President Trump fires Kristi Noem amid controversy over a $220 million ad campaign and immigration failures, replacing her with Senator Markwayne Mullin. Simultaneously, U.S.-Israel strikes target Iranian leadership following Supreme Leader Khomeini's death, spiking global oil prices by 30 to 40 percent despite U.S. energy independence. Congressman John Olszewski introduces the Pardon Integrity Act to curb executive overreach while callers debate Epstein files, war powers, and the administration's handling of national security crises. [Automatically generated summary]
Institute's Brigham McCown on the potential impact U.S. military operations in Iran could have on energy and oil prices.
Also, Maryland Democratic Congressman Johnny Olszewski will talk about U.S. and Israeli combat operations against Iran and congressional debates surrounding an Iran war powers resolution.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal is next.
Join the conversation.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is out.
President Trump decided to fire her yesterday after a slew of negative headlines and contentious testimony on Capitol Hill this week.
This morning, it's your turn to weigh in on the president's decision.
Democrats dial in at 202-748-8000.
Republicans, 202-748-8001.
And Independents, 202748-8002.
If you don't want to call, you can text at 202-748-8003 or post on facebook.com/slash C-SPAN and on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ.
Good morning, everyone.
We're going to get to your thoughts on the firing of Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary in just a minute.
Start dialing in now.
Here's what the President had to say on Truth Social.
Before he posted this, he let the outgoing Homeland Security Secretary know about his decision.
I am pleased to announce that the highly respected United States Senator from the great state of Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullen, will become the United States Secretary of Homeland Security effective March 31st, 2026.
The current Secretary, Christy Noam, who has served us well and has had numerous and spectacular results, especially on the border, will be moving to be special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, our new security initiative in the Western Hemisphere we are announcing on Saturday in Doral, Florida.
I thank Christy for her service at Homeland.
That is what the President had to post on Truth Social.
Christy Noam responded on X saying, thank you, Mr. President, for appointing me as the special envoy for the SHIELD of Americas.
Secretary Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are incredible leaders and I look forward to working with them closely to dismantle cartels that have poured drugs into our nation and killed our children and grandchildren.
The Western Hemisphere is absolutely critical for U.S. security.
In this new role, I will be able to build on the partnerships and national security expertise I forged over the last 13 months as Secretary of Homeland Security.
Your thoughts on the firing of Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary in our first hour of today's Washington Journal.
According to several news outlets today, that the president made his decision after her testimony on Capitol Hill this week.
The New York Times says that he was shown news clips of her answering before a Senate panel this week and saying that he knew about a campaign ad that cost $220 million that featured her prominently in the ads.
That's according to the New York Times.
The Washington Post reported this morning, Mr. Trump told advisors that he had grown increasingly unhappy with Noam after DHS's surge of thousands of immigration enforcement officers in Minnesota in December and January, an escalation that resulted in officers fatally shooting two U.S. citizens, said two people who spoke to reporters the Washington Post, describing the president's conversations.
Noam's testimony at a Senate committee oversight hearing this week also rankled the president, who is displeased, the Washington Post reports, with her defense of a 200 million ad campaign that featured Noam and her assertion that the president signed off on the campaign.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Trump's frustrations with Noam.
It was this exchange with Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, and the Homeland Security Secretary that rankled the president.
How do you square that concern for waste, which I share, with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?
Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from with putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave or we would detain them and remove them and they'd not get the chance to come back to America the right way.
That has been extremely effective.
Ask you to run these advertisements, is that right?
We had that conversation, yes, before I was put in this position and sworn in and confirmed and since then as well.
Okay.
Did you bid out those service contracts?
Yes, they did.
They went out to a competitive bid and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials.
And the people that you ended up picking were people who had formerly done your political work back in South Dakota, is that right?
No, that's not correct, sir.
No, it's not, sir.
The individuals who, I believe, the careers who they chose were two different media firms.
There's been conversation about their subcontractors, but we have no legal authority to look into subcontractors on work like that.
Okay.
And you're saying that you're testifying that President Trump approved this ahead of time.
Is that my understanding?
We had conversations about making sure that we were telling people.
I'm asking you, sorry to interrupt, but the president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently.
Yes, sir.
We went through the legal processes.
Did it correctly work with OMB?
Yes.
He did.
Yes.
Tuesday's testimony on Capitol Hill by outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam.
That exchange frustrated the president according to news reports.
Here's the Washington Post.
Senator Kennedy said Thursday that he had spoken with the president Tuesday night after that testimony and described Trump's recollection about the ads as distinctly different than what Noam had recounted.
The president was not happy, and I remember thinking that the Secretary is pretty much dead as fried chicken, Kennedy told reporters after Trump's announcement.
Take a look at the ads that Mr. Kennedy, the senator, was asking Christy Noam about in that testimony.
Why do I love these wide open spaces?
They remind me of why our forefathers came here, not just for its beauty, but for the freedom only America provides.
I'm Christy Noam.
From the cowboys who tamed the West to the Titans who built our cities, to the dreamers who chased the impossible, America has always rewarded vision and grit.
Our greatness calls people to us for a chance to prosper, to live how they choose, to become part of something special.
Anyone who searches for freedom can always find a home here.
But that freedom's a precious thing, and we defend it vigorously.
You cross the border illegally, we'll find you.
Break our laws, we'll punish you.
Harm American citizens, there will be consequences.
But if you come here the right way, your American dream can be as big as these endless skies.
From President Trump and me, welcome home.
Christy Noam, in an ad that costs ads like that, that cost $220 million to promote the senator said in the president herself.
Christy Noam asked about those ads at that hearing this week.
Of course, C-SPAN cameras were there and we covered the hearing in its entirety.
So, if you missed it, you can watch more exchanges if you go to our website, c-span.org.
More reporting on the president's decision from the Wall Street Journal this morning.
For at least a week, they report President Trump told White House advisors that he was tired of the infighting and drama at the Department of Homeland Security and that he was planning to soon oust its leader.
But after Secretary Noam's congressional testimony Tuesday, Trump sped up his timeline, according to people familiar with his thinking.
He was livid that she said under oath that he had signed off on spending $220 million in ads that promote herself.
That evening, Noam's top advisor, Corey Lewandowski, tried to calm the president down in a White House meeting, the people said.
But the last-ditch effort to save Noam's job failed.
The meeting was short, with Trump expressing his displeasure and ending the discussion quickly.
Trump told advisors that same night that his decision was made.
She needed to go, he said, and he began polling senators and aides about Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen as a replacement.
And the president said yesterday in that Truth Social Post that he has nominated Mark Wayne Mullen, the senator from Oklahoma, to take over, and he would like him confirmed by the end of this month.
Let's go to Andrew, who's in Sterling, Virginia.
Democratic caller, year up first, your reaction to the president's decision.
Well, good morning, C-SPAN.
I think it's about time.
Kristen Noam was basically the poster child for the stupidity, the incompetence, the cruelty, the total corruption of this Trump administration, where everybody in that cabinet is in it for the big rift.
They're taking after their dear leader, Donald Trump, and trying to basically get as much money out of our tax money to enrich themselves and their friends.
She was fired not because her ice caused the deaths of two American citizens.
She was not fired because of the cruelty towards immigrants living peacefully in this country.
She was fired because she exposed the corruption, the waste, the fraud, and abuse that happens under this president.
She should have been fired a long time ago.
She obviously perjured herself at that congressional hearing the other day.
Will she face the consequences?
I doubt it.
Because the only people in position to have her put under trial is the Justice Department under Pam Bondi, and that's not going to happen.
She is everything that's wrong with this government.
They continue to abuse the American public.
They continue to take advantage of people's taxes in this country.
And under Trump, this country is going down fast.
All right.
Andrew's thoughts there in Virginia.
Democratic caller.
Michelle is a Republican in Michigan.
Let's hear from you.
Yes, this morning I'm just calling to say that your opening monologue is incorrect.
Christy Noam was not fired, and you have misled all of everyone that's listening this morning.
She was not fired.
She was replaced, and she's being put into a different department.
Where I work, being fired and placed in a different department, there's a huge difference there.
So no, the media sector keeps saying that she was fired.
She was not fired.
And I would like you to redact what you had said.
She was not fired.
She was replaced.
And as far as the last man that had just got on the phone, her position would not have been needed if her position was needed because of the last administration who had opened our doors to illegal immigrants.
And when you say illegal immigrants, anybody that comes into the country illegally has broken the law.
So again, you, as a monetary person that opened up this section, you need to redact what you said.
She was not fired.
She was replaced.
And she will be put into a different position.
Okay, Michelle, multiple outlets used the word firing on television yesterday.
The New York Times, Trump fires Noam as chief of DHS after a rocky term.
You also have other words that are being used, ousted, replaced, swapped out.
This is the Wall Street Journal.
Trump removes Noam as Homeland Security Secretary.
Let's go to Sid in Upper Darbury, Pennsylvania, Independent Sid.
I agree with a previous caller.
See, Trump, President Trump does not fire his people.
He just transfers them to a different initiative.
And that's what he has done systematically.
And what's the difference, Sid, in your mind?
Well, if she was fired, she would have been gone completely from the administration.
You know, that is being fired.
That is not being transferred somewhere is not being fired.
However, I want to bring to your attention that $220 million contract she's talking about, it doesn't cost $220 million to do what she did.
Sally Calls for Accountability00:09:09
I think that needs to be investigated by the Democrats and Congress, and she needs to be held accountable for that.
Thank you.
Okay.
That was Sid, an independent in Upper Darbury, Pennsylvania.
Sally, Democratic caller in Washington State.
Sally?
Yes.
Good morning.
Morning.
Sun isn't quite up here.
But I would like to say that I think if she wasn't fired, she should have been fired.
If you want to go on your words, I also feel that it's the Epstein files that keeps them addressing anything.
They'd like to start a war.
Listening to Hag says, yesterday, Donald Trump said he was peace president.
Why are we here now?
I want to find a way to remove him from office as soon as possible.
He's just a mobster.
And all the people around him are all complicit in the rape of children.
And it's worldwide.
All right.
Sally, so Sally's there's thoughts there in Washington State Democratic Caller talking about the Epstein files.
The Democratic leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, also talked about, responded to the president's decision on Christy Noam yesterday when he held a news conference.
Here's what he had to say.
Christy Noam is gone.
Good riddance.
She was a disaster, and House Democrats made something very clear several weeks ago.
We said either Christy Noam is fired or she's going to be impeached.
Does that change the ICE conversation?
And Christy Noam, Christy Noam has been fired.
Consistent with what we have demanded on behalf of the American people.
But let me also make clear, a change in personnel is not sufficient.
We need a change in policy.
And that has to be bold, dramatic, transformational, and meaningful.
And we've laid out 10 different demands standing on the side of the American people.
We'll see what happens in terms of the confirmation hearings, in terms of the individual meetings that Senator Mark Waymullen has with the senators who are going to be making a decision as to whether they should confirm him or not.
And then we'll have more to say once that unfolds.
But at the moment, it's not like Christy Noam was the one who was involved in negotiating anything.
She was a corrupt lackey.
So we were dealing with the White House before, and we're going to continue to deal with the White House at this point in terms of whether there's going to be movement or not.
I will tell you that Pam Bondi, she's got to go, and Stephen Miller has got to go.
And we're going to approach those two toxic individuals with the same intensity that has now led to the termination of Christy Noam.
The minority leader, Democratic leader in the House Hakeem Jeffries, reacting to the president's decision to oust Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary.
Now, the New York Times this morning notes that yesterday on Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats blocked DHS funding again over enforcement guardrails.
You heard Hakeem Jeffries talking about this, that even though the president has decided to replace Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary, Democrats still are demanding their enforcement guardrails are enacted before they agree to opening back up parts of the Homeland Security Department, which remain closed.
You also heard the Democratic leader saying now Democrats are going to try to press the president's hand to get rid of Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, as well as Stephen Miller, the architect of immigration policy at the White House.
Axios reports this morning Republicans helped Democrats subpoena Pam Bondi in the Epstein probe.
This happened this week before the House Oversight Committee, a bipartisan vote to subpoena the Attorney General in the Epstein probe.
And then NPR is reporting this morning the Justice Department has published some missing Epstein files related to President Trump.
Back to our question this morning, your reaction to Homeland Security Secretary Noam out as Homeland Security Secretary.
There are the lines on your screen.
We'll go to Joe in New Jersey, Republican caller.
Hi, Joe.
You doing today?
Good morning.
Good morning.
I want to say that Mark Wayne Mueller was the best choice for that job, okay?
Christy Noam was good, okay?
And Akeem Jeffries, he's not an American.
I mean, he's disgusting.
He took money.
He gave money to Epstein.
He should go to jail, okay?
And so should the two in Minnesota should go to jail.
Because if I did something like they did, they stole $19 billion from this country, and it's disgusting.
They're getting away with it.
They shouldn't get away with it.
Both of them, the Attorney General, and the governor should go to jail.
All right.
And Joe's talking about a hearing that we covered this week on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, where the Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the State Attorney General Keith Ellison testified about that alleged fraud in Minnesota.
It was a lengthy hearing.
We covered it in its entirety.
And if you missed it, you can find it on our website at c-span.org.
He also spoke about Chrissy Noam's replacement at DHS, and that's Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma.
The senator yesterday spoke with reporters and he told them that he had found out about the president's decision right before all of us did.
Here's what he had to say: tell us your reaction when you got the phone call from him.
I was excited.
I mean, I saw his name call.
Well, it came from the White House, so it came from the switchboard.
But I was excited.
The president, first of all, the president and I have a really good relationship.
We talk all the time, anyways.
I wasn't, I've got to be honest with you, I wasn't expecting the call today, but super excited.
And I'm more excited about just ready to get started.
There's a lot of work we can do to get the Department of Homeland Security working, you know, working for the American people.
You know, the Department of Homeland Security has a very broad jurisdiction.
And I think there's a lot of work that we need to do, and I'm excited about that.
Do you expect other Democrats to vote for you?
John already texted me.
And of course, you guys know John and I are friends too.
And so I don't know.
We're going to try to earn everybody's vote.
I want people to understand, I'm not, when I go into this position, yes, I'm a Republican.
Yes, I'm conservative.
But the Department of Homeland Security is to keep everybody.
Regardless, if you support me, if you don't support me, regardless of what your thoughts are, I'm here to enforce the policies that Congress passed.
And right now, I'm part of it.
But once I make that transition, my focus is to keep the homeland secure.
That's going to be my focus.
And we're super excited about this opportunity.
And I mean, I've been looking at some of the criticism that Noam has faced.
Is there any learning lessons that you have picked up from Noam and the ways in which you want to lead the agency?
Listen, Christy is a friend, and I haven't had time to call Christy yet and our Secretary Noam.
And our families are friends.
She was tasked to do a very difficult job.
And I think she has performed the best she can do underneath the circumstances.
Is there always lessons that can be learned?
You know, listen, my wife and I, we have, over the years, we have been fortunate enough to purchase companies and grow our companies.
And every day, there's something you can do better.
And so I think there's an opportunity to build off successes.
And there's also opportunities to build off things that maybe didn't go quite as planned.
Senator Mark Wayne Mullins yesterday is talking to reporters after the president tapped him to take over as Homeland Security Secretary.
Your reaction to the president's decision this morning.
Bob in St. Helen, Michigan, and Independent.
Hi, Bob.
Morning.
Morning.
Yes, I believe, you know, change in the rotation of it.
I believe in what, term limits.
I mean, we've got politicians are corrupt, but the longer that they're in there, the more people own them.
So rotation has a lot to do with this.
