CSPAN - Washington Journal 04/16/2026
Aired: 2026-04-16
Duration: 03:02:59


=== Congressional Session Begins (01:55) ===

[00:00:00]  Protected status to Haitians living in the U.S. for three years.
[00:00:04]  On C-SPAN 2, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Kaine, give an update at 8 a.m. on the Iran conflict from the Pentagon as the temporary ceasefire continues.
[00:00:16]  The Senate will then continue work on the Republicans' bill to require proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote and a photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections.
[00:00:26]  On C-SPAN 3 at 9 a.m., Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee on his department's priorities, answering questions on topics such as vaccines, fertility, and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
[00:00:42]  And at 2:30 p.m., the four astronauts who were on the Artemis II mission speak to reporters at their first news conference since returning to Earth, following a historic 10-day lunar flyby mission.
[00:00:53]  You can also watch these events on C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, and online at c-span.org.
[00:01:04]  Coming up on Washington Journal, we'll talk about the latest on the Iran war and other congressional news of the week.
[00:01:10]  First with Texas Republican Congressman Craig Goldman, then with Hawaii Democratic Representative Jill Takuda.
[00:01:17]  And political columnist John Ralston previews President Trump's visit to Nevada, where he's expected to tout his no tax on tips proposal.
[00:01:24]  Washington Journal is next.
[00:01:36]  Good morning.
[00:01:37]  It's Thursday, April 16th, 2026.
[00:01:39]  The House and Senate both return at 10 a.m. Eastern.
[00:01:42]  The Defense Secretary is set to brief reporters at 8 a.m.
[00:01:45]  And we're with you for the next three hours on the Washington Journal.
[00:01:48]  Yesterday, the Senate voted down a resolution aimed at checking President Trump's power to pursue the conflict in Iran without congressional consent.

=== Defending The Nation (09:07) ===

[00:01:55]  Today, the House will debate its own war powers resolution.
[00:01:59]  This morning, we're asking if you support that effort.
[00:02:02]  Give us a call on phone line split as usual by political party.
[00:02:05]  Republicans, it's 202-748-8001.
[00:02:09]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[00:02:12]  Independents, 202-748-8002.
[00:02:15]  A special line for active and former military, 202-748-8003, is that number.
[00:02:22]  You can also send us a text or catch up with us on social media.
[00:02:26]  On X, it's at C-SPANWJ.
[00:02:28]  On Facebook, it's facebook.com/slash C-SPAN.
[00:02:33]  And a very good Thursday morning to you.
[00:02:34]  Go ahead and start calling in today, officially on the House floor, it's House Concurrent Resolution 40, directing the President pursuant to the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with Iran.
[00:02:49]  That's what's happening today in the House.
[00:02:51]  Yesterday, it was a similar resolution.
[00:02:54]  It was voted down 47 to 52.
[00:02:57]  That resolution yesterday in the Senate was brought by Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs in combat in Iraq.
[00:03:06]  She was on the Senate floor yesterday talking about that resolution.
[00:03:09]  This is what she had to say.
[00:03:11]  When asked to justify his illegal actions, Donald Trump's tried to hide his cowardice behind our hero's courage.
[00:03:20]  He's tried to act as if questioning why we're at war is the same as questioning the skill and bravery of our troops themselves.
[00:03:28]  It isn't.
[00:03:28]  And I'm here to call bullshit on the President of the United States because I know that our military will always do the best job possible.
[00:03:37]  Look, unlike Trump, I actually know what it's like to leave your blood soaking into the desert sand a half a world away.
[00:03:45]  So I know what it's like.
[00:03:47]  I know what it's like and what is at stake for the troops this administration is sending into harm's way.
[00:03:53]  We must safeguard their valor and their professionalism by doing our jobs.
[00:03:59]  I can tell you this, it's a whole lot easier to cover your eyes and order other Americans to sacrifice their children and sacrifice themselves if you don't have to do any of the sacrificing yourself.
[00:04:12]  It's easier to send other people's children to fight in a war if you know your own children are cozy in a penthouse suite somewhere.
[00:04:21]  It's easier to ignore the everyday realities of war from inside the hallowed halls of the White House where you've got McDonald's being door dashed to the Oval Office.
[00:04:32]  But it's nearly impossible.
[00:04:35]  It's nearly impossible if you've been actually outside the wire yourself.
[00:04:40]  So I've come to the floor today to keep true a promise I first made over two decades ago.
[00:04:47]  I ran for Congress, not because I wanted to be in Congress, not because I wanted to be a Congressman or a senator.
[00:04:53]  I ran for Congress to honor the men and women who carried me out of that bloody war zone.
[00:05:00]  I made a promise that when the drums of war started beating again, I would be in a position to make sure that our elected officials fully consider the true cause of war, not just in terms of money, but in human lives and in the sacrifices of the men and women who wear the colors of this great nation.
[00:05:28]  Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth, that was yesterday on the Senate floor.
[00:05:31]  Again, that vote yesterday failed 47 to 52.
[00:05:35]  Senator Rand Paul joining Democrats to support the resolution.
[00:05:39]  Senator John Fetterman, the Democrat from Pennsylvania, opposing that resolution along with most all Republicans.
[00:05:47]  Among the Republicans who were speaking against that resolution yesterday, Jim Risch, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
[00:05:54]  This is what he had to say.
[00:05:56]  The President of the United States has not only the right to do this.
[00:06:01]  I know you claim he doesn't, but he has the right to do this.
[00:06:04]  Not only does he have the right to do this, he has the duty to do this.
[00:06:08]  He took an oath to defend the people of the United States of America.
[00:06:12]  How did we get here?
[00:06:14]  47 years ago, Iran started this conflict.
[00:06:18]  We did not.
[00:06:19]  We did not start a war with Iran.
[00:06:21]  We don't want a war with Iran, but we have to defend ourselves.
[00:06:25]  47 years ago, they took over our embassy in Tehran and held all of our United States American people who were employed in that embassy for 444 days.
[00:06:40]  Finally, Ronald Reagan was elected president.
[00:06:43]  We got him out.
[00:06:43]  But since that time, Iran has killed thousands, not hundreds, thousands of Americans wherever they can find them.
[00:06:53]  They do them with all kinds of methods, including IEDs, which are deadly.
[00:06:59]  Fortunately, President Trump and Trump won took out General Soleimani, who was the godfather of that operation, and that has ratcheted back, but they're still killing them with IEDs.
[00:07:11]  The President of the United States is defending the United States of America.
[00:07:17]  You can pass all the resolutions you want.
[00:07:20]  This president is going to defend this country.
[00:07:24]  Now, I know you say it's illegal.
[00:07:26]  If indeed it is illegal as you claim it is, you're in the wrong room.
[00:07:31]  You ought to be in the room across the street in the United States Supreme Court.
[00:07:36]  Because if it is illegal, you should sue them and you should stop it.
[00:07:40]  And you're not doing it because you know you're going to lose that case.
[00:07:44]  The President of the United States, under Article II of the Constitution, gives the President the authority.
[00:07:52]  He's doing it.
[00:07:53]  This is not going to be a forever war.
[00:07:56]  Indeed, if anything, it's ending what seems like it's been a forever conflict with Iran.
[00:08:04]  Republican Jim Risch, that was yesterday in the Senate.
[00:08:07]  Again, that resolution failing in the Senate yesterday was the fourth time in recent weeks that Democrats have tried to force a war powers vote in the Senate and tried and failed.
[00:08:17]  The House will get its shot today and this morning on the Washington Journal.
[00:08:22]  We're asking: should Congress limit President Trump's Iran war powers?
[00:08:26]  That's the heart of this resolution today.
[00:08:29]  Phone numbers to call in: 202-748-8001 for Republicans.
[00:08:33]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[00:08:35]  Independents, 202-748-8002.
[00:08:38]  And then line for active, retired former military, 202748-8003.
[00:08:46]  We'll begin on that line.
[00:08:47]  It's Nelson out of New York.
[00:08:49]  Nelson, good morning.
[00:08:52]  Hello.
[00:08:54]  I believe that you have a president that's elected by all the people of the United States, and he should do everything he can because he didn't start the war.
[00:09:13]  He's just responding to what the enemy did.
[00:09:18]  And they stated they're an enemy of the United States, and he can destroy their entire economy.
[00:09:29]  He's got the bombs to do it.
[00:09:32]  He can use up all his old bombs.
[00:09:36]  And he can also Nelson, when you say he's responding to what the enemy did, what specific action are you referring to?
[00:09:46]  It attacked an ally, which is Israel, totally.
[00:09:51]  And he attacked our ships all over the world.
[00:09:59]  Attacked us in Lebanon.
[00:10:01]  His government tries to kill Americans wherever they are, whether or not they're on leave or whether or not they're active duty.
[00:10:15]  And we should try to destroy their war-making power completely.
[00:10:20]  It's Nelson out of New York.
[00:10:22]  This is Glenn in the land of Lincoln.
[00:10:24]  Line for Democrats.
[00:10:25]  Go ahead.
[00:10:28]  Glenn, you're with us.
[00:10:29]  Israel.
[00:10:32]  Got to stick by your phone, Glenn.
[00:10:33]  So we will go to our neighbors to the north.
[00:10:36]  This is Roderick in Vancouver, Canada.
[00:10:39]  Independent, go ahead.
[00:10:42]  Good morning.
[00:10:43]  Thank you so much for allowing me to be on the air.
[00:10:47]  My comments are regarding the Iran conflict, and I hope to put a couple of questions to you that you would consider potentially putting to your two congresspersons that I understand will be on later.

