President biden stays silent on the appointment of a the special counsel investigating his son. I have no comment on the investigation going on. Thats up to the Justice Department and thats all i have to say. As Public Distrust grows in the legal system will President Biden rise to the challenge at this critical moment for the american democracy. Ill ask tim wall, the surrogate for the biden 2024 reelect. And law and order. The defendants engaged in a Criminal Racketeering Enterprise to overturn georgias president ial election result. Donald trump was charged with 13 Felony Counts along with 18 other coconspirators and is now facing 91 criminal charges in four separate criminal cases. How dare lowlife prosecutor, deranged jack smith, thats right. Hes deranged. Howl trumps threats against prosecutors, judges and potential witnesses impact all of these cases and will any of these trials begin before the november election . Ill talk to three former prosecutors about what to expect. Joining me for insight and analysis are usa today Washington Bureau chief susan page. Jonathan martin of politico. Lanhee chen, and Kimberly Atkins stohr, senior opinion writer for the boston globe. Welcome to sunday. Its 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. This week marks the unofficial kickoff of the next days of the 2024 campaign. Republicans competing to take on donald trump will meet in milwaukee for the first republican debate. Trump plans to skip the debate and instead is reportedly counterprogramming in an interview already taped with Former Fox HostTucker Carlson. Of course, it used to be that extramarital affairs, campaign trail tears, forgetting a Cabinet Agency and even a weird screen could end a president ial campaign. Now donald trump has been criminally indicted in as many months, faces 91 Felony Counts and still leads the republican field nationally by nearly 40 points and outside of the Jersey Governor Chris Christie who is polling at 3 in a Quinnipiac Poll and his former Vice President mike pence, trumps republican opponents for the most part are declining to take him on directly. Weve done over 80 town halls in New Hampshire and iowa, and, erick, not one of them are asking me about trump. Not one of them are asking me why im running against him or anything else. I think that these indictments are a disaster for the country. Look at the polls that have come out in the last 24 hours. Im polling second in many of the national polls. It would be easier for me if trump were eliminated from competition. Instead, in a predebate memo from Ron Desantis Super pac advises him to take a sledgehammer to Vivek Ramaswamy and to defend trump when christie inevitably attacks him. The republican candidates are terrifying of alienating the trumpsupporting voters that theyll need to win by criticizing trump. Show us the campaign where an Underdog Beat a dominant frontrunner by not taking on said frontrunner directly. In an interview with the florida standard, desantis took a swipe at trumps cult of personality inside the Republican Party and the swipe immediately got trump and his allies to lash out. You could be the most conservative person since sliced bread unless youre kissing his rear end they will somehow call you a rhino. If all we are Listless Vessels that are supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on truth social every morning, thats not going to be a durable movement. Already this morning the Trump Campaign is trying to weaponize that phrase Listless Vessels, trying to compare it to the famous basket of deplorables from Hillary Clinton in 2016. The judges and his cases and there are new threats of violence. A texas woman was arrested for threatening to kill. They posted names and addresses of the Georgia Grand Jury after bringing indictments to trump. On monday to release what he called an irrefutable report including the 2020 fraud which has been debunked in dozens of court cases. On trump canceled the event and cited the advice of lawyers and this is a reminder that anything he says in public could be used against him in a court of law. In a Quinnipiac Poll this week, 83 said theyre worried about a system of democracy being able to function in the United States. President biden was elected to restore the soul of the nation, his words. A vote for biden was said to be a vote to get rid of trump, but trump has made it clear hes not going anywhere, and hes still here. Now just 24 of americans say they want biden to run again and just 30 want trump to win as trump has been indicted again and again and again and again, biden has chosen against taking him on in a meaningful way right now. That choice and the choice of republicans have left a massive moral vacuum in our nation, who is defending the guardrail . The Biden Campaign is defending president s record in a their 25 Million Ad Campaign which will run in Battle Ground states. There are some who say america is failing. Not joe biden. He believes our best days are ahead because he believes in the American People. Those who bet against america are learning how wrong they are. Joining me now is one of the republican candidates who will definitely be on that debate stage in milwaukee on Wednesday Night. Its north dakota governor doug burgum. Governor burgum, thanks for joining us on Meet The Press. Thanks for having us on this morning. You got it. Since you and i spoke a month ago, a couple of more indictments came down on the former president and i know you want to get on to