Homeland Security Shake-Up00:08:08
I'm not following Bob.
So what does that mean for Homeland Security Secretary, the outgoing Secretary Christy Noam?
Well, she was passed with a really tough job.
But at the same time, it was kind of self-serving.
But there's a position that they have to fulfill and make it look good for everybody.
I believe there should be a common sense.
I'm having a hard time this morning.
That's all right, Bob.
That's all right.
We'll just leave it there.
Wall Street Journal, more from their reporting.
Noam becomes the first cabinet secretary to be fired by Trump in his second term.
Her departure follows a tumultuous tenure that culminated in two high-profile killings of U.S. citizens by federal agents in a pair of congressional hearings that displayed bipartisan frustration with her leadership.
Trump fired Noam in a phone call minutes before she took the stage in Nashville, Tennessee, to deliver remarks on law enforcement and take questions.
Trump said he was naming Noam as his new special envoy for the Shield of America's, a new security initiative expected to be formally launched by the administration in Florida this weekend.
Kathleen in Los Angeles, Republican.
Hi, Kathleen.
Hi, good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Secretary Noam was put into an impossible position.
The problem isn't Noam.
And the narrative that is shaped by the media.
The media is pro-illegal aliens.
The problem is illegal aliens.
And the Democratic Party, white liberals, pump illegal aliens.
We have millions of illegal aliens that have been in the country for decades, particularly Los Angeles.
I've called in repeatedly talking about this illegal alien business and how it has destroyed black America economically, specifically in Los Angeles.
They're not even black Americans in Los Angeles anymore.
We're 40% of the homeless.
Okay?
And people, the Democratic Party, white liberals pump, push, encourage, support illegal aliens, and they have been for decades.
And actually, the Democratic Party has been lying to black Americans.
So I don't know why black folks called in bashing Trump and supporting the Democratic Party.
Because we know, if we know the history, if we know the data, I say this all the time, if we know the history, if we know the data, we know that illegal aliens since the late 1800s have adversely impacted black Americans economically.
So this shit and the meat and the media is pro-illegal aliens.
I understood your point.
So Kathleen, let me ask you then, did Christy Noam and the headlines about her distract from that, from policy, from what the president is trying to do and his immigration strategy?
Did she distract from that?
White liberals and the media have distracted from the policy of, listen, Trump supporters want mass deportations.
That's what we voted for.
And yet you have all these Trump haters calling in, promoting or supporting illegal aliens.
White liberals, listen, Malcolm X told us white liberals were the problem.
So we get off track, we get all distracted, we get all confused because everything is so muddled.
The media confuses everything.
The issue is illegal aliens.
I understood, Kathleen, there, I'm on our call, on our line for Republicans in California.
Let's go back to Capitol Hill from this week's testimony by the outgoing Homeland Security Secretary.
This is from Wednesday when she appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.
She's asked by California Congresswoman over rumors that she engaged in an affair with her acting chief of staff, Corey Lewandowski.
The two of them deny those allegations.
The congresswoman also highlighted other controversial headlines that had plagued the secretary in recent weeks.
Secretary Noam, at any time during your tenure as director of Department of Homeland Security, have you had sexual relations with Corey Lewandowski?
Mr. Chairman, I am shocked that we're going down and peddling tabloid garbage in this committee today.
Reclaiming a ma'am, one thing that I would tell you is that he is a special government employee who works for the White House.
There are thousands of them in the federal government.
So reclaiming is an advisory.
It is no to be no authority by the question.
Mr. Chair, before I yield my time, I would like to enter into the record some articles, and I'm asking for unanimous consent.
Noam tightens her grip on DHS.
Lewandowski fired FEMA admin.
Okay.
The next one is Christy Noam secretly took a cut of political donations from ProPublica.
Without objection.
Christy Noam fires pilot over a blanket but is forced to reinstate him to fly home.
Wall Street Journal.
Without objection.
Lewandowski taking out trash at Noam's DC home.
Daily Beast.
No objection.
Barbie's Mile High Privacy Chamber with alleged lover exposed.
Wall Street Journal, how Corey Lewandowski became Christy Noam's gatekeeper at DHS.
Objection.
A pilot fired over Christy Noam's missing blanket and the constant chaos inside DHS.
Wall Street Journal.
Congresswoman Sidney Komlonger Dub questioning the Homeland Security Secretary during Wednesday's testimony.
She testified two times on Capitol Hill this week, and we covered both of those appearances.
You can find them on our website at c-span.org.
More reporting from the Wall Street Journal this morning.
It says that Corey Lewandowski is expected to depart DHS with Noam.
Across the White House, Noam had lost the confidence of almost all of Trump's senior aides who were baffled at her management of the agency and her empowerment of Lewandowski.
White House officials heard repeatedly from Border Czar Tom Homan, DHS officials, lawmakers, and lobbyists about her behavior.
Homan, these people said, was particularly incensed with Noam and Lewandowski.
By the end, she was barely on speaking terms with Homan or other top DHS officials.
It also says that in this reporting by the Wall Street Journal that during the congressional hearings, Noam said that the jet that the two of them have been using, the pair have been using a luxury 737 MAX jet with a private cabin in the back for their travel around the country.
DHS is leasing the plane, but it is in the process of acquiring it for approximately $70 million.
And Noam told lawmakers that the jet was being refurbished to remove the bedroom, and the jet would save the taxpayers' money.
So that's the Wall Street Journal's reporting this morning.
They also said that at the White House, there were some staffers that cheered the announcement by the president.
We're getting your reaction to the president's decision to oust Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary.
Catherine in New Jersey, Democratic caller, let's hear from you.
Good morning, Greta.
Good morning.
Good calls this morning.
My opinion about this is it was the right decision to remove Ms. Noam from the job.
Number one, she was unqualified to start with Greta.
She was making a lot of bad decisions, got a lot of bad press, making the president look bad.
So Ergo, she had to go.
Even though she was moved to a lower position, she was not qualified for the job to start with, Greta.
A lot of good calls this morning, and thank you.
Okay, Catherine.
That was Catherine in New Jersey, Democratic caller.
More of your calls coming up here and your reaction to the president's decision.
Oklahoma's Education Future00:06:42
The president in his Truth Social post also announced that Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, Republican of Oklahoma, would leave the Senate and, if confirmed by the Senate, would take over as Homeland Security Secretary at the end of this month.
Joining us now is Trace Savage, who is with Nondoc Media Editor-in-Chief to talk more about Mark Wayne Mullen.
Trace, what do we need to know about the senator?
Well, he's a pretty straightforward, blunt individual.
And it's possible folks who followed his Senate career could see some similar headlines of confronting people.
But I think generally speaking, here in Oklahoma, if a lot of people in the Republican Party really strongly view him as the real deal, I was reading a long Twitter endorsement from one of his political allies and consultants, Matthew Parker, last night, that that's exactly how he phrased Mark Wayne Mullen.
Kind of what you see is what you get.
He gets a lot of sort of jokes about his background with founding a plumbing company, being an MMA fighter.
And it'll be kind of interesting.
I'm frankly less interested about that and more interested about sort of the dominoes that'll fall here in Oklahoma politically.
Yeah, we'll talk about that coming up.
How many years did he serve in the House?
What is he known for?
And how did he get to the Senate?
I think he did a decade in the House.
He sort of famously said he would only run for maybe three terms.
And I think if I'm not mistaken, 2012 through 2022 might have, and then he ran for the seat vacated by the late U.S. Senator Jim Inhoff.
The Oklahoma legislature changed the law to allow for or to sort of prevent somebody from appointing oneself and then using the incumbency to run again.
But, you know, again, he's known for, I mean, he makes some gaffes, but he's, you know, generally well respected in the agriculture community.
He is a Cherokee Nation citizen.
I wanted to shout out Tristan Lovelace on our team, sort of pointed out that I believe he'll be the first Indigenous American to serve as DHS secretary.
And, you know, he has formed some pretty close ties with some tribal nations, which is maybe a little bit of a departure from where his initial stances were.
A friend of mine, Graham Brewer with the Associated Press, did a big long profile about him and his Cherokee heritage a couple years ago that's worth people looking at.
So, you know, I think some tribal nations are probably pretty excited about that to the extent that, you know, if he were Interior Secretary, which is what he was rumored for last year or late 2024, there'd be maybe some more influence on matters directly impacting sovereign tribal nations in Oklahoma.
The governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, posting on X, Mark Wayne Mullen has been a fighter for Oklahoma and will fight to keep our nation secure.
There isn't a better choice to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
Oklahoma has been an example to the nation for smart immigration enforcement, and Mark Wayne will bring that to the job.
So let me ask you, what is the, how does it work in Oklahoma to replacing him in that seat?
Yeah, so if you go to nondoc.com, n-o-n-d-o-c.com, you'll see a story from Andrea Hancock on our team.
She did a great job yesterday kind of turning this and unpacking it.
And again, because the legislature anticipated the irrevocable resignation of Jim Inhoff a few years ago, they create a framework by which the governor has 30 days to appoint someone to fill the vacancy and normally would have 30 days to call a special election to fill the seat.
However, since this resignation has occurred after March 1 on an even-numbered year where there's already this term was already on the ballot this year, it'll simply that appointee will serve through the end of the term, you know, rough less than a year, and then the voters of Oklahoma will select their next U.S. Senator on our standard June, August, November election cycle this year.
So, you know, there's a component of that that says in the law that whoever is appointed by the governor shall sign a personal affidavit saying they will not seek election.
I don't know an attorney who thinks that's binding, but I think the idea is that then someone would have to campaign after having sworn that they wouldn't do something publicly.
And then, you know, sort of the humiliation of saying, actually, I am doing this, even though I swore on this piece of paper I didn't do it.
That's neither really here nor there at this moment.
I think people are really interested to see who Governor Stitt's going to pick.
He has historically picked a lot of outsiders for positions, and that has simultaneously done him well and caused some major problems around Oklahoma.
Most recently on point, our state superintendent of public education, which is an elected position or public instruction, Ryan Walters, a rather controversial firebrand,
bizarre political tactic person, he resigned and Governor Stitt appointed a man named Lyndell Fields who has no intention of running this year for election and is widely viewed as more nuts and bolts focused on the education system here.
I don't know if the governor will try to go a similar route.
I could see him doing that.
The question then is, does he run?
Because he's term limited this year.
All right.
Our viewers can learn more by following along at nondoc.com.
It's an Oklahoma-based nonprofit digital news organization founded to focus on local journalism, local journalism, state politics, education, and rural community issues.
Trace Savage, thank you very much.
We appreciate it.
Thank you, ma'am.
Back to your calls.
Ruth in Plymouth, Indiana, Independent.
Ruth, what do you make of the President's decision to replace Homeland Security Secretary Noam?
Tom Tillis's Political Challenge00:14:47
Well, it's way past time.
She was incompetent, just like the rest of the cabinet is.
I'd like to tell a little story of this person who's gonna, I'll be 90 in another week.
I've never seen anything like this going on in our government.
Back in World War II, when I was about five or six years old, I started corresponding, I think, through our local church, with a Japanese American citizen who was in encamped prison camps, so to speak, out on the West Coast.
They lost everything because at that time, I guess we thought these Japanese American citizens were going to backstab us and fight for Japan.
In fact, many of them fought for the country.
So, you know, we're going around the country now trying to find warehouses to put these immigrants in, and they're not aliens, they're illegal immigrants, most of whom have done nothing wrong except try to escape serious consequences in the countries they came from.
I have no idea why it takes so much money and so much time to become an immigrant.
Biden tried to take care of this situation, and there was a bipartisan bill to take care of it.
But of course, Trump had his way with Republicans and shot it down.
So, of course, we have a problem for 30 or 40 years that our Congress is just incapable of taking care of.
So, you know, it's cruel what we're doing to these people.
Most of the crimes being committed are by American citizens.
All right.
All right.
Ruth, an independent, with her thoughts.
Dan in Louisville, Kentucky, a Republican.
Let's hear from you.
Yes, I hope you give me the same time as you give the Democrats because, man, I tell you, I've been listening for the last few months, and it just goes on and on and on.
I really would have liked to got to hear more from Joe and Kathleen from California.
But you seem like you cut them off before they can finish.
Dan, once people have made their point, we need to move on.
There's other people waiting.
There's other articles to share with you.
So go ahead.
The Democrats on the line, you know.
But I think everything's going fine.
But the Democrats, they're going to be after everybody.
It's a Republican.
They'll probably go after, oh, shoot, what's her name?
Sant Pan Bondi next and whoever else.
All they do is want to keep tearing down the people that he's got in place.
But I'll tell you, I've really been discussing with C-SPAN for a long time.
So I ain't called in for a long time.
It's really Three of y'all just do the same thing like I was talking about.
Yeah, y'all just make the seem like y'all getting into nerves yourself and people not able to make their points.
All right, I appreciate you.
Appreciate you.
Thank you.
Okay, you made your point.
We'll move on.
Front page of the Washington Post: a third DHS shooting of a citizen went unnoticed for months.
From their reporting, Ruben Ray Martinez, 23 years old, on March 15th, 2025, was killed, a U.S. citizen, and it drew almost no public attention, even as protests erupted over the January shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis, Renee Good, as a mother of three, and Alex Predi, an ICU nurse.
South Pedro Island Police put out a press release on Martinez, but did not identify the agency responsible for his death.
A two-sentence police report described Martinez striking a federal agent with his vehicle, but did not mention the shooting that allegedly happened moments later.
You can read more from the Washington Post this morning.
Shirley in Evergreen, Alabama, Democratic caller.
Hi, Shirley.
We're talking about Christy Noam.
She is being replaced at the Homeland Security Department.
Your thoughts.
Good morning, and thank you so much for C-SPAN.
And I just love your poker face.
I sit at home and make faces for you.
I just wanted you to know that a little bit of humor.
Yes, Christy Noames, she should have been gotten rid of a long time ago, but this woman was used as a scapegoat.
Every time something happens around Donald Trump, usually it's a woman that has to pay the price that's working for him.
The man at the top is the problem, and everybody knows it.
He's shown us before, he shows us now, and everybody else gets blamed for everything.
And to tell you, I feel truly sorry for her husband.
It had to be sickening for him to sit there and listen at this.
He's trying to support his wife, and he's sitting there listening at all this stuff.
But yeah, she should have gotten rid of it.
She wasn't fired.
She would just move to another position.
And there's a lot of stuff that's going on, and they're blaming it on everybody.
But the man at the top is the problem.
And one more thing, Greta.
I do not understand cryptocurrency, how this man is making billions.
All right, Shirley, we're going to have an open forum where we can talk about other policy political issues coming up on the Washington Journal.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was asked about Christy Noam's ousting yesterday at a Pentagon briefing.
Here's that exchange.
I think Christy Noam did an excellent job over there, securing our border and keeping us focused on threats.
And President making a change, we all serve the pleasure of the president.
I'm sure Mark Wayne Mullen will do a fantastic job.
He's been a friend of mine for a long time.
But Christy did a great job setting us up for success.
So I don't have any concerns about whether or not the homeland will be covered down on.
The Defense Secretary there on Christy Noam's record as Homeland Security Secretary.
Johnny in Boston, Independent.
What do you think this morning?
Johnny in Boston, it's your turn.
Independent caller.
All right.
I'll move on.
Are you there, Johnny?
Greta.
Go ahead, please.
I'm here.
I had a couple of things to say.
I want to try to keep it as nice as possible, but I find it hard to forgive the Biden administration as to what problem they created with so many people coming across the border not the right way.
As far as Christy Noam is concerned, this is where the politics come in: the Democrats are putting a squeeze on the president.