=== Violating International Norms (14:58) ===

[00:11:03]  Mainly, I have to question why, and I hope this question can be answered by your guests, why the United States insists on, in effect, poking China and Russia in the eye, cultivating adversarial relationships with them.
[00:11:22]  And I say this by the in effect attempt to drag Russia into war by pushing Ukraine to join NATO and continually sailing your country's warships through the Taiwan Strait, which drives China crazy, but which is actually militarily entirely useless.
[00:11:40]  Why doesn't your country attempt to collaborate with China and Russia in order to form a joint position to deal with Iran?
[00:11:51]  Iran and North Korea are both egregious problems globally, and they have been for decades.
[00:11:58]  At the end of World War II, the Allied countries' leaders met at Yalta to effectively map out the future global order.
[00:12:09]  Your president, President Trump, should be doing the same with the leaders of China and Russia in order to solve the Hormuz Strait crisis, but also to, in effect, deal with Iran.
[00:12:22]  And I'd like to just end this by saying I believe very strongly, and I think most academics globally would agree as well, that the Iran problems could have been solved without a single shot being fired if the United States had been working collaboratively with Russia and China to deal with Iran's ballistic missile threats, its nuclear weapons threat, and its meddling in countries in the Middle East, etc., etc.
[00:12:50]  Rogers, why do you focus on Russia and China?
[00:12:53]  Why not the European Union?
[00:12:57]  Russia and China are the biggest, in effect, global superpower or superpower-like states.
[00:13:06]  The European Union states are basically, pardon my expression, bootlickers.
[00:13:11]  They're not really allies of the United States at all.
[00:13:14]  They just bootlick your country and your country's leader because they believe they can benefit from it.
[00:13:20]  As soon as your country, in the future, one day perhaps, decides to reduce its contributions to NATO to a reasonable level rather than footing the bill for almost all of its most important expenditures.
[00:13:33]  I'll bet you see your, in quotes, friends who aren't really friends at all in Europe turn their backs and stab you in the back.
[00:13:42]  Out of curiosity, where do you think Canada stands in the global order since you're calling from Vancouver?
[00:13:48]  I believe we have an excellent prime minister and someone with ethics and a very firm and capable understanding of the global order and the way things should be.
[00:14:00]  Canada, ideally, would be working arm in arm with the United States to work with China and Russia.
[00:14:08]  But your country's leader at this point in time, and I think for the last two years at least, and in his previous term, has expressed an inability to work with countries as, in his mind, as small as Canada.
[00:14:23]  But Canada's views, I think, should be sought, and it would be ideal, I think, for the world if Canada would, my country, would show a greater presence and take some actions, at least verbally, on the global stage, more than just at the recent conference in Switzerland, at which our Prime Minister did make some statements that made headlines around the world.
[00:14:46]  But unfortunately, there hasn't been anything since that time.
[00:14:49]  Again, just to try not to end on a repetitive note, but there's a need to end these conflicts in the Middle East.
[00:14:56]  And there's a need for global leadership from a firm foundation.
[00:15:00]  And that's not going to come from Pakistan.
[00:15:02]  It's not going to come from the, pardon the expression, bootlickers in the European Union.
[00:15:06]  Your country needs to link arms with China and Russia, as it did with the biggest global powers at the time at the end of World War II.
[00:15:14]  Got your point, Roderick.
[00:15:15]  That's Roderick with a view from Canada.
[00:15:17]  This is Deborah out of Parkersburg, West Virginia, Independent.
[00:15:22]  Go ahead.
[00:15:25]  Yes.
[00:15:27]  Can you hear me?
[00:15:27]  Yes, ma'am.
[00:15:29]  Okay.
[00:15:30]  I'm calling in to encourage Congress to fix their mistakes.
[00:15:37]  This Iran thing has been going on, like they said, for 47 years.
[00:15:42]  Now, the JCPOA was not fully finished by Congress and our president.
[00:15:53]  It could have become a treaty.
[00:15:55]  It could have become permanent to where Iran couldn't have had the power to have nuclear weapons.
[00:16:06]  And they neglected to do that because politics.
[00:16:13]  And they need to, instead of Trump withdrawing the United States from the CPOA with the sunset clause or whatever it was, he should have negotiated.
[00:16:29]  I mean, Russia, China, Europe, and the United States was all in an agreement for Iran not to have nuclear powers.
[00:16:40]  And they went about it all wrong, as they always do because of politics.
[00:16:46]  Congress needs to stop, and the president needs to stop the disagreements in the politics and who's right, the Republicans or the Democrats, and get this done.
[00:17:00]  That's Deborah in West Virginia.
[00:17:02]  This is Roy on that line for active or former military out of California.
[00:17:08]  Go ahead.
[00:17:09]  Good morning.
[00:17:10]  How are you?
[00:17:10]  Doing well.
[00:17:12]  My issue is this.
[00:17:14]  Everyone refers to 47 years ago.
[00:17:19]  Our dirty hands started in 1953.
[00:17:23]  And for some reason, we obscure that.
[00:17:26]  You know, I feel if you're going to go into a war, you would have thought about all your enemies' moves.
[00:17:37]  And for the president of the United States to sit in public and say, we had no idea they would shut down the straits of our moves is ridiculous.
[00:17:48]  It indicates that there was poor planning.
[00:17:53]  And the whole adjustment every other day is indicative of the inexperience that fired every one of the experienced people and got a bunch of Yahoos in there just because they say yes to the president.
[00:18:08]  And that's going to cost this nation.
[00:18:10]  As I sit here today as a 24-year retired military veteran, I wasn't a high-ranking person.
[00:18:17]  I was a senior enlisted person.
[00:18:20]  And I've seen some of the war plans when Alan retired in 98.
[00:18:24]  And this is a total botch job.
[00:18:28]  Roy, what did you think about the war plans, or I guess I should say the war threats to wipe out the civilization, to bomb the bridges, the civilian infrastructure, the nuclear, the power infrastructure in Iran?
[00:18:45]  A further indication of ignorance and incompetence.
[00:18:50]  That's what that is.
[00:18:51]  Okay?
[00:18:52]  He's reacting to any little thing.
[00:18:54]  Now he's picking on the Pope.
[00:18:56]  The guy's all over the place.
[00:18:57]  And he's got a knucklehead running the Department of Defense, to put it honestly.
[00:19:02]  And I don't understand why we have all these Republicans going through rubber gymnastics.
[00:19:08]  You know, it's sitting in the Constitution that Congress approves wars.
[00:19:14]  And now, well, it's not, it's illegal.
[00:19:18]  It's ridiculous.
[00:19:20]  What's going on?
[00:19:21]  And all these vagas and Trumpsters and whoever, for some reason, twist themselves into knots.
[00:19:29]  They know, they know what's going on is wrong.
[00:19:34]  That's Roy in California.
[00:19:35]  Mentioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
[00:19:37]  He's going to be speaking with reporters in about 40 minutes, and we'll take you there when he does.
[00:19:44]  We'll be with that for a little while and hear what he has to say.
[00:19:49]  That's at 8 a.m. Eastern.
[00:19:51]  The President's ambassador to the United Nations, Michael Waltz, was on Capitol Hill yesterday, and he was asked by Senator Chris Van Hollen about some of the tactics that Roy was just discussing, the bombing of civilian infrastructure, the threats to do that.
[00:20:08]  This is part of that exchange from the Senate hearing yesterday.
[00:20:13]  Would you agree that we should enforce that there be consequences for war crimes?
[00:20:22]  And let me ask you a different way.
[00:20:25]  Would you agree it would be a violation of international law to blow up a bunch of civilian infrastructure in Iran because Iran did not agree to open the Strait of Hormuz?
[00:20:35]  That would be a violation of international humanitarian law if we actually did.
[00:20:39]  Actually, that is incorrect.
[00:20:44]  We have a long history.
[00:20:45]  We could look at video after video of the bridges that we bombed in World War II and Vietnam and conflict after conflict, power plants in Serbia under the claims of the United States.
[00:20:55]  Mr. Ambassador, this was not my question.
[00:20:58]  My question was civilian uses.
[00:21:03]  Mr. Ambassador, that was not my question.
[00:21:05]  President Trump threatened to hit civilian infrastructure if Iran did not open the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:21:13]  We all know international law.
[00:21:14]  We know there are some exceptions to the general rule that you shouldn't hit civilian infrastructure.
[00:21:18]  The enemy is occupying it.
[00:21:20]  But my question was different.
[00:21:22]  You don't think it's a violation of international law to blow up a bunch of civilian infrastructure because the government of Iran refused to open the Strait of Hormuz?
[00:21:29]  You don't think that would be a violation of the law?
[00:21:30]  I think President Trump, the American lawyer, use every bit of leverage that he has.
[00:21:37]  I'm asking you if...
[00:21:38]  And if you have military units using bridges to go down to the Straits of Hormuz to attack international shipping and launch missiles into resorts and airports and ports across the strait, that's absolutely a valid ambassador.
[00:21:52]  Essentially, we're going to...
[00:21:52]  And I got to tell you, as a veteran who had to pull these triggers, I think the president's absolutely in the mask.
[00:21:59]  I know you all like to talk rather than answer questions, but let me ask you this.
[00:22:03]  Your testimony is that if you have an authoritarian regime anywhere in the world, that because they're an authoritarian regime, if they don't obey the U.S. demands, you can wipe out their civilian infrastructure.
[00:22:12]  Let me ask you this: Would it be a violation of the international law to destroy a civilization?
[00:22:18]  Would that be a violation of international humanitarian law?
[00:22:21]  I think what you're talking about, Senator, is a mean tweet that got with a regime that's genocidal, chance death to America, and you're going to talk about some tough language that actually, the result of it, was diplomacy.
[00:22:35]  Well, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Mike Wells, that was yesterday, on Capitol Hill.
[00:22:41]  If you want to watch and listen to that hearing in its entirety, you can do so on our website at c-span.org.
[00:22:47]  Back to your phone calls.
[00:22:48]  About 10 more minutes here on this question asking whether you think Congress should limit President Trump's Iran war powers.
[00:22:55]  There was a vote yesterday on that in the Senate that failed.
[00:22:59]  There's going to be debate in the House today on a resolution that you can watch here on C-SPAN.
[00:23:05]  We want to hear your thoughts ahead of that this morning on the Washington Journal.
[00:23:09]  This is Jeremy in Wisconsin, Independent.
[00:23:11]  Go ahead.
[00:23:14]  Did Tajiki advice this?
[00:23:16]  It's been a while.
[00:23:18]  What is the guy in Senator talking about how leadersville?
[00:23:23]  A little big fight.
[00:23:25]  $10 billion, $15 billion, billion.
[00:23:28]  I mean, what?
[00:23:29]  You people don't want your cost.
[00:23:31]  It isn't your cost.
[00:23:33]  Steve Brilliant, don't.
[00:23:35]  I'm not sure I understand what you're saying, Jeremy.
[00:23:37]  Let's work on your line and hear from Sly out of Charlotte, North Carolina.
[00:23:42]  Democrat, go ahead.
[00:23:45]  Good morning, John.
[00:23:48]  Yeah, I really can't believe that seven Democrats would actually vote for the funding of keeping this thing going, voting for bulldozers to go to Israel.
[00:23:58]  I got a question, though, John.
[00:23:59]  I'm trying to figure this thing out.
[00:24:00]  America was not involved in any kind of Holocaust or anything like that against any certain group of people.
[00:24:06]  How is it now that we are spending, we gave Israel over $21 billion since 2023?
[00:24:15]  I don't understand this thing now.
[00:24:17]  I mean, it's a one.
[00:24:18]  Can somebody please make sense of this stuff to me?
[00:24:22]  What is Israel actually doing for the United States?
[00:24:25]  What are we, I mean, why is this country settled, I mean, set to decide to get all this preferential treatment?
[00:24:31]  I just don't get this part.
[00:24:33]  Slide.
[00:24:34]  Do you have any thoughts on the war in Iran and our efforts there?
[00:24:39]  Yeah, I heard this previous call is to make this thing that we didn't start this war.
[00:24:44]  Yes, we did start this war.
[00:24:45]  I'm not going to say, yeah, yes, they did start this war.
[00:24:49]  You went to a country.
[00:24:50]  I mean, one thing, in one sense, you're saying you're over there because the guy, the regime murdered 40,000 people.
[00:24:57]  So at the same time, somehow in this president's mind, you will be helping them by destroying them.
[00:25:04]  You make a treat saying you're going to end civilization for them never to come back.
[00:25:08]  And then now it's all about getting some kind of nuclear arsenal that they had.
[00:25:13]  They switched this story up.
[00:25:15]  It doesn't make sense.
[00:25:16]  How do you help the people?
[00:25:17]  But how does killing people help them?
[00:25:19]  How does bombing people help them?
[00:25:21]  I mean, this is ridiculous.
[00:25:22]  It's ridiculous.
[00:25:23]  I mean, it's gone so far now.
[00:25:26]  We got these big bombs who put this guy in office.
[00:25:28]  We got a whole cabinet of people who are unqualified.
[00:25:32]  A real estate developer is heading.
[00:25:35]  When did Jerry Cushman become a diplomat?
[00:25:38]  What is a real estate guy doing even having talks like this?
[00:25:41]  He couldn't even get a security clearance.
[00:25:43]  This is unbelievable.
[00:25:44]  This is unbelievable that this is actually happening in America.
[00:25:49]  When you watch history and you watch these old shows, you watch how Hitler did his thing.
[00:25:52]  Like, you shouldn't like, but how did all these people just let this guy do this stuff?
[00:25:56]  Now I'm seeing it.
[00:25:57]  All right, that's Sly.
[00:25:58]  This is Doyle in Tennessee, Independent.