other topics, but do you think he wanted to overturn the Election Results in 2020 . That he made a concerted effort to do that . I think theres an entire cable news industry, theres an entire social industry built around trying to answer that question, and where were coming from, were excited to be on the debate stage and the least known candidate on there. If you want to fill this gap where you mentioned 83 of americans dont trust our institutions the way that starts is leadership at the top. Any organization ive been involved with it starts with a leader that you can trust, thats got the character and the integrity and the proven track record of being able to do that, and thats what ive done my whole life in every organization ive been, but people dont know that yet, so we absolutely are going to leave that to this whole industry. Weve got to focus on telling our story and telling the story of what weve been able to get done in north dakota. You are running for president. You dont think people need to know where you stand on these issues . Youre asking to be the next guardrail of the american democracy. At the end of the day, this is the biggest stress test our countrys faced in the last 20 years. Yes, part of the stress test, whether its for hunter biden, joe biden, donald trump, everybodys innocent until theyre Proven Guilty in this country, and lots of accusations are being tossed around, but i think if were focused on january, thats when the first caucuses and primaries are, thats when the voters do decide. I do trust the voters. I trust if we can show that were a credible alternative that we can deliver the things that americans are looking for because americans do want this country to move forward. They want president ial elections to be about the future, a vision for the future then we have to offer that. If im just one more pundit criticizing everything thats gone on in 2020, no ones going to see that theres leadership there. Again, president ial campaigns, you know, are about the future and were going to paint that picture of how we can improve the economy, energy and national security, how thats going to improve every american life, how its going to bring out the best of america. This countrys got to move forward, not backward. If donald trump is convicted of a crime and youre president and you had the ability to keep him out of prison, would you . Would you pardon him . Ive been asked this question a bunch, and, of course, as sitting governor, i have to almost smile because as governors, weve got some limited pardoning ability for people in our own state, but if somebody came up and said this persons been accused, there hasnt been one day of a trial, in 2025, would you pardon them . Those are hypothetical questions and any governor would never speculate on that because it hasnt played out and its trying to jump ahead of the entire court system and i respect the judicial branches have got their job in the executive branch. One thing i know about the executive branch, we have everyone. When youre plowing the roads were plowing them for republican, democrats, independents and thats the job im running for. I want to play something that one of your primary rivals, governor ron desantis, said about the maga movement. Take a listen. A movement cant be about the personality of one individual. The movement has got to be about what are you trying to achieve on behalf of the American People and thats got to be based in principal because if youre not rooted in principal, if all we are is Listless Vessels that are just supposed to follow whatever happens to come down the pike on truth social every morning, thats not going to be a durable movement. Do you share his frustration . I dont. Our poll numbers are going up, not down. As people get to know us, they understand weve got a great message. Again, about how we can tackle inflation thats choking every american family, how we can start selling energy to our friends and allies and stop buying it from our adversaries and how we can win the cold war with china. These are the important topics the president has to focus on, and when were talking to people, were excited. As our Name Recognition goes up, our poll numbers go up and were very positive and we are absolutely working to create an alternative and an option for American Voters to understand who can lead this country forward. Its been interesting to me in a couple of interviews plus the one we had now, youve been quite comfortable bringing up hunter biden on joe biden, and its remarkably uncomfortable that youre bringing up the legal problems and the charges against donald trump. I get it. Its fear of alienating the majority of where the party is, but its sort of odd. Wouldnt somebody being charged with 91 Criminal Counts be somebody that you would want to see drop out of the race . Should they even be running for office . Well, again, chuck, the voters get to decide who runs for office in america and whether its a local election or whether its state or federal, the voters are the ones who ultimately get to decide. And, again, if were going to live in a democracy, at some point weve got to trust the voters. I hear you on that. Its interesting that you dont want to share your opinion on this. I think some voters will be frustrated by that. Well, chuck, everyone is at a different place. If i had 100 Name Recognition, if i was running before, if i was living in a major media market and everybody in the country knew me, that would be a different