If you want to open up the partial government shutdowns, get rid of her, put her in another position of fire or whatever you want to call it.
But that's the way politics work.
And I'm sure it won't come right away, but I'm sure that partial government will open up now that she's gone, and they'll probably put another squeeze on them for a couple other things.
I won't get into because it takes a lot of time.
And I respect you.
Oh, the woman that just said that you have a poker face.
I've been playing poker my whole life, and I try like hell to have a poker face.
And you do a good job because you keep it open for both persons, both people that call.
If I could add just one more thing, and this is just probably coming from the street where I come from.
When that situation in Minnesota was going on, and it was so high with the violence of the people and the ICE, both sides, you know, naturally, once the people act up that much, they have to bring in more ICE people.
And for anyone, and I prayed for both those people, that woman and the fellow that got killed, but what normal person would go into a situation like that and bring a gun with them, fully loaded, and think that problems aren't going to come up from that?
All right, Johnny, I have to leave it there.
I'm going to go to Carl, who's waiting in New Mexico, Republican.
Hi, Carl.
Hello.
Good morning.
On Christy Noam, I think that one of the biggest things was her cheating on her husband.
Another thing was the way she answered all the time, but all she was answering was the same way the Democrats answered to the Republicans in the Department of Homeland Security when that other guy was in there.
And you're not going to change anything until you change all the politicians because they're all crooked.
They all cheat on her wives and everything else.
Thank you.
All right.
Well, Carl, I'll say that both Christy Noam and Corey Lewandowski deny any romantic relationship.
David in Adrian, Michigan, Democratic caller.
Hi, David.
Hi.
Hello.
Hello.
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we can.
Okay.
Thank you.
The last caller from Michigan was there was a lady several callers ago asking you to redact the way you start said, take it off, the way you started the show because of the way you said it and all.
But that's fine with me, how you said it, because she got fired.
And the caller after that said the same thing, but no, she got fired.
And I think the reason she got fired was especially because of the way that a Republican senator was questioning her when the Senate questioned her.
And it was Kennedy from Louisiana.
Right.
We showed that earlier.
His questioning was, I think, what brought her down.
It was a Republican mostly.
I mean, if one testimony brought her down, it was his.
According to news reports, the president was shown news clips, clips from the hearing, and that was one of them.
And according to news reports, that frustrated him, the exchange with Senator Kennedy, and he called Senator Kennedy that night.
And I think that, see, it's the Republican, a Republican brought her down.
And the fact that she's getting transferred into some new place that has just been created is much like the contract, advertising contract that went to this firm that was created just 11 days or something before it was.
See, all that's hokey, and she needed to go.
And so do, so do Pam Bondi and Stephen Miller, like Hakeem Jeffries says.
Okay, David there with his thoughts.
You bet.
The Michigan Democrat there, David, with his thoughts.
There were other tense exchanges with Christy Noam and senators on Capitol Hill on Tuesday when she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Here's one exchange with Republican Senator Tom Tillis and the outgoing secretary.
Secretary, I read your book last week.
And honestly, some of the parts of it impress me, but some of it distresses me.
And I'll give you a good example of one that does.
The passage where you talk about killing a dog that was 14 months old.
I train dogs, all right?
And you are a farmer.
You should know better.
You should know that if you're going out to a hunting lodge and you're putting pheasants out and you're putting dogs out, you don't take a puppy out there.
A 14-month-old dog is basically a teenager in dog years.
You decided to kill that dog because you had not invested the appropriate time in training.
And then you have the audacity to go into a book and say it's a leadership lesson about tough choices.
It's in your book.
We could play it if we had time.
At that same lunch hour, you killed a goat.
And you killed the goat because you said it was behaving badly.
You are a farmer.
You don't castrate a goat.
They behave badly.
You should have probably done that before, but my point is those are bad decisions made in the heat of the moment.
Not unlike what happened up in Minneapolis.
Senator Tom Tillis on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Again, C-SPAN cameras were there for the entirety of that hearing and it lasted for hours.
You can go to our website, c-span.org, to watch it for yourself.
Now, Tom Tillis, the retiring senator from North Carolina, posted his endorsement of Christy Noam's replacement, Senator Mark Wayne Mullen.
He said this on X yesterday.
Senator Mullen is a great guy and a great choice to lead DHS, restore competence, and refocus efforts on quickly distributing disaster aid, keeping the border secure, and targeting violent, illegal immigrants for deportation.
And along with a picture of Mark Wayne Mullins and his family and the family dog, Tom Tillis wrote another big positive.
He likes dogs.
Russell in Dallas, Georgia, an independent.
Russell, let's hear from you.
Yes.
Go ahead.
You need to show the video of Mr. Wayne challenging a senator to a brawl, a fight, on TV, and let the people make up their own mind about Mark Wayne.
Russell, I believe the moment you're talking about is in a hearing when he challenged a union leader.
Are you referring to that moment?
Yes.
Show the video.
And what does that say to you about the senator?
Well, it gives an idea of what was going on in the hearing.
Do you like Senator Mark Wayne Mullen for the job?
It doesn't matter if I like him or not.
Let the people see it.
Let it be exposed.
All right.
ICE Reform Needed00:13:03
Let the people make up their own mind and not have any other bearings on the particular situation.
Okay.
We don't have that ready this morning, but certainly our viewers can find it on our website at cspan.org.
Darryl in Garfield, Washington, Republican.
Darryl.
Yeah.
Hi.
Thanks for taking my call.
I think the major mistake that Kristi Noem made was I would have stayed out of sanctuary cities and done all the cities that would cooperate with ICE because anyone who didn't want anything to do with ICE would flee to those sanctuary cities and overrun them.
And I believe the problem would have taken care of itself because they would have eventually started cooperating with ICE and turn over anyone from the jails that they already had incarcerated over to ICE to be deported.
All right.
Darrell's thoughts there.
Kevin, Houston, Texas, Democratic caller.
Hi, Kevin.
Good morning, first awesome.
All of us.
I like you the way you keep the straight face.
Kevin, I apologize.
It's difficult to hear you.
Try again.
Thank you for allowing us to live another day.
And I like how you keep a straight face.
People got to understand: if y'all don't pay attention to Donald Trump, he likes all the limelight.
When somebody else gets the limelight, he gets frustrated.
This man, y'all don't understand, this man wants all power.
And the reason why he didn't buy Christina is because she put herself out there towards the experience.
He knew about the budget of the commercial.
He just wanted.
I like the fact that she exposed how.
All right, Kevin, I apologize, but you are breaking up.
We heard the first part of what you had to say.
Related to that from the Wall Street Journal's reporting, they note that the Department, Homeland Security, is flush with recently appropriated billions from the president's major legislative package last year, the One Big Beautiful bill.
Given Corin Corey Lewandowski's continuing business interest in the private sector, his role in awarding contracts has raised alarm bells inside the White House and DHS, as the Wall Street Journal has reported previously.
It goes on to say that for all the accusations against her, Noam went down for a single reason, said David Richardson, a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under her.
Quote, never cross Trump, Richardson said.
Never blame your boss.
Tammy, St. Petersburg, Florida, and Independent.
Hi, Tammy.
Hi.
Hi, thank you for taking my call.
Good morning.
I'm glad to see Christy Noam leaving, but I'm afraid Mark Wayne is even more unqualified than she is.
He's got an associate's in construction, no emergency management experience, no experience in EMS, no experience in the DOD.
He's never been to war.
He keeps implying that he has, but he really hasn't.
I don't know what this guy has done, whose friend he is, but we're picking somebody.
We've got at least 7,000 qualified emergency managers scattered across this country looking for the government to do emergency management and law enforcement, and we pick none of those people.
This is the height of corruption and incompetence.
Okay, Tammy, I'll leave it there.
I also want to share some other news with you this morning.
Tony Gonzalez, who has been accused of having an affair with a staffer who later committed suicide, under pressure yesterday from House GOP leaders who said he should no longer seek re-election to Congress.
On Tuesday, a primary was held in the Lone Star State.
He did not reach the 50% threshold in the Republican primary against a challenger, and so the two of them were headed toward a runoff on May 26th.
However, late last night, Tony Gonzalez putting out a statement saying that he has decided to not seek re-election.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer also reacted to the news that President Trump had fired Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary.
Here's what he told reporters yesterday.
Mr. President has fired Christy Noam.
Good riddance.
But the problems at this agency, ICE, transcend any one person.
The rot is deep.
The president has to end the violence and rein in ICE.
What would you need to confirm Senator Mullen to this position?
Do you need assurance?
This is a problem of policy, not personnel.
The rot is deep.
No one person can straighten this up until the president changes the whole agency, stops the violence, and reins in ICE.
What do you think about a selection of Senator Mullen to leave this?
I told you, this is not an issue of personnel.
It's an issue of policy.
The rot is way deep down.
It transcends anyone individual.
Mr. Leader, some Democrats are saying that they think this might make it easier to put your negotiations undone.
That's up to them.
They've been stonewalling us.
But you're in the same place.
They've been stonewalling us on the most important issues, and those have to change, and they have to change them.
We have to change them by legislation because any one person, I don't trust any one person being in charge of this agency as long as Trump is president, given the policies he's espoused, given how ICE has been structured.
The rot is deep.
Does that mean the Democrats are going to block any nominee from getting through?
As I said, he's got to change the whole policies in ICE.
It transcends, it's not a personnel issue, so I wouldn't focus on that.
The leader of the Democratic Party in the Senate there, Chuck Schumer, reacting to the president's decision to oust Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam and replace her with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen.
He needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
The editorials this morning, this is from the Wall Street Journal.
Trump fires Christy Noam finally.
This is a chance to reboot deportations in more targeted fashion.
That is the Wall Street Journal's opinion this morning.
The Washington Post editorial board, Mark Wayne Mullen's opportunity to reset immigration policy.
And they say Mullen appears poised to be confirmed by a party line vote after what will surely be a contentious confirmation hearing.
Though Mullen is one of their colleagues, even GOP senators ought to continue exercising vigorous oversight.
They can ask, for example, how he might respond to pressure from Stephen Miller, the president's tough-talking deputy chief of staff, who has championed harsh DHS crackdowns and dismissed the agency's deadly mistakes.
The Washington Post editorial board with their opinion.
Carolyn in North Carolina, Democratic caller, what do you say this morning?
What I'm thinking is, good morning.
Morning.
Christy Noam's firing.
I think the only reason she was fired because she made Trump look bad and she connected him with the bad behavior.
I think the Department of Homeland Security is completely broken.
I think the immigration system is completely broken because they lied and said they were going after the harsh criminals and they're gathering up anyone coming in like stormtroopers.
I think the whole thing needs to be dismantled and restructured again.
As for that colleague in California, I am a black woman.
I lived through Jim Crow.
I am not confused.
Malcolm X did not walk to help me get a right to vote and I am not willing to go back past 1963.
She is totally confused.
I did not vote for this type of immigration.
I think the whole situation is broken and it needs to be fixed.
And if you're not a syncopist, Trump is not going to deal with you.
I think this new guy out of Oklahoma, I think his temper is a little bit too hot.
Trump is not going to deal with that meal because that meal is a pretty strong meal.
And if you're not willing to get in line with Trump, then you're not going to last very long.
All right, Carolyn.
We'll go to Ed in Ohio, Republican.
Hi, Ed.
You know, I'm hearing all your callers.
Good morning.
Morning.
Every president of the United States, from our first one, George Washington now, every cabinet member does the wishes of the president and commander-in-chief.
They are not to be, and if they don't fit in or don't work, or I mean, Millie, we had years ago with Trump.
He told China, I'm a 30-year China.
Don't worry.
I'll give you a two weeks heads up if we ever invade you and we attack you.
That was treason.
Trump found out, fired him, and stabbed him in the back, or Millie.
But at least we get rid of the ones that are bad, and that's what you do.
It's nothing about his ego, Trump, our president.
They weren't, when you have bad ones, we get them out.
The Biden administration, whoever ran that party the whole four years, didn't fire one person, not one.
They stand behind.
Schumer, you just had on.
He says, everything's a wreck.
There's no way any of they propose, we will vote on.
They want complete amnesty, no masks from these agents.
So when they're dockstart, people threaten them to kill them and murder them at their homes where their families are.
They had always their ID.
They had big signs on them.
Everyone knew they weren't thugs, arrested them.
And all your trouble, and only the cities that a couple of people got killed, they all were, and then it looked like riots.
Look at, they masked people.
They're all sanctuary Democrat cities.
They arrested illegals 20 times the mountain, Texas, which isn't a sanctuary city anyway.
I think there's one, maybe a little one.
No problems.
You look at every city that they had.
The woman that would still be alive, the first one killing.
She would have been alive.
She was there four hours before that happened, blocking him.
They told me you're not allowed to do that.
Be on the streets, either traffic or ambulances coming through.
It's a shame she got killed.
She almost did run the top over.
And the other guy got killed days earlier, a week before.
He's kicking headlights out.
And then he gets in a fight with him, struggled.
He's seen the gun.
That probably was, that was bad.
He shouldn't have got shot because he got the gun, I do believe.
Well, see, none of them went to trial.
And she did screw up in one thing, too.
When both murders happened, in order to not murder, so we'll get the trial done.
They're going to trial over that.
The one in Minnesota's, those two.
All right.
Okay.
Immediately, from the governor to the mayor, they were saying murder, this and that.
They had no facts, nothing.
And normally just got rid of messed up.
And then she got out there on national TV, the world saw, and said they're on the terrorist list or putting them on.
Now, that wasn't wrong, but they were already called murderers to ice.
Nobody cooperate.
Those were the orders down from Minnesota from the governor to that mayor.
Nobody cooperate.
That's what Sanctuary City protected.
He did arrest over 1,300 illegals he got out of that town had murder, you name it, before they got here.
And he also had rape and stop here.
I mean, there's thousands of people, but this is what I'm saying.
All right, Ed, I got to jump in because I've got Peter in New Mexico, an independent.
Peter, go ahead.
Oh, yes, thank you.
I kind of agree with that last guy.
It's definitely the Democrats let in $10 to $15 million under Moroccus, and they never fired him.
And all of those people that they let in definitely caused all the inflation with the housing and the food and the medical.
You can't let 10 to 15 million people into our country and expect prices not to go up.
And then, as far as your bias there at CSC Sam, I don't think you're totally biased, but you definitely don't show any polling on Democrats.
Never Show Democrat Polling00:03:51
Notice all your polling is always on Republicans.
And for instance, do you know what like Jeffrey, like Kate Schumer's polling numbers are?
Do you know what they are?
And Peter, you bring that up because?
Well, because you guys never bring it up.
You guys never show us any Democrat polling.
I'm sure.
But your polling show has to do with Republicans.
And I never see what the Democrats' polling are.
I know they're really worse than the Republicans, but you guys never show them.
All right, Peter, I don't think that's true.
I'm sure we've shown polling from both parties.
I'm not sure if you watch the Washington Journal every single day, all three hours, but certainly we've done segments on political polling for both parties.
And we will continue to do so, especially as we get closer to the midterm elections.
Later on this morning on the Washington Journal, energy expert Brigham McCowan of the Hudson Institute joins us to talk about how the ongoing conflict with Iran is impacting global oil prices and what you pay at the pump.
But first, after the break, a conversation about Israel's role in the conflict with Iran journalist Avi Meyer, founder of the Jerusalem Journal and former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post.
We'll be right back.
American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, join American History TV for our series America 250 and discover the ideas and defining moments of the American story.
This week at 11 p.m. Eastern, we'll tour the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia to explore the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence.
