for the latest, and watch MSNBC’s “MTP Daily” at 5 p.m. ET for more from moderator Chuck Todd.
Tune in tonight at 7 p.m. ET to a special hour of “Dateline: The Dividing Line,” featuring in-depth reporting from MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff along the U.S.-Mexico border.
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NBC NEWS’ “MEET THE PRESS WITH CHUCK TODD”
“Meet the Press with Chuck Todd” is where newsmakers come to make news — setting the political agenda and spotlighting the impact Washington decision-making has on Americans across the country. It is the #1 most-watched Sunday public affairs show across the board for the 2016-2017 season, reaching more than three million viewers every Sunday and millions more through social, digital and on-demand platforms. “Meet the Press” brings its authority and influencer interviews to MSNBC with “MTP Daily” weekdays at 5 p.m. ET and to the “1947: The Meet the Press Podcast”. It’s the longest-running show in television history, having celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2017 with the launch of its first-ever film festival in collaboration with the American Film Institute this November. Chuck Todd is the political director of NBC News and the moderator of “Meet the Press“; John Reiss is the executive producer.
