WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And joining us now to discuss that case, plus more of the day's political news, is Amy Walter of The Cook Political Report With Amy Walter and Tamara Keith of NPR.

Welcome to you both.

So nice to see you.

TAMARA KEITH, National Public Radio: Good to be here.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amy, I want to start with you.

This Epstein case continues to roil the MAGA world.

I mean, there's a sizable chunk of the president's base who believes that they have been betrayed, that there are other villains that need to be named and shamed and potentially prosecuted.

Steve Bannon was out recently saying that he believes this handling of the Epstein case could cost the GOP 40 potential House seats in the midterms.

Is it that big of an issue?

AMY WALTER, The Cook Political Report: Yes, it's hard to believe that this is an issue that is going to continue to be as hot a year from now as it is today.

So, whether it is going to have an influence on 2026, that does seem unlikely.

What it does highlight, though, are a couple of things.

The first is the role in which we call them like nontraditional media figures have in this newly constructed Republican Party.

We call it MAGA.

And the folks who are the most engaged in bringing in new members of MAGA are folks who aren't on traditional media.

They have podcasts, they have YouTube channels, and they have a lot of following.

And those followers are the ones that they are spending their most time engaging with.

Now, some of them may not end up showing up to vote for Donald Trump, but it is a -- I think the point is that these folks have an undue influence within the party.

The second is the degree to which the bind that keeps this party together, that keeps MAGA together is the idea that there are elites, there are institutions that have had like a choke hold on the American public and that it is the job of Trump and those who support him to unmask them.

That has not happened in this Epstein case.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tam, the president has said several times recently, Epstein, why do you keep talking about Epstein?

I mean, his critics point out that could be that he wants to not draw too much attention to the videos that exist of him and Epstein hanging out together.

But he clearly wants this to be over.

Does he have the political will to bend the party to make it go away?

TAMARA KEITH: Yes, I mean, certainly this is an uncomfortable moment for the president.

This is his base expressing disappointment with him and the celebrities of his base expressing disappointment with him.

But you already see a little bit of a shift, a little bit of movement, some people not being as loudly upset about it as they were, say, on Friday.

And so it will be interesting to watch whether the sort of the MAGA celebrities -- whether the president is able to get the MAGA celebrities to sort of move in his direction and get the public, to get rank-and-file people to then move in that direction, or whether this feeling of betrayal persists and lasts beyond this.

Clearly, he put out that social media post.

It was very long.

And he was trying to -- where earlier in the week, he said, we don't have time for this, he once again was like, come on, please.

His White House also was saying anybody who sort of gins this up is undermining the administration.

But the undermining was coming from within.

It was coming from his supporters.

It wasn't the Democrats that were the problem this time.

It wasn't the other guys that he often demagogues.

It was his own supporters who were expressing such disappointment.

That said, his own supporters, many of them initially expressed a lot of disappointment with the airstrikes in Iran, and then pretty quickly they got back in line.

And so it will be interesting to watch what happens there, whether he's able to get them back.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Amy, I want to ask about this rescissions package we were just talking about with Lisa.

As she was reporting, this package faces a critical deadline this Friday.

And, as Lisa was detailing, there are some conservative Republican -- maybe not conservatives, but Republican holdouts that might like to tweak this.

Again, to this point that Tam is making, does Trump have the continued iron grip to force this through as he did with his One Big Beautiful Bill?

AMY WALTER: It sure seems like he does.

I would argue that if he got the holdouts on that One Big Beautiful Bill, many of whom said very bad things about that Big Beautiful Bill before they went on to vote for it, it sure seems likely that he will get his wish on this one as well.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tam, I want to shift to this issue of immigration.

We have seen one judge out in Southern California who has ruled against the presidents and the administration's ICE tactics, saying you can't basically stop people without probable cause.

That applies just to Southern California.

There are still these kinds of raids and arrests happening on street corners all over the country.

Do you have any sense as to what the public believes about these?

Are people outraged by what they are seeing or are they thinking, this is what he promised and this is what he's delivering?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, this is definitely what he promised.

He promised mass deportations.

He and people in his administration when he was running for office and now while he is in office are talking about what life would look like without all the undocumented immigrants in America.

The president has been very clear on this for a very long time.

This is his agenda.

What we also know, though, is that there has been local pushback when people that someone knows are getting swept up in it.

And there also has been some softening in the polls of support for the president's handling of immigration, and that includes softening among Republicans and, importantly, independent voters.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Interesting.

Before I let you guys go, I do just want to flag one big event that's happening this Wednesday.

This is the Congressional Women's Baseball Game.

You two are active members, as is Lisa, as are several other members of the "News Hour" team.

You are playing the Women's Congressional Softball Team.

This raises money for breast cancer.

Tickets are available still for people who want to pay attention.

Otherwise, you can see it livestreamed on the Monumental Sports Network.

Any predictions?

TAMARA KEITH: Well, I predict that we win.

But I also predict that we will raise awareness that young people... that young women can and do get breast cancer.

And that's what this is about, in addition to providing an opponent for members of Congress so that they can come together against us.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Tamara Keith of - - catcher of the Bad News Babes, Amy Walter, pitcher of the Bad News Babes, thank you both so much.

TAMARA KEITH: You're welcome.

AMY WALTER: You're welcome.