And at 2 p.m., on our weekly look at the Civil War, author Tim McGrath analyzes President Lincoln's unexpected choice of General George Meade to lead the Union Army before the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
Then at 7.30 p.m., historian Andrew Davenport highlights Thomas Jefferson as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project, which analyzes the leadership qualities of America's presidents and first ladies.
And at 9.30 p.m., former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remembers Ronald Reagan on his birthday during a commemorative event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Sini Valley, California.
Exploring the American story, watch American History TV.
Saturday is on C-SPAN too.
And find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold original series.
Sunday with our guests, married writers Peter Baker, New York Times chief White House correspondent, and Susan Glasser, who served as top editor for Politico, Foreign Policy, and others.
Both prolific authors and together have written several books, including Kremlin Rising, The Man Who Ran Washington, The Life and Times of James A. Baker III, and The Divider, Trump in the White House 2017 to 2021.
They join our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein.
I don't want to cause any marital problems, but let's suppose you're working on a book and you get a scoop.
Who gets the scoop to go, say, something that's current and you want to take to the New York Times or New Yorker?
Who gets the chance to give it first to somebody?
Oh, you're a troublemaker.
You must have thought of that at the time.
I'd like to hear Peter's answer to that question.
Well, she brought the Iran scoop to our reporting, and then she reported it in the New Yorker.
Watch America's Book Club with Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.
Iran Conflict Update00:15:11
Monday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
Washington Journal continues.
Joining us from Jerusalem this morning is Avi Mayer.
He is the Substack founder of the outlet Jerusalem Journal.
Thank you so much for being here.
I would like to begin with the latest from the ground in the conflict with U.S.-Israel against Iran.
Oh, Greta, good morning.
We understand that the operation against Iran continues in full force.
There have been numerous sorties over the course of the night targeting various installations in Iran, including in the capital, Tehran.
We know that an underground bunker that was employed by the late Supreme Leader Khomeini was targeted this morning by Israeli planes.
It has been destroyed.
And both U.S. and Israeli forces continue to target missile installations in order to prevent Iran from firing missiles at U.S. allies in the region.
As of now, the death count on the Iranian side is estimated to be in the thousands.
Almost overwhelmingly, military personnel and regime operatives.
There have been 11 people killed here in Israel.
And unfortunately, six U.S. service members have been killed as well.
The overwhelming majority of the missile fire up until this point has actually been targeted at U.S. allies in the Gulf.
Israel has, of course, received quite a few missiles as well, but those numbers have been declining over the past few days.
And that is interpreted by military experts as a combination of Iran simply running out of missiles to fire, since Israel and the U.S. did quite a job on them back in June, as well as the very methodical targeting of missile launchers over the past few days that have simply restricted Iran's ability to fire missiles at this point.
What is the Israeli government's understanding of Iran's weaponry and their resources?
Well, look, Iran still does retain certain military power.
We understand that there are still significant military missile reserves that are being employed against both Israel and other U.S. allies in the region.
We've seen that on an ongoing basis.
But I'll tell you, here in Jerusalem, we've not actually had a siren since sometime yesterday.
We had a quiet night for the first time this week, which is an indication to us that Iran, quite frankly, is running out of its ability to target Israel and to target other allies in the region.
That does not mean that it won't be able to replenish its ability to target Israel and other allies, as we know it has done since the June war, which is why both Israel and the United States are targeting installations that enable Iran to both manufacture and fire those weapons during a war like this one.
Describe what it means to be in Israel, in Jerusalem, the sirens that you referenced.
Well, it's been fairly discomforting over the past few days.
The first few days of this war were quite unsettling.
We were in and out of bomb shelters fairly constantly.
As noted, the frequency of the missile attacks has decreased over the past few days.
We in Jerusalem have been actually fairly lucky that very few of the missiles have actually hit our area.
Most of the missiles have been targeting the Tel Aviv area and areas in Israel's north and south.
We should note that there are also missiles being fired by Hezbollah, which of course is Iran's proxy in southern Lebanon, targeting communities in northern Israel and well beyond.
That has been ongoing over the past few days.
But I have to tell you, I was walking around Jerusalem earlier doing my pre-Shabbat shopping.
It felt pretty normal.
Most shops are open.
Public transit is operating.
The sun is out.
You would barely know that there was a war on, but for the fact that children are out of school, schools are not operating.
And of course, anything can change at a moment's notice.
Outline Israel's military operations in this campaign.
Well, we understand that there is a multi-stage plan afoot.
First and foremost, there's this effort to degrade Iran's missile capabilities to prevent it from targeting Israel and other U.S. allies in the region, as well as from targeting U.S. and Israeli planes in the air.
That has been very successful.
We understand that U.S. and Israeli forces are operating with what they call aerial supremacy, essentially unchallenged in the skies of Iran.
The next stage, of course, is targeting regime officials, targets those who are at the center of the terror apparatus of the Iranian regime, chief among them, of course, the supreme leader, Khomeini, who was taken out in the first minutes of this operation.
And I think what we see happening now is a steady degrading of Iran's military capabilities, targeting of regime figures and installations.
And the thought is that this will create the circumstances on the ground for the protests that had swept through Iranian streets just a few weeks ago to resume and for the Iranian people to siege their own future.
What is left of the Iranian regime?
Well, we don't really know.
They've been keeping things fairly under wraps.
There had been reports a few days ago that the council that selects the supreme leader was convening to select a successor to the late Khomeini, but there were conflicting reports as to whether or not that actually happened.
We understand that there was an effort to target that council as it was gathering.
And there's been a great deal of secrecy over whether or not that gathering actually took place and whether a determination was made.
We know that there are certainly certain senior figures who are still alive.
We don't know exactly who is and who is not.
And that is intentional because they know that the minute they pop up their head, they too could be targeted.
Axios, this morning with an exclusive, President Trump says he must be involved in picking Iran's next leader.
What do you think the Israeli government would say about that?
Well, I don't know that Israel has a particular figure or individual in mind, and I don't really think it's up to the United States or Israel to select Iran's next leader.
I think that's for the Iranian people to decide.
The Iranian people have been living under a totalitarian regime for decades now.
They have not, in fact, enjoyed the democratic privileges that we enjoy in the United States, Israel, and throughout the West.
They are devoid of human and civil rights.
Women and LGBT people are oppressed.
And so, I think our hope here in Israel, and I think it should be a hope that's shared by others around the world, is that what emerges in Iran is a democratic leadership, a democratic government that represents the will and the desires of the Iranian people, that affords them basic human and civil rights, and that seeks to live at peace with its neighbors in the region and around the world.
From Jerusalem this morning, we're talking with Avi Meir, who is the substack founder of Jerusalem Journal, and he'll take your questions and comments about the U.S.-Israel combat operations against Iran.
You can start dialing in now, and we'll get to your thoughts here in just a minute.
What is the Jerusalem Journal?
What is your editorial point of view?
Jerusalem Journal is a fairly new publication, and the idea is to offer a deeper look at the events in Israel, the Middle East, and across the Jewish world than is currently available on other platforms.
It's again a fairly new publication, but we've been very privileged to feature some of the leading minds on these issues.
I think it offers a bit of a more nuanced look at the developments on the ground.
You were the editor-in-chief at the Jerusalem Post, and you've had roles with Jewish organizations like the American Jewish Committee and APAC.
How do those experiences shape what you do now?
And does it lead to an editorial point of view for your substack?
Well, look, I think our substack, our publication, Jerusalem Journal, is very centrist.
We try to ensure that we represent a broad range of views.
If we represent a Democrat, we're going to bring on a Republican as well.
If we have a right-wing Israeli, we're going to ensure there's a left-wing Israeli represented as well.
I think that that is the responsibility of any editor to do.
That's certainly something that guided me in my work at the Jerusalem Post.
And I think that ultimately, that is what it falls for any editorial team to do: to ensure that all relevant perspectives are presented, even if they make us uncomfortable.
That's ultimately what the news media is all about.
And I think those of us who are interested in a real and substantive conversation should be open to hearing various different perspectives, and we try to reflect those in Jerusalem Journal as well.
All right, let's get to Lee, who's in Wilmington, Delaware, Republican.
You're up first.
Okay, how are we doing this morning?
Doing well, Lee.
Question or comment here for our guest.
Well, I have a comment, and it has to do with Trump having his gut feeling.
How do you put that perspective as far as war goes?
Well, I can't find a reason for myself.
He had a real estate person and his brother-in-law or son-in-law.
They're negotiators.
Oh my God, America, wake up.
Right?
All right, Lee, with his thoughts around a Republican in Delaware.
Abhi Meir, he's talking about the president referencing his gut when it came to strikes against Iran.
Your thoughts?
Well, I think there are two different pieces to what Lee mentioned.
The first, I'll actually do it in reverse order.
He talked about Steve Witkoff, who, of course, is the U.S. special envoy, the presidential envoy for negotiations, and Jared Kushner, who is the president's son-in-law, also involved in negotiations.
I will say, to their credit, they were the ones who brought about the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
So I wouldn't necessarily negate their ability to engage in those negotiations, but it's very clear that based on their read of the Iranian position over the past couple of weeks of negotiations on the nuclear issue, they felt that there was no deal to be made, that the two sides were simply too far apart, that Iran was not willing to give up its ability to enrich uranium that is clearly meant for a nuclear weapons capability.
And that I think is what drove, and I think this is what relates to the first part of the question, the president's decision to launch this assault.
I think this is something that has been a long time coming.
Secretary Rubio said so very openly that this was going to have to happen at some point because it was very clear that the Iranians were not actually interested in a diplomatic resolution of this issue.
They were sort of playing for time in order to enrich uranium and reach a certain point where they could create a certain number of nuclear weapons.
That is an unacceptable outcome for the United States from other countries in the region.
And that's why the U.S. and Israel acted at this time.
The Associated Press with the headline about action in the House this week.
House narrowly rejects Iran's war powers resolution in test of Trump's strategy.
Abhi Mayor, I want to play for you what Thomas Massey, Republican of Kentucky, had to say in arguing in favor of the war powers resolution and questioning the actions of the U.S. and Israel in undertaking this conflict.
Have we learned nothing from the laundry list of wars and regime change experiments we sparked across the Middle East that have racked up a total of at least $8 trillion of debt in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan?
A sustained war with Iran will not stabilize the region.
It's already ignited the region.
It will radicalize new generations of terrorists and it will send more swarms of refugees into Europe and the United States.
Iran is not Venezuela.
The Ayatollah was not a president.
He was a religious leader from a region notorious for radical Islamists.
And the United States and Israel turned him into a martyr.
Thomas Massey on the floor of the House voting 212 to 219.
Four Democrats voted against, two Republicans voted for the war powers resolution.
Abi Mir, what do you make of the argument there from the Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey?
Well, I think Representative Massey is ignoring several decades of open and covert warfare by the Iranian regime against the United States.
Since 1979, the Iranian regime has been committed in word and deed to the murder of Americans.
It did so when it targeted the U.S. Marine Barracks and the embassy in Beirut.
It did so when it targeted U.S. personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We know that they have cells across the world that spend their entire time figuring out how to target Americans.
So the notion that the U.S. and Israel were the ones to start the war with Iran is simply negated by the facts.
I think what we see happening now is a preventative measure in order to ensure that Iran does not develop the means to wreak even greater havoc and death upon the United States and its allies.
That is something that we know they've been diligently trying to pursue, that they have been, of course, trying to develop a nuclear weapon as well as long-ranging missile capabilities in order to deliver that weapon as far as they possibly can, including the United States.
And that is why the United States and Israel felt that they had to act at this time.
We'll go to Seattle.
Jason is watching their Democratic Caller.
Yeah, I'm a Democrat and I support a free society.
I support the troops.
I support making Iran a better place.
But here's the problem: I did some research recently, and I was on a mission to find out, okay, exactly what is the administration's plan overall long term.
And from what I've seen, Pete Heck Seth, Trump himself, and others, their plan is to continue with Operation Epic Fury.
And once that concludes, they're going to hope and pray that the Iranian people rise up and take back their government.
That is like taking, let's say, you had $5 billion and you put it in one poker chip.
You stick it on the poker table and go all in.
It's a major gamble that's taking place here.
Once this operation is over with, their only plan that they have is hope and pray that the people retake Iran.
There's no guarantee that could happen.
All right, Jason, let's get Abiy Meyer to respond to that.
Major Gamble Ahead00:10:52
Well, Jason raises an important point, which is that it is very difficult to ensure that whatever regime arises after this one is going to be more democratic and reflective of the will of the Iranian people.
That, of course, is for the Iranian people to figure out.
And we saw indications of that happening over the past few weeks in those massive protests that were so cruelly and crushingly suppressed by the regime.
There is a will there for that government to come into being, but he's not wrong that it is very difficult to make that happen.
I suspect that there are efforts afoot, perhaps covert ones that we're not currently hearing about, by both the United States and Israel to bring that outcome to effect.
We don't know exactly what that looks like, but we do hear from both U.S. and Israeli officials that part of the effort here is to create the circumstances for the Iranian people to reclaim the streets and essentially reclaim their own future.
That the targeting of regime figures and regime institutions that have been responsible for the suppression and the oppression of the Iranian people for so very long is part and parcel of this effort to ensure that whatever arises after this regime falls is in fact more reflective of the will of the Iranian people.
Bobby in San Antonio, Texas, an independent.
Yes, good morning.
Shalom, Avi.
My name is Bobby.
I'm a dual citizenship of Israel and the United States.
Could you maybe expound upon how much of a threat Iran has been to our country for a number of years?
Because I'm sorry to say, but the liberal media has discounted how horrible Iran has been attacking my homeland for all these years.
And I really worry about our safety.
And I am very grateful that the United States has finally done something to help our country and, you know, to protect us because Iran is trying to destroy our country.
Could you expand upon that, sir?
Shalom.
Well, shalom, Bobby.
I will tell you that the Iranian regime exists under the banner death to America.
Its regime operatives, its leaders, these crowds that come out to its railies all chant death to America and also death to Israel as sort of an afterthought.
It thinks of the United States as the big Satan and it thinks of Israel as little Satan.
So while it certainly does want to wipe Israel off the map, it has no less pernicious aims for the United States as well.
And it has said so very openly.
And of course, as I said earlier, it has engaged in acts of mass terror and death targeting the United States and U.S. personnel in the Middle East and around the world.
It has done so consistently.
It is a matter of policy.
It is a matter of ideology for this regime.
And it has been so since 1979.
This is a regime that has sort of crowned anti-Americanism as one of its sort of foundational pillars.
And we understand that that is something that is not likely to go away no matter who ends up sort of arising within this current regime, which is why so many in the United States, in Israel and around the world, are looking for a new government to arise, a new system to replace the current one that will be more positively inclined, of course, towards its own people, but also towards its neighbors and the United States as well.
All right, we'll go to White Plains, Maryland.
Alexander is a Democrat.
Welcome to the conversation.
Yes, good morning.
I'm just calling because this guy who's on the screen now, he sounds like a Zionist, and he sounds like, of course, he supports Israel.
He's an Israeli.
And it's amazing to me how we never have the counter argument from the other side of Iran.
They talk about how Iran has threatened Israel.
I don't recall Iran attacking Israel first.
I don't recall Iran attacking Libya, Lebanon, all of Syria, all of these other countries that's been tumbled by Israel and the U.S.
And Israel is just basically an extension of the U.S.
And it's just amazing to me how people can tell lies and continue to get away with it without being questioned.
This guy is a very liar.
Alexander, let's give Avi Mayer a chance to respond to what you had to say.
Okay, so Alexander is 100% right.