=== Enemy Of The State (07:14) ===

[00:26:01]  Good morning.
[00:26:02]  Good morning.
[00:26:04]  I'm talking about Iran war.
[00:26:10]  I'm ex-military, and I was going to destroy you.
[00:26:15]  In 1917, there was another country that became a nuclear power in 2017.
[00:26:30]  We have the best radar system in the country.
[00:26:37]  North Korea didn't have a nuclear weapon in 2017.
[00:26:43]  They became a nuclear power country in 2017.
[00:26:48]  And there were two countries that was before 2017 that we didn't want to have a nuclear weapon.
[00:26:56]  That was North Korea and Iran.
[00:27:01]  But North Korea got a nuclear weapon in 2017.
[00:27:05]  And plus one more thing, they can have all ballistic missiles in the world.
[00:27:11]  But there's one missile that they can't handle.
[00:27:14]  That's the ICBM.
[00:27:16]  They don't have an ICBM, intercontinentalist missile.
[00:27:22]  And we can knock all those missiles, most of them, down.
[00:27:28]  And we got 20, got 6,000 nuclear weapons.
[00:27:33]  Russia is the only country that I would feel that would have a problem that we would have a problem with because they got more nuclear weapons than we do.
[00:27:48]  Can I 600?
[00:27:52]  All right, that's Doyle in Tennessee.
[00:27:54]  This is Angela in California, Independent.
[00:27:57]  Go ahead.
[00:27:58]  Good morning.
[00:27:59]  Good morning.
[00:27:59]  I have a question to Congress.
[00:28:02]  We could have fought.
[00:28:04]  I have family, five uncles that, and my uncle, my cousin was in Iraq.
[00:28:09]  I know the United States have thermal weapons, and I know Israel have thermal weapons.
[00:28:15]  We could have fought a nuclear war.
[00:28:17]  We have an avatar war than the war we're fighting, which is an antiquated war.
[00:28:23]  Thermal weapons take out humans, and it does little damage to buildings.
[00:28:29]  I need to know why they are bombing the buildings like they're doing in Israel.
[00:28:33]  They're trying to cover up because they are using thermal weapons.
[00:28:37]  We could have fought an avatar war.
[00:28:40]  We should have more.
[00:28:40]  I'm sorry, Angela, what is an avatar war?
[00:28:44]  You know the movie Avatar that's out showing the clouds with the military bases on it?
[00:28:51]  In Avatar, they show the weapons that we have.
[00:28:55]  Total recall, the movie has come true.
[00:28:58]  Enemy of the states come true.
[00:29:00]  I have friends that work for JPL.
[00:29:01]  So, Angela, where are you going with this?
[00:29:04]  I guess I just don't understand your point.
[00:29:06]  The point is, the war that we're fighting using atomic bombs, United States is the only one that have used atomic bomb twice.
[00:29:16]  Israel's sitting there with atomic bomb.
[00:29:18]  North Korea has one.
[00:29:21]  China have them.
[00:29:22]  Russia have them.
[00:29:23]  What I'm saying is, we could have went in to send CIA into Iran, just like they did South Central L.A. when the Uzis popped up in the hands of the Crips and the Bloods.
[00:29:35]  Everybody act like that didn't happen.
[00:29:38]  It took them 15 years to clear out the blacks in L.A. quietly, right here on United States soil.
[00:29:45]  They could have did the same thing in Iran.
[00:29:48]  All right.
[00:29:48]  That's Angela.
[00:29:49]  This is Ruben in Philly.
[00:29:51]  Ruben, thanks for waiting.
[00:29:53]  Hey, good morning, John.
[00:29:55]  Good morning.
[00:29:55]  I remember when Mitch McConnell stood on the Senate floor and said Donald J. Trump is responsible for what took place on January the 6th.
[00:30:04]  How do you hand over the war power resolution to a man that you know committed treason?
[00:30:11]  Fiona Hill said during the time of Trump's first impeachment that Russia was looking to make a deal with the United States, that they would let the United States have Venezuela if the United States allowed Russia to invade Ukraine.
[00:30:26]  Now here we are taking over Venezuela and not back in Ukraine.
[00:30:32]  And now we're on side with Israel.
[00:30:35]  I mean, we know this man is responsible for January 6th.
[00:30:39]  He's down pardoning these people and we're giving him this much power.
[00:30:43]  He should not have this much power.
[00:30:45]  He shouldn't even be in office.
[00:30:47]  He should be in jail.
[00:30:48]  That's Ruben in Pennsylvania.
[00:30:51]  Ruben brings us to the bottom of the hour.
[00:30:53]  It's 7.30 on the East Coast.
[00:30:56]  And we'll open the phones to any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about.
[00:31:00]  There's a lot happening on Capitol Hill today.
[00:31:04]  There's, of course, that DOD briefing.
[00:31:07]  The Defense Secretary is going to set to brief reporters at 8 a.m. Eastern.
[00:31:12]  Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kendi Jr. will be on Capitol Hill today.
[00:31:18]  And with so much going on, we figured we'd open the phones a little earlier than usual.
[00:31:25]  The caller just mentioned January 6th, some news on that front.
[00:31:29]  This from today's Washington Post.
[00:31:31]  Federal prosecutors currently seeking to wipe out the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 members of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers who helped plan the January 6th, 2021 riot that led to the charge into the United States Capitol, according to court documents that were filed on Tuesday.
[00:31:49]  The request from U.S. Attorney Janine Pirro of D.C. is likely to be granted, they write, because prosecutors have broad discretion to pursue or drop criminal charges even after defendants have been convicted.
[00:32:02]  If Pirro's request is approved by the courts, it will wipe out the last remaining convictions related to January 6th.
[00:32:09]  Donald Trump, on the first day of his second term, issued a blanket pardon that cleared more than 1,500 rioters, criminal records for offenses related to the insurrection.
[00:32:18]  That pardon, though, then did not extend to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who had been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
[00:32:25]  This would do that.
[00:32:27]  This is the latest in that story from the Washington Post.
[00:32:31]  Your calls.
[00:32:32]  Donna is in Illinois.
[00:32:34]  Democrat, Donna, go ahead.
[00:32:37]  Good morning.
[00:32:38]  I would like to say that I don't see, I feel there's so much when it comes to politics, there's so much talk and not enough action.
[00:32:51]  And just lately, Donald Trump's actions are so bizarre, so abnormal, not normal at all, that I feel that something needs to be done.
[00:33:06]  Like he needs to be examined by a psychiatrist.
[00:33:11]  Something to tell us: is he still normal?

=== War Powers Debate (08:29) ===

[00:33:16]  The things he's been doing, drawing himself as Jesus Christ, maybe just maybe even starting this war.
[00:33:26]  And it's just not normal.
[00:33:31]  And he's seeking so much power that this is just too dangerous.
[00:33:37]  And I would just like to see some action.
[00:33:43]  It is not just talk.
[00:33:45]  That's Donna in Illinois.
[00:33:46]  This is James in Carrollton, Virginia.
[00:33:49]  You're next.
[00:33:50]  Go ahead.
[00:33:52]  Good morning.
[00:33:52]  I'm former military, 22 years in the Air Force.
[00:33:55]  The question this morning where it's asking: should Congress limit the president's war powers?
[00:34:02]  The Constitution clearly states that Congress is the only entity that can declare war.
[00:34:10]  So it's not even about limiting his power.
[00:34:12]  He does not have that power.
[00:34:14]  And being former military, you know, the rules and regulations are clear and specific, and that's how we follow them.
[00:34:20]  And I just wish that as a nation, again, understand Congress has the power of the purse and to declare war.
[00:34:28]  And if we go from that premise, all this other things that we're doing and that the president is doing, it's easier to say he should not be allowed to do these things.
[00:34:37]  So, James, the background here on declaring war, there's the War Powers Resolution 1973.
[00:34:44]  It was actually passed by Congress over an attempted veto by Richard Nixon.
[00:34:49]  But it allows the president to engage in limited conflicts, though it requires presidents to remove U.S. forces from any conflict that Congress has not authorized within 60 days.
[00:35:01]  And a president can also ask for a 30-day extension after that 60 days.
[00:35:06]  The reason this is important is because the 60 days from the beginning of the conflict in Iran comes on May the 1st of this year.
[00:35:15]  So it's not that far away.
[00:35:17]  And the question is, what happens after 60 days, whether that war powers resolution is in effect, whether the president comes and asks for another 30 days, or whether this is even still a conflict at that point.
[00:35:31]  That's what's all in the background around this war powers vote.
[00:35:36]  I understand.
[00:35:37]  And that is very well said.
[00:35:39]  The point being, though, is, as this president has shown, he doesn't feel he needs to ask any questions.
[00:35:45]  He just does.
[00:35:46]  And that's the sad part about what's going on.
[00:35:49]  The thing about being, again, former military, and I sued everybody that served because the difference here is that to those who fought and or served, freedom has a different flavor to us than it does to the protected.
[00:36:04]  And the protected has to understand or should understand, people are going over there dying, again, in a war of convenience, not a war Iran attacked us and did these things.
[00:36:16]  And it's important that every life is precious, especially military folks.
[00:36:20]  I salute you.
[00:36:22]  God bless America.
[00:36:23]  God bless the United States of America.
[00:36:24]  Let's have peace.
[00:36:25]  Thank you.
[00:36:25]  Bye-bye.
[00:36:26]  It's James in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[00:36:29]  This is Dennis in the Empire State.
[00:36:31]  Republican, good morning.
[00:36:34]  Hi, good morning.
[00:36:36]  Oh, yeah, about the war.
[00:36:37]  Where have these people been the last 40 years with Iran and what they've done to this country and the threats?
[00:36:45]  I don't get it.
[00:36:46]  I don't understand.
[00:36:48]  What don't you understand, Dennis?
[00:36:51]  I don't, where have everybody been the last 47 years what Iran's been doing to the U.S. and Israel and terrorizing the rest of the world?
[00:37:02]  I mean, what's good for the goose is good for the gander.
[00:37:06]  When the Democrats are in charge, oh, we got to do this, we got to do this.
[00:37:10]  And Trump gets in charge and it's a crisis.
[00:37:13]  And then you complain about the money.
[00:37:15]  Let's talk about how much money it costs to feed 15 to 20 million illegal immigrants, give them health benefits, food, and housing, neglect our veterans.
[00:37:27]  I'm a veteran and neglect our American citizens.
[00:37:32]  You people need to pray and find Jesus.
[00:37:36]  That's Dennis in New York this morning in terms of who does what when who is in power.
[00:37:42]  That issue very much a part of the war powers debate, whether presidents come and seek congressional authorization for military actions.
[00:37:51]  The Washington Post, going into some of the background here, Congress passed authorizations before the start of the wars in Afghanistan in Iraq.
[00:38:02]  The story also notes that President Barack Obama did not seek authorization from Congress before ordering strikes in Libya in 2011, which continued beyond the 60-day threshold, and neither did Bill Clinton when he ordered the bombing of Kosovo in 1999.
[00:38:16]  The Washington Post with some of the history of the War Powers Act of 1973, how it's been used, and what the requirements are.
[00:38:24]  That's very much a part of what's going to be happening today.
[00:38:28]  It's a war powers resolution on the floor of the House.
[00:38:30]  We saw one voted down on the floor of the Senate yesterday.
[00:38:34]  And all of that is available to watch yesterday's proceedings at c-span.org.
[00:38:38]  Today's proceedings live here on C-SPAN.
[00:38:42]  This is Mo in D.C. Democrat.
[00:38:44]  Good morning.
[00:38:45]  Thanks for waiting.
[00:38:46]  Go ahead.
[00:38:47]  Hey, good morning.
[00:38:50]  I just want to say the president of the United States is going to do what the president wants to do.
[00:38:56]  They always have done what they've wanted to do.
[00:39:00]  My issue is that nothing was explained to the American people about why we attacked Iran.
[00:39:12]  You know, no one communicated to the American people why we are attacking a country that didn't attack us.
[00:39:21]  It's almost like we're in between an Israel and Iran beast.
[00:39:25]  And our funds are going toward a war when we have people who don't have health care.
[00:39:34]  And I'm so sick of people keep talking about illegal immigrants when majority of Social Security, when they were paying into Social Security, and now those funds will be depleted.
[00:39:48]  But I also wanted to say something about what's going on with Stephen Miller, assuming not, I'm not saying he did it, stealing $4.2 billion from the United States Treasury.
[00:40:02]  How so, Mo.
[00:40:05]  Well, if you listen to the hearing the other day, Stephen Miller has been caught sending funds through,
[00:40:20]  I'm saying, Stephen Miller has been caught stealing $4.2 million from the United Treasury by requesting small amounts under some code that U.S. Treasury don't even use, COD or something like that, because all codes that are used in the United States government under the Treasury Department, there's a specific code for those transactions.
[00:40:47]  Stephen Miller has done over 18 transactions reportedly under a specific limit that would not get flagged.
[00:40:56]  Those employees who flagged those transactions were fired.
[00:41:01]  Raskin, ask Mr. Miller specific questions about why, where is this money going?
[00:41:08]  He said, I can, what is it?
[00:41:11]  When is it?
[00:41:11]  I plead the fifth or I will incriminate myself.
[00:41:15]  They're stealing money.
[00:41:17]  All right, that's Mo.
[00:41:18]  This is Ben in Owings Mill, Maryland, Independent.
[00:41:22]  Good morning.
[00:41:24]  Good morning.
[00:41:26]  You know, there's a pattern developing where these presidents decide to do these military excursions, I think, where they go in and do a strategic operation, so to speak.
[00:41:42]  And we're just going to go in and go out three or four days.

