In Video: Meet the Press NOW – Nov. 12

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Welcome to Meet the Press. I’m Kristen Welker in Washington, where we are following two major stories unfolding right now on Capitol Hill. At any moment, the House will start the process of voting to end the longest shutdown in American history, with a final vote expected in the coming hours. That vote is happening after earlier today, House Democrats released emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate that raised new questions about how much President Trump knew about the convicted sex offender’s conduct. House Republicans then released 20,000 pages of Epstein-related documents as well today.

In the meantime, Speaker Mike Johnson is about to swear in Congresswoman-elect Adelita Grijalva, more than a month after she won a special election in Arizona. Congresswoman Grijalva will give Democrats the final signature they need to force a House vote on ordering the Justice Department to release all the Epstein case files. Debate on the bill to reopen the government will begin as soon as the swearing-in is over.

Speaker Johnson earlier today expressed confidence it will pass, even as House Democratic leadership remains staunchly opposed to the Senate’s bipartisan agreement. “All of that is on the Democrats,” Johnson said. “Just never forget, they voted 15 times between the House and the Senate to close your government. And the Republicans tried every single day of the shutdown to open it. And we voted 15 times to do that. They have a lot to answer for. And I just want to say that we’re very optimistic about the vote tally tonight. We think this is going to happen. And we’re sorry that it took this long.”

House Democrats are strongly opposed to this partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people. “We’ve said from the very beginning that we want to find a bipartisan path forward,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Of course, we want to reopen the government, but that we need to decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis. And that begins with extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”

Now, this is all playing out hours after Democrats on the House Oversight Committee dropped a bombshell releasing emails from Jeffrey Epstein that referenced Donald Trump in one email to journalist Michael Wolff in January 2019. Epstein said of Mr. Trump: “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”

In another email to Ghislaine Maxwell in April 2011, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump going on to say, a victim whose name was redacted spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned.”

NBC News has not independently verified the emails, and there is no evidence linking Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. The President posted on social media this afternoon: “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the shutdown.”

And White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt calls it part of a “distraction campaign.” “They actually don’t care about the victims in these cases,” she said. “They care about trying to score political points against President Trump. There are no coincidences in Washington, D.C. and it is not a coincidence that the Democrats leaked these emails to the fake news this morning, ahead of Republicans reopening the government. This is another distraction campaign by the Democrats and the liberal media. And it’s why I’m being asked questions about Epstein instead of the government reopening because of Republicans and President Trump giving.”

The Epstein issue is now likely to be front and center yet again when the government shutdown ends in the coming hours, as is expected.

Joining me now is NBC News senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson. NBC’s Melanie Zanona is on Capitol Hill and NBC News senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake is posted at the White House for us.

Hallie, let me start with you, because you have been covering every twist and turn of this. Talk about the release of these files. What are some of the biggest takeaways from your perspective?

Hallie Jackson: So, a couple of things here. We should note that Democrats released this handful of emails this morning. And then you saw House Republicans drop like 20,000 pages, right?

Congresswoman Grijalva will give Democrats the final signature they need to force a House vote on ordering the Justice Department to release all the Epstein case files. Debate on the bill to reopen the government will begin as soon as the swearing-in is over.

Speaker Johnson earlier today expressed confidence it will pass, even as House Democratic leadership remains staunchly opposed to the Senate’s bipartisan agreement.

House Democrats are strongly opposed to this partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.

The President posted on social media this afternoon: “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the shutdown.”

White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt calls it part of a “distraction campaign.”

NBC News has not independently verified the emails, and there is no evidence linking Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

The Epstein issue is now likely to be front and center yet again when the government shutdown ends in the coming hours, as is expected.

Joining me now is NBC News senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson. NBC’s Melanie Zanona is on Capitol Hill and NBC News senior White House correspondent Garrett Haake is posted at the White House for us.

Hallie, let me start with you, because you have been covering every twist and turn of this. Talk about the release of these files. What are some of the biggest takeaways from your perspective?

Hallie: So, a couple of things here. We should note that Democrats released this handful of emails this morning. And then you saw House Republicans drop like 20,000 pages, right?

Rep. Grijalva will give Democrats the final signature they need to force a House vote on ordering the Justice Department to release all the Epstein case files.

Hallie Jackson: It’s worth noting that Democrats released a handful of emails this morning. “In another email to Ghislaine Maxwell in April 2011, Epstein wrote: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump going on to say, a victim whose name was redacted spent hours at my house with him. He has never once been mentioned.”

NBC News has not independently verified the emails, and there is no evidence linking Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

Hallie: So, when we look at these takeaways, first, this really is the first time in these potentially explosive emails that we’ve seen this kind of direct implication of Donald Trump in connection with Epstein and the crimes and everything that went down.

Rep. Grijalva will give Democrats the final signature they need to force a House vote on ordering the Justice Department to release all the Epstein case files.

Hallie Jackson: Just days after that, of course, was moved to that lower-security prison camp, Kristen.

So, our thanks to Ryan Nobles for that fantastic interview.

Still to come, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, arrives in the Caribbean in a major escalation of US military operations against drug cartels as Latin American nations push back.

Richard Engel, our chief foreign correspondent, is in the region and filed this report.

Richard Engel: I’m now in downtown Bogota, and people here and all across this region are now reacting to this major escalation. The arrival of the USS Gerald Ford to the region, the biggest American aircraft carrier in the US Navy, and it is only adding to a military escalation, a military buildup that is already underway.

There are thousands of American soldiers and ships, in addition to dozens of aircraft and drones that are already in the region.

People here are wondering what is the ultimate objective? Is it just to continue the airstrikes that the US has been carrying out against boats allegedly carrying drugs destined for the United States, and now the Trump administration has authorized about 20 of those strikes, or is there a bigger objective? Is regime change in Venezuela, toppling the regime of Nicolas Maduro? The real goal that President Trump has in mind, and that, apparently, is what the Venezuelans believe.

The Venezuelan government has now ordered its armed forces to be at a maximum state of readiness, putting its country effectively in a state of emergency.

For years, the Colombian military has cooperated with American drug enforcement agencies, the US military, to confront narcotics.