I am absolutely a Zionist in that I believe that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland and the state of Israel has a right to exist, as by the way, to 80% of Americans who say that anti-Zionism, the opposition to Zionism, is a form of anti-Semitism.
So I wear that badge with great honor.
As for whether or not Iran has been engaged in warfare against Israel, the answer is a resounding yes.
Iran is a cowardly regime.
And so up until recently, it used its proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and others, to engage Israel militarily.
But of course, we know that October 7th was carried out by Hamas, of course, an Iranian proxy.
It was then joined by Hezbollah, another Iranian proxy.
That was just the latest in decades of acts of murder, mayhem, terrorism, targeting Israeli civilians at the behest of the Iranian regime.
The Iranian regime is an anti-Semitic regime that says very openly it wants to wipe Israel off the map.
It wants to ensure that there was no sovereign existence to the Jews in the land of Israel.
And so the notion that Israel, the United States, somehow preempted the Iranian regime or attacked first is simply belied by the fact.
There's absolutely no basis for that.
In reality, it has been Iran that has waged war against Israel and the Jews for decades.
And now Israel is finally fighting back.
Robert in Indiana, Republican.
Yes, ma'am.
I don't think either country knows what they're talking about.
But We had World War II, which killed six million Jews.
After the war, they said the Bible tells you that Israel become a nation tomorrow day.
1947, they became a nation.
Okay, God says, Christ that went on the cross and died for us.
This is his words.
He will be persecuted for my namesake.
In other words, people hate Christ right now, even this country.
And we've got these laws, men's laws.
You can marry whoever you want to marry.
That's against God's laws.
And I'm telling you, folks, we are in the last days.
It says the young people will rise up in the streets and riot.
Look what we've got.
Everybody hates one another.
We're never going to do anything right until we get God's laws back in this country.
All right.
Those are Robert's thoughts.
Let's hear from Grant in Washington, D.C., Independent.
Grant, go ahead.
I'd like to thank you, my call.
I just wanted to ask Avi, apparently, according to credible polls, there's about 97% support in Israel for this military action, whereas about 60% of Americans disapprove of it.
So I guess I'm wondering, because Netanyahu thinks America is easily moved, he said that on video, do you think AIPAC, an organization created with $60 million in Jewish agency funding, according to the book How Israel Made APAC, can keep things going?
And do you also think that some Israeli false flags, such as what they did to the U.S. Information Agency in Egypt in the 50s or attacking the USS Liberty in 1967 could help rage bait Americans into supporting the war?
And do you think Israeli war aims are to create a greater Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates, such as the U.S. ambassador to Israel has declared?
All right, Avi.
Well, that question was laden with all sorts of unbased conspiracy theories, so I'm going to ignore those.
But I will talk about the disconnect that he described between Israeli support for this war and how the war is being perceived in the United States.
I agree that there has been a disconnect in making the case for this war in the United States.
It is not, I think, a question for any Israeli why this war has to happen.
It's very clear that our national existence is in question here, that if Iran were to develop a nuclear weapon, that it would be aimed at us.
They say so very openly, that they wish to wipe Israel off the map.
But it is also extremely clear that the United States is a target of the Iranian regime.
And the fact that that case has not been made compelling in the United States, I think, is problematic.
And I also think it's quite problematic, quite frankly, that this has turned into a partisan issue.
We've had U.S. presidents from Bill Clinton until the present, every single president from the United States, including Democrats and Republicans, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and Joe Biden, have all said that they would employ a military option in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
They would retain that option if necessary.
And here we have a president employing that option, and we see so many Democrats coming out against it, I think at least in part for purely partisan reasons.
I think that's quite unfortunate because ultimately this is an action that will secure the United States.
The removal of Iran as a threat and the denial of Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons as well as the sort of conveyance mechanism in the form of long-range missiles will ultimately redound significantly to the security of the United States.
And that ultimately is what this is about.
Ave Meir is the Substack founder of Jerusalem Journal.
You can learn more if you go to JerusalemJournal.com.
Thank you for the conversation this morning.
Thank you.
Coming up at the top of the hour, Democrat Johnny Olshewski of Maryland joins us, a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee.
We'll talk about the ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran and the House yesterday rejecting efforts to rein in President Trump's war powers.
But first, after the break, energy expert Brigham McCown of the Hudson Institute joins us to talk about how the ongoing conflict with Iran is impacting global oil prices.
We'll be right back.
Best ideas and best practices can be found anywhere.
But we have to listen so we can govern better.
Democracy depends on heavy doses of civility.
Bridging the Divide in American Politics00:03:00
You can fight and still be friendly.
Bridging the divide in American politics.
You know, you may not agree with Le Dokrad on everything, but you can find areas where you do agree.
He's a pretty likable guy as well.
Chris Coons and I are actually friends.
He votes wrong all the time, but we're actually friends.
A horrible secret that Scott and I have is that we actually respect each other.
We all don't hate each other.
You two actually kind of like each other.
These are the kinds of secrets we'd like to expose.
It's nice to be with a member who knows what they're talking about.
You guys did agree to the civility, all right?
He owes my son $10 from a bet.
I never paid for it.
Fork it over.
That's fighting words right now.
I'm glad I'm not in charge.
I'm thrilled to be on the show with him.
There are not shows like this, right?
Incentivizing that relationship.
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Straits Instability & Oil Prices00:14:52
Stay informed.
Stay engaged.
Washington Journal continues.
Brigham McCowan is joining us now.
He's the director at the Hudson Institute, the director of the Initiative on American Energy Security, here to talk about the Iran war impact on energy prices.
Let's begin right there, Mr. McCowan.
How have oil markets responded?
Hi, good morning, Brett.
Thanks for having me on.
Oil markets have responded because while the United States doesn't get much of its oil from the Persian Gulf, these markets are global, and they've responded overnight.
And prices are up 30 to 40 percent.
The business and finance section of the Wall Street Journal with this headline this morning, oil price surge hits stock market.
American crude benchmark settles at highest level since July 2024.
What does this mean?
Yeah.
Well, it means two things.
First of all, had this been the 1970s, the 1980s, or early 2000s, it would have been much higher.
We've made great strides in securing American energy independence.
That's kept prices lower.
But the reality is, even though we're talking about less than 20% of the global market, fear moves markets first.
Prices rise on risk and uncertainty, not just on actual shortages.
And so who is reliant on Middle East oil and gas?
About 80% of what comes out of the Gulf goes to Asian countries, China being the largest benefactor of it.
It also goes, however, to some of our allies, such as Japan and South Korea.
So while it is a regional issue, it has a global impact, and the future price will be determined about how quickly the conflict starts to wrap up.
And how does that impact us when our allies are feeling this?
Yeah, the allies are certainly feeling the pinch, and there's not a whole lot short-term we can do about that other than get the Strait of Hormuz reopened.
If we can do that, then within a week to 10 days, everything will stabilize.
Additionally, countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia are finding ways to export their oil by bypassing the strait.
There's an east-west pipeline in Saudi Arabia that could potentially move a quarter to a third of the constrained oil right now into the Red Sea, bypassing the area altogether.
But that will take a couple of weeks to get up and running.
Give us the history of the Strait of Hormuz.
Why is it important?
Well, again, it's a choke point that 20% of global oil has to transit.
And, you know, it's actually wider than a lot of us might think.
It's 21 nautical miles.
That's 24 over-the-ground miles.
But there are two lanes, one northbound lane and one southbound lane.
They're each two nautical miles wide.
That's considered a choke point.
It's an international strait, so no country is allowed under international law to close it.
There's no gate.
There's no chain to drag across.
But obviously, the risk is the threat of military action.
I am, however, optimistic given that we have hundreds of tankers in the Persian Gulf waiting to load oil sitting at anchor and none of them have been struck, which says to me Iran's capacity and ability to hit tankers is diminishing quickly.
CNN was just showing gas prices today at $3.32.
That is under the high of $5.02 during the Biden administration in 2022.
Explain what was happening in 2022 versus now, today.
Well, what has happened from then to now is that the United States is the largest producer of oil, the largest producer of natural gas.
We've been able to insulate ourselves from the chaos of the Middle East that's been occurring for the better part of half a century.
It's not perfect because, again, oil moves as a global commodity.
But if we were back in those days, I would expect similar prices.
So the theory does work.
We want you to join us in this conversation this morning talking about the impact of the Iran strikes on oil and gas prices.
Here's how you can do so.
Democrats 202-748-8000.
Republicans 202-748-8001.
And Independents 202-748-8002.
Remember, you can text if you don't want to call at 202-748-8003.
Let's listen to the Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, when he was on Fox News, asked about the cost of oil and gas.
This is a major concern for Americans.
And should Republicans head into the midterms, they want to say, obviously, that gas prices are down and things are going in the right direction.
Will this be temporary?
And how long do you believe this will last?
Oh, this will definitely be temporary.
This will definitely be temporary.
The Trump administration's energy addition, energy dominance agenda have just massively grown global supplies of oil, natural gas.
Gasoline prices today are still $2 per gallon lower than they were at the peak during the Biden administration.
Now, we want them to be lower.
We want them back under $3 a gallon.
And I think you'll see them back under $3 a gallon before too long.
But yeah, are we going to have a transient bump up as we've seen in gasoline prices?
We do a little bit, but I think a very small price to pay to remove the nation that's killed more American soldiers in the last 20 years than any nation on earth and was rapidly building up its ability to kill more Americans to menace the Middle East and ultimately interfere with commerce and prosperity in that part of the world and the world as a whole.
I'm very proud of our troops and our president's leadership to fix this problem.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
Brigham Young, what did you make of what he had to say there on Fox News?
Yeah, I mean, historically, I think he's right.
Number one, when we at Hudson have looked back over previous conflicts, Operation Desert Storm, the Iran-Israel war, what we see in these price spikes is natural.
It's uncertainty.
It's unknown.
It's risk.
And in each time, these have been relatively transitory, meaning shortly-lived.
I think the fact that what we're seeing now is Iran's ability to attack its neighbors.
The number of launches is down by 80 plus percent.
The United States has systematically gone after its Navy.
And the tankers that are in the Persian Gulf have not canceled their cargoes.
They're waiting.
So all of this to me points to a fairly quick resolution.
But it's still a very dynamic situation, and tankers are pretty large targets.
So we'll have to wait and watch.
But I tend to agree with the Secretary.
Brigham McCowan is the director at the Hudson Institute, their initiative on American Energy Security.
Let's go to Jay, who's in Chicago, Republican.
Hi, Jay.
Hi there.
Good morning, Grand Rising.
Hey, there.
Just appreciate you having me on and know that this time is such an important time.
Those paying, as we talk about prices, those paying the greatest price for the aggression and conflicts going on right now are the children and the families.
And as we're looking at the children caught up in these things, those paying some of the greatest price are the children and families of Gaza.
So I'm curious to ask the caller about the impact and the price for, and what do they think about the children of Gaza and the children in this region who are paying the highest price for these obviously oil-driven conclusions and results.
Thank you.
Love and solidarity for all that standards passed by.
All right.
Brigham McCowan is an energy expert, oil and gas expert with the Hudson Institute.
We'll go to Linda in Utah, Independent.
Hi, Linda.
Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
Mine's about oil, too.
How are they going to divide uranium oil?
How much is going to go to the U.S. and how much is going to go to Israel?
Thank you for answering.
All right, Linda.
All right, Linda, let's begin with how much oil is produced there.
Yeah, so right now, Iran has been under sanctions for many years.
And, you know, Iran is a terrorist regime state that has been the number one sponsor of terrorism for 47 years.
I went through the Gulf in the 1990s as part of the U.S. military.
This thing has been going on for a very long time.
And Iran's oil production has actually been significantly curtailed because of the current regime.
So very little Iranian oil actually reaches the market.
Only maybe 1% of global energy comes from Iran.
That should actually be much higher.
And it was much higher pre-revolution.
None of that goes to Israel.
And none of that goes to the United States.
And it only goes to some of our allies because of the need that Japan and South Korea have because they're not energy independent.
China and sorry, not China.
Yes, China buys every barrel of oil they can get on the market no matter where it is.
So the prime beneficiaries of Iranian oil have been China.
Mark in Georgia, Democratic caller.
Good morning.
Morning, Mark.
Sir.
Good morning, Help.
I hope everything's okay.
Sir, you misquoted the reason why the gas prices were so high in 2022.
This country and the rest of the world were just coming out of the pandemic.
So the supply was low because they weren't producing the oil.
It had nothing to do with the United States being such a great power and being able to produce so much energy now and oil.
So prices were high because the supply wasn't there to meet the demand.
So I wish you would correct that.
Let's talk about that, Mark.
Bring him a con?
Yes.
Yeah.
So I don't think that's exactly accurate either.
Yes, we saw a dramatic reduction in demand during COVID, but with all the economic stimulus that had been passed, the economy coming back, it wasn't a need to drill new sites.
It was a matter of just opening up the volume and opening up what we had.
The fact is, we were not producing as much oil back then as we are today.
So even though oil grew under the previous administration, it was still very constrained.
So yeah, that's not exactly right.
Dixon, Illinois, Terry is watching there on our line for Democrats.
Yes, good morning.
Yes, I want to call my comment's going to be about the straits in Iran and the shipping tankers and stuff and Donald Trump's illegal war against Iran.
All we have to do is just look at Ukraine and the Russian conflict.
Russia wiped out, totally wiped out Ukraine's navy.
But yet, still today, Ukraine is able to sink high-value Russian naval ships with maritime drones and aerial drones.
And we are asking Ukraine to help us stop these drones.
No ships have passed through the straits.
They're waiting on each side because they know once they head through, they're not going to be safe.
And six American soldiers have died already.
What is going to happen when one of these Iranian military-style naval drones or area of drones hit one of our warships and we have a larger casualty?
Also, I just remember, remember that ship that got hit by that little rubber boat and what, 15 American sailors died?
Is this what we want?
And our congressmen and senators set on their hands and let this president conduct an illegal war and our patriots may die?
Terry's thoughts.
Serious?
All right, Terry's thoughts there in Dixon, Illinois.
Bring him McConnell and pick up on what he had to say about the Straits of Hormuz.
Yeah, the Streets of Hormuz are not actually closed.
And again, Iran has attacked 12-plus nations around it.
This is a terrorist rogue state that we've been dealing with for 47 years.
So there's been an ongoing war with Iran for 47 years.
Whether you agree with the tactics or not is sort of, you know, I see both sides of that argument.
And from an energy perspective, the only reason why ships are not at scale moving through the straits, because they are still moving through the straits every day and they've not been hit, is that the war risk insurance that all ships going through the Gulf have to have has either been heightened or discontinued.
And that's crazy, Greta, if we think that for years, if you have a ship going through the Persian Gulf, you have to carry war risk insurance.
Back in 1987, 1988, the United States re-flagged merchant ships from other countries and protected them through the Straits of Hormuz with U.S. warships because of Iran's actions.
So this is actually nothing new, sadly.
And what is the cost to those shipping companies?
Well, to the shipping companies, they're not getting paid for their cargoes.
And those ships are still costing them every day they sit there in port.
You have to pay the crew.
You have to maintain the ship.
You have to cover haul insurance on the ship.
So it's expensive.
And again, the longer this goes on, the more expensive it gets.
That is a fair fact.
Oil's Unstable Devil00:09:07
John, Arlington, Virginia, Independent.
Yes, hi.
I'd just like to note if you would agree with me that maybe this is almost counterintuitive that oil prices are probably going to be the most stable right now given all the chaos because there's that old saying, you know, it's better to deal with the devil you do versus the devil you don't.
Well, we know about this current regime.