=== Gas Price Optimism (03:20) ===

[00:41:46]  It's going to be over with.
[00:41:47]  And everybody's going to come out looking good.
[00:41:49]  But look what happens now.
[00:41:52]  It's obvious nobody thought about the worst case scenario.
[00:41:56]  And I believe that's because we have a president that has, he's very immature.
[00:42:01]  And his ego has taken over.
[00:42:03]  And no one's going to stop him and tell him that this was a horrible idea.
[00:42:08]  And it's going south.
[00:42:11]  And the dangerous part is no one in the Republican Party has enough guts to stand up and say, look, there is a War Powers Act.
[00:42:24]  There is a procedure to go through.
[00:42:26]  And it has to be followed.
[00:42:30]  So we're in a very dangerous situation.
[00:42:34]  And the whole world is feeling the residual of this failed, I call it a failed operation.
[00:42:45]  On the residual side, the New York Times today looked at the latest on the financial impacts of the conflict in Iran.
[00:42:54]  They note the SP 500 yesterday hit a fresh record high on Wednesday, reflecting investors' optimism that a peace deal would be reached before the war in Iran could inflict significant damage on corporate America.
[00:43:06]  The SP 500 is now on course for its third straight week of gains, the kind of winning streak not seen since October.
[00:43:13]  The index has risen about 10% since March the 30th, that front page story there.
[00:43:18]  Also on the financial side, the Treasury Secretary Scott Besant was in the briefing room yesterday talking about gas prices in this country.
[00:43:29]  This is the Treasury Secretary from the White House.
[00:43:32]  When are we really going to get $3 a gallon gas?
[00:43:36]  Well, I think that's going to be up to how the negotiations go.
[00:43:42]  President Trump said this morning that he thinks we're nearing the end.
[00:43:47]  The U.S. kept their side on the ceasefire.
[00:43:50]  We've stopped firing.
[00:43:52]  The straits of Ramouth have not been completely reopened.
[00:43:56]  So we will see.
[00:43:58]  And I'm optimistic that during the summer, we will see gas with a three in front of it sooner rather than later.
[00:44:06]  It's bank week here in D.C., so I've been meeting with a lot of my Middle Eastern counterparts, the finance ministers, and they all say that once the straits are open, they can start pumping again within one week.
[00:44:19]  So not by summer, like Memorial Day, but maybe by Labor Day?
[00:44:24]  Again, I'm optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th, that we can have $3 gas again.
[00:44:33]  And as I said this morning, too, we are going to be watching the gas stations because they raised prices very quickly when they stated when the crude oil prices went up.
[00:44:45]  We hope they'll bring them down just as quickly as crude oil prices have come down, which they've come down substantially just in the past 10 days.
[00:44:54]  That was the Treasury Secretary yesterday.
[00:44:56]  We're going to be hearing from the Defense Secretary this morning in about 15 minutes.
[00:45:00]  We're going to head over to the Pentagon and let you watch some of that Pentagon briefing.

