CSPAN - Washington Journal 03/27/2026
Aired: 2026-03-27
Duration: 02:00:58


=== Senate Funding and Iran War (05:55) ===

[00:00:00]  Coming up on Washington Journal this morning, along with your calls and comments live, we'll talk about reports of irregular financial trading patterns that have emerged since the start of the U.S.-Israeli operations in Iran with Craig Holman of Public Citizen and Henry Olson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center on Campaign 2026, U.S.-Israeli Combat Operations Against Iran, and Political News of the Week.
[00:00:23]  C-SPAN's Washington Journal is next.
[00:00:26]  Join the conversation.
[00:00:34]  Good morning, everyone.
[00:00:36]  It's Friday, March 27th.
[00:00:38]  Welcome to the Washington Journal.
[00:00:40]  Just hours ago, the Senate approved a funding bill to open up the Homeland Security Department, excluding money for immigration enforcement.
[00:00:50]  The bill now heads to the House, where the question is, will House Republicans support it?
[00:00:56]  Meanwhile, President Trump said yesterday he'll give Iran another 10 days before he continues strikes on Iran's energy plants.
[00:01:05]  Those two stories dominating the headlines this morning, and we'll get your reaction to the latest.
[00:01:11]  Here's how you can join the conversation this morning.
[00:01:13]  Democrats, dial in at 202-748-8000.
[00:01:17]  Republicans, 202-748-8001.
[00:01:21]  Independents, 202-748-8002.
[00:01:25]  You can also text if you don't want to call at 202-748-8003.
[00:01:30]  Join us on facebook.com/slash C-SPAN or on X with the handle at C-SPANWJ.
[00:01:38]  Good morning, everyone.
[00:01:39]  We'll get to your calls here in just a minute.
[00:01:42]  In a near-empty chamber, the Senate last night approved by voice vote funding for the Homeland Security Department, excluding ICE.
[00:01:51]  Political observers say this is what Democrats have been asking for during these weeks-long negotiations.
[00:01:58]  Listen to the Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, followed by Republican leader, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, on the floor earlier this morning.
[00:02:06]  In the wake of the murders of Renee Good and Alex Predi, Senate Democrats were clear.
[00:02:13]  No blank check for a lawless ICE and border patrol.
[00:02:18]  This long-overdue agreement funds TSA, the Coast Guard, FEMA, CISA, strengthens security at the border and the ports of entry, and keeps Americans safe.
[00:02:31]  This could have been accomplished weeks ago if Republicans hadn't stood in the way.
[00:02:37]  Democrats held firm in our opposition that Donald Trump's rogue and deadly militia should not get more funding without serious reforms, and we will continue to fight for those reforms.
[00:02:52]  I'm very proud of our Democratic caucus.
[00:02:55]  Throughout it all, Senate Democrats stood united, no wavering, no backing down.
[00:03:03]  We held the line.
[00:03:04]  Are you?
[00:03:06]  84 days, Mr. President.
[00:03:08]  84 days.
[00:03:11]  Nearly half of this fiscal year so far.
[00:03:14]  The government's been shut down in whole or in part by Senate Democrats.
[00:03:19]  And for what, Mr. President?
[00:03:22]  For what?
[00:03:24]  In October, Democrats shut down the entire federal government for a record-breaking 43 days because they couldn't bring themselves to accept a clean, nonpartisan funding extension.
[00:03:34]  The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down now for an additional 41 days since mid-February because Democrats couldn't take yes for an answer.
[00:03:44]  They wanted reforms to immigrations and custom enforcement, and Republicans offered to give that to them.
[00:03:54]  The White House made offer after offer, putting forward a robust list of additional reforms.
[00:04:02]  The Democrats just kept moving the goalpost.
[00:04:06]  And today, they just walked away.
[00:04:10]  The two party leaders in the Senate earlier this morning framing the debate in their own way.
[00:04:17]  This morning, we're going to get your reaction to the Senate approving this funding for DHS, along with the latest on the war with Iran.
[00:04:27]  Start dialing in, and we'll get to your thoughts here in just a minute.
[00:04:31]  Politico this morning frames it this way: After two months of unyielding negotiations, both parties gave up early Friday on reaching a grand accord to reform and fund the Department of Homeland Security.
[00:04:43]  Instead, Republicans accepted what Democrats have been offering for weeks.
[00:04:48]  Cash for all of DHS except for ICE and parts of customs and border protection.
[00:04:53]  While now the two sides have been negotiating for weeks, pressure has been building on Washington as those TSA lines, airport security lines, have grown longer and longer.
[00:05:05]  Before this vote took place, President Trump announced that he would sign by executive order money to pay the TSA agents amid this shutdown.
[00:05:15]  The top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees how money is spent, federal money is spent, had this to say.
[00:05:23]  If the White House believes they have the authority to pay these workers, then every day for the past 41 days, they have been making a conscious decision not to pay them.
[00:05:33]  The administration must provide an explanation as to what funding, wrote Congresswoman DeLauro, it is using to pay these workers after falsely claiming it could not do so.
[00:05:47]  The president held a cabinet meeting yesterday for 90 minutes, making news on several fronts, including the latest with Iran.

=== President Pauses Plant Destruction (03:37) ===

[00:05:55]  Here's the president meeting with his cabinet, insisting that Iran is begging to make a deal.
[00:06:02]  Just so we set the record straight, because I've been watching the Wall Street Journal's fake news and all these stories that get printed like, oh, I want to make a deal.
[00:06:11]  They are begging to make a deal.
[00:06:12]  Not me.
[00:06:13]  They're begging to make a deal.
[00:06:15]  And anybody that saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal.
[00:06:21]  But they say, oh, we're not talking to them.
[00:06:23]  Anybody would know that.
[00:06:25]  And only a total.
[00:06:27]  And they're not fools.
[00:06:27]  They're very smart, actually, in a certain way.
[00:06:30]  And they're great negotiators.
[00:06:32]  I say they're lousy fighters, but they're great negotiators.
[00:06:36]  And they are begging to work out a deal.
[00:06:41]  I don't know if we'll be able to do that.
[00:06:42]  I don't know if we're willing to do that.
[00:06:44]  They should have done that four weeks ago.
[00:06:46]  They should have done it two years ago.
[00:06:48]  I have a feeling it's going to clean up pretty quickly.
[00:06:51]  I could just say this.
[00:06:53]  They want to make it.
[00:06:54]  And I probably hurt our little negotiation.
[00:06:56]  It gives them a little impetus to say, well, I wish you didn't say that.
[00:07:00]  But they said yesterday that we weren't negotiating with them.
[00:07:03]  And now they admit that we were negotiating with them.
[00:07:06]  So they want to make a deal.
[00:07:08]  The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit.
[00:07:13]  Following that cabinet meeting, the president around 4.15 p.m. Eastern Time yesterday posted on Truth Social, as per Iranian government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of energy plant destruction by 10 days to Monday, April 6th at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.
[00:07:33]  Talks are ongoing, and despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the fake news media and others, they are going very well.
[00:07:40]  The president had given Iran a 48-hour deadline and then extended it.
[00:07:46]  The Wall Street Journal reports this morning, Iran hasn't requested a pause on energy site strikes, according to the mediators there.
[00:07:55]  There's also this headline from the Wall Street Journal: the Middle East conflict drags NASDAQ into correction territory.
[00:08:02]  The stocks fell, set up the Dow Industrials for the worst month since 2022.
[00:08:09]  The New York Times this morning, Trump extends the Iran deadline as the Strait of Hormuz on the Strait of Hormuz as stocks tumble.
[00:08:18]  From the New York Times reporting, after a day of escalating threats against Iran to negotiate an end to the war, President Trump said on Thursday afternoon that he would extend by 10 days a deadline for Tehran to open up the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:08:33]  The President's remarks, which came as financial markets in the United States convulsed, with stocks on Wall Street seeing their steepest daily decline at the close since the start of the war, were a marked change in tone.
[00:08:46]  On a day when Israel said it had killed an Iranian naval commander who played a pivotal role in effectively shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, Mr. Trump started the day by saying Tehran must negotiate or we'll keep blowing them away.
[00:08:59]  But by late afternoon, the president said on social media that the talks were going very well.
[00:09:05]  He said that his postponement of the deadline to open up the strait had come as a result of an Iranian government request and that the new deadline was April 6th at 8 p.m.
[00:09:14]  The president first made the threat against Iran to open the strait on Saturday, saying he would destroy its power plants if it did not comply within 48 hours, a potential major escalation in the war that risked Iranian reprisal of oil infrastructure, a cost across the Gulf.