And like you just said, you know, it's been dealing with the last 47 years and we've managed to adapt during this period.
What comes next after this war is the complete unknown.
And it's just not like the Islamic regime and the Ayatollah were the only factors.
There are also other terrorist organizations and Islamist groups out there that even Iran has jailed themselves that will all come out the woodwork.
And for example, like what the Trump administration is proposing, arming Kurds as an insurgency group.
Will Turkey sit back and be okay with that?
And what are the intentions of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and all the other regional partners who will have their own invested interests on this?
And what would likely emerge out of this is just pure chaos and turmoil.
And if you're looking at stabilizing oil prices anytime in the near future, I just don't see that happening.
Okay, Mr. McCown.
Yeah, I think the best way to continue to insulate ourselves against unstable oil prices is to ensure that we are 100% energy independent.
I've often advocated for a North American alliance between the United States and Canada.
Fortress North America can 100% be energy independent.
And, you know, we're close, but we're not quite there yet.
The Middle East has been an unstable region for a very long time.
I get your point.
We've tried to do nation building before in Libya, in Iraq, in Afghanistan.
It hasn't worked out very well.
I don't see this current administration wanting to put boots on the ground to nation build or to try to create democracies, but there is an unknown, and that's what the market is pricing in right now: that unknown.
We're going to check it from Maryland.
Christine, on our line for Republicans.
Hi, thanks so much for having me.
I said this before, but most of my life I've been a Democrat.
I switched to Republican because it just aligns more.
I align more with conservative values.
One way I've stayed, I kind of stay more liberal, though, is the Palestine-Israeli conflict.
I am very disheartened that our society can't just look at logic and what is right and what is wrong.
Both parties want to just stay on what is our talking point, and that is that.
I think there is clear evidence that the Republicans and our country are doing the bidding of Israel, and I find that to be insanely concerning.
And the fact that no one will at least think, okay, let's look at this.
Let's look at your argument.
Christine, we're talking about the oil and gas impact of this war with Iran.
Do you have a question or comment about that?
Yeah, my question is: there was a caller a few calls ago that asked about the contrast between the goal of oil and the effect on the Palestinian and Israeli children.
And I'm curious why you, as the host, completely glossed over that and didn't give the guests an opportunity to answer.
Well, Brian McCown, do you want to answer?
You're an oil and gas expert.
He's talking about the politics and The politics and the policy toward Palestine and Gaza.
Yeah, I mean, I do think a two-state solution there is ultimately the resolution.
You know, the issues that we have, though, is that people have to want peace, just like ending the Ukrainian-Russian war.
It's not up to Ukraine to end that war.
It's up to Russia to leave.
So geopolitical tensions around the world are not new.
The world has always been a tinderbox at different locations.
With respect to oil, what's going on between Iraq and Gaza is that both Hamas and Hezbollah are financed, supplied by Iran.
Iran has been the top sponsor of terrorism globally for the last 47 years.
So that is an unstable force, and it's playing out now.
And the implications of that conflict are that the world is missing 20% of its oil right now.
And that's pretty serious because we all need energy to survive and to power the economy.
So this has to get resolved.
But right now, we have a major oil issue.
Leanne is in Arlington, Texas, on our Line for Democrats.
Hi, thanks for taking my call.
I woke up last Saturday to a war.
I went to the gas pump that Saturday.
The gas was at 218.
Went to the gas pump yesterday, and it was 289.
What I want to know is who is profiting off of this so-called war?
Who, who, meaning the stock market people?
Who are the people who are really, really making money off of this war?
And I will yield back my time.
All right, Leanne.
All right.
Yeah, Leon, that's a great question.
I mean, you know, the answer is that nobody is profiting off of it.
The stock market is down.
Industry doesn't like uncertainty.
Uncertainty equals risk.
The price of the pump is going up because they have to buy the next fuel shipment, which is going to be far more expensive.
So the price of the pump today reflects what gas station operators who make very little money off of the gasoline they sell you have to buy and what price that's going to be at in the future.
That is the risk calculus that is embedded, and that is why oil is up.
Although the good news is it's still below, well below historic highs, and I think we're going to see a leveling off in the next couple of days.
And again, based on our research, typically during a conflict, these times are very transitory.
And my expectation is within a month, you'll see that back to where it was.
All right, we'll go to Illinois.
David, an independent, welcome to the conversation.
Yeah, David from Illinois says the price at the gas station doesn't go up until the new truck comes in.
We should not have any price higher than what it was last week.
Someone, I don't know who's giving you your information, but they're wrong.
Mr. McCowan?
Yeah.
Yeah, thanks, David, for that comment.
Yeah, it's unfortunately it does go up because you have to have that money on hand to buy the next shipment.
So if the next shipment is, I don't know, let's say $50,000 more, the only way to get that extra $50,000 from your gas station is to start charging more now.
That is unfortunately how our system works.
Beth in Massachusetts, on our line for Democrats.
Good morning.
A few calls back, a caller called with the point that the pandemic was the major cause of high prices during a period of time under the Biden administration.
And your guest's answer was that that was not exactly accurate.
How exactly is that not accurate?
Yeah, well, thank you for the question.
If you remember, during the pandemic, gasoline, I'm sorry, gasoline and crude oil prices in particular fell to zero.
People were paying you to take barrels off the market because of demand collapse.
As that demand came back on, supply increased and it increased pretty dramatically.
At the time, I was watching the oil prices, and I can tell you that oil was still coming out of the ground at the same amount it had been coming out of, by and large.
And actually, supply had increased outstripping demand, not the other way around.
So prices were being driven higher during that time, however, by some transitory pikes, speak.
I'm sorry, transitory spikes, which means, yeah, there were a few times of imbalance, but gasoline prices were not higher because of the pandemic.
Bridging Political Divides00:03:51
Our viewers can learn more from Mr. McCowan if you go to Hudson.org.
He's their director of the Initiative on American Energy Security.
Thank you for the conversation.
We appreciate it.
Absolutely.
Thanks for having me on, Greta.
We're going to take a break, and when we come back up next, a conversation with Democrat Johnny Olszewski of Maryland, a member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, will continue our conversation about the ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran.
We'll be right back.
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Back at our table this morning, Congressman Johnny Ilsheski, he's a Democrat of Maryland, sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress.
I want to begin with a truth social post from President Trump just moments ago and get your reaction.
Reforms and Republican Control00:15:04
There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender.
After that, and the selection of a great and acceptable leader, we and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.
Iran will have a great future, make Iran great again.
That's what the president had to say.
Your reaction.
Well, the president has a lot to say, but he does not bother to listen to the Congress of the American people before taking us to war.
And we know that Iran is a brutal, repressive regime.
They should never be able to have a nuclear weapon.
And there are certainly good reasons to go to war and to make pronouncements like this.
But the Constitution is absolutely clear.
The president must come to Congress for war.
And make no mistake, we are absolutely at war.
We've already lost the lives of American service members.
This is going to cost billions and billions of dollars.
It will be protracted.
The president hasn't ruled out boots on the ground.
And so I share the concerns about the Iranian regime.
I voted for the resolution just yesterday calling them the largest state sponsor of terror, denouncing their activities.
And there might have been reasons to go to war.
The president's had ample opportunity.
There was no imminent threat.
He had every opportunity to.
I still think he should before committing our livelihoods and the lives of our service members to this conflict.
What happened with the vote in the war powers resolution in the House?
It was largely a party line vote that failed, unfortunately.
And I think whether or not you agree ultimately with the decision and the justification, which again, I think the president has an obligation to present to the Congress and the American people, that Congress should assert its authority to say the president must receive that permission.
You know, if we go after every bad regime in the world, we'd be at war with Russia.
We'd be potentially at war with China.
And so, again, I am happy to see the Ayatollah removed from power.
I'm happy to see many of the other brutal leaders of that country no longer in position, but this is really risking American well-being, safety.
And the president has articulated no clear plan, nor has his administration in classified or in public settings, what the strategy is, what are the outcomes, what does victory actually look like, what comes next.
We very well may leave Iran in a worse situation in terms of turmoil and not knowing who comes after.
And we want to have self-determination and democratic reforms in that country, but it's deeply concerning any time the president says, let's go to war, but having no plan on the back end of that war.
What did the war powers resolution say?
It basically would require, as most of these resolutions, that the president must seek authority to conduct military operations in Iran.
It would have required him to stop without that authorization.
And again, I would be open to the idea of having the president come and getting an authorized use of military force in Iran.
But they need to come to us to make that argument, to make the argument to the American people.
Look, the president rambled on for two hours during the State of the Union, only making a passing reference to Iran.
So rather than taking the time with no imminent threat to not take that time and make the case and not to seek the approval from Congress, I think is outside the bounds of the law and the Constitution.
And I think it's outside of the interest of the American people.
Will Democrats, along with some Republicans, continue to push for another vote on a war powers resolution?
I think as you see this conflict drag out, I think particularly if you see American soldiers committed to being in Iran boots on the ground, I do think that will change the landscape a little bit and will make the fact that we have sons and daughters in a foreign country fighting for a war that's not authorized, it may have us reconsider that.
And this was a vote that there were some Republicans that voted with Democrats.
There were a few Democrats that voted with Republicans.
But ultimately, again, I just want to see the intelligence.
I want to see the justification and I want to see the plan on the back end on what does this war look like?
How do we conduct it?
What's the strategy for winning this?
And what's the strategy for transition following the war?
The fact that the State Department, for example, had absolutely no plan for Americans meant that thousands and thousands of Americans were stranded.
And they were basically said, you're on your own good luck.
And that's not what we want to say to the Middle East.
We can't say, you're on your own good luck.
As a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, what have you heard from the GOP majority that control the committee?
But what have you heard about hearings coming up, closed-door testimony?
Anything from the Trump administration on what's next in Iran?
Sadly, nothing.
We have neither plans for open committee hearings nor closed door hearings with those responsible for conducting this war with Iran.
And I think that is really unfortunate, not just for Congress and our co-equal role, but also for the American people.
Because we, again, we're spending billions of dollars.
We're risking American lives.
And I think that we deserve to have some insight and accountability as to not only how the war is being conducted, but what comes afterwards.
As the minority, what can you do to pressure the administration?
Well, we keep calling for it.
We had a hearing in Foreign Affairs yesterday where we pointed out there was no one really, no Wickoff, no Kushner, no one actually responsible for issues related to the war, related to Middle East coming before foreign affairs.
We haven't had any of them come this entire year that we've been in Congress.
And so I think the average American can say, look, we are at war.
There is no reason why administration officials can't come before Congress and at least answer questions both to the public and behind closed doors so that we are getting this right.
I want to be supportive.
The men and women of our military are doing incredible work.
But this is a situation where it feels like, as he's done before, President Trump is asking for a blind trust that he hasn't earned and proceeding with whatever he thinks is right without actually engaging in that dialogue as he's required to by the Constitution.
We'll go to calls, but one last question.
Your reaction to the president's decision to oust Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary, and he wants her replaced, should the Senate confirm him with Senator Mark Wayne Mullen?
Yeah, look, Secretary Noam presided over a lawless agency.
She was responsible, and there was even criticism from Republican senators about some of these no-bid contracts going to the well-connected.
And I think that's part of the frustration that people feel generally is this sense of the wealthy and well-connected getting away with all sorts of things that the average person would never get away with.
She also presided over an agency that was lawless in terms of how it interacted with the American people.
She blamed American citizens as they were killed by an American agency.
And so I think she had ample opportunity to reform.
I think this firing or resignation is long overdue, but the work is only halfway done.
And so I understand Senator Mullen is a decent individual, but I hope that as senators are reviewing his credentials and deciding whether or not to confirm him, that they're really pressing him on whether or not they're going to do the reforms that are necessary for ICE and for Homeland Security.
Look, I led a large law enforcement agency before coming to Congress.
Things like body warrant cameras, de-escalation, not doing law enforcement in sensitive locations.
These are best practices.
These are not radical ideas, and I hope that he can agree to do those.
All right.
We'll go to calls.
Steve in Freeland, Maryland, Democratic Caller.
Johnny Omeski from Lamar County used to be my county executive.
I'm still feeling the pain from Mr. Olevsky and my property taxes.
Now I've got, of course, Wes Moore raising my property taxes.
So as a Democrat, I really don't want to hear too much from Johnny Yeo.
Now, let's get to the point.
The point is, is about the legislative branch and its inability to do its job, which is why we do not have anybody coming to Congress anymore.
We do everything through executive power.
It doesn't matter who's in charge or what party's in charge.
We all do it through executive powers because the legislative branch is first and foremost, they're never there.
They're always on recess or vacation.
The House was in session this past term for 130 days.
It is hard to get the nation's business done when our legislative leaders are only there 130 days a year.
All right, Steve, let's take that point.
Yeah, Steve, I couldn't agree more about Congress being ineffective, and that's by choice.
And this is a Republican majority that has chosen.
Speaker Johnson is the one who sets the agenda.
He canceled votes this week.
We had four days of work.
Now we're down to two.
We were supposed to be in session today, and we're not.
But I couldn't agree more.
And we should be getting things done.
There are any number of issues that 80% of Americans agree to, whether it's banning stock trading by members of Congress, reining in the abuses of the pardon that we see under this president, common sense gun safety legislation like background checks.
There are overwhelming numbers of Americans that support things that we should be doing, and we're not.
I will say, though, to the point of my time as county executive, I was proud that for my entire tenure as county executive, not only did we keep your tax rates flat my six years, we actually prevented them from raising by having a homestead property tax credit that limited any potential increase for people who were homeowners in Baltimore County.
So I actually did not raise taxes, kept them flat proudly.
I'm one of those Democrats that think we can be and we should be fiscally responsible.
Any closer to reopening parts of the Homeland Security Department?
Any closer in negotiations?
We took a party line vote again yesterday largely, and I think that's unfortunate.
I'm a co-sponsor of legislation by Ranking Member Rosa DeLaura on appropriations that says, look, we have very strong disagreement on the lawlessness of ICE, but we understand the importance of Homeland Security writ large, FEMA, TSA, the Coast Guard.
So I think there would be, if not unanimous, nearly unanimous support for legislation that would open up the rest of the government.
The big ugly bill gave ICE billions of dollars.
They have plenty of funding right now.
So I think we should separate out all the rest of the agencies, fund them with strong bipartisan support.
I'd encourage and I call on my Republican colleagues to join me to do that so that we can have the fight about ICE.
I do think the American public overwhelmingly support the reforms that Democrats are calling for in that space.
But there's a way where we can focus the discussion and the debate just about ICE and allow for the rest of Homeland to be funded.
Do you disagree with your leadership then on the tactic here?
Look, I don't know what the leadership's position is.
I support funding.
Well, they don't want to reopen those parts without reforms to ICE.
Well, I won't give ICE another penny, but that is a different conversation for me than supporting the Coast Guard, FEMA, and other agencies that are not part of this fight.
So I'm willing to support those other agencies, but I cannot justify giving ICE another penny so long as they continue with their lawlessness.
Alan's next in Mississippi, Independent.
Al.
Oh, good work.
Thank you, Mr. Curtis.
Go ahead, Alan.
We're listening.
Yep.
Well, thank you for taking my call.
I would like to just ask gentlemen on the television as why is he not at work?
How can President Trump consult you regarding going to war when the Democratic government are not at work?
He said he's concerned about FEMA and the postcard and everything else.
Well, why is he not at work?
Alan, he answered that question, but go ahead and repeat it.
Yeah, Alan, I'm at work today.
I'm in person in Washington, D.C. still today, even though votes were canceled, hearings were canceled today.