spot. I know from the private sector when we were launching our Little Company that we built over a period of time over a billion there are company, you dont start out by attacking the market share leader. You start by telling people what youve got to offer. You dont have a basis to launch that. There will be segment after segment this morning and all of the pundits will be lined up, and im not running for pundit. Im running for president. Let me ask you this. Do you think you should be adding your voice to defending citizens who essentially are part of the Law Enforcement community, whether its a threat against a federal judge that we heard from a woman in texas or the doxxing of members of the Georgia Grand Jury, this is stuff that is trying to essentially shake the foundations of our legal system. Do you think you should be adding your name to denouncing those efforts . Well, were adding our name to the very small list of people in our giant country of people running for president because one thing i know is that if were going to move back and move away from name calling and threats, thats not leadership. Leadership is about solving problems. Leadership is about character and integrity. Leadership is about bringing out the best of people, and its about respect for others that have views different than you. Thats why were running and absolutely, when im president , we will lead with respecting everybody. We work for everybody. Thats what well do. Again, right now our job is to again not to its not the critic that counts. Theodore roosevelt said it, and were in the arena and working hard to get to that spot. Tell us what the success is on Wednesday Night. How will you know it worked . Well, it will have worked if we get a chance to explain who we are, what were about, and why were running, and were running to improve every american life, and were running to bring out the best of america, and were going to do that by focusing on the economy, energy, and national security, and these are things that matter to every american. You had to sign a pledge saying youd support the nominee. You call those clubhouse rules. Donald trump doesnt seem to take that pledge seriously, should we take that pledge seriously . Well, you can take my pledge signed seriously, when i say im going to do something i do it, but for me, ill be voting for republican in november 2024, but well do everything we can every minute of the day to make sure that person is me because i know when im president of the United States, we can take this country in a positive direction. We can have an election where people are actually voting for someone as opposed to against the other party. Governor doug burgum, republican of north dakota, well watch on Wednesday Night. Please stay safe on the trail. Thank you. Thank you, chuck. Earlier this summer i traveled to fargo, north dakota, to sit down with an extenze ev interview with governor burgum, and we talked about a lot of issues under the sun and if you want to know his stance on the issues check out his interview in full on meetthepress. Com and burgum got an unusual endorsement from a democrat. Governor tim walls of minnesota. Walls said im not a republican and im not going to vote in the republican primary, but if i did, id vote for him. Walls was in iowa as a surrogate for President Biden and he joins us now representing the Biden Campaign. Governor walls, didnt mean to sandbag you there with your doug burgum endorsement, but you guys are neighboring governors. Quickly explain your Working Relationship with him. Doug is a friend, and its kind of sad to me to hear the interviews asking all of the hard questions and we worked hard on things governors do, whether its a Flood Diversion around fargo to make sure the seasonal floods of the red river dont hit and agricultural issues, but doug wouldnt answer the questions that need to be answered and you were asking what will come out of this debate the minute they step out on the stage the American People have lost. Will they vote on who can ban the most books. He didnt tell you this, he signed a sixweek abortion ban which is hugely unpopular. Its simply wrong in america. Yeah, were friends, but i hate to see him go down this road. Those were important questions about the indictment, and it was a little bit tongueincheek. I do believe doug is the most normal of these. Dougs a pretty good guy, but hes trapped in a Republican Party with no ideas. Let me ask you something about your party. Heres dean philips who is part of the South Dakota Congressional Delegation had to say last week. Who would you like to see in this race. A moderate governor from the heartland from the four states that theyll need. Gretchen whitmer, your home state governor, tony evers. Later he said many of the people dont want me to mention their name on the record. I know what youve said about this effort that hes embarking upon and you said you support the president. Do you really believe joe biden is the best candidate absolutely. The democrats can nominate or is this a political expediency . Well, absolutely. First of all, hes been one of the most highly effective president s weve ever seen. Ive been waiting for infrastructure week. I spent last weekend on Mackinac Island with whitmer. This is not a debate about joe bidens age or experience. Its about a debate about protecting the democracy and you just heard the most promising of the republicans, and being back in minnesota and its about being able to feed our children. I