=== Pentagon Sends Ground Troops (14:48) ===

[00:09:32]  The Wall Street Journal reporting this morning that this exclusive as well, the Pentagon Ways sending another 10,000 ground troops to the Middle East.
[00:09:44]  With all that on the table this morning, we turn to all of you to get your thoughts on DHS funding and the Iran war.
[00:09:53]  Ron in California, Republican caller, let's hear from you first.
[00:09:57]  Go ahead.
[00:09:58]  Hey, good morning, Greta.
[00:10:00]  Just wonderful to see you.
[00:10:03]  You know, I take deference in this issue about the war.
[00:10:09]  We live in a moral and ethical vacuum in this country right now.
[00:10:14]  We have a president that is a foul-mouthed, loud-mouthed excuse for a person to begin with.
[00:10:22]  And on top of that, you know, I think that there's really, to be really honest with you, I think we are in an axis of evil.
[00:10:30]  And that axis of evil includes Vladi in Russia and Bibi in Israel and, of course, Donnie Jay.
[00:10:40]  And all of these people together, they're always talking to each other.
[00:10:44]  They're the only ones that are talking to each other.
[00:10:47]  And as a result of that, they attack people and they assassinate leaders of other countries.
[00:10:53]  They kidnap people of other countries.
[00:10:56]  And guess what?
[00:10:57]  Whatever you put out comes back to haunt you.
[00:11:00]  Someday they're going to come back and attack us and assassinate our people and kidnap our people.
[00:11:08]  And then what are we going to say?
[00:11:10]  Oh, well, it's okay.
[00:11:11]  No, it's not okay.
[00:11:13]  This is a moral and ethical vacuum of leadership.
[00:11:17]  And until we get this thing straightened out, I think it's really a very, we're going down a rabbit hole.
[00:11:25]  And the worst part about it is that our great heroes, the 82nd Airborne and our guys that live right here next to us and the Marine Corps people in Pendleton, are just American heroes of the first order.
[00:11:42]  And every person that goes there to that, every Indian Avenue and gets killed is going to be on Trump himself.
[00:11:55]  All right, Ron, with his thoughts.
[00:11:56]  On our line for Republicans from California.
[00:11:59]  Darren is next in Hamilton, Washington.
[00:12:01]  Democratic caller.
[00:12:03]  Hi, Darren.
[00:12:05]  The way I see it is that Donald Trump has gotten America into a trap.
[00:12:13]  We're basically essentially stuck.
[00:12:16]  The only two options are to end the fighting or add additional troops to the region.
[00:12:28]  But the problem is that I really don't believe Donald Trump and his cabinet really have a clue of what they're going to do now.
[00:12:41]  I mean, the Persians are very, very intelligent people.
[00:12:45]  There's 250,000 Revolutionary Guard soldiers.
[00:12:53]  Basically, what I'm trying to say is that I have a feeling that Donald Trump is going to pull out one of the biggest cons yet that he's ever done.
[00:13:08]  He's basically going to claim to have made a deal.
[00:13:13]  He's going to end the fighting and go around and declare victory.
[00:13:19]  But in the meantime, he's leaving a more dangerous, ruthless Iran.
[00:13:26]  I mean, the Iranians are very, very intelligent.
[00:13:34]  People should not underestimate them.
[00:13:36]  They've been planning this for 20 years.
[00:13:39]  They've been involved in these conflicts for 500 years.
[00:13:43]  And essentially, it's a standoff.
[00:13:48]  And Donald Trump, his makeshift cabinet with Fox TV hosts and everybody else, they don't know what to do.
[00:14:02]  Darren, I'm going to leave it there so I can go to Ed.
[00:14:03]  He's been waiting in Pennsylvania, independent caller.
[00:14:06]  Ed, share your thoughts with us.
[00:14:08]  Yeah, good morning.
[00:14:09]  If I was Iran, I wouldn't negotiate with the United States.
[00:14:14]  They've tried.
[00:14:15]  Iran has tried that tactic a couple times, and they were attacked by Israel and by the United States during the 12-day war.
[00:14:24]  And Iran made the mistake of letting them stopping the fighting.
[00:14:30]  And here it is three weeks ago.
[00:14:32]  There was negotiations going on, and they were attacked again by Israel and the United States.
[00:14:39]  So I hope that Iran continues this fight until the end.
[00:14:43]  Iran is in the driver's seat, although Donald Trump would have the people in this country think that the United States is in the driver's seat.
[00:14:53]  I would just like to say that I've visited Iran three times.
[00:14:57]  And the reason I visited over the years, and the reason I did that was because I kept hearing about Iran.
[00:15:04]  It was a rogue state and all that.
[00:15:06]  So over the years, I've accumulated information on Persia and on Iran.
[00:15:11]  And one of the things that I was particularly struck with was a comment I heard that an international competition in math and science that Poland and Iran finished 1-2, an international competition.
[00:15:23]  So I was thinking, I want to go over to visit a country that has an ancient civilization to see what they were like.
[00:15:29]  And I went over there and I was impressed.
[00:15:32]  And one of the things that I saw when I met some young girls down in Isfahan was they said they were about 15 or 16 and they spoke broken English.
[00:15:41]  And one of the girls said, I think the United States is a terrorist nation.
[00:15:46]  And on another visit, I was visiting a place near Bazouli in the northern part of Iran.
[00:15:51]  And I was talking to this man that worked at a park.
[00:15:54]  And he said, the United States causes trouble all over the world.
[00:15:59]  And I would like to call attention, just mention to the people of this country that the United States, I agree with that guy.
[00:16:07]  I didn't say so at the time.
[00:16:09]  But so it's time for the United States to back off.
[00:16:13]  Okay.
[00:16:14]  Thank you for letting me.
[00:16:15]  All right.
[00:16:15]  Ed with his thoughts there.
[00:16:17]  This is from the Wall Street Journal this morning, the U.S.-Israel strikes against Iran.
[00:16:21]  They've got some interesting numbers to share with you.
[00:16:24]  There have been so far 18,000 military strikes since the war began between U.S. and Israel against Iran.
[00:16:32]  U.S. has hit 10,000 targets in Iran.
[00:16:34]  Israel has hit thousands more.
[00:16:36]  Israel says it's destroyed or disabled 330 of Iran's 470 missile launchers and Iran's drone and missile launch rates down 90%.
[00:16:47]  That's from the Wall Street Journal reporting this morning.
[00:16:50]  There's also this to share with you from the Wall Street Journal.
[00:16:53]  U.S. losing valuable military assets.
[00:16:57]  And that the calculation is that the costs of damage and replacement of losses is roughly between $1.4 billion to $2.9 billion.
[00:17:09]  That's the estimate reported by the Wall Street Journal this morning of U.S. losses to military equipment so far.
[00:17:17]  Steve in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Republicans.
[00:17:20]  Steve, we're talking about DHS funding and Iran.
[00:17:23]  Go ahead, share your thoughts.
[00:17:26]  Good morning.
[00:17:27]  Yeah, I'm just surprised that some of these guys are Americans, right?
[00:17:30]  And it's Iran, Iran, Iran.
[00:17:33]  When our military takes care, like unbelievable care, not to hit civilian sites.
[00:17:41]  Unfortunately, the girls that got hit, that was an accident.
[00:17:46]  But it's surprising that the take is, well, Iran should go ahead and keep going on and on and on with this.
[00:17:52]  It's bad United States.
[00:17:54]  I think that's a terrible take.
[00:17:56]  I think it's a terrible look for Americans to say that, you know, and ask our guys that have been injured and wounded in battles over there.
[00:18:08]  And still in Balboa Nava Hospital, I got to visit that prosthetic wing.
[00:18:14]  Iranians were directly responsible for that.
[00:18:17]  Okay.
[00:18:18]  And they're going to continue to do it.
[00:18:20]  And the ideology is they are going to strike.
[00:18:23]  They've got the ballistic missiles.
[00:18:24]  They're going to strike.
[00:18:26]  So unless there's a coalition, I think that creating a serious impediment on their advancement is important.
[00:18:37]  And as well as if you don't think our generals and our military has been planning this, I hear all this Iranian been planning this for 20, 30 years.
[00:18:46]  If you don't think our military has been, I was in the Navy for 27 years collectively and through three decades.
[00:18:55]  And we had to put up with Iranian threats in the Persian Gulf all the time.
[00:18:59]  Like it's their property.
[00:19:00]  All right.
[00:19:01]  And Steve in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, with his military experience this morning.
[00:19:05]  We want all of you to join the conversation this morning and get your reaction to the latest news on DHS funding and the Iran war.
[00:19:13]  Democrats 202-748-8000.
[00:19:16]  Republicans 202-748-8001.
[00:19:19]  And Independents 202-748-8002.
[00:19:23]  The conversation continues here for the first hour of today's Washington Journal.
[00:19:28]  On DHS, Politico, with this headline, DHS shutdown now in House's hands.
[00:19:35]  And this is what they report.
[00:19:36]  The Senate called an end to weeks of tortured negotiations.
[00:19:40]  Voice voted a bill funding all of DHS except ICE and parts of CBP around 2.30 this morning, essentially delivering exactly what Democrats had asked for in recent days.
[00:19:51]  But Republicans are promising to come back and fund immigration enforcement with a vengeance in an upcoming reconciliation bill, not just for fiscal 2027, but for many years to come.
[00:20:03]  What's coming next will supercharge deportations, said Senator Eric Schmidt early this morning.
[00:20:09]  The filibuster cannot save you.
[00:20:11]  That was his message to Senate Democrats.
[00:20:14]  It's not a done deal yet.
[00:20:16]  However, the Senate-passed agreement faces a treacherous path in the House, which could act on the bill and send it to the president today.
[00:20:24]  But many House Republicans will not be happy about the prospect of voting on a DHS bill that does not include enforcement funding, especially after Trump moved unilaterally Thursday to start paying TSA agents.
[00:20:39]  Now, the House will gavel in this morning at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
[00:20:43]  And of course, you can watch Gavila Cavill, uninterrupted, unfiltered coverage right here on C-SPAN and the debate that will take place as early as today over this agreement in the Senate to fund most of DHS, excluding immigration enforcement.
[00:21:00]  The House yesterday passed a funding bill for DHS for the third time in two months.
[00:21:07]  This bill is different than what passed in the Senate at 3 a.m. this morning.
[00:21:13]  Speaker Johnson, after that vote, said the vote put Democrats on the record about their willingness to keep DSA defunded.
[00:21:22]  Here's what he had to say.
[00:21:23]  For the third time now, almost every Democrat in the House, except for four, voted against the bipartisan, bicameral Department of Homeland Security funding bill.
[00:21:33]  It would reopen DHS and reopen and get our airports running again.
[00:21:38]  And they did that for one reason, because they are trying to protect criminal, illegal aliens.
[00:21:43]  That's what this entire debate is about, and there's no way for them to hide from that.
[00:21:48]  And they keep putting votes on the board.
[00:21:50]  I have suggested, and I suggested yesterday in a press conference, we should probably take this vote tally, blow it up on a poster, and put it at every airport terminal around America.
[00:21:58]  The Democrats just voted for the third time to make you stand in those long lines and to jeopardize our country.
[00:22:04]  You think of what's at stake right now.
[00:22:06]  We have noted that the Department of Homeland Security is the third largest department of the federal government.
[00:22:12]  We have 10 agencies in DHS.
[00:22:14]  They happen to be all the agencies whose job it is to keep Americans safe.
[00:22:18]  You're talking about FEMA.
[00:22:20]  Do you know that our disaster relief funds are being depleted right now?
[00:22:23]  You're talking about TSA.
[00:22:25]  You're talking about the Coast Guard.
[00:22:26]  They're not getting paychecks right now, and that's why we have all this calamity and all of this danger.
[00:22:31]  So the question for the Democrats right now is it's a serious question.
[00:22:34]  How long is this going to go on?
[00:22:36]  Are we going to wait till somebody brings a firearm on a passenger airplane?
[00:22:40]  Are we going to wait till we have a natural disaster that we cannot take care of?
[00:22:44]  This is not a game, but these are not serious people.
[00:22:47]  And they have demonstrated once again that they are putting the welfare of criminal, illegal aliens above American citizens.
[00:22:55]  The blame game was in full force on Capitol Hill yesterday with both parties pointing fingers across the aisle.
[00:23:02]  That was the Speaker of the House after the House had voted for the third time along party line vote and approved DHS funding in its entirety.
[00:23:12]  Meanwhile, over on the Senate, the floor was left open for hours as they continued to negotiate both sides over DHS funding.
[00:23:21]  Ultimately, at around 3 a.m. this morning over on C-SPAN 2, you would have seen by voice vote the Senate, after days and weeks of negotiations, two months, voting to approve DHS funding TSA, but excluding immigration enforcement and parts of customs and border protection, which is what political observers say what Democrats wanted all along.
[00:23:49]  Listen to the House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries on the floor yesterday and why Democrats have been right to hold out for reforms to ICE.
[00:23:59]  Republicans have decided that they don't want to get ICE under control and instead are forcing TSA agents to work without pay, inconveniencing millions of Americans all across the country and causing chaos at airports throughout the land.

=== Democrats Hold Out for ICE Reform (14:56) ===

[00:24:21]  Unacceptable.
[00:24:23]  Enough is enough.
[00:24:24]  Republicans can simply bring a bill to the floor to reopen every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, pay ICE agents, support FEMA, stand up for the Coast Guard, and make sure that this country can continue to function.
[00:24:41]  But instead, as we've repeatedly seen, Republicans have decided they'd rather jam your right-wing extreme ideology down the throats of the American people.
[00:24:56]  We haven't been complicated in the point that we've made to our Republican colleagues about what needs to happen.
[00:25:06]  When it comes to ICE, we're standing on the side of the American people.
[00:25:11]  Yes, we will always support securing the border today, tomorrow, forever.
[00:25:20]  But at the same period of time, immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, just, and humane.
[00:25:30]  If you have something to say to me, you can say it right now.
[00:25:36]  That's what I thought.
[00:25:38]  Immigration enforcement in this country should be fair, it should be just, and it should be humane.
[00:25:46]  But instead, you're unleashing brutality on the American people, using taxpayer dollars in some instances to kill American citizens, like Renee Nicole Good and Alex Preddy.
[00:26:04]  House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries on the floor yesterday saying Republicans can vote on funding for TSA right now.
[00:26:13]  Well, they will get the chance today.
[00:26:16]  The Senate approving an agreement to fund most of DHS, but not immigration enforcement, last night by voice vote in a near-empty chamber.
[00:26:26]  And now that bill is headed to the House.
[00:26:29]  They could take it up as early as today.
[00:26:31]  They're gabbling in at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
[00:26:34]  So watch right here on C-SPAN for gabble-to-gabble coverage of that debate.
[00:26:39]  You can also, if you're on the go, take your phone with you, download our free video mobile app, C-SPANNOW, and we are always online on demand at c-span.org.
[00:26:51]  Susan in Massachusetts Republican, thanks for joining us this morning.
[00:26:56]  What are your thoughts on DHS funding or the Iran war or both?
[00:27:01]  I just want to say, listen to some of these clowns that they're rooting for, Iran.
[00:27:07]  We've got sick people and they're mostly the black people and these creepy white people.
[00:27:14]  Oh, come on, Susan.
[00:27:15]  How do you know that?
[00:27:18]  Listen to them.
[00:27:19]  You know they listen to these people.
[00:27:21]  They hate America.
[00:27:22]  They hate the flag.
[00:27:23]  They hate funding the police.
[00:27:25]  Everything that we stand for, they hate.
[00:27:28]  No, no, no.
[00:27:28]  That is not the case.
[00:27:30]  That is not the case.
[00:27:31]  You need to listen to the calls and not make a judgment about who's calling.
[00:27:37]  You can't see who the callers are.
[00:27:40]  We'll go to Mark in Philadelphia, Democratic caller.
[00:27:43]  Hey, Greta, thanks for taking my call.
[00:27:46]  You know, as a Democrat, I'm wondering here, what exactly did the Democrats get out of this?
[00:27:52]  I mean, was it the initial part here to rein in, you know, get warrants to arrest people, to have badges and all that?
[00:28:03]  I mean, basically, the Democrats have gotten no way out of this thing to rein in what ICE is doing.
[00:28:12]  Wasn't that the purpose in the first place?
[00:28:14]  This reminds me of the first shutdown, a 43-day shutdown, to extend the Obamacare credits.
[00:28:21]  After 43 days, the Obamacare credits weren't extended, and the Democrats caved and opened up the government again.
[00:28:32]  So we have the second Schumer shutdown here.
[00:28:35]  And as far as I'm concerned, as a Democrat, nothing's been accomplished.
[00:28:40]  So, Mark, according to political observers, they're saying this morning, Democrats were able to get Republicans to agree to no funding for immigration enforcement.
[00:28:53]  So the Republicans agree to that in this deal.
[00:28:58]  It doesn't include, well, we don't know exactly what's in this legislation.
[00:29:03]  So we'll find out more today.
[00:29:05]  There will be more reporting today.
[00:29:07]  But the reforms, you're saying, they did not get the reforms that they were demanding.
[00:29:12]  And that's your issue with Democrat strategy here.
[00:29:16]  Of course.
[00:29:16]  That's it.
[00:29:17]  Isn't that what the core of this?
[00:29:19]  Isn't that what we Democrats want?
[00:29:22]  We want the reforms that we didn't get it.
[00:29:25]  And do you agree with those reforms?
[00:29:28]  Yeah, of course I do.
[00:29:29]  Of course I do.
[00:29:30]  They're common sense reforms.
[00:29:33]  You know, why shouldn't this ICE operate under the same guidelines as Philadelphia police do?
[00:29:43]  Okay.
[00:29:43]  Mark in Philadelphia.
[00:29:45]  Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
[00:29:46]  Joy, Park Forest, Illinois, Republican.
[00:29:49]  Let's hear from you.
[00:29:51]  Hi, good morning, America.
[00:29:55]  There's a common theme in this situation, and that is most of the rhetoric from Iran is about praying.
[00:30:06]  See, this is a war built on spirituality, okay?
[00:30:11]  These are praying people.
[00:30:13]  No amount of missiles, no amount of guns or money can win this war.
[00:30:18]  This is spiritual.
[00:30:19]  This is something that people are looking over, and this is a war of God.
[00:30:24]  And yesterday, if you look at what happened in the UN with three countries voting against that act, I know it wasn't mentioned because it's bottom tier here.
[00:30:34]  I love America, contrary to what Steven says, and I'm African American.
[00:30:38]  But that was a very hurtful vote when Israel, Argentina, and United States all voted against that resolution from Ghana.
[00:30:46]  This is spiritual, lack of atonement.
[00:30:49]  The last thing I want to say is that video, those videos that Iran are putting out there ridiculing our president, one where all the countries are looking up in the sky.
[00:31:00]  You got Cambodia, Hiroshima, Iran.
[00:31:05]  It's very significant, and it's scary.
[00:31:09]  Don't think for one minute that we don't love America.
[00:31:11]  What we are is we're looking at a war that is not based on money or military.
[00:31:17]  This is a war that is spiritual, and everybody knows it but us.
[00:31:21]  We say we are praying people, but I don't see that faith.
[00:31:24]  And there's atonement that needs to be made, and there is humanity, humility that needs to be taken, and all this get her done and things of that nature.
[00:31:33]  These are people.
[00:31:34]  These are human lives.
[00:31:35]  I don't agree with the Iranian.
[00:31:37]  I don't agree with their stands and the way they do things.
[00:31:40]  But America, we've got blood on our hands.
[00:31:43]  God bless Americans, and please be humiliated and send us home.
[00:31:47]  God bless.
[00:31:47]  Joy there, a Republican in Illinois with her thoughts.
[00:31:51]  We're getting the year reaction to the latest on the Iran war as well as DHS funding after the Senate approved a deal.
[00:31:59]  It now heads to the House.
[00:32:00]  And whether or not Republicans will support it is the question this morning.
[00:32:06]  Here is the latest on Iran talks.
[00:32:10]  The G7 will meet on Iran as Secretary of State Marco Rubio tries to sell the U.S. strategy to skeptical allies insulted by President Trump.
[00:32:21]  Listen to the Secretary of State ahead of the G7 talks in Paris.
[00:32:27]  He departed Washington yesterday after that cabinet meeting and answered reporters' questions about the role U.S. allies should play in the Iran war.
[00:32:38]  Mr. Victoria, are you going to ask G7 to help with this trade affirmative?
[00:32:42]  Well, it's in their interest to help.
[00:32:48]  But what kind of help are you going to ask wine sweepers, naval, help?
[00:32:53]  Well, those specifics, I'll leave it to the Department of War as to exactly what, but it's in their interest.
[00:32:57]  It's in their national interest.
[00:32:59]  Do you think President Trump criticizing NATO this morning, that sentiment?
[00:33:04]  I think he just made an observation, and the observation is that the United States is constantly being asked to help in a war, and we have more than any other country in the world on a war that's happening in another continent in Ukraine.
[00:33:18]  But when the U.S. had a need, he didn't get positive responses.
[00:33:22]  So right now he's just making the observation that I think it was a couple of the leaders in Europe who said that this was not Europe's war.
[00:33:28]  Well, Ukraine is not America's war, and yet we've contributed more to that fight than any other country in the world.
[00:33:33]  So it'll be something to examine.
[00:33:35]  The president will have to take into account down the road.
[00:33:39]  The Secretary of State yesterday before departing Washington for the G7 talks in Paris, France, he'll be meeting with other foreign ministers of the G7.
[00:33:49]  Washington Post this morning reports that the Pentagon is considering diverting Ukraine military aid to the Middle East.
[00:33:58]  A shift would highlight the growing trade-offs required for the U.S. to sustain its war with Iran as the conflict depletes the military's critical munitions.
[00:34:09]  Back to calls, Donald in Jeanette, Pennsylvania, Democratic caller.
[00:34:13]  Good morning.
[00:34:15]  Good morning.
[00:34:16]  First of all, I am very grateful that you corrected Susan from Massachusetts.
[00:34:24]  She had no idea what she was talking about.
[00:34:27]  So I want to say thank you for that.
[00:34:30]  A couple issues I have is as far as the war with Iran goes, you know what?
[00:34:38]  If gasoline goes up to $6, $7 a gallon, it doesn't bother me because I'm not driving my vehicle right now.
[00:34:46]  But we can thank the leader of Israel for that because he's the one that got Trump to do this war, got him to do his dirty work.
[00:34:57]  So people, when you want to complain about high gas prices, there's where you need to look at.
[00:35:03]  And the last thing I want to say is as troops go on the ground, I wonder if Baron Trump is going to be amongst us.
[00:35:12]  And when the soldiers come back and caskets that President Trump sent those young people over there, I hope he's on his baseball cap and says, thank you, losers and suckers.
[00:35:26]  Thank you.
[00:35:28]  Donald there in Pennsylvania, Democratic caller talks about the rising gas prices.
[00:35:34]  And the Washington Times this morning has this headline that the president says he may suspend the federal gas tax to curb rising costs.
[00:35:45]  Average national price for gallon has hit $3.98.
[00:35:51]  The president saying he may suspend the gas tax amid soaring oil and gas prices.
[00:35:57]  Edward, Jersey City, New Jersey, independent.
[00:35:59]  We'll go to you next.
[00:36:02]  Good morning.
[00:36:03]  Good morning, Greta.
[00:36:04]  Morning.
[00:36:06]  With Iran in the war, I hate the fact that we lost some of our military men and women, you know, to death, and there's no way that we can repay their loved ones and their family.
[00:36:19]  Well, I guess there is.
[00:36:21]  We shouldn't have gone over in the first place.
[00:36:24]  So, you know, the presidential election in 2020 is too far from now.
[00:36:28]  So I pray that Democrats fight, you know, hard as hell, Greta, whenever they can, wherever they can.
[00:36:36]  You know, I can't say that I'm excited that, you know, now TSA agents are getting paid, but I'll tell you what, it's been over a month, nearly two months.
[00:36:44]  I don't think it's fair that they just get back paid, Greta.
[00:36:48]  I think our federal government should also send them a love offering for the pain and suffering.
[00:36:53]  Okay.
[00:36:55]  So Edward, let me just jump in because it's not clear if they actually are going to get paid because the president says he can do it by executive order.
[00:37:04]  But you saw the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee questioning, A, why haven't you done this then all along for the past 40 days?
[00:37:11]  And B, do you really have the authority and what funds would you use?
[00:37:16]  I hope he doesn't have the authority to just do it on his own.
[00:37:20]  It should be first order of business in Congress.
[00:37:23]  But Greta, a few of my staff members and I, we traveled Monday to Thursday just this week here from New Jersey all the way down south to Louisiana.
[00:37:34]  Here in Newark, the airport for departures, it was beautiful.
[00:37:38]  I mean, TSA agents didn't need the assistance of ICE.
[00:37:41]  And ICE really, they weren't there assisting TSA agents.
[00:37:46]  Greta, it's some sort of security scheme.
[00:37:49]  They're there like policemen.
[00:37:51]  They're there as security guards in a sense as if life at our airport is going chaos and it's insane and TSA agents need support.
[00:37:59]  That's not true.
[00:38:00]  It's just not the truth.
[00:38:02]  This $200 billion request, this is where I'll end if it's okay.
[00:38:08]  For the war?
[00:38:08]  It's just a smack in the face.
[00:38:10]  It really is a smack in the face for Iran, yes.
[00:38:13]  When I voted, I voted for our country to go in a different, you know, so the country needs help with support for roads and bridges, for jobs, Greta, for health care, for so much more.
[00:38:23]  How dare the federal government do this?
[00:38:26]  So this is a smack, you know, student loans when I voted, you know, to, you know, help out those who are in debt.
[00:38:35]  So this, I just, I need voters to continue to vote.
[00:38:39]  And like I said, Democrats are winning special elections across the country.
[00:38:44]  But when they get in, what are they going to do?
[00:38:46]  See, ICE is funded until 2029 now, Greta.
[00:38:50]  And we really, this, it's, it's, I'm with Democrats right now, if you will, like fight hard as hell, whenever you can, wherever you can.
[00:38:59]  And I'm against this administration and the way that they're pulling our country.
[00:39:03]  That's domestically and internationally.
[00:39:05]  Thank you so much, C-Speak.
[00:39:07]  All right, Edward.
[00:39:07]  Michael, Maryland, Republican.
[00:39:09]  Let's hear from you.
[00:39:13]  There we go.
[00:39:14]  Michael and Maryland.
[00:39:16]  Hi, how's it going?
[00:39:17]  Thanks for having me.

=== Risk of Adjudicatory Hearing (09:28) ===

[00:39:18]  Morning.
[00:39:19]  Yeah.
[00:39:20]  So I totally disagree with the direction our country's going in.
[00:39:25]  I mean, I was a big supporter of Donald Trump.
[00:39:27]  You know, I thought he was going to change our direction.
[00:39:30]  I thought he was going to bring our gas prices down.
[00:39:31]  I thought things were going to get better.
[00:39:34]  But ever since he attacked Iran, I could see that our leader isn't really our leader anymore.
[00:39:40]  Israel's our leader.
[00:39:41]  Israel tells us what to do.
[00:39:44]  You know, a long time ago, they had a group of guys called the Order, you know, back in the 80s, early 80s, but most people wouldn't even know about them.
[00:39:51]  And they used to refer to our government as ZOG.
[00:39:54]  And that's a good reference for our government, Zionist occupied government, because these people aren't looking out for our interests.
[00:40:02]  They're looking out for Israel's interests.
[00:40:05]  All right, Michael in Maryland, Republican, with his opinion on the Iran war.
[00:40:10]  We're asking you to react to the latest in the news on the Iran war as well as DHS funding.
[00:40:16]  The Senate approved by unanimous consent in the wee hours of the morning, live on C-SPAN 2, a deal to fund the Homeland Security Department without money for immigration enforcement.
[00:40:30]  Punch Bowl News this morning says the House leadership isn't sure when the chamber would take up this legislation that was approved by the Senate, but we expect it to be today or Saturday.
[00:40:43]  This package should be a prime candidate for consideration under suspension of the rules, a fast act process that requires a two-thirds majority on the House floor.
[00:40:52]  But that would mean dozens of House Democrats have to vote yes, a major hurdle.
[00:40:57]  Either way, this bill should pass the House before the end of the weekend at the latest.
[00:41:02]  More on that in a moment.
[00:41:03]  So who won this standoff, Punch Bowl says?
[00:41:06]  No one, in truth.
[00:41:08]  Nothing really changed.
[00:41:09]  Both sides wanted to have this fight.
[00:41:11]  So it happened.
[00:41:12]  It was another example of how little moderation is left in the Trump era, where the first instinct is to go to war.
[00:41:18]  But at some point, everyone just exhausts themselves.
[00:41:22]  And that's exactly what happened late Thursday night as senators were staring down a two-week recess.
[00:41:28]  The result is that there are few, if any, changes to ICE's enforcement operations or Trump's broader immigration crackdown.
[00:41:36]  The reason Democrats began this confrontation.
[00:41:39]  There's new leadership at DHS, and ICE is out of Minneapolis.
[00:41:43]  But Trump's detention and deportation agenda is continuing full steam ahead.
[00:41:49]  They got what they want, the Democrats have been asking for all week: DHS funding minus ICE and CBP.
[00:41:55]  But that was supposed to be step one of a two-step process with the intention of negotiating separately around a set of demands to rein in the ICE and CBP enforcement.
[00:42:06]  So Punch Bowl this morning saying, not sure if Democrats today will vote for this deal passed by the Senate by unanimous consent.
[00:42:15]  And other political observers and outlets saying, not sure if Republicans in the House will vote for it.
[00:42:21]  Tune in at 9 a.m. Eastern Time right here on C-SPAN to gavel-gavel coverage of the debate if it were to be brought up today.
[00:42:29]  They will gavel in early for legislative business.
[00:42:32]  You can also watch on our free video mobile app, C-SPANNOW, online on demand at c-span.org.
[00:42:38]  We'll go to Silver Spring, Maryland.
[00:42:41]  Now, our next call is it Behan, Democratic caller?
[00:42:45]  Yes, it's Behan.
[00:42:46]  Thank you.
[00:42:47]  Good morning.
[00:42:48]  Good morning.
[00:42:50]  I wanted to tell you that my mother actually worked for the Embassy of Iran back in the 70s, the last days of the Shah.
[00:42:58]  And I was pretty young then.
[00:43:00]  And sometimes I would go down to the embassy, and there was a domed room in the embassy.
[00:43:05]  And in the dome were tiny, tiny pieces of mosaic mirror.
[00:43:09]  The whole room was full of tiny pieces of mirror, and it was glorious in there.
[00:43:14]  And I was thinking to myself, wow, what kind of culture, what kind of culture that loves art and intelligence can create a room like this.
[00:43:23]  And that's what the other caller from way back was talking about: how Iranians are so intelligent.
[00:43:29]  They care about math.
[00:43:30]  They care about science.
[00:43:32]  And this is how they are approaching this war.
[00:43:35]  And then you think about what we're doing over here.
[00:43:37]  And I just found out this morning that Donald Trump doesn't even get his briefings on paper.
[00:43:44]  He gets a two-minute video of literally things getting blown up.
[00:43:48]  That's what he watches every morning.
[00:43:50]  He called it, the person who was talking about it called it war pornography.
[00:43:55]  And where did you learn that?
[00:43:58]  I was watching, I was listening to Lawrence O'Donnell, and he was talking about the people in the White House were talking about how they don't provide a daily briefing as written in written form because we all know that Donald Trump doesn't read.
[00:44:13]  And that's all he's getting about the war is things getting blown up.
[00:44:17]  Okay.
[00:44:18]  All right.
[00:44:18]  We'll leave it there.
[00:44:19]  More of your calls coming up here this morning on DHS funding in the Iran war.
[00:44:25]  I want to let you know what also happened on Capitol Hill yesterday.
[00:44:28]  C-SPAN cameras were in the room for a rare public hearing by the House Ethics Committee.
[00:44:34]  Yesterday, they were holding a hearing, a public one, to investigate or about their investigation into Congresswoman Sheila Scherfiles-McCormick, Democrat of Florida.
[00:44:48]  And here is the lawyer for the Congresswoman arguing the public proceedings would hurt her ability to have a fair criminal trial.
[00:44:58]  I want to just take a couple of moments to try to explain to this committee why going forward with an adjudicatory hearing when a member has a pending criminal case is a very risky endeavor.
[00:45:15]  And when I say risky, the risk is to a violation of her constitutional rights to a fair trial.
[00:45:25]  And I want to explain how those rights are implicated by this committee moving forward at this time.
[00:45:32]  The first and most serious issue is the fact that, as the ranking member pointed out, this is not a criminal trial.
[00:45:40]  And as such, it's going to have different standards of proof are going to be involved, different rules of evidence are going to be involved, and a different decision-making apparatus is going to be involved.
[00:45:55]  It's not going to be decided by a jury of her peers.
[00:45:59]  It'll be decided by the members of the committee and the full House.
[00:46:03]  That being said, the public down in the Southern District of Florida, the pool of potential jurors who are going to be hearing this criminal case, are going to be inundated with information about what takes place in this committee.
[00:46:25]  They will learn about evidence related to the allegations in the criminal case from what takes place in this committee.
[00:46:34]  Now, not all of that evidence may be admissible in a criminal case in federal court.
[00:46:42]  The attorney for the congresswoman at yesterday's ethics hearing, I just want to point over out over his right shoulder, sitting behind the attorney for the congresswoman, is a gentleman who is challenging her in the Democratic primary in this election cycle.
[00:46:58]  C-SPAN was in the room for this rare public hearing.
[00:47:02]  Find it in its entirety if you go to our website, c-span.org, or online on our free video mobile app, C-SPANNow.
[00:47:10]  You can watch it in both places.
[00:47:13]  Also happening this week, this is the Washington Times headline: conservatives are gathering for their annual PEP rally, the Conservative Political Action Committee in Texas.
[00:47:27]  And the Washington Times says the CPAC speakers zero in on America's enemies and call for action.
[00:47:33]  By the way, President Trump is skipping CPAC for the first time in decades.
[00:47:38]  We do expect to hear from Vice President JD Vance.
[00:47:42]  They had, they first gathered, their first day of their gathering was yesterday, Thursday.
[00:47:48]  It continues today and Saturday.
[00:47:51]  Today we'll have coverage of Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
[00:47:55]  She'll be speaking in Dallas, Texas.
[00:47:57]  You can watch her remarks around 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on C-SPAN 2, C-SPAN Now, the free video mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
[00:48:07]  Also, happening in Washington today, Colorado Congressman Jason Crowe last year, a veteran along with five other Democratic lawmakers, posted a video discouraging service members from carrying out illegal orders, prompting President Trump to call for their arrest.
[00:48:24]  Today, the congressman will talk about that video: free speech in the military.
[00:48:28]  He's also expected to discuss the war with Iran and U.S. military operations in Venezuela.
[00:48:33]  Hosted by Georgetown University, watched live at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on C-SPAN 3, C-SPAN Now, or online at c-span.org.

=== Congressman Discusses Free Speech Video (06:35) ===

[00:48:46]  Let's go to Stephen.
[00:48:49]  Steve in Anaheim, California, Republican.
[00:48:51]  Back to the conversation this morning on DHS funding and the conflict with Iran.
[00:48:57]  Go ahead.
[00:48:59]  Good morning, Greta.
[00:49:00]  Morning.
[00:49:01]  Okay.
[00:49:03]  Last time I talked to you, we were talking about Trump's economic plan.
[00:49:08]  On February 26th, everybody should watch this Senate Democrat roundtable on Trump's policy.
[00:49:20]  If you want to talk about how corporations are manipulating the food, watch that thing.
[00:49:25]  Okay, to the subject at hand.
[00:49:28]  Okay, the TFA, I think that basically they should actually go on strike.
[00:49:35]  I mean, if I was in their situation, that's what I would do.
[00:49:38]  Yeah, there were threats of a walkout starting today.
[00:49:42]  I missed that one.
[00:49:43]  But yeah, that's what I would do because, like Punch Bowl News says, they withdrew all this rigor and roar and they're not getting anything.
[00:49:52]  And as far as the two people that got shot, well, if you interfere with a police officer, you're going to get shot.
[00:50:02]  I mean, obviously, none of these people out there have ever had any and been pulled over when they were young and dealt with the police in any form or fashion.
[00:50:13]  Excuse me.
[00:50:14]  All right, now on to Iran.
[00:50:16]  Okay.
[00:50:17]  I went to bed on Friday and I had like $40,000 in one of my brokerage accounts.
[00:50:24]  I wake up on Saturday and all of a sudden we're at war.
[00:50:28]  Now, and I ended up losing, I think it was like $12,000 in one account just overnight.
[00:50:36]  Well, did you?
[00:50:37]  But Steve, did you sell?
[00:50:40]  No, I was going to sell on Monday.
[00:50:43]  I just lost it because, you know, from $40,000 down to $28,000.
[00:50:48]  Well, it dropped.
[00:50:49]  You didn't lose it because you didn't sell.
[00:50:51]  But anyway, get your point.
[00:50:53]  All right.
[00:50:54]  Well, anyway, They had a deal with Iran on Friday night, and the deal was that they were going to expend all their nuclear programs.
[00:51:09]  We were going to allow American companies to come in and run the oil, and they were going to have inspectors be allowed into Iran to make sure that they're living up to their end of the deal.
[00:51:25]  Next thing I know, Israel drops a bomb on the leaders of Iran when the cutter was on their way back to get the deal approved.
[00:51:39]  It was like halfway done.
[00:51:41]  Then they had his kid, his brother-in-law, and Eve, I can't remember his name.
[00:51:51]  Steve, your point.
[00:51:53]  My point was: you know, all this war and money that we're spending is unnecessary.
[00:51:59]  We need to negotiate with these people.
[00:52:01]  All right, I will leave it there.
[00:52:03]  Jake Sherman, who is one of the founders of Punch Bull News, with this this morning on the Senate deal that was passed around 3 a.m. this morning.
[00:52:13]  He says the House is going to have a big problem, big problems moving the DHS funding bill today.
[00:52:19]  In the rules for the 119th Congress, House Republicans handcuffed themselves.
[00:52:24]  The majority cannot move bills under suspension of the rules on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
[00:52:32]  Hardline conservatives hate moving bills under suspension because it bypasses the rule vote, where they have the most leverage.
[00:52:39]  Suspensions short-circuit that process, but they need two-thirds majority.
[00:52:44]  So, Speaker Johnson can go to the rules committee where he can try to get a rule, no sure thing.
[00:52:49]  If he does get one, he can try to pass a rule on the floor.
[00:52:53]  No sure thing there either with his margins.
[00:52:56]  Rules are party line votes, or he can wait until Monday where he can pass this on suspension.
[00:53:03]  Either way, suspension is going to be controversial.
[00:53:07]  And certainly, waiting until Monday as folks see the TSA lines grow and grow, and folks have plans for spring break vacations, the pressure will continue to mount.
[00:53:20]  Sam in Michigan, Independent.
[00:53:22]  Hi, Sam.
[00:53:23]  Hey, good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
[00:53:26]  I'll start my call with saying, because I heard some disparaging remarks, that I'm a retired veteran.
[00:53:31]  I'm African-American.
[00:53:32]  I'm calling on the independent lines, but I'm going to say this to kind of preference my final thought.
[00:53:37]  We have a president that's probably polling at around 28% to 30% approval rate.
[00:53:43]  He's the second term president.
[00:53:44]  He's a lame duck.
[00:53:46]  He's told everybody that's Republican not to negotiate, and he has that type of leverage for whatever reason.
[00:53:52]  So the fact that DHA and HS employees are missing salary based upon somebody not wearing a mask is completely callous.
[00:54:01]  And as we move forward to thinking about what we're engaged in now in Iran, putting life and limb in danger.
[00:54:07]  The economy is in shambles.
[00:54:10]  People need to get out of this WWE wrestling mentality about politics, thinking that it's my team that won.
[00:54:16]  Everybody that's not a billionaire in America is going to suffer this for decades.
[00:54:22]  Think, people, we got to move beyond what you think is best for your team.
[00:54:26]  What's best for America?
[00:54:28]  I gave 25 years of my life to this country.
[00:54:31]  We got to get beyond what you think is best for your team.
[00:54:34]  If you're not a billionaire, start thinking about what's best for that constitution.
[00:54:38]  Thanks for taking my call.
[00:54:39]  Sam in Michigan, Independent.
[00:54:41]  The Hill newspaper related to what Sam said, the president's disapproval rating highest in both terms.
[00:54:48]  That is according to Fox News poll.
[00:54:51]  Ron in Michigan, Republican.
[00:54:53]  Ron, go ahead.
[00:54:56]  Hi, I just wanted to say that I do support our troops in the war in Iran.
[00:55:02]  And I'd just like to remind the callers and the listeners out there that callers like myself and journalists like yourself and the protesters that are going to go out to protest in the No Kings protest tomorrow.
[00:55:16]  Just remind them what they think would happen if we were in Iran right now talking about all this.

=== No Kings Protest Tomorrow (02:35) ===

[00:55:22]  We do know, don't we?
[00:55:23]  We'd all be murdered.
[00:55:25]  So people should think about that.
[00:55:27]  All right, Ron in Michigan, Ron mentioning that there is no kings rallies across the country on Saturday.
[00:55:35]  We will have coverage of the one taking place in Minnesota on Saturday.
[00:55:41]  So go to our website, c-span.org, to learn more about that.
[00:55:46]  At the bottom of the hour on the Washington Journal, podcast host Henry Olson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center joins us to talk about how President Trump's coalition is viewing the Iran conflict and if there really is a divide there.
[00:55:59]  But first, after the break, a closer look at insider trading allegations around major Iran war pronouncements from the Trump administration.
[00:56:07]  That conversation with Craig Holman from the government watchdog group, Public Citizen.
[00:56:12]  We'll be right back.
[00:56:21]  American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
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[00:56:39]  This week at 11 a.m. Eastern, Gen Z young adults gather at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to mark America's 250th anniversary and discuss their vision for the future.
[00:56:49]  And then a focus on the life of America's sixth president, John Quincy Adams.
[00:56:53]  At 6.30 Eastern, Bob Crawford, a basis for the folk rock band the Aved Brothers, will join us to talk about his new book, America's Founding Son, Exploring President Adams' Life After His Presidency.
[00:57:05]  And then at 7.30 p.m., historian Lindsey Chervinski will dive into the leadership qualities of John Quincy Adams, who followed in his father's presidential footsteps as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project.
[00:57:16]  And at 8 p.m. Eastern, on Lectures and History, University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland analyzes the October 2002 speech by President George W. Bush, which made the case for military action in Iraq.
[00:57:31]  Exploring the American story.
[00:57:33]  Watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
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[00:57:50]  According to a new MAGIT research report, nearly 90 million Americans turn to C-SPAN, and they're almost perfectly balanced.

=== Concerns Over Illicit Insider Trading (15:44) ===

[00:57:57]  28% conservative, 27% liberal or progressive, 41% moderate.
[00:58:04]  Republicans watching Democrats, Democrats watching Republicans, moderates watching all sides.
[00:58:10]  Because C-SPAN viewers want the facts straight from the source.
[00:58:14]  No commentary, no agenda, just democracy.
[00:58:17]  Unfiltered every day on the C-SPAN networks.
[00:58:22]  Washington Journal continues.
[00:58:25]  Craig Holman joins us this morning.
[00:58:27]  He is with Public Citizen, Government Affairs lobbyist, here to talk about the trading, suspicious trading, some say that's happening amid this Iran war.
[00:58:38]  Craig Holman, I want to start with the front page of the Washington Times this morning.
[00:58:42]  Well-timed trades and bets before Trump actions fuel suspicion of leaks.
[00:58:48]  Reading from Tom Howell's reporting, market trades on oil futures reached more than a half a billion dollars shortly before Mr. Trump announced a pause in strikes against Iranian power plants.
[00:59:01]  Here is Chris Murphy, Senate Democrat from Connecticut, saying, who was it?
[00:59:06]  Trump?
[00:59:07]  A family member?
[00:59:08]  A White House staffer?
[00:59:10]  This is corruption, mind-blowing corruption.
[00:59:14]  Craig Holman, is there corruption happening?
[00:59:17]  Oh, yes, it certainly appears to be the case.
[00:59:20]  Not only is there the potential for insider trading, but a small handful of people are getting very, very wealthy based on these prediction markets.
[00:59:31]  The online prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket have really turned into gambling sites, sort of like casinos, placing bets on almost anything.
[00:59:44]  And now they've gone away from less so in business betting and betting on politics and election outcomes.
[00:59:53]  And the result appears to be highly suspicious.
[00:59:58]  You know, my attention was raised immediately after the U.S.-Israeli invasion of Iran.
[01:00:07]  There were some six bettors who placed very, very large bets just moments before the invasion of Iran as to when we would invade Iran.
[01:00:21]  And they ended up winning $1.2 million.
[01:00:25]  There was one better on Polymarket, in fact, that placed a bet even on the death of Ayatollah Khomeini.
[01:00:32]  And he ended up winning more than half a million dollars.
[01:00:36]  Now, these bets occurred just moments, moments, hours before the actions actually happened.
[01:00:44]  When you're talking about placing that kind of money on a bet on the death of a world leader or the invasion of a country, you know, you can't believe that's just based on chance.
[01:01:00]  It really would appear that somebody with inside information knowing when we were going to invade Iran and that Khomeini was actually a targeted person in that invasion, somebody appears to have had insider information and placed bets on that.
[01:01:18]  You know, it immediately comes to mind that it's someone either in the Israeli government or the Trump administration or both.
[01:01:26]  It started with Venezuela.
[01:01:27]  The Washington Times notes in their article this morning, a similar pattern unfolded before the strikes.
[01:01:33]  Excuse me, let me read here.
[01:01:34]  The eyebrow-raising trades follow lucrative moves on websites such as Polymarket.
[01:01:39]  An anonymous bett walked away with $400,000 after placing bets on when President Maduro would leave power in Venezuela.
[01:01:47]  The final wager was placed right before the January U.S. raid to capture the strongman.
[01:01:52]  And a similar pattern, as you were saying, unfolded before the strikes on Iran.
[01:01:56]  A trader under the name MAGA My Man made nearly $600,000 by placing bets on the timing of the strikes at the end of February.
[01:02:05]  My question, Craig Holman, is, how come we don't know who these people are?
[01:02:09]  They're anonymous.
[01:02:10]  These are online prediction market betting platforms, and they do not disclose who the bettors are.
[01:02:21]  We do get knowledge as to how much was bet and how much was won, but that comes a little bit later, and we don't know who's placing these bets, which is just perfectly conducive for insider trading.
[01:02:39]  Someone in the Trump administration knows that they can actually cash in half a million dollars or more on what's a sure bet, the temptation is just overwhelming.
[01:02:52]  Does the U.S. government know who oversees polymarket and these other betting markets?
[01:03:00]  No, not at this point.
[01:03:02]  Public Citizen filed a complaint with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission saying you've got to start exercising some real oversight over these prediction markets.
[01:03:15]  The prediction markets are overseen by the CFTC, but the CFTC is staffed with one person, Michael Selig, who used to be an attorney for some of these companies.
[01:03:28]  And, you know, his philosophy is very much the same as the Trump administration, and that is to deregulate.
[01:03:35]  Do not oversee this very closely.
[01:03:39]  We filed a complaint with Selig and the CFTC saying, look, this is getting awfully, awfully suspicious.
[01:03:48]  You know, it's hard to believe that this is not insider trading.
[01:03:52]  And we asked the CFTC to identify who those bettors are that became very wealthy.
[01:04:00]  And we're pursuing legislation to try to restrict who can place those bets, to prohibit government officials from placing bets on the prediction markets, for example.
[01:04:14]  We'll see what comes of this.
[01:04:15]  Al Jazeera with the headline, U.S. lawmakers Murphy and Kassar pushed legislation to regulate the prediction markets.
[01:04:23]  Is this the bill that you're pushing for?
[01:04:25]  What would it do?
[01:04:27]  There are several bills.
[01:04:29]  There are two bills that I've worked on personally.
[01:04:32]  One was with Senator Murphy.
[01:04:34]  Another was with Senator Merkley that would just ban betting on prediction markets altogether on sports as well as political events.
[01:04:47]  I'd like to see any of these bills passed.
[01:04:51]  You know, and I read today that a number of other senators and members of Congress have introduced more bills yesterday that would also regulate this.
[01:05:04]  We need clear oversight by the CFTC.
[01:05:07]  The CFTC has got to identify who's placing these bets at the very least and very probably come out with regulations prohibiting government officials or anyone who has potential inside information from placing bets on political events, especially.
[01:05:27]  All right.
[01:05:28]  We'll go to Matt and Frederick, Maryland, Independent Caller.
[01:05:31]  You're up first for this conversation.
[01:05:33]  Good morning.
[01:05:34]  Hey, good morning, guys.
[01:05:36]  Just a question for your guest here and his thoughts and any type of like actions he's taken along the way that goes after insider trading amongst Congress, members of Congress.
[01:05:49]  And what kind of parallels can you draw between these two situations?
[01:05:55]  We're seeing some obvious parallels on these situations.
[01:06:00]  I am also working very hard to try to pass a bill that would prohibit members of Congress from trading on the stock market altogether.
[01:06:10]  That provides also a similar opportunity for insider trading.
[01:06:15]  Members of Congress are sitting in positions of power in which they can influence legislation, and they also know what type of legislation is coming on down the line that will regulate businesses and affect the stock markets.
[01:06:32]  And so we've got to get members of Congress and, you know, quite frankly, the whole federal government out of placing bets on either the stock market or on these prediction markets.
[01:06:44]  These prediction markets, by the way, I mean, it's so absurd.
[01:06:47]  To get right back to that point, I mean, what we saw even more recently is these bets on the price of oil dropping.
[01:06:58]  There were just a handful of bettors on the prediction markets, moments, 15 minutes before Donald Trump announced that he wasn't going to bomb the oil fields in Iran.
[01:07:10]  That placed literally hundreds of millions of dollars of bets that the price of oil would drop.
[01:07:17]  These people became very, very rich.
[01:07:20]  And the timing just makes me very suspicious that these are people who actually knew Trump was about to make that announcement.
[01:07:31]  How long will it take for an investigation to take place if the SEC or one of these government agencies were to look into these bets?
[01:07:44]  These investigations can take very long.
[01:07:48]  The CFTC investigations, when it was active, you know, would often take a year to conduct an investigation.
[01:07:58]  But it all depends on political pressure.
[01:08:03]  There is right now a great deal of concern among members of Congress, among both parties, Republicans and Democrats, that there is some sort of illicit insider trading going on on these, not only the stock market, but on these prediction markets as well.
[01:08:22]  And that can really push for an expedited investigation.
[01:08:27]  And I'm expecting to see Congress pick this up, too.
[01:08:31]  The intent and the interest of Congress in trying to regulate this behavior has just gone off the charts.
[01:08:41]  You know, if you read today's Washington Post or the Washington Times or basically New York Times, you're going to find articles about members of Congress getting very concerned about insider trading.
[01:08:54]  All right.
[01:08:54]  Well, that is our topic this morning.
[01:08:55]  If you're a Democrat, dial in at 202-748-8000.
[01:08:59]  Republicans, 202-748-8001.
[01:09:02]  And Independents, 202-748-8002.
[01:09:06]  We'll go to Matt next in Frederick, Maryland, Independent.
[01:09:12]  Oh, we'll go to Steve.
[01:09:13]  Steve is in Freeland, Maryland, Democratic caller.
[01:09:16]  Hi, Steve.
[01:09:18]  How are you?
[01:09:19]  It's kind of funny that you guys are talking about insider trading.
[01:09:24]  A legislative branch, the legislative branch has been doing insider training since the beginning of time.
[01:09:32]  Paula Luna just put a bill up for the actual stopping of insider trading.
[01:09:39]  And every time that comes up, the legislative branch never is going to stop that.
[01:09:44]  We know this is how they go from a $100,000 a year salary to finish out of there making millions and millions of dollars.
[01:09:53]  That's why Chuck doesn't leave.
[01:09:55]  That's why these guys got to leave because you're making a fortune on insider training.
[01:09:59]  So I find it amusing, amusing that we're actually going to go ask the fox to watch the chicken house with the hen house.
[01:10:07]  And we think Congress, we think the legislative branch is going to do anything about insider trading.
[01:10:14]  All right, Steve, let's take that question.
[01:10:16]  Craig Holman, there is legislation.
[01:10:18]  What is the status of it and what would it do?
[01:10:21]  Oh, first of all, I want to share my concern that Congress is acting very slow on trying to address this problem with insider trading.
[01:10:33]  I've been working on that bill to ban stock trading by members of Congress for years now.
[01:10:40]  And it ought to be something that isn't even difficult or controversial.
[01:10:48]  I mean, members of Congress are in positions of knowing what public policy is about to happen that'll directly affect the stock market.
[01:10:58]  And they're in a position of passing legislation to shape the stock market.
[01:11:03]  Obviously, those people should not be allowed to be trading on the stock market.
[01:11:09]  And, you know, the bill's a no-brainer, and we just can't seem to get it across the finish line in Congress.
[01:11:18]  So this has been very frustrating.
[01:11:20]  But I am excited by the new excitement I'm seeing in Congress to try to restrict these prediction markets.
[01:11:31]  Perhaps the legislation to restrict prediction markets just is going to be so popular that Congress will not be able to stand in the way of it.
[01:11:44]  So we're seeing action finally.
[01:11:47]  But I do share your frustration on this.
[01:11:50]  Tom, in Rio Rento, New Mexico, Independent.
[01:11:53]  Your question or comment this morning.
[01:11:56]  Yes, I'd like to understand how these prediction markets got started in the first place and why they shouldn't and how come they're not abolished?
[01:12:07]  This doesn't make sense.
[01:12:09]  And I have a feeling that the Republican Party and the Democratic Party need to understand this needs to be abolished and go away.
[01:12:17]  Craig Holman?
[01:12:18]  You know, these prediction markets or things like them have been around for a very, very long time.
[01:12:25]  I didn't even know what prediction markets were until all this recent betting in Venezuela and the Iran invasion.
[01:12:33]  But I've learned that they've been around for a very long time.
[01:12:37]  What their primary role has been was to try to basically place bets of sorts on whether a particular business is going to survive or not or whether it files bankruptcy.
[01:12:55]  So basically a game with wealthy insiders on business activities.
[01:13:04]  That's, you know, people can play that game if they want.
[01:13:09]  Where it really bothers me is when it comes to elections and political outcomes.
[01:13:16]  This is an area that we should not allow casinos to be manipulating.
[01:13:24]  You see, part of the problem is not only insider trading, but when you're allowing government officials to place these types of bets on political outcomes, that can be a motivation for government officials to shape public policy.

=== Trump Family Influence on Markets (09:01) ===

[01:13:42]  You know, perhaps they want to not invade Iran because they're placing a half million dollar bet that Iran won't get invaded by the U.S. You know, so it's it's a double-edged sword here.
[01:13:55]  It's not only the problem insider trading, but it can even affect our own public policy and those are in policymaking rules.
[01:14:06]  The New York Times reported back in January that at the intersection of prediction market industry and the Trump world is Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son.
[01:14:18]  He is both an investor in and an unpaid advisor to Polymarket and a paid advisor to Kelchi, the two biggest prediction markets.
[01:14:28]  And he is a director of the Trumps family's social media company, which recently announced it would start its own platform called Truth Predict.
[01:14:37]  Your thoughts, Craig Holman?
[01:14:39]  Yeah, that's right.
[01:14:40]  And that raises more suspicions that it's Trump administration officials who are placing these bets on the prediction markets because the prediction markets really are being advised by Donald Trump Jr.
[01:14:56]  You know, he's the one trying to handle this business, and the Trump family is now even moving into the prediction market business.
[01:15:07]  So it raises a lot of suspicions that the Trump administration or people involved in the Trump administration are those placing these types of bets.
[01:15:21]  I mean, how many people even knew about prediction markets in the first place prior to this?
[01:15:27]  You know, I certainly was unaware of these prediction markets, but now we all know about them.
[01:15:34]  And now we're starting to watch and take a look and press for reasonable regulation and definitely disclosure and oversight.
[01:15:44]  All right, we'll go to Ted in Hawaii, Democratic Caller.
[01:15:47]  Ted, you're next.
[01:15:48]  Hello, thank you.
[01:15:50]  Yes, this is a very interesting topic you have here.
[01:15:54]  There may not be a way to get a law passed in time to control this, but is there a way that somebody like this fellow that you have on can lay out step one, step two,
[01:16:06]  possibility one to at least inform the public what's going on in a step-by-step manner, which they can then take that and turn that into a way to maybe alter their voting to use the voter directly to control who they may or may not elect according to what he says.
[01:16:30]  Is there a way to take, I wouldn't say retribution, but evening of the playing field in this matter?
[01:16:38]  Craig Holman.
[01:16:39]  There are two avenues.
[01:16:41]  One is the CFTC.
[01:16:43]  The Commodity Futures Trading Commission can exercise authority to start regulating and disclosing what's going on with prediction markets.
[01:16:54]  Unfortunately, as I noted before, the head of the CFTC, Michael Selig, is himself a trader on the prediction markets and an attorney on behalf of the prediction market industry.
[01:17:09]  So he doesn't want to see any kind of regulation going on here.
[01:17:15]  And to make it even worse, the CFTC is a five-member commission, and the Trump administration has so far declined to appoint members to the commission, except for the chair.
[01:17:29]  So it's just Sellig at this point.
[01:17:31]  Sellig may be seeing that there is a problem with this now and reconsidering whether or not to regulate the prediction markets, but we'll see.
[01:17:43]  And the second option, which is what you brought up, is us voters.
[01:17:48]  If we become much more alarmed and much more aware of the dangers of the prediction markets and the potential for insider trading by government officials, we can show our concern at the ballot box.
[01:18:04]  Darrell in Washington, on our line for Republicans, you're talking with Craig Holman.
[01:18:08]  Go ahead.
[01:18:10]  Yeah, well, why are we not voting on insider trading as far as the entire nation instead of trying to let Congress pass a bill that they are profiting from, which will never pass?
[01:18:25]  Why not allow American citizens to vote on a law against it?
[01:18:32]  Well, first of all, we don't have an initiative process nationwide, but we can show our concern at the ballot box in who we elect to office.
[01:18:45]  So, I mean, that's a direct answer there.
[01:18:49]  But, you know, secondly, some of these bills, like the bill introduced by Senator Merkley and Representative Raskin, would, in fact, ban all betting on the prediction markets, sports betting as well as political events betting.
[01:19:06]  So there is some legislation that seeks to really shut down the whole prediction market industry, or at least what it's become today.
[01:19:16]  Linda, Oxford, Massachusetts, Independent.
[01:19:20]  Hi, good morning.
[01:19:21]  Morning.
[01:19:23]  I'm thinking that if we force a transparency so strong that it deters abuse from Congress, then they have to report real-time or near-real-time trade disclosures instead of the current delayed reporting and automatic auditing using AI or SEC oversight and heavier penalties.
[01:19:44]  And how about the Ethics Commission?
[01:19:47]  They aren't part of Congress.
[01:19:48]  They could oversee all of this.
[01:19:50]  Thanks for taking my call.
[01:19:52]  Craig Holman?
[01:19:53]  The Ethics Commission certainly could step in to see if members of Congress are acting illegally.
[01:20:00]  They have not given this particular matter any attention as of yet.
[01:20:06]  That doesn't mean they will continue to refuse to look at it.
[01:20:12]  They could step in at any point and start monitoring what members of Congress are doing and even pulling in members of Congress and asking them directly, have you placed any bets on the prediction markets?
[01:20:27]  So they could step into the process.
[01:20:29]  They're generally not really part of the process, though, at this point, because we're talking about insider trading beyond Congress.
[01:20:39]  You know, it's really insider trading from within the administration itself.
[01:20:45]  The administration had knowledge as to when we were going to invade Iran and the fact that we were going to kill the Khomeini that members of Congress did not have.
[01:20:57]  So we want to go beyond Congress.
[01:20:59]  Yeah, and Reuters reported top enforcement official resigned last week after agency blocked her from going after people in Trump's inner circle.
[01:21:08]  Craig Holman.
[01:21:11]  Yes, that's right.
[01:21:12]  Keep in mind, Donald Trump Jr. is an advisor to these companies.
[01:21:18]  And so the Trump administration has shown no willingness at this point to have oversight or regulation over the prediction market industry.
[01:21:28]  Daniel, Georgia, Republican caller.
[01:21:32]  Hello, good morning.
[01:21:33]  Going back to what you mentioned a few moments ago about the Trump family influence into financial markets and so on and so forth.
[01:21:44]  In the crypto world, the Trump family, Eric Donald Jr. and Barron, rolled out a cryptocurrency called World Liberty Financial WLFI.
[01:21:59]  And all it really takes is an announcement by Donald Jr. about maybe A talk, a meeting on X, and then you can see that manipulate the price of that cryptocurrency.
[01:22:17]  You can see it go up.
[01:22:18]  It may, it's a low dollar, it's 10 cents, but you know, if you have a five-cent increase after that talk, then obviously for people with a lot of money there, they can make good profits.
[01:22:31]  But the Convention of States that it talks of Article 5 of the Constitution that the founding fathers put in place in case we had too much centralized power in Washington, D.C.

=== Constitutional Amendment Needed Now (05:03) ===

[01:22:44]  I think that's the only way that you fix this.
[01:22:46]  And in the past, my argument has been that Article 5 of the Constitution that states that if we have two delegates in every state in the United States and then those delegates put forth an amendment to the Constitution,
[01:23:03]  I've argued it should be for term limits because if three-quarters of the states were to ratify that amendment, then the Constitution says it doesn't matter what legislative says, it doesn't matter if the executive branch doesn't matter what judicial says.
[01:23:18]  That amendment to the Constitution must be passed.
[01:23:22]  Okay, so is that the answer, Craig Holman?
[01:23:24]  Term limits.
[01:23:26]  Constitutional amendment certainly could address this problem.
[01:23:29]  I mean, no doubt there.
[01:23:31]  The problem with that is it's very, very difficult to get a constitutional amendment passed.
[01:23:38]  I would take my bets trying to get Congress to act before I would count on a constitutional amendment, but I certainly wouldn't dismiss a constitutional amendment.
[01:23:48]  You know, if it could be narrowed and focused just on this particular issue, you know, I could, I could, I would certainly want to see something like that happen.
[01:23:59]  But, you know, for my money, I'm going to be focusing on trying to get Congress and the CFTC to act and voters to get involved.
[01:24:10]  As we're talking, Craig Holman, CNN went to a commercial break, and one of the commercials was from one of these prediction markets, Kelsey.
[01:24:18]  So have they seen a boon, boom for them for their business?
[01:24:24]  Indeed, they have.
[01:24:25]  Over the last year, the prediction market business increased 1,300%.
[01:24:32]  1,300%.
[01:24:34]  1,300%.
[01:24:36]  And that's just been over the course of one year.
[01:24:39]  And, you know, by the way, what's making this difference is politics.
[01:24:44]  I mean, when the prediction markets were just focused on whether or not a business would survive, you know, it was just a game for some insiders.
[01:24:55]  Now that we've gotten into the prediction markets betting on elections and political outcomes and war and death of foreign leaders, the whole market has just spiraled upward.
[01:25:09]  I mean, people are putting in a lot of money on politics.
[01:25:15]  And, you know, once again, I got to bring this back to the original circle.
[01:25:21]  There are a handful of people who happen to know what's going to happen next on these some of these political events.
[01:25:29]  And I strongly suspect they are the ones that are placing the really big bets.
[01:25:35]  All right, William in Long Island, Democratic caller.
[01:25:39]  Thank you.
[01:25:39]  Good morning.
[01:25:40]  Thank you to the guests are moderating today and everyone at CC.
[01:25:44]  Look, I went into Calci two months ago just to play, pick a bet on a PGA tour and to make one or two small other bets.
[01:25:53]  $100 is my total bank, and I've won and lost.
[01:25:55]  I have $80 left.
[01:25:57]  But I did it because I wanted to see what Mr. Holman is looking at.
[01:26:00]  What the heck's going on?
[01:26:02]  Everyone stole my thunder.
[01:26:03]  So my only piece I can put in there that's different is between VPNs and overseas and polymarket, the cat's out of the bag, the doors to the barn is open.
[01:26:13]  We can do two things in Congress, but I would like you to speak, Mr. Holman, to all the underpinnings between crypto, betting, sports markets, insider trading.
[01:26:23]  I don't think anything less than a 2008 mortgage meltdown type scenario is going to make a difference to getting this thing right in.
[01:26:31]  All right, let's take that thought.
[01:26:32]  Craig Holman.
[01:26:34]  Well, it is the very large bets that trouble me most, but we have seen certain small bets also being used to shape politics.
[01:26:44]  There was one candidate for governor of California just last year who placed a $200 bet on him winning the gubernatorial election, and that helped change the odds on the whole prediction markets that made him almost a viable candidate.
[01:27:05]  He never really was a viable candidate, but the odds suddenly were boosted significantly, even just by a $200 bet.
[01:27:13]  So small bets can also be used to manipulate the markets.
[01:27:19]  But it is the big betters that particularly concern me.
[01:27:23]  Craig Holman, we have to leave it there.
[01:27:25]  Craig Holman with Public Citizen.
[01:27:27]  Thank you for the conversation this morning.
[01:27:30]  Pleasure.
[01:27:31]  Glad to be here.
[01:27:33]  Next on the Washington Journal, a conversation with podcast host Henry Olson of the Ethics and Public Policy Center on how President Trump's coalition is viewing the Iran conflict and there, if there is really a divide within it.

=== John Quincy Adams Biography (02:10) ===

[01:27:47]  We'll be right back.
[01:27:54]  American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
[01:28:01]  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.
[01:28:13]  This week at 11 a.m. Eastern, Gen Z young adults gather at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia to mark America's 250th anniversary and discuss their vision for the future.
[01:28:23]  And then a focus on the life of America's sixth president, John Quincy Adams.
[01:28:27]  At 6.30 Eastern, Bob Crawford, a basis for the folk rock band the Aved Brothers, will join us to talk about his new book, America's Founding Son, Exploring President Adams' Life After His Presidency.
[01:28:39]  And then at 7.30 p.m., historian Lindsey Chervinski will dive into the leadership qualities of John Quincy Adams, who followed in his father's presidential footsteps as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project.
[01:28:50]  And at 8 p.m. Eastern, on Lectures in History, University of Kansas political communication professor Robert Rowland analyzes the October 2002 speech by President George W. Bush, which made the case for military action in Iraq.
[01:29:05]  Exploring the American story.
[01:29:07]  Watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
[01:29:23]  Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold, original series.
[01:29:27]  Sunday with our guest, Beverly Gage, a professor of American history at Yale.
[01:29:33]  Her book, G-Man, J. Edgar Hoover, and The Making of the American Century, received numerous literary awards and prizes, including the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, the Bancroft Prize in American History, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography.
[01:29:53]  Her most recent book is This Land is Your Land, a Road Trip Through U.S. History.

=== Polls Show Opposition to War (15:29) ===

[01:29:58]  She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein.
[01:30:03]  Now, when biographers spend five years, 10 years, 15 years or so with a person, they often fall in love with them because they spend so much time with them.
[01:30:11]  Did you fall in love with J. Edgar Hoover or do you come away saying, geez, he's not as good as I thought or wished he was?
[01:30:17]  I did not fall in love with J. Edgar Hoover.
[01:30:20]  It's safe to say.
[01:30:21]  Nor did I think that I would.
[01:30:23]  To me, I was just fascinated by him the whole time.
[01:30:27]  I thought that he was important, and I thought that he was really an interesting, complicated character.
[01:30:32]  We mostly know him as a villain, and I did find that he was much more complicated than that one-dimensional portrait.
[01:30:40]  Watch America's Book Club with Beverly Gage Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.
[01:30:48]  Only on C-SPAN.
[01:30:58]  In a divided media world, one place brings Americans together.
[01:31:02]  According to a new MAGIT research report, nearly 90 million Americans turn to C-SPAN, and they're almost perfectly balanced.
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[01:31:33]  Washington Journal continues.
[01:31:36]  Welcome back.
[01:31:37]  We'll turn our attention to the Iran conflict in just a minute.
[01:31:40]  But first, an update on DHS funding.
[01:31:42]  As we told you, the Senate in the We Hours this morning agreed to a deal to fund the Homeland Security Department, most of it, but not immigration enforcement.
[01:31:53]  The House is now slated to take up this legislation after the Senate approved it by unanimous consent.
[01:32:01]  Jake Sherman, who reports for Punch Bowl News, putting on X just moments ago, just caught up with Steve Scalise, who is the Republican, one of the Republican leaders in the House, the majority leader, who was non-committal about passing this bill at all.
[01:32:17]  We're having just some early discussions about what we got to do, but we're also touching base with a lot of members.
[01:32:24]  Now, the House is slated to gavel in at 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
[01:32:28]  We are at the bottom of the hour, so just 30 minutes away from them gaveling in, and they need to take this legislation up for DHS funding to resume for departments like the Transportation Security Administration.
[01:32:44]  So those lines at the airport are reduced and TSA workers get paychecks.
[01:32:51]  Turning now to the Iran conflict, joining us at the table is Henry Olson, who is a senior fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, here to talk about the supposed rift within the GOP over this war in Iran.
[01:33:07]  Does one exist?
[01:33:09]  Not a significant one.
[01:33:10]  You have polls that continually show 80 to 90 percent of Republicans support this war, that the support is much stronger among self-described MAGA Republicans.
[01:33:22]  The polls that I've seen show that the biggest opposition or lack of support for it comes among non-MAGA Republicans, where about a quarter or so of non-MAGA Republicans or non-MAGA Trump supporters do not support the war.
[01:33:38]  But largely it's a fact that there's a few very high-profile people who strongly oppose the war, but the rank and file largely support it.
[01:33:48]  The president ran on no, never wars.
[01:33:50]  He was going to get us out of conflicts, the peace president, and he wasn't going to start new wars.
[01:33:55]  Does this surprise you?
[01:33:57]  It would surprise me if it were not Iran.
[01:33:59]  If you go back and look at the president's comments, throughout 2024, 2020, 2016, he continually says Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
[01:34:08]  Go back to 1988, he's saying the same thing when he was a private citizen.
[01:34:13]  So if he were launching a war in Europe or if he were launching a war of choice in Asia, I would be very surprised.
[01:34:21]  But with respect to Iran, it doesn't surprise me because he has a 30-year record of saying they cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
[01:34:29]  And he's been convinced that the negotiations that he was having both currently and previously with the Iranian regime were not leading to that goal.
[01:34:37]  The Conservative Political Action Committee meeting in Dallas this week, they have speakers from Iran and Israel.
[01:34:45]  The headline in the papers this morning, the speakers focus on enemies to America.
[01:34:51]  Is that the way this is be, is it that success, is that the way this is framed and is it successful?
[01:34:57]  Well, I think with respect to Iran, it's successful.
[01:34:59]  Let's remember that Iran was the nation that captured hundreds of our diplomats in the embassy in 1979, held them hostage for over a year, has chanted death to America in organized demonstrations for decades, attacked American interests and soldiers overseas.
[01:35:20]  So for a Republican, this is often said not to be a war that President Trump started, but he's ending the 47-year war that the Iranian regime has been launching subrosa and sometimes openly against the United States.
[01:35:34]  So for the Republicans, that doesn't have to be manufactured.
[01:35:37]  It's something that they've believed going in.
[01:35:39]  Do you think that Republicans want him to finish this?
[01:35:44]  In other words, not declare victory before the regime is completely obliterated, as well as their infrastructure for missiles.
[01:35:55]  I think what the Republicans want is victory.
[01:35:58]  Victory means the end of the Iranian regime as an expansionary, revolutionary movement.
[01:36:06]  It can mean freedom for the people in Iran.
[01:36:08]  It can mean a return to the Shah.
[01:36:09]  It can mean an autocrat who is someone who tyrannizes his own people but doesn't try to destabilize the world and seek a nuclear weapon.
[01:36:19]  Republicans want victory.
[01:36:20]  They will trust the president to define it.
[01:36:23]  But if the Iranian regime in its current form exists and nuclear materials have not been removed, then that is not going to be victory and Republicans are going to wonder why did we go through all of this.
[01:36:36]  How much domestic pressure can the president stand on oil prices, gas prices going up at the pump, and the stock market reacting to all of this?
[01:36:47]  I think he can withstand a fair amount as long as we're talking about a resolution which ends in victory sometime by the end of the summertime.
[01:36:57]  I suspect it will happen faster than that.
[01:36:59]  The Iranian regime is playing the cards it has, but the cards are not very strong.
[01:37:05]  Once the American military moves ground forces into the region, which it's said to be in the process of doing, it'll be very difficult for the Iranian regime to continue to shut the Strait of Hormuz when they can have the positions that they're using to do that taken by the Marines or by the U.S. Army.
[01:37:22]  So I suspect that we're talking about a couple of months at max before this is going to be resolved.
[01:37:28]  And once it's resolved, oil prices come back down, the war is over, and I think the president will see a rebound in his popularity.
[01:37:35]  Henry Olson here with us this morning to talk about the Iranian conflict and a divide within the party over it that does not exist, as Henry Holson has just said.
[01:37:45]  So this morning we're taking ear calls and your questions on this.
[01:37:48]  I want to show a poll from AP recently done.
[01:37:51]  U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far.
[01:37:54]  All adults, 59%, agree with that sentiment.
[01:37:57]  Democrats, 90% agree.
[01:38:00]  Independents, 63% agree.
[01:38:03]  Well, only 26% of Republicans agree with that sentiment.
[01:38:06]  Right.
[01:38:07]  And this is a more recent poll, which would be, we've been seeing that the longer the war lasts, the less support there is for it.
[01:38:14]  This is almost exclusively a fact that people who did not like the president, which say nearly half the country, disagree with the action.
[01:38:21]  And that's why you have the large top-line numbers.
[01:38:23]  For his coalition, which is the people he has to worry about, the people who put him in office, this is still a war that they support, by and large.
[01:38:31]  For the midterm elections that are coming up, does he need to, and the party, need to worry about independence?
[01:38:36]  Oh, of course they do.
[01:38:37]  And that's one of the big problems is that independents have been moving away from Trump and from the party well before the war started.
[01:38:44]  This is a problem going back into last year.
[01:38:47]  Independents would like to see a recovering economy where prices may or may not be going down, but they stop going up by the margins they've been going up.
[01:38:58]  They'd like to see real wages go up at a faster rate than they're going up.
[01:39:02]  And they'd like to see immigration controlled and people deported, but in a more humane manner.
[01:39:07]  They've been disappointed so far.
[01:39:09]  Time for the president to change that before the midterms, but time is getting short.
[01:39:13]  And if he doesn't?
[01:39:15]  Well, if he doesn't, Republicans will lose control of the House.
[01:39:17]  They may lose one to three seats in the Senate.
[01:39:21]  If it stays at this level, where his approval rating is among registered voters, you have to take out polls of all adults because they don't reflect people who will show up.
[01:39:32]  It's about 42 percent.
[01:39:34]  That's where President Biden's approval rating was going into the midterms, and it would require a similarly ahistoric shift among people who don't like them to avoid perhaps a three-seat loss in the Senate, which would mean Vice President Vance would be breaking the tie every single day.
[01:39:54]  Back to the Associated Press poll and the Iran conflict.
[01:39:57]  They also asked about deploying U.S. troops on the ground to fight Iran.
[01:40:02]  12% strongly somewhat favor deploying U.S. troops.
[01:40:07]  26% neither favor or oppose.
[01:40:10]  Well, 62% strongly, somewhat oppose that idea.
[01:40:15]  We just showed a Wall Street Journal exclusive this morning that the U.S. is looking at deploying troops, more troops on the ground.
[01:40:24]  Yeah, I think what people think about with troops is either an ongoing battle, which will cause casualties, or an ongoing occupation, which will cause a guerrilla war.
[01:40:33]  I don't think that's what the president has in mind.
[01:40:36]  I think what he has in mind is targeted and limited use of troops to seize militarily significant points on the Strait of Hormuz and economically significant points in the Persian Gulf where Iran exports its oil and hence gets the money for its regime.
[01:40:52]  So I think, yes, people don't want troops on the ground, but they're thinking of troops on the ground in a way the president doesn't plan to deploy them.
[01:41:00]  If he does, and I frankly expect that he will be forced to, because I don't think the Iranian regime will submit to his demands before the troops are there.
[01:41:09]  We'll see whether or not the actual deployment results in the things that people fear.
[01:41:14]  Aubrey's in College Park, Maryland, on our line for Democrats.
[01:41:18]  Welcome to the conversation.
[01:41:19]  Go ahead.
[01:41:21]  Hi, thanks.
[01:41:22]  I've got a couple points, if you'll allow me the time.
[01:41:24]  First, I'd like to touch on kind of the historical link to Republicans and the Iranian regime.
[01:41:29]  Like, you can go back decades and decades, but the fact is these hostages that you were talking about before the 1980 election, the Reagan administration worked with the Iranians so that they wouldn't negotiate with the Carter administration.
[01:41:42]  They arranged the release of hostages after Reagan was inaugurated.
[01:41:46]  Back-channeling with these terrorists.
[01:41:48]  Then you have the Iran-Contra scandal.
[01:41:50]  And so I don't know how we can, in good faith, say that this is like a 50-year position.
[01:41:56]  It's not.
[01:41:56]  Maybe for Trump, but not for the Republicans.
[01:41:59]  Secondly, I'd like to talk about the president's lack of candor about this situation and how you guys square this up.
[01:42:06]  How is it going to be four to six weeks if we're spending a billion dollars a day, but we want $200 billion more?
[01:42:14]  That's more than half a year worth of funding that you're asking for a month in.
[01:42:19]  That's silly.
[01:42:20]  That's kind of ridiculous.
[01:42:22]  I want to take your point about the Pentagon request.
[01:42:25]  $200 billion more.
[01:42:26]  Yeah, we'll see what actually would get appropriated.
[01:42:29]  I think the $200 billion would both cover the munitions that have been used, many of which are expensive, millions of dollars per missile, and also cover the ongoing shortfall, which is to say that America was drawing down stocks to supply Ukraine.
[01:42:45]  America has used missiles in Midnight Fury.
[01:42:49]  We're on Epic Fury, Midnight Hammer.
[01:42:51]  They've used a lot of these expensive munitions.
[01:42:54]  So I suspect the $200 billion is not simply to cover this shortfall, but to bring America's munition stocks up to date for the previous expenditures.
[01:43:03]  What about a sentiment, though, about the president and squaring his actions with his remarks?
[01:43:08]  I think the president has always suffered from an he thinks of himself as a dealmaker.
[01:43:16]  And a deal maker doesn't usually need to persuade larger groups of people.
[01:43:20]  He needs to persuade the person in front of him.
[01:43:22]  And he rightly thinks that in a deal, ambiguity can help you suss out where your opposition or your potential dealmaker stands out.
[01:43:30]  I think he's always had a weakness in rallying people behind a goal.
[01:43:35]  He tends to not view it as as important as others do.
[01:43:39]  And I think he's applying a dealmaker's approach to a political problem, which is to say he should be not necessarily clear about what we want, but clear about why we're doing it.
[01:43:51]  I think he should be using more of the bully pulpit to prepare America for perhaps a larger war than they are expecting.
[01:44:01]  So you said he should be using the bully pulpit because he has a political problem.
[01:44:09]  Is it the upcoming midterm elections?
[01:44:12]  Well, I think he has two political problems.
[01:44:13]  One is the midterm election.
[01:44:14]  But secondly, is those numbers that you're talking about?
[01:44:16]  He's not going to persuade Democrats to support him, by and large.
[01:44:21]  But he needs to have, it would be nice if he's going to be going forward with this war to have more than 65 or 70 percent of Republicans behind him.
[01:44:29]  It would be nice to have close to half of independents.
[01:44:32]  It would be nice if it was closer to 50-50 to support the war effort, not just to support the midterms.
[01:44:38]  This is a president who has brought us to war and has explained in minimal detail why we're doing it.
[01:44:45]  And he should be doing more in maximal detail to explain why he chose to do it, why this fits in with this long-standing acts of aggression of the Iranian regime against the United States, and why it is he's going to see it completion and why this is worth the cost.
[01:45:01]  He really should be doing that on a more regular basis.
[01:45:03]  Kronipiyak University poll that was conducted just days ago found when they asked, which party do you want to control House, the House, 51% of the respondents said Democrats, 40% said Republicans.
[01:45:16]  Yeah, look, right now the Republicans would lose the House.
[01:45:18]  If the election were held today, Republicans would lose the House.
[01:45:21]  They'd probably lose double-digit seats.
[01:45:23]  They may lose as many as 20 or 25.
[01:45:25]  It would depend on how the race is actually.

=== Israel Plans Lebanon Annexation (15:30) ===

[01:45:27]  That's simply where it stands.
[01:45:30]  The idea that the Republicans will control the House would be ahistoric, which is they could only lose four seats and still have one sheet short.
[01:45:39]  If they lose four seats, they lose control.
[01:45:41]  Only two or three presidencies since the New Deal have lost that few seats in a midterm.
[01:45:45]  The odds are overwhelming they'll lose control of the House.
[01:45:48]  The real question is how much and how little.
[01:45:52]  And right now, it's not looking good for the Republican Party.
[01:45:54]  Gary's next in Newport, Kentucky, on a line for Republicans.
[01:46:00]  The worst thing you can do in a war is have a lame duck administration.
[01:46:10]  I think I can explain why.
[01:46:14]  Iran was still developing a nuclear weapon.
[01:46:19]  And it shows that Iran is not a regime.
[01:46:24]  They are a terrorist state.
[01:46:27]  And they don't care about their neighbors.
[01:46:29]  They don't care about anyone around them.
[01:46:32]  And it's coming out and it's showing.
[01:46:34]  And I believe that's what's behind this whole war is we want Iran needs.
[01:46:42]  Iran, they've been behind all these terrorist events for the last 40 years, probably.
[01:46:53]  And the Biden administration queued them up when they gave them back billions of dollars of their money that we had obtained.
[01:47:03]  So many of my Democratic colleagues, you know, neighbors and everything, agree with the war.
[01:47:13]  I don't see how the polls are showing that because a lot of them said, you know, they disagree with President Trump, but they don't disagree with the war.
[01:47:26]  All right, well, let's take that sentiment.
[01:47:28]  I don't doubt that there are some Democrats who support the war.
[01:47:32]  I don't doubt that there are Democratic-leaning independents who support the war.
[01:47:36]  I think what you need to take into account is the widespread number of people who aren't in Newport, Kentucky, maybe in San Francisco or maybe in suburban Washington and so forth, who are more liberal or progressive Democrats who do strongly and loudly oppose the war.
[01:47:55]  And that's what the polls tend to be picking up because there's simply more of them in the Democratic voter pool.
[01:48:01]  And then you've got what the caller said was the sort of thing that Republicans focus on, which is this is not a regime that is just sitting there dealing with its own people.
[01:48:14]  It's funding terrorists in Israel.
[01:48:17]  It's funding terrorists in Iraq.
[01:48:18]  It's funding terrorists in Yemen to destabilize the Saudi regime.
[01:48:24]  It has funded terrorist terrorist anti-Jewish acts as far away as Argentina many years ago.
[01:48:29]  This is not a regime that stays put in its border.
[01:48:32]  This is a regime that wants to expand, conquer, and influence.
[01:48:36]  And that's why so many of the neighbors are tacitly or openly supporting the Israeli-American war.
[01:48:42]  More from the Quenet Piak poll.
[01:48:44]  They've found disapproval of the president on key issues.
[01:48:49]  58% disapprove of his handling of the economy.
[01:48:52]  On foreign policy, 59% said that they disapprove.
[01:48:56]  And another, and 59% also said they disapprove of the situation with Iran.
[01:49:01]  Doug in Newport News, excuse me, Ann in Buffalo, New York, Democratic caller.
[01:49:06]  Hi, Ann.
[01:49:07]  Hi.
[01:49:09]  I have a couple of notes.
[01:49:13]  The president has shifted the purpose for his invasion.
[01:49:18]  I think initially he had suggested it was for saving the resistant citizens who were getting shot down by the tens of thousands by the regime.
[01:49:33]  And now it's, aren't we afraid of the nuclear threat by Iran?
[01:49:41]  I'm a little more afraid right now about the nuclear threat from Netanyahu.
[01:49:48]  He is such a warrior, and he will do anything not only to protect his country in his mind, but to stay in power and not go to jail.
[01:50:03]  And I want to take your point about the shifting narrative on why we went to war.
[01:50:09]  Yeah, I suspect in the president's minds, it's all of those things.
[01:50:12]  And it would be very helpful had he, and if he in the future will do, a comprehensive explanation.
[01:50:19]  I think, again, the president is thinking of this as a dealmaker-in-chief rather than a persuader-in-chief, and consequently, he's not making the strongest case for the war.
[01:50:29]  He's instead bringing up points when he's asking questions.
[01:50:32]  And I think that's something that's weakening his position with the American people rather than strengthening it.
[01:50:38]  We'll go to Nelson in Florida, Republican.
[01:50:43]  Good morning.
[01:50:43]  Good morning.
[01:50:45]  I have a statement and then a question.
[01:50:49]  My statement is I completely support President Trump's response to the Iranian threat.
[01:50:59]  It is not the United States that went to war against Iran.
[01:51:03]  It's Iran that has been at war with the United States for 47 years.
[01:51:09]  Having said that, I do have a question about the issue of the 160 kilograms of enriched uranium that Iran supposedly has.
[01:51:24]  It's my understanding that the Iranian negotiators stated they had that particular amount of enriched uranium that they can use to build 11 nuclear weapons.
[01:51:40]  How do we know that they were telling the truth?
[01:51:45]  And is a lot of this based strictly on that comment by them?
[01:51:51]  Or do we really have significant proof that they, in fact, have it?
[01:51:57]  Thank you.
[01:51:58]  That is what Witoff said recently.
[01:52:00]  That's what he had been told.
[01:52:03]  Intelligence estimates had been that there was a substantial amount of enriched uranium that was not destroyed during Midnight Hammer, but was buried and was inaccessible.
[01:52:14]  I don't know if it was 160 kilograms or 100 kilograms, but the intelligence for years has understood that there is a certain amount of enriched uranium up to 60% enrichment, which is well beyond what you need for civilian purposes.
[01:52:28]  So whether the amount is correct or not, it was believed to be sizable and enriched to a point where it would be very easy for Iran to quickly turn them into a certain number of nuclear weapons.
[01:52:41]  So the question is, could they have had four or could they have had 11?
[01:52:45]  I'm not sure we know, but we know it's more than one.
[01:52:47]  Henry Elson is our guest here this morning, Senior Fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and also the host of Beyond the Polls and Conservative Crossroads podcast.
[01:52:58]  Harold in Ohio, Democratic caller.
[01:53:03]  Yes, I would like to know why don't we consider the United States a rogue nation and why is Israel got nuclear weapons in Iran don't?
[01:53:16]  Why is that?
[01:53:17]  Why is that okay with the United States?
[01:53:19]  Henry Elson.
[01:53:20]  Well, I think it's at first Israel has never admitted that it has nuclear weapons.
[01:53:25]  It's believed to have nuclear weapons, but it's never declared that it has, has never tested a nuclear bomb.
[01:53:32]  But assuming the truth of that, Israel is not going to use its nuclear weapons against another nation willy-nilly, or would use them if it were attacked and believed its threat existence was threatened, whereas Iran has demonstrated an expansionary conquest-minded outreach to its relations with its neighbors since its inception as an Islamic regime in 1978.
[01:53:57]  So having nuclear weapons in the hands of people who want to conquer other countries is much different than having nuclear weapons in the hand of a nation that wants to protect itself against nations that have attacked it four times during its existence.
[01:54:13]  Lester is here in Washington, D.C. on our line for independence.
[01:54:16]  You're talking with Henry Olson.
[01:54:18]  Go ahead.
[01:54:19]  Yeah, Mr. Olson, I think you're ignoring history.
[01:54:22]  I'm a history book.
[01:54:24]  The United States carried out a coup d'etat in 1953 against a democratic government in Taiwan.
[01:54:32]  Okay?
[01:54:33]  So that's number one.
[01:54:35]  The United States, you need to acknowledge just that alone.
[01:54:38]  The United States has always been meddling with the Middle East.
[01:54:42]  The same thing with South America.
[01:54:44]  Okay, it interferes with governments that are trying to work with their people.
[01:54:49]  Some of those governments might be, you know, might have been authoritarianism.
[01:54:55]  Okay?
[01:54:55]  And as far as Israel is concerned, look, Israelism is a militaristic state in the Middle East.
[01:55:04]  It already sworn towards expansion, Nizimwa.
[01:55:08]  And it undermines Lebanon.
[01:55:10]  It undermined the region for years.
[01:55:13]  The Brits understood that.
[01:55:14]  That's why they got the hell out of Israel.
[01:55:17]  Okay?
[01:55:17]  And then the United States came along in 1949 and acknowledged an illegal state.
[01:55:23]  So to be against Israel is not anti-Semitic.
[01:55:27]  Okay?
[01:55:28]  It's just a recognition of Israel's expansionism, Israel's Zionism.
[01:55:32]  And I know what you know what the term is.
[01:55:35]  And for the other regions of Israel.
[01:55:38]  Okay, Lester, let's take your point, Mr. Olson.
[01:55:41]  There's a number of points that he made.
[01:55:43]  First of all, the Mossada government in 1953 was at least a fellow traveler of communists, if not openly, if not tacitly aligned with the Soviet Union.
[01:55:55]  And consequently, it was considered to be a threat to American and Western security to allow Soviet expansion into Iran.
[01:56:04]  With respect to Israel, it was established in 1948 through a partition that was approved by the United Nations.
[01:56:11]  It was invaded at the instance of its independence by Arab states, including Lebanon, including Jordan, Syria, and so forth.
[01:56:22]  And it is not an illegal state.
[01:56:24]  It is a legal state that was established by the United Nations and has struggled to maintain its legality in fact and existence in fact against hostile neighbors.
[01:56:36]  The reason it continually goes into Lebanon is because Palestinian and Syrian forces destabilized the Lebanese government during the Civil War of 1974 and 1975.
[01:56:46]  And Lebanon has been used as a base for terrorist attacks ever since against Israel from the area south of the Latani River.
[01:56:53]  It has no desire.
[01:56:54]  Israel has no desire to conquer Lebanon.
[01:56:56]  It wants to stop having Lebanon, which once was a peaceful, albeit hostile neighbor, from being used as a staging ground because of an incompetent and weak destabilized Lebanese government by terrorists bent on Israel's destruction.
[01:57:10]  That's why Israel goes into Lebanon.
[01:57:13]  Alexander's in Brooklyn on our line for Democrats.
[01:57:16]  Good morning.
[01:57:17]  Question or comment?
[01:57:19]  Both.
[01:57:20]  I guess my first comment about Israel, it is really ironic the way that you are describing Israel when they basically just said they want to do a Gaza model on Lebanon and just basically annex 20 miles.
[01:57:31]  And when does it end?
[01:57:34]  I mean, when is Israel going to feel secure?
[01:57:38]  You know, they're just going to keep expanding until they basically have everything that they want and they just want to kill everybody around them to make sure that that happens.
[01:57:45]  And then they, in turn, create the monsters that they then want to kill so that they can then bring and project to the world, yeah, these are people that you can't work with.
[01:57:55]  So it's just a cyclical situation that is never going to end.
[01:57:59]  Okay.
[01:57:59]  Henry Olson?
[01:58:00]  Yeah, I don't think Israel creates the monsters that it wants to kill.
[01:58:04]  Israel is not the state that launched this from the second Intifada when Eched Barak was willing to give the Palestinians a state, but Yasser Arafat demanded more than they were willing to give.
[01:58:17]  They wanted not just the West Bank.
[01:58:19]  They wanted the return of Palestinian refugees to pre-1948 Israel, which would have destroyed Israel as a democratic Jewish state.
[01:58:28]  And the response of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, was to launch a terrorist war, which is not something that Israel created.
[01:58:38]  Israel did not create Hezbollah.
[01:58:40]  Hezbollah was created by Iran, and they launched missiles and terrorist attacks into the northern part of Israel.
[01:58:46]  The reason they want to create a pacified zone south of the Latani River is so that missiles stop being launched by a hostile terrorist group that the Lebanese army is unable to control in Lebanese territory.
[01:58:59]  This is a state that would feel secure if people around it stopped trying to kill them.
[01:59:04]  President Trump yesterday said that he would delay any action against Iran's energy infrastructure for another 10 days.
[01:59:13]  He had given them a 48-hour deadline.
[01:59:16]  The New York Times this morning and other outlets tie that decision to the markets falling yesterday, the NASDAQ falling, as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal reports, into correction territory.
[01:59:32]  What do you make of that?
[01:59:34]  Well, I think the President does want to have avoid a market drop.
[01:59:40]  He wants to avoid economic things.
[01:59:42]  But I think what I took away from his announcement was he said that they would last until 8 p.m. Eastern Time on that day.
[01:59:48]  April 6th, the end of the day.
[01:59:49]  April 6th.
[01:59:50]  That is one day after Easter, and it is 3.30 in the morning on April 7th, Tehran time.
[01:59:57]  And what do you make of that?
[01:59:59]  It's a wonderful time to launch an attack.
[02:00:01]  Why?
[02:00:02]  Because you usually like to catch your adversary when they're least able to respond.
[02:00:06]  And if you take a look at when a lot of these attacks start, they tend to start between in that early morning hour.
[02:00:13]  And so I think people who understand the military understand what the president was signaling.
[02:00:19]  What do you watch?
[02:00:20]  10 days gives him time to move ground troops into position.
[02:00:24]  And of course, what the president would like is not to have to use them.
[02:00:28]  And the president would like the Iranian regime to recognize that they've been beaten and that they can come to the table and strike a deal that ends the revolutionary expansionary nature of the regime now, or they can be beaten some more.
[02:00:42]  The president would have preferred not to do it.
[02:00:44]  But I think what the president is signaling is we're prepared to win this war.
[02:00:48]  Are you prepared to stop the damage to your people before you lose the war?
[02:00:55]  Or are you going to force us to beat you more and still lose the war?
[02:00:58]  All right.