This, again, is an agenda that's set by Speaker Johnson and this Republican majority.
Democrats do not get to set when we are in office or taking votes.
I think we should be in more, particularly given that we are at war.
I would love to talk more about the fact that the Department of Justice just released three instances, for example, of interviews where President Trump was accused of sexual assault.
We're not talking about that.
We're not having that conversation.
We're not talking to those responsible for executing this war or for what happens afterwards.
We're not talking about ICE or Homeland Security.
So I wholeheartedly agree.
That's why I'm here today.
I'm ready to come to work at a moment's notice.
So hopefully the speaker has a change of heart and brings us home.
Next week is supposed to be a district week.
I have plenty of things where I'm going to be engaging with my constituents, but I think you're absolutely right.
We're not working hard enough, especially given some of the issues that are happening across this country.
Do you agree with your Democratic leader that the party needs to add pressure on the president to oust Attorney General Pam Bondi over the Epstein files, as well as Stephen Miller, who's the architect of the immigration policy?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I think if you think about all the reasons why Christine Holmes should have been fired or resigned or impeached if she didn't leave, apply to Stephen Miller as well.
And then as you think about Pam Bondi, she is still, to this day, actively ignoring a law that was passed by Congress almost unanimously.
One Republican voted against it, signed by the president.
I mean, she is really in contempt of Congress, if you ask me, in terms of withholding 3 million files.
She withheld those three accusations of sexual assault against the president just until just today.
But there are at least 3 million files that are still outstanding.
The law is clear.
They all should be released except for redacting and protecting the identity of survivors.
And so absolutely, she is actively subverting the law.
She is ignoring Congress's responsibility as a lawmaking branch.
And so absolutely, I support my leadership in this space.
What power do Democrats have, though, when you don't control either chamber?
Limited, to be perfectly honest.
We are making, I think, impacts where we can.
For example, we passed, because of Democrats, there was a three-year extension that passed the House for the ACA tax credits that would have kept health care costs more affordable as opposed to the thousands of dollars that people on the exchange in Maryland are now paying as a result.
We are forcing the conversation on Epstein because of Democrats pushing the issue over and over again.
But at the end of the day, Republicans are the ones in charge.
They have a trifecta.
They have the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.
And, you know, if you look at issues like the Epstein files and the failure to release, this is something that the chair of oversight could very easily call in.
We just recently subpoenaed because of Democrats and a few Republicans coming together to subpoena the Attorney General.
But I think at this point, she is actively withholding documents.
It is in violation of the law.
And for me, if you can't follow the law as the chief law enforcement officer, you should no longer serve in that role.
Subpoena and Documents00:15:20
We'll go to Alabama.
Chuck is there on our line for independence.
Go ahead.
Good morning.
A couple of facts, then a question.
First of all, I think Iranian was enriching, you know, I mean, Iran was enriching uranium to 60% or so, which is only good for a nuclear weapon.
They're working also on upping their missile capabilities where, you know, they can send missiles all over the world.
And so to me, you know, that seems like that's a pretty scary thing.
So if the president had gone to you and said, should we declare war, would you have said no?
What is your answer to that?
In other words, I don't understand where y'all, you know, you want him to come to you, but then, you know, and then you're going to say, no, we don't want to go to war.
And you want to have Iran keep on going for the next 50 years.
All right, let's have the congressman answer.
That's a totally fair question.
And that's why I said at the top, there are instances where war is justified.
And the truthful answer is I don't know how I would have voted on an authorization because the president never took the time to actually walk through where Iran was in their enrichment capabilities.
We know it's very far along.
It's very concerning where they are on their missile capability if there was an imminent threat to the United States.
I mean, if any of these things are all true, then that certainly is a different dynamic that we have to consider as members of Congress.
So I will say I am not opposed to the idea of striking what is a brutal, repressive regime who clearly, to your point, has capabilities beyond civilian nuclear technology.
So the way they operated was deeply concerning.
However, I think we have an obligation to make sure that there is a plan, that there is a threat, and that we have a sense of what we do on the backside.
So I would neither rule it in nor out, but the Constitution is clear to just unilaterally be able to go to war, I think, is not in the best interest of Americans.
And again, it is clearly outside the bounds of the Constitution.
Washington Post with exclusive reporting this morning.
Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces.
First, I've heard of that, but again, deeply concerning.
If that is true, you have another adversary that is actively helping a country kill Americans.
And so I think that's why when there are issues of this consequence and import, Congress and the American people have to be at the table.
This is a military war that I know polling, at least to date, Americans do not support.
And I think that we've seen time and time again, this is a president who acts first, punches first, and then asks questions later or hopes that we can clean it up on the back end.
And, you know, what this risks with Russia could be an escalation the likes of which we've never seen in our lifetimes.
And so we deserve to be at the table.
We should be at work to the point of other callers.
We should be here in Washington having those conversations, taking the votes, getting the intelligence, because we should be supporting the men and women who are risking their lives.
This is not something that they have chosen, but the safety and well-being of Americans are at stake, and that's why I want to be at work, why I want to get this right, so that we don't end up in an even worse situation in the weeks ahead.
Another Washington Post headline, Iran's command structure is proving remarkably resilient.
From your work on the Foreign Affairs Committee, what can you tell us about Iran's command structure?
What I can tell you is that Iran, I'm sure, was planning for the fact that at some point America or others might strike.
And so just like we build in redundancies and protections into our systems, they have been thinking through this four years.
And so, again, I think if we were going to strike, if we were going to attack, if we were going to go to war, having a complete plan, and again, maybe we had some plan on the war side, but we clearly have not had a plan on the what comes after side would be super helpful and would make Americans safer.
So I'm not surprised at all at how resilient their command structure has been.
Again, this is a regime that has killed Americans, that has slaughtered tens of thousands of their own people as they rose up against them just months ago.
And they have been holding on to power brutally for a very long period of time.
So none of that is surprising to me, and all the more reason why we have to be thinking about what American activity will be in the weeks ahead.
Wall Street Journal, Kurdish uprising would come with risks.
Do you agree?
Absolutely.
I think that there's been a staggering lack of thought put into who helps lead, what the uprisings might be, and how that affects America.
Again, this is a president and administration that punches first and then hopes that things work out on the back end.
Why is it risky?
Again, because I think that we don't know what subsequent leadership would look like in that country.
We don't know what they're going to stand for.
We don't know if they're going to continue with enrichment activities, if they're able to take over.
I think the president has this false sense that because he takes out one set of leaders, that whomever might rise up in the the fallout are going to be beholden to him or follow his lead.
And I think that that is faulty logic and really, I think, can put America at risk in the process.
Congressman Olszzewski is our guest here this morning, Democrat of Maryland and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Let's go to Jeffrey in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.
Democratic caller.
Yes, ma'am.
Listen, I was wondering why they are not going after Trump and his family for their arms and oil stocks that they apparently own because Trump does nothing that doesn't line his own pocket first.
And we've known this for the last decade or more.
Okay, we'll have the congressman respond.
Yeah, great question.
This is a president and a family who have lined their pockets to the tune of billions of dollars in their first year coming back into office.
We've seen it with his cryptocurrency scheme selling advanced chips to the UAE.
We've seen it filing suit against his own administration with the IRS to try to seek money.
We've seen it with lawsuits against private companies where he's basically blackmailed companies into paying him.
I will say I am trying to push the president and hold him accountable in this hyper-partisan world where Democrats and Republicans almost never do anything together.
I'm partnering with Don Bacon of Nebraska.
He and I have a Pardon Integrity Act.
We've seen these just egregious pardons, whether it's Juan Orlando Hernandez, the Honduran drug kingpin.
We've seen it with people who have given $2 million to his MAGAPAC, who's been part in the crypto con artist CZ.
And so this is a bipartisan effort that would say Congress has the authority to recall and review and with a two-thirds supermajority overturn these pardons.
And so I am actively trying to fight back against this president.
I'm pleased that I'm doing so in a way that is common sense.
We know these have been abuses that Democratic and Republican presidents have done in the past.
They've been especially egregious under this president.
But in that space and all others, I agree, we should be holding this president accountable, and I am doing all that I can to do just that.
From the provisions of the Congressman's bill, the Pardon Integrity Act would grant Congress authority to review and reject presidential pardons and commutations.
20 members of the House and five members of the Senate could initiate a review process.
That's right.
And so the hope there is that presidents would at least think twice before issuing egregious pardons.
And then, if they don't, that at least a significant number of members of the House and Senate, it would require both chambers to put that 20 and those five members to petition for a review.
Within 60 days, we'd take a vote.
And if two-thirds voted in support of overturning the pardon, it would be stayed.
The president could not reissue a pardon for the same offense.
That's all part of the constitutional provision there.
And I think just by virtue of shining a light and making members of Congress go on the record of some of these really awful pardons, I think that we would see some of these abuses rained in, not just under President Trump, but for all future presidents as well.
Congress would then have 60 days to nullify a pardon with a two-thirds supermajority vote in both chambers.
And once the pardon is overturned, the president cannot issue the same pardon again.
Let's go to Daniel, Great Falls, Virginia, Republican.
Hey, good morning, CeasePan.
Thanks for taking my call.
I just want to make one comment and then a couple questions for the Congressman.
So, first of all, I think the reason we don't get anything done in Congress anymore is because things are not done in good faith.
There's no genuine effort to seek and tell the truth and come to a common understanding and a consensus on what's right.
And that's just been going on for so long now.
You have all these different conspiracy theories that the Democrats put out, and it's done in an effort to try to sway public opinion and force a narrative.
And one of them would be, of course, you know, the steel dossier and the Russia collusion hoax.
And it's just absolute nonsense.
And then you have the Epstein thing.
It's complete nonsense.
You heard nothing from the Democrats for four years under Biden and Merrick Garland as the Attorney General.
Never once did you hear anything about the Epstein files.
But my other point is he talks about the lawlessness of ICE and Department of Homeland Security.
I want to know if the congressman, so we have complete lawlessness we saw, you know, especially up in Minnesota, but also out in LA, you know, Cook County out in Illinois.
It is against the law to impede federal law enforcement and the conduct of their operations.
18 United States Code 111 makes it a federal law.
It's a crime to forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate with federal law enforcement officers when they go about performing their duties.
It's a crime.
And we had multiple politicians, Democrat politicians at the local, state, and national level encouraging people to go out and do just that, to break the law.
We saw in the previous administration, Biden, Harris, Mayorkas, they threw open the border.
They let in millions upon millions, and then they lied and sat up there and said the border's secure.
Kareem John Pierre, day after day, sat up there as the press secretary and said, oh, yeah, the border's secure.
It was absolute nonsense.
Here in Virginia, where I live, but the other day, two weeks ago, Stephanie Minter was murdered by an illegal alien, slashed to death with a knife at a bus stop as she waited for a bus.
All right.
Daniel, I'm going to jump in so the congressman can respond.
We heard all your points.
Yeah, a lot of points there, Daniel.
I will first say that I actually agree with him on the point of the good faith and the truth.
And I feel like that's been one of my great frustrations coming to Congress is that people like to run to their extreme corners and just yell at each other as opposed to talk to each other.
And that's something that I'm trying to change as a new member.
Actually, partner with other Republicans, and we have these bipartisan mixers because I feel like this is a town where even talking to Democrats and Republicans, you sort of get the side eye.
You would have thought that we invented nuclear fission by saying, let's have some beers and some pizza and actually talk to each other and get to know each other as we do that work.
As it relates to things about hoaxes, I will say the Epstein files are not a hoax.
There are real survivors and people who have been abused.
That is real.
It's been documented.
There are people who went to jail.
Unfortunately, not enough because there are more abusers in the file, as we know.
People are starting to be held accountable.
But I will say, look, Democrats got it wrong.
Merrick Garland and Joe Biden did not act on this.
And I think as Democrats, we have to own that too.
I'm a new member.
I've only come, this has been sort of my first opportunity.
And so I think it is the right thing to have this transparency and to have individuals held accountable.
I also will say I came to this work, again, as someone who led a large local law enforcement agency.
I was Baltimore County executive before I came here.
My brother is a police officer in that agency.
I'm so proud of him and the work that he does.
Of course, if someone's impeding an officer, they should be arrested.
They don't deserve to be shot and killed for recording.
And recording an officer conducting their lawful activity is different than impeding them.
I would never suggest that we should actively impede law enforcement.
So I can't speak to the other Democrats.
I try to just speak for this one.
But look, I think we can and we should both support law enforcement and also hold them accountable.
And I think that asking both of those things, multiple things can be true at the same time, those are both things that the American people, I think, want.
We want to invest in and support our law enforcement.
But I think it's not unreasonable to ask that they act in good faith and in honor of and upholding the law as they conduct their activities.
We'll go to Rudy in San Diego, Independent.
Hi, how are you?
Look, I congratulate you.
I'm an independent.
I was going to vote for Trump, and then I saw how crooked he is and everything.
And he's a cover-up.
What a coincidence that when they talk about the Epstein files, and you're right, Epstein files, because he's not in power.
I don't want to say.
But anyway, I believe that every time the Epstein files come up, he gets involved like in Venezuela.
The drugs are coming in, and all these speed boats have drugs.
They don't show it.
They don't approve it.
They don't have proof.
They're saying, you know what?
This is how much drugs we got from those speed boats.
No, it's trying to make the public focus on Venezuela, focus on Iran, and try to cover up the Epstein files.
I do believe what he did is wrong at the Epstein files, but he's not going to admit it.
But a lot of people don't open their eyes and look at the reality.
I think he needs to get out.
Okay, Rudy.
Congressman.
Thanks, Rudy.
Yeah, look, there is a disturbing pattern that every time we are approaching some new news related to the Epstein files, there is this international warfare or military activity the president undertakes.
And maybe it's coincidence, but certainly it is concerning to see that alignment of things.
I will say, given the depravity of the crimes and the extent of the network, the rich, the powerful, again, whether it's the Epstein files or these pardons or the Trump family self-enrichment, it is the idea that the rich, the powerful, are getting away with everything while the average Joe and Jane is getting screwed.
And so, you know, I think if we ever get to the bottom of this, and there are, again, at least 3 million files that we still haven't seen, the DOJ is redacting files.
They're making members of Congress travel to their building.
There are files that are still redacted.
Again, all in violation of the law.
This is a bigger cover-up and could be a bigger cover-up and a bigger conspiracy than Watergate.
And Watergate took down a president.
I think, again, if the accusations are true and if it all comes out, it will not only take down a president, but we know, I know from going there, there are members of Congress, there are current and former presidents, current and former cabinet officials, there's a Supreme Court job.
I mean, there are names in there, and being in there doesn't mean you're guilty.
But it is deeply concerning when you see the breadth of individuals who are in these files.
And so the public deserves to finally get to the bottom of this because these are some of the most depraved, awful crimes a human being can commit.
Bigger Cover-Up Than Watergate00:02:53
And if anyone participated in them, that should lead to their downfall.
He's known as Johnny O., Congressman Johnny Olszewski, Democrat of Maryland, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Thanks for talking to our viewers today.
Thanks for having me in.
We're going to take a break when we come back.
We'll continue with Open Forum, the ongoing conflict in Iran, the president's firing of Homeland Security Secretary Christine Noam are the two big stories dominating Washington this morning.
What's on your mind?
There are the lines on your screen.
start dialing in.
American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, join American History TV for our series, America 250, and discover the ideas and defining moments of the American story.
This week at 11 p.m. Eastern, we'll tour the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia to explore the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence.
