Welcome to meet the press now.

I'm Kristen Welker in Washington on a very busy afternoon of breaking news.

These are live pictures from the New York courthouse where just in the past hour,

a jury found former president Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll,

awarding her $5 million in damages.

Moments ago, we saw Ms. Carroll depart the courthouse with her attorneys.

She told reporters, quote, we are very happy. In a statement via social media,

former President Trump called the verdict a disgrace and part of a so-called witch hunt against him.

As we monitor the situation in New York and the reaction, we are also following more breaking

news this hour from the White House, where President Biden is meeting with congressional leaders

amid a dangerous impasse over raising the nation's borrowing limit and diverting a potential

government default, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns, could happen as early as June

1st if a deal is not reached. The meeting should be getting started any moment now at the White

House. It's unclear how long or how productive these talks will be. We're standing by to hear from congressional leaders when the meeting wraps.

What is clear, though, both sides are dug in right now and refusing to budge Democrats demanding a clean bill to raise the debt limit, Republicans demanding spending cuts.

And with the clock ticking down to a potential economic catastrophe, Speaker McCarthy told my colleague

Garrett Haidt today that House Republicans will reject even a short-term deal on the issue.

We seem to be hearing from the White House the idea that they may want more time.

They may want to try to align with that ceiling with budget negotiations that would normally take place in the fall.

Is that something you would be amenable to if that's presented to you today? No. No? No. No? No. You shouldn't kick the road. Just sit with this down right? The White House, meanwhile, is not budging from its position while also rebuffing a short-term fix. Here's press secretary, Corrine Jean-Pierre, just this afternoon.

The president has been clear since February. Since February, he has said over and over again,

we cannot be a country that defaults. And most recently, he has said, we cannot be a deadbeat nation,

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