=== Atomic Weapon Definitions (14:35) ===

[00:45:06]  It is Pete Hegseth, who is set to talk to reporters, and you can watch it live here on C-SPAN.
[00:45:13]  Meanwhile, your phone calls in Open Forum.
[00:45:16]  This is David, Republican from California.
[00:45:18]  Go ahead.
[00:45:21]  Yes.
[00:45:21]  Well, what I'm concerned about is everybody says the Republicans are always saying I trust the electorate.
[00:45:30]  I don't trust the electorate at all because they seem to be either brainwashed, brain dead, or bribed beyond belief.
[00:45:39]  This would be the Democrats, of course.
[00:45:42]  And anybody who's saying, well, Iran hasn't attacked us, so we should wait till they attack us.
[00:45:47]  Well, once they get the missiles to deliver the atomic weapons, we can't have another Pearl Harbor thing.
[00:45:56]  And that would wipe everybody out.
[00:45:58]  And so they want to wait, especially the Democrats, even some of the Republicans are saying we should have waited until we get an atomic attack against us.
[00:46:08]  No, they're not because they say they're definitely going to do it.
[00:46:12]  And Trump should get regime changed.
[00:46:16]  Otherwise, these people are going to stay the same.
[00:46:18]  They don't have any Second Amendment for the guns.
[00:46:21]  So they've got to wait until we get some of the military that'll turn against their own masters of the current regime.
[00:46:32]  Because the son of the Islamic terrorist leader has no solution.
[00:46:42]  This is still better than nothing.
[00:46:44]  This gives us more time.
[00:46:45]  But we need to get a regime change over there.
[00:46:48]  And maybe he needs to back off because too many people don't understand that.
[00:46:53]  They want to wait from the United States.
[00:46:55]  So, David, you don't think this should end with the regime still in power over there?
[00:47:02]  That if that happens, if some peace deal comes together and the regime stays in power, then this will have been a failure in your mind?
[00:47:11]  Well, yes, it'll be because ultimately they'll get the missiles and atomic weapons and they'll resume.
[00:47:17]  And eventually, once we get nuked, I guess we'll get the idea that they're a real dangerous enemy.
[00:47:25]  But they've got to be eliminated with regime change.
[00:47:28]  But maybe because there's so many dopes in the United States that think we have to wait to get nuked first before we take any action to prevent this, because you've got 47 years of knowledge to know how dangerous and terroristic these people are with that regime.
[00:47:47]  The country isn't against this with the public.
[00:47:50]  It's a damn regime change, and they're as much against this would be different than Vietnam or anything else because most of the Islamic Republic would be forest because they want to get a regime change, but they don't have any weapons.
[00:48:05]  There's no Second Amendment over there.
[00:48:07]  Got your point.
[00:48:08]  Got your point.
[00:48:09]  That's David out of California.
[00:48:11]  This is Sarah out of the Peach State Independence.
[00:48:15]  Good morning.
[00:48:18]  Sarah, you're with us.
[00:48:20]  And to prevent this.
[00:48:22]  Stick by your phone, Sarah.
[00:48:23]  I hear the TV.
[00:48:24]  That's Sarah.
[00:48:26]  Let's go to John in Florence, Massachusetts, Independent.
[00:48:30]  Go ahead.
[00:48:31]  Hi, John.
[00:48:32]  You and Peter are my favorite moderators.
[00:48:34]  I want to ask, why do moderators quote polls which they do not quantify by stating the number of people in the polls and then say 60% of Americans feel a certain way when the average poll is 1,200 people, which breaks down to less than 25 participants per state at best?
[00:48:48]  This is very disingenuous and deceitful.
[00:48:50]  And you should tell us how many people are in each poll.
[00:48:52]  Wouldn't it sound a lot different to say 60% of 1,200 people feel a certain way?
[00:48:57]  Also, I want to ask why the media has spent so much time on Renee Goode and Michael Predi, but we haven't spent any time on Sheridan Gorman, Rachel Gorman.
[00:49:09]  They put in 25 times the amount.
[00:49:12]  They don't put any time into Sheridan Gorman getting their head bashed in by an illegal alien.
[00:49:16]  And that's why the country doesn't know what's going on and doesn't realize how bad these illegal aliens are.
[00:49:22]  And then they say, well, it's just a small percentage of them, and there's a whole bunch of illegal aliens.
[00:49:26]  But then they focus on people like Renee Goode and Michael Preddy and say that these police officers, well, there's a small number of these ICE officers and they murdered these two people is what's told by the Democrats.
[00:49:37]  But I don't hear the same thing about the small number of transgender people that have been doing murders across the country when they are a very small percentage of the people in the country.
[00:49:48]  So I'm wondering why that happened.
[00:49:49]  And I want to just let you know, you keep quoting from the New York Times, you know, in 1903 they said men would never fly for a million years and two months later the Wright brothers flew.
[00:49:57]  So I just don't understand why the media focuses on one and not the other.
[00:50:01]  They'll talk forever about Michael Predi and isn't it Alex Predty?
[00:50:06]  Alex Predty, whatever his name is.
[00:50:08]  But they don't want to talk about the other people.
[00:50:09]  They do segment after segment and so does C-SPAN.
[00:50:12]  And they don't focus on the people that were killed that were Americans.
[00:50:15]  Is that because we're expendable or it's okay that these illegal aliens murder them and police are supposed to be protecting us?
[00:50:20]  So if ICE or somebody gets them, then that's a horrible, horrible crime.
[00:50:25]  I don't understand the difference in why we focus and do segment after segment after segment.
[00:50:29]  Or why don't we know the names of Harry Dunn and Michael Fanon, these officers at the Capitol that were traumatized by getting attacked?
[00:50:37]  But we don't talk about all the BOM officers that were attacked.
[00:50:40]  We don't talk about all the anti-Semitic people that attacked all the officers there or all the people attacking ICE.
[00:50:48]  We don't care about those law enforcement officers.
[00:50:50]  We only care about January.
[00:50:52]  I understand you have a lot of criticism about the news media.
[00:50:56]  What is one or two sources that you trust?
[00:50:58]  It seems like you don't trust a lot of the news media.
[00:51:02]  So, where do you go for your news?
[00:51:04]  I watch everything.
[00:51:05]  I watch the public broadcasting system, which I just watched your associate Kimberly on there spouting her views.
[00:51:12]  She suddenly has an opinion that we can't hear when she's doing moderating there.
[00:51:16]  I listen to everything from PBS, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, or MSDNC.
[00:51:22]  I listen to DNC stand, which is you guys.
[00:51:24]  I listen to Fox.
[00:51:26]  My question was: what's one or two sources that you trust?
[00:51:30]  I listen to a little bit of everything, and then I use my own common sense to see what's going on when they focus on just a few ICE officers that make a mistake, or that guy that killed the guy in Minneapolis and don't say, hey, many more Caucasian Americans are killed by the police unarmed every year than African Americans, but that's because there are more of them.
[00:51:48]  Or when they say, well, you know, this trans thing, we can't release it when they murdered a whole bunch of people.
[00:51:53]  They're a small percentage of our population, and it seems like a big problem with them, but nobody wants to focus on it because they're afraid of being called sexist, racist, transphobe, or anything else.
[00:52:02]  Those are the big names that the Democrats throw out, so they don't have to try to solve any problems and can keep profiting from them.
[00:52:07]  That's John in Florence, Massachusetts.
[00:52:09]  This is Jim in Plainfield, Illinois.
[00:52:12]  Line for Democrats.
[00:52:13]  Go ahead.
[00:52:14]  Hi.
[00:52:15]  What really bothers me about this Iran war is when these drones that Iran's using, it's taken us like $3 million to shoot them down.
[00:52:26]  So that's why we're needing money for our defense.
[00:52:28]  And what really bothers me about this whole thing is Ukraine offered us assistance on how to fight these drones cost-effectively, and we turned it down.
[00:52:40]  And what we did is Iran has a $10 billion economy.
[00:52:46]  We released the oil.
[00:52:47]  They got $14 billion now added to that.
[00:52:50]  And then we released oil from Russia and gave them money.
[00:52:55]  And we turned down Ukraine for assistance.
[00:52:58]  And we want NATO to help us in the strait.
[00:53:01]  None of this makes sense to me.
[00:53:04]  John, does a $1.5 trillion defense budget in fiscal 2027 make sense to you?
[00:53:12]  We're talking about a 40 or so percent increase is what the Trump administration is looking for in its fiscal 2027 budget proposal.
[00:53:22]  But wouldn't it be more cost-effective not to release the oil sanctions with Russia and Iran to give them more power and take advice from Ukraine, which would be more cost-effective shooting down drones instead of sending all these missiles that are costing us $3 million?
[00:53:40]  That's a waste of money to me.
[00:53:42]  It doesn't make sense to me.
[00:53:44]  That's what I would like these politicians to ask.
[00:53:47]  Why would you release money to Iran and Russia, who doesn't make sense to me as allies, and turn down Ukraine assistance that would help fight against these drones and help end the war?
[00:54:00]  You're not going to be able to stop the strait because it's mountainous.
[00:54:04]  They got tunnels all over filled with these drones.
[00:54:07]  You can't get in there.
[00:54:08]  That's why you don't want to send troops in, and that's why you can't bomb them.
[00:54:13]  And that's why no one ever wanted to go into Iran.
[00:54:16]  It's because of mountain terrain.
[00:54:18]  Got your point.
[00:54:19]  That's Jim in Illinois.
[00:54:21]  About five minutes or so until this Pentagon briefing will get underway, but we'll take calls.
[00:54:26]  Until then, Bob, Texas, Republican, it's Kingwood, Texas.
[00:54:30]  Go ahead.
[00:54:32]  Good morning, John.
[00:54:34]  I wanted to focus on definitions because we go through college, we go to high school, we go to elementary school, and definitions mean something.
[00:54:44]  And the argument that we don't know how to define a woman, what is a woman, that's kind of silly, except to the point that when you're talking about fairness in women's sports, you do need a definition.
[00:54:59]  So let's look at the word illegal.
[00:55:02]  Illegal.
[00:55:03]  This is a separation between Republicans and Democrats.
[00:55:08]  We hear Democrats saying the war is illegal, illegal.
[00:55:12]  John, you read yourself about the War Powers Act of 73.
[00:55:16]  The legality is that the president is still legal to do what he's doing now until the 60 days, and then he can extend it.
[00:55:26]  So the definition of...
[00:55:27]  If he doesn't ask for an extension, would you be willing to call it illegal at that point?
[00:55:32]  And the fighting is still going on, I should say.
[00:55:34]  As long as the law says something, that's the definition of legal or illegal.
[00:55:40]  Look at immigration.
[00:55:42]  The law says that you have to cross the border legally.
[00:55:47]  If you don't, you are an illegal alien.
[00:55:51]  The definitions mean something.
[00:55:54]  And that's why I think people on the Democratic side just use the word illegal the way they want to use it.
[00:56:01]  They don't want to say that somebody that breaks the law crossing the border is illegal.
[00:56:06]  They don't want to say that the war that's going on right now or whatever, the excursion, is legal because it is.
[00:56:15]  Until the president breaks it, then it becomes illegal.
[00:56:19]  So I think definitions are very important for us.
[00:56:23]  That's Bob in Texas.
[00:56:24]  John is in the Tarheel State, independent.
[00:56:28]  Go ahead.
[00:56:30]  Yes.
[00:56:31]  Thanks for taking my call.
[00:56:33]  I agree with that man 100% that he was exactly right.
[00:56:37]  But our gas prices are pretty high, but I don't know why we're selling gas if we need it here.
[00:56:45]  I don't understand that.
[00:56:46]  I mean, you know, I wouldn't sell no gas till I brought our gas down.
[00:56:50]  Then you maybe sell gas.
[00:56:52]  And another thing is...
[00:56:54]  John, how much is gas in North Carolina right now where you are?
[00:56:59]  It's $364.
[00:57:03]  Anyway, that's good, but I mean, that's not bad, but it was down to $280-something.
[00:57:11]  But anyway, how can we all go have a program telling people how much that Joe Biden has cost the United States of America by letting all illegals come in here?
[00:57:23]  See the code?
[00:57:24]  I can say, I don't hear nobody talking about that.
[00:57:27]  I've never heard that it's costed probably million dollars, millions of dollars a day.
[00:57:33]  John, you've never heard Trump.
[00:57:35]  You've never heard criticism of Joe Biden and illegal immigrants entering this country?
[00:57:41]  Not the cost of it.
[00:57:43]  Not the cost of it.
[00:57:45]  Yeah, I've heard, but they don't never say nothing about how much it's costing.
[00:57:49]  And that's what we need to do and quit complaining about what the war.
[00:57:54]  Democrats, to me, they want Iran to have a nuclear bomb.
[00:57:59]  I don't understand that.
[00:58:00]  They all been saying they never can have one.
[00:58:03]  But now they're saying, well, we ought to let them have one.
[00:58:06]  It's their business, not ours.
[00:58:08]  John, who's saying that Iran should have a nuclear bomb?
[00:58:14]  Well, they didn't want them to go over and bomb them and still doing it.
[00:58:17]  I mean, every president I ever seen said they can't have one.
[00:58:21]  And they was right before getting one.
[00:58:24]  That's why.
[00:58:25]  That's John in North Carolina.
[00:58:27]  This is Edna in Illinois, lying for Democrats.
[00:58:30]  Go ahead.
[00:58:33]  I wonder if...
[00:58:34]  Good morning, and thank you for taking my call.
[00:58:37]  I would like to know why they don't recognize that Trump has had a mental breakdown.
[00:58:45]  I have witnessed this in one of my friends' family.
[00:58:48]  When people have a mental breakdown, the first thing they grab is the Bible.
[00:58:52]  They start talking about Jesus.
[00:58:55]  You never heard Trump mention anything about Jesus until lately.
[00:59:00]  You've never heard the president say anything about Jesus?
[00:59:04]  No, not until recently.
[00:59:05]  He's had a mental breakdown, and people don't recognize it.
[00:59:09]  I recognize it because I've seen it in another family.
[00:59:13]  And the first thing they do when they have a mental breakdown, they start grabbing the Bible.
[00:59:18]  Oh, they get so holy then.
[00:59:20]  But before then, they're not.
[00:59:22]  And I was watching the parliament in London the other night on C-SPAN, and this gentleman got up and he says that Trump is an out-of-control gangster.
[00:59:36]  That's Edna in Illinois.
[00:59:38]  This is Mike back in North Carolina, Republican.

=== New Face Of Democrats (02:50) ===

[00:59:42]  Mike, go ahead as we wait for this Pentagon briefing to begin.
[00:59:46]  All right.
[00:59:46]  Good morning.
[00:59:47]  Oh, well, first, how are you doing, John?
[00:59:49]  I was wanting to know the face, the new face of the Democrat Party is Hassan Piker.
[00:59:57]  I know you got all that where he's said that America deserved 9-11.
[01:00:03]  And he's campaigning for that other guy that's running for Senate in Michigan, that other Muslim guy.
[01:00:09]  And he said that he wants to take down the American Empire.
[01:00:13]  I wish you would play some of his, what he's speaking on C-SPAN to let them actually hear.
[01:00:20]  And, you know, and one other thing is this bill that's coming up, what is it, the Dignity Act, that there is a facade.
[01:00:30]  That's just, it's crazy how to let illegal people into this country.
[01:00:37]  You know, when you commit a crime, it don't matter if you're spitting on and chewing gum to murder.
[01:00:41]  If you're illegal or a naturalized citizen, that you just see where that naturalized citizen killed that DHS worker and another person and stabbed another person in Atlanta, Georgia.
[01:00:54]  That's, you know, but the face of the Democrat Party, you know, you see what's going on in Europe.
[01:01:01]  I mean, you got in England, you got no-go zones.
[01:01:05]  You got Sharia law in England, and it's spreading all, it's like a cancer.
[01:01:12]  It's spreading all across Europe.
[01:01:14]  And we've let the devil into this country here with Omar and Talib.
[01:01:20]  And now we got Mandani in New York, but it's spreading everywhere.
[01:01:25]  And if American people do not stand up, we will not have an America again.
[01:01:30]  That's Mike on the Dignity Act, a politi fact from the Poynter Institute with a fact check this week about the Dignity Act, Maria Salazar's Dignity Act, the question that was asked: does it grant mass amnesty to immigrants?
[01:01:46]  Amnesty, they note, has no agreed upon definition in immigration debates.
[01:01:50]  The term can be interpreted narrowly as granting citizenship to immigrants in the U.S. illegally or broadly to mean any government policy allowing immigrants in the U.S. illegally to remain in the country.
[01:02:02]  There's a pool of millions of people who potentially could benefit from the Dignity Act, which would allow them to earn legal status if they met certain criteria, including paying $7,000 in fines and passing criminal background checks.
[01:02:16]  For some, the newly created legal status would be renewable.
[01:02:19]  For other immigrants brought to the U.S. as children before 2021, the legislation could allow them to eventually be eligible for U.S. citizenship.
[01:02:28]  Some notes on the Dignity Act that the caller brings up.

=== Immigration Amnesty Defined (03:36) ===

[01:02:32]  Back to your phone calls.
[01:02:33]  Again, we're waiting for a Pentagon briefing to begin at any time here.
[01:02:38]  So when we do, I apologize if we need to cut the call short.
[01:02:42]  But until then, it's Frank in Birmingham, Alabama, Independent.
[01:02:46]  Go ahead.
[01:02:48]  Here's Frank, John.
[01:02:49]  Look, man, Al Sharpen and Kamala Harrison all had that big meeting.
[01:02:55]  I tell you what, Frank, that briefing is getting underway.
[01:02:58]  I apologize.
[01:02:59]  Stay on the line.
[01:02:59]  We'll get back to you afterwards.
[01:03:00]  We're going to the Pentagon now.
[01:03:03]  Actually, Frank, stick with me for a second.
[01:03:05]  They're just putting the binder on the podium.
[01:03:08]  Go ahead.
[01:03:08]  I still got you, Frank.
[01:03:10]  Yeah.
[01:03:11]  So they had all those people that think they might want to run for president in 28.
[01:03:16]  And I keep cautioning them that we cannot overlook Jacob Fry there in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
[01:03:25]  What do you like about Jacob Fry?
[01:03:27]  He is not afraid.
[01:03:29]  He can take on blacks and whites equally.
[01:03:32]  And how he demonstrated himself during the George Floyd situation that's distinguished him.
[01:03:37]  And even when it came back, where the cops, ICE people, killed the girl and the other person in his district, and he handled it quite well.
[01:03:46]  And I've been a faithful supporter of him since I watched what he did and how he did it.
[01:03:52]  And John, let me move from that.
[01:03:54]  But y'all need to talk more about him.
[01:03:55]  And also, John, I would hope that y'all will bring Ralph Reed back because you had him the morning after the election, presidential election.
[01:04:03]  He talked about how they handled the Christian and did what they did.
[01:04:07]  And I'm not like him.
[01:04:09]  I really don't like him.
[01:04:10]  But when somebody does something the way he did to pull Trump across the top with those Christians, that was something to be told.
[01:04:17]  And the Democrats would do good to find a way to apparatus, how he did it.
[01:04:22]  But they better look towards someone like, again, Mayor Fry Fry.
[01:04:28]  I think he's going to come around.
[01:04:30]  What would you ask Ralph Reed, Frank, since you bring him up?
[01:04:34]  Well, Ralph Reed is, you know, I ran a couple times myself.
[01:04:38]  And the way he activated and stayed with the base, they decided who the Christians are.
[01:04:43]  If they got two calls from them, I mean, if they made two calls to them and they responded each time, that's who they went after.
[01:04:49]  And they came with the big volume and delivered that.
[01:04:52]  And I said, Ralph came on y'all's show, but y'all didn't really give him enough time.
[01:04:56]  It was just a few people in the building.
[01:04:58]  And I wish you would bring him back because I tell you, I don't like him.
[01:05:01]  I really don't like him, but I like a man's product.
[01:05:04]  I like the product, and that's what it was about him.
[01:05:06]  And it's the same thing that I'm so hard on Jacob.
[01:05:10]  Frank, we're going to end it there.
[01:05:11]  Pete Hegseth, going to the podium now at the Pentagon.
[01:05:27]  Well, good morning.
[01:05:28]  And as you may have noticed, the chairman and I are joined today by the CENTCOM commander, Admiral Bradley Cooper.
[01:05:35]  He just returned from the front lines to see the troops and meet with allies, and this morning briefed us just before this briefing on the latest on all aspects of Operation Epic Fury.
[01:05:45]  So after the chairman concludes, we'll ask Admiral Cooper to share a quick update on the ground truth from his trip to the region as he continues to implement an ironclad blockade and ensures that our forces are maximally postured to restart combat operations should this new Iranian regime choose poorly and not agree to a deal.

=== Urging Iran To Choose Wisely (04:00) ===

[01:06:08]  And that is what we urge this morning that this new Iranian regime choose wisely, which is where we'll start with a message to Iran's military leadership.
[01:06:19]  To the KH leadership and IRGC leadership, we're watching you.
[01:06:25]  Our capabilities are not the same, our military and yours.
[01:06:29]  Remember, this is not a fair fight.
[01:06:31]  And we know what military assets you are moving and where you are moving them to.
[01:06:37]  While you are digging out, which is exactly what you're doing, digging out of bombed out and devastated facilities, we are only getting stronger.
[01:06:46]  You are digging out your remaining launchers and missiles with no ability to replace them.
[01:06:52]  You have no defense industry, no ability to replenish your offensive or defensive capabilities.
[01:06:59]  You only have what you have.
[01:07:02]  You know that, and we know that.
[01:07:04]  You can move things around, but you can't actually rebuild.
[01:07:09]  You can dig out for now, but you can't reconstitute.
[01:07:13]  But we can.
[01:07:14]  We are reloading with more power than ever before and better intelligence, even more importantly, better intelligence than ever before, as you expose yourself with your movement to our watchful eye.
[01:07:28]  We are locked and loaded on your critical dual-use infrastructure, on your remaining power generation, and on your energy industry.
[01:07:38]  We'd rather not have to do it, but we're ready to go at the command of our president and at the push of a button.
[01:07:46]  This blockade, which the chairman will detail this morning, is the polite way that this can go.
[01:07:52]  Your energy is not moving and will not move, and we can do this all day.
[01:07:58]  But it's not destroyed yet.
[01:07:59]  Your energy industry is not destroyed yet.
[01:08:02]  You like to say publicly, Iran, that you control the Strait of Hormuz, but you don't have a Navy or real domain awareness.
[01:08:12]  You can't control anything.
[01:08:16]  To be clear, threatening to shoot missiles and drones at ships, commercial ships that are lawfully transiting international waters, that is not control.
[01:08:27]  That's piracy.
[01:08:29]  That's terrorism.
[01:08:31]  The United States Navy controls the traffic going in and out of the strait because we have real assets and real capabilities.
[01:08:40]  And we're doing this blockade, performing it with less than 10% of America's naval power.
[01:08:47]  The math is clear.
[01:08:48]  We're using 10% of the world's most powerful Navy, and you have 0% of your Navy.
[01:08:55]  That's real control, and we have a long track record of dealing with pirates and terrorists.
[01:09:03]  But there is an alternative.
[01:09:05]  As our negotiators have said, you, Iran, can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge, and we hope that you do for the people of Iran.
[01:09:14]  In the meantime, and for as long as it takes, we will maintain this blockade, successful blockade.
[01:09:20]  But if Iran chooses poorly, then they will have a blockade and bombs dropping on infrastructure, power, and energy.
[01:09:30]  And at the same time, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant and our friends over at Treasury are launching Operation Economic Fury as well, maximizing economic pressure across the entirety of the government.
[01:09:43]  To Iran, choose wisely.
[01:09:46]  The world watched, and so did you, as the U.S. military moved seamlessly from major combat operations to a world-class blockade.
[01:09:55]  We can make that transition again, very quickly and even more powerfully than ever.
[01:10:01]  At the direction of President Trump, the War Department will ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.
[01:10:07]  Never.

=== American Warrior Spirit (05:19) ===

[01:10:08]  We'd prefer to do it the nice way, through a deal led by our great vice president and negotiating team, or we can do it the hard way.
[01:10:19]  We urge this new regime to choose wisely.
[01:10:24]  Speaking of choosing wisely, a note to the press, to the press corps, to the American media.
[01:10:32]  As I just can't help but notice the endless stream of garbage, the relentlessly negative coverage, you cannot resist peddling.
[01:10:44]  Despite the historic and important success of this effort and the success of our troops, sometimes it's hard to figure out what side some of you are actually on.
[01:10:57]  It's incredibly unpatriotic.
[01:11:00]  This same press corps, not this exact same press corps, but at least an older press corps, bent over backwards during the Biden administration to explain away, you explained away, the disastrous and disgraceful Afghanistan withdrawal.
[01:11:15]  You called it the greatest airlift in American history.
[01:11:19]  It's almost like you're cheering only for one side.
[01:11:24]  This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family, and our minister preached from the book of Mark, the third chapter.
[01:11:34]  And in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand.
[01:11:41]  The Pharisees came to watch.
[01:11:43]  And as the scripture reads, they came to see whether he, Jesus, would heal him or he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him.
[01:11:55]  You see, the Pharisees, the so-called and self-appointed elites of their time, they were there to witness, to write everything down, to report.
[01:12:07]  But their hearts were hardened.
[01:12:09]  Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn't matter.
[01:12:14]  They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.
[01:12:20]  As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him.
[01:12:27]  I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees.
[01:12:33]  Not all of you, not all of you, but the legacy Trump-hating press.
[01:12:41]  Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors.
[01:12:50]  The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation, only looking for the negative.
[01:13:00]  The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn.
[01:13:06]  I would ask you to open your eyes to the goodness, the historic success of our troops, the courage of this president, and this historic moment for a deal that could end the Iranian nuclear threat.
[01:13:19]  The incredible battlefield victory laid before your eyes.
[01:13:24]  The not one but two incredible rescue missions, miracles, you might say, or a locked-in blockade.
[01:13:34]  Or how about historic recruiting numbers?
[01:13:37]  Yesterday we announced that the Air Force and the Space Force met new higher goals in FY26 five months in advance of the end of the fiscal year, five months ahead of time.
[01:13:47]  The Marine Corps and the Army will soon do the same.
[01:13:49]  Two, three years ago, we couldn't meet lower recruiting numbers, not even close.
[01:13:55]  Where are the reports on that?
[01:13:57]  Where's the coverage of the new spirit in the country, the new spirit in the ranks, the surge of Americans wanting to join the greatest military in the world?
[01:14:05]  Nothing from the fake news.
[01:14:08]  We sense a pattern.
[01:14:11]  You see, on the battlefield, these are demonstrations of uniquely American capabilities, strength and resolve.
[01:14:17]  It's all around you each and every day.
[01:14:20]  But in the press, you only seek the negative, earning each and every day the fake news label.
[01:14:28]  But the American people, with goodness in their hearts, see past the Pharisees in our press.
[01:14:36]  They see the goodness.
[01:14:37]  