And at 2 p.m., on our weekly look at the Civil War, author Tim McGrath analyzes President Lincoln's unexpected choice of General George Meade to lead the Union Army before the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
Then at 7.30 p.m., historian Andrew Davenport highlights Thomas Jefferson as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project, which analyzes the leadership qualities of America's presidents and first ladies.
And at 9.30 p.m., former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remembers Ronald Reagan on his birthday during a commemorative event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Sini Valley, California.
Exploring the American story, watch American History TV.
Saturday is on C-SPAN too.
And find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold original series.
Sunday with our guests, married writers Peter Baker, New York Times chief White House correspondent, and Susan Glasser, who served as top editor for Politico, Foreign Policy, and others.
Both prolific authors and together have written several books, including Kremlin Rising, The Man Who Ran Washington, The Life and Times of James A. Baker III, and The Divider, Trump in the White House 2017 to 2021.
They join our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein.
I don't want to cause any marital promise, but let's suppose you're working on a book and you get a scoop.
Who gets the scoop to go, say, something that's current that you want to take to the New York Times or New Yorker?
Who gets the chance to give it first to somebody?
Sunday Q&A Preview00:04:58
Oh, you're a troublemaker.
You must have thought of that.
I'd like to hear Peter's answer to that question.
Well, she brought the Iran's scoop to our reporting and then she reported it in the New Yorker.
Watch America's Book Club with Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.
Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
Washington Journal continues.
Your calls reacting to news of the day here on the Washington Journal until the top of the hour.
We'll get to them in just a minute.
Want to share some news with you this morning from CNBC.
U.S. payrolls unexpectedly fell by 92,000 in February.
The unemployment rate rises to 4.4%.
That's the latest on the jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Yesterday in New Hampshire, California Governor Gavin Newsom was talking about a new book that he's released, and he was asked about the firing of Christy Noam from the Homeland Security Department.
Here's what he had to say.
Let's be honest here, the dark heart of this administration is not Noam, it's Stephen Miller, and he needs to be next.
And it's really true.
In so many ways, she's just a scapegoat in all this.
Everything she was doing was designed by Miller.
And I don't think it, I know it.
Remember where I come from, California.
Future, in this respect, happened in California first.
You know, we got a guy named Bovino.
Greg Bovino, the guy who dresses up in, you know, 1930s garb.
And, you know, we got to know him during the transition with Trump, where he went into the Central Valley and he specifically targeted Home Depots.
And there were some aggressive operations.
He was auditioning for Stephen Miller.
Within a few months of the new administration coming in, you may recall that I got a call from Donald Trump, 17-minute phone call, where he alleged he read me the Riot Act, where he was actually wanting to discuss how many mega hats he sold and trying to convince me he actually won the debate against Kamala Harris.
And the next morning I wake up and he's federalized 4,000 National Guard.
A few days later, he sent 700 active duty Marines, not overseas, but to the second largest city in the United States.
We said it at the time, this is a preview of things to come.
A few weeks later, we started to see more of Greg Bovino.
We started to see these folks dressed up in masks with no identification.
We started seeing people quite literally disappearing from the streets of Los Angeles.
We saw what happened in the shadow docket with the Supreme Court where they basically gave permission license to racially profile, not just on the basis of your skin color, not just on the basis of language you speak, but where you congregate.
We said that was a preview of things to come.
Christy Noam's fingerprints on all of that, but notably Stephen Miller's playbook.
California Governor Gavin Newsom in New Hampshire yesterday.
If you want to hear more from him, Sunday on Q ⁇ A, the governor sits down to discuss his memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, in which he chronicles moments in his life that influenced his political career.
Watch the interview Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern in Pacific on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free video mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
Also, today, a public homegoing service will be held for civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died last month.
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, as well as other notable figures, will pay their final respects.
Reverend Jackson is a two-time presidential candidate and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The service will be held at the House of Hope in Chicago, and you can watch live at 12 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 2.
And the events continue on Saturday with a private ceremony at the Rainbow Push Coalition headquarters, an organization founded by Reverend Jackson.
Musician Stevie Wonder and Grammy Award-winning gospel artists will perform honoring his life and his mission.
Watch Saturday live, starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, and online at c-span.org.
Before we get to your calls, a final headline, the president in an interview with CNN just moments ago told the network, Cuba is soon going to fall.
We're really focused on this one right now.
Your reaction to news of the day, we'll talk to Ed first in Pleasant Valley, New York.
Republican, go ahead, Ed.
Good morning.
I'm sorry I missed your last guest.
The End Game00:08:06
I had a couple questions for him.
You sounded so up and up about the Epstein files.
But the other day they had a vote to bring up an inspection on all this money that's been spent for these congress people for bad doings, millions of dollars over the last 10 years.
That's just as corrupt, if not worse, than the Epstein file.
We've got lawmakers there that have been charged or accused of being charged with different things that we pay for as tax dollars, and nothing's being said about that.
And he would have been a perfect guy to talk to, being he's only been in here one year.
I want to know how many on both sides have been corrupt and we paid to squash it and make it quiet.
So, you know, it goes, swings both ways.
And it's like everything Trump does is bad.
This Epstein file thing, they've been looking to try and find one little iota on him, and they haven't found it yet.
But believe me, they're looking.
They may find something.
I don't know.
But I want to know how many of these Congress people are corrupt and what's been paid off by we, the taxpayers, we, the people.
Okay.
And they voted it down.
All right.
Ed there, Republican in New York.
John is in Beaverton, Oregon, a Democrat.
Hi, John.
Hi there.
Long time no see or long time no talk to.
I have two points.
One, regarding the war in Iraq.
I'm a man of faith and also very politically savvy.
One, it's against any idea of a just war.
Okay.
Then the second thing is it's unconstitutional.
The Constitution, where does the ability to declare war?
In Congress.
Then second, or the second point is on Immigration.
Many people are saying, oh, we're getting all these criminals and so on.
I've done some research.
And 24% of those who have been apprehended or abducted by the Gestapo have been criminals.
By the time they get to immigration court, one to two percent are actually convicted of felonies.
And I work with and volunteer with immigrants.
And I have heard so many stories of individuals whose family have been abducted.
So it is not just about numbers, it's about humanity.
And I would like to have it where they rescind the money that's been allocated by ICE.
Okay, John's thoughts there.
In Oregon, an update for you on the Homeland Security partial government shutdown.
This is from the Washington Times this morning.
Democrats block Homeland Security funding bill.
Senate Democrats blocked a Department of Homeland Security funding bill for the third time Thursday, despite their Republican colleagues' concern that it is dangerous to keep the department shut down amid the growing conflict with Iran.
In the House on Thursday, four Democrats voted with Republicans to reopen the department, but the Senate's action means the shutdown will continue.
That's the Washington Times with the latest on the partial shutdown for the Homeland Security Department.
John in Texas, Republican.
Hi, John.
Hello.
I'm John.
Yes, you are, and we're listening to you.
Yeah, I said what we talk about now.
All right, John.
We're in open forum.
Any public policy or political issue that's on your mind?
Oh, yeah.
I was watching the other Congressman talk from the Maryland Democrat.
This Democrat, they don't know how dangerous this world is.
And they always try to prevent all this situation, but they don't know how dangerous this world is today.
Look, it was before World War II.
Democrats running the country, and they don't want to enter into the war.
Finally, what happened?
Japanese coming and bomb Pilar and destroy all the equipment.
That's Democrat.
Democrats always mess up all the things, but when the Republicans do something right, they always criticize.
But Democrats always do things terrible.
They destroy this country.
Now, we go with Democrats, we will destroy this country.
Last time when the Democrats win with the country's gone.
Okay, John Slot there.
In Texas, a Republican.
A couple of headlines to share with you about Congress this week.
We'll start with the Associated Press and their headline.
The House narrowly rejects Iran war power in a war powers resolution, a test of Trump's strategy.
That happened yesterday, rejecting efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to prohibit the president from continuing the conflict in Iran without congressional approval.
And two days earlier this week in the Senate, they also took a vote, cnn.com, if you go there, how each senator voted on an effort to rein in Trump's Iran war powers.
Republican senators rejected a war powers resolution on Wednesday that would have required the Trump administration to seek congressional approval.
One Republican, Kentucky's Senator Ram Paul, joined Democrats in voting for the resolution.
Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania joined Republicans to vote against it.
That is what happened on Capitol Hill.
Two votes taking place, one in the House, one in the Senate, on a war powers resolution to stop the president's conflict with Iran.
Harold in Texas, an independent.
Harold.
Hi.
Hello.
Morning, Harold.
Yes.
I'm a proud independent, first of all, and I'm not going to discuss politics, but I'm going to talk about something called the end game.
In the year 559 B.C., King Cyrus founded the Persian Empire.
That's over 2,500 years ago.
Now, these people are proud people.
They were one of the first civilizations.
Okay.
So, by the way, the word Shah means king.
Now, the end game, the end game is finding the individual.
And that individual is there somewhere in Iran, formerly known as Persia.
Okay?
And pride, national pride.
People need to study history and know history.
And in that way, we can know what the end game is going to be.
Okay, Harold.
Islam's Opposed View00:07:19
Mike in Wisconsin, Democratic caller.
Thanks for taking my call.
The Congressional Budget Office says interest on the national debt will be $1 trillion $39 billion in 2026.
Donald Trump and the Republicans want an increase of $500 billion increase in 2027 for defense spending.
From a $1 trillion a year investment to a $1.5 trillion a year investment in defense spending in 2027.
That would be 50% of our yearly revenue and 50% of our yearly budget of $5.2 trillion.
America is going broke.
Bankruptcy is inevitable at this rate.
We have no money for domestic needs, but plenty of money for foreign wars and oil and gas subsidies.
Without raising taxes and revenue from the rich, we will all be bankrupt.
The national debt will be $59 trillion in 10 years.
All right.
Mike, a Democrat in Wisconsin.
Dominating the front pages this morning is the president's decision to fire Christy Noam as Homeland Security Secretary.
The Washington Times, Trump swaps Noam for Mullen in terms first cabinet shakeup.
And then you also have the front page of the New York Times with their headline this morning.
Trump fires Noam as chief of DHS after rocky term criticism over handling ad contracts as Senator Mark Wayne Mullen is named as the replacement.
Now he needs to be confirmed by the Senate.
And then there is also this from the Wall Street Journal this morning.
Trump removes Noam as Homeland Secretary.
Testimony at a hearing this week enraged the president and Senator Mullen is picked for the position.
The testimony that they're referring to happened on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee and it was Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, his questioning of the outgoing Homeland Security Secretary of a $220 million ad campaign.
Take a listen.
How do you square that concern for waste, which I share, with the fact that you have spent $220 million running television advertisements that feature you prominently?
Sir, the president tasked me with getting the message out to the country and to other countries where we were seeing the invasion come from with putting commercials out that told them that if they were in this country illegally, that they needed to leave or we would detain them and remove them and they'd not get the chance to come back to America the right way.
That has been extremely effective.
Ask you to run these advertisements, is that right?
We had that conversation, yes, before I was put in this position and sworn in and confirmed, and since then as well.
Okay.
Did you bid out those service contracts?
Yes, they did.
They went out to a competitive bid, and career officials at the department chose who would do those advertising commercials.
And the people that you ended up picking were people who had formerly done your political work back in South Dakota.
Is that right?
No, that's not correct, sir.
No, it's not, sir.
The individuals who, I believe the careers who they chose were two different media firms.
There's been conversation about their subcontractors, but we have no legal authority to look into subcontractors on work like that.
Okay.
And you're saying that you're testifying that President Trump approved this ahead of time.
Is that my understanding?
We had conversations about making sure that we were telling people across the country.
I'm asking you, sorry to interrupt, but the president approved ahead of time you spending $220 million running TV ads across the country in which you are featured prominently.
Yes, sir.
We went through the legal processes.
Did it correctly work with OMB?
Yes.
He did.
Yes.
Chrissy Noam's testimony at Capitol Hill on Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
She also testified Wednesday before House Judiciary.
C-SPAN cameras were there for both of those appearances in their entirety, and you can find them on our website at c-span.org.
Mel, Jamestown, New York, Independent.
Let's hear from you.
Greta, in 1801, Thomas Jefferson sent the Navy to address the Barbary pirates without a declaration of war.
The Barbary pirates were Muslims.
And here we have a situation in Iran where in 1979, they called us the great Satan.
Islam, whether Sunni or Shia, considers America to be a house of war.
They are already at war with us.
So we're not so much starting a war as we are addressing the war that they're making against us.
And I wish people would have an understanding of Islam in such a way that Charlie Kirk had two days before he was assassinated.
He said, Islam is the sword the left is using to slit the throat of America.
Think about our immigration policy before Donald Trump.
That was an open-border policy whereby Iran could send in sleeper cells to America, of which we don't know where they are at.
So I think we're trying to address this situation in a very realistic way with an historical understanding of how Islam is opposed to us and how the left works with Islam to slit our own throats.
All right, Mel in New York, the final thoughts for today's Washington Journal, but we'll be back tomorrow morning, 7 a.m. Eastern Time with more conversation.
Join us then.
Enjoy your day.
Today, a public home-going service will be held for Civil Rights Leader Reverend Jesse Jackson, who died last month.
C-SPAN's Unbiased Exchange00:03:50
Former Presidents Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden, as well as other notable figures, will pay their respects.
Reverend Jackson is a two-time presidential candidate and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That service will be held at the House of Hope in Chicago, and you can watch our live coverage beginning at noon Eastern on C-SPAN 2.
And events continue on Saturday with a private ceremony at the Rainbow Push Coalition headquarters, an organization founded by the Reverend Jackson.
Musicians Stevie Wonder and Grammy Award-winning gospel artists will perform honoring his life and mission.
Watch it Saturday live starting at 11 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, and online at cspan.org.
American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, join American History TV for our series, America 250, and discover the ideas and defining moments of the American story.
This week at 11 p.m. Eastern, we'll tour the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia to explore the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence.
And at 2 p.m., on our weekly look at the Civil War, author Tim McGrath analyzes President Lincoln's unexpected choice of General George Meade to lead the Union Army before the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
Then at 7.30 p.m., historian Andrew Davenport highlights Thomas Jefferson as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project, which analyzes the leadership qualities of America's presidents and first ladies.
And at 9.30 p.m., former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remembers Ronald Reagan on his birthday during a commemorative event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Sini Valley, California.
Exploring the American story, watch American History TV.
Saturday is on C-SPAN, too, and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at cspan.org slash history.
Sunday on C-SPAN's Q&A, a conversation with California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom on his memoir, Young Man in a Hurry, chronicling moments in his life that influenced his political career from mayor of San Francisco in 2004 to becoming governor in 2019.
Governor Newsom also talks about his personal life, living with dyslexia, and his relationship with billionaire Gordon Getty.
Sunday night at 8 Eastern on C-SPAN's QA.
You can listen to Q&A and all of our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app or wherever you get your podcasts.
C-SPAN is as unbiased as you can get.
You are so fair.
I don't know how anybody can say otherwise.
You guys do the most important work for everyone in this country.
I love C-SPAN because I get to hear all the voices.
You bring these divergent viewpoints and you present both sides of an issue and you allow people to make up their own minds.
I absolutely love C-SPAN.
I love to hear both sides.
I've watched C-SPAN every morning and it is unbiased and you bring in factual information for the callers to understand where they are in their comments.
This is probably the only place that we can hear honest opinion of Americans across the country.
You guys at C-SPAN are doing such a wonderful job of allowing free exchange of ideas without a lot of interruptions.
Thank you, C-SPAN, for being a light in the dark.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke about the ongoing conflict with Iran during remarks at Central Command Headquarters in Tampa, Florida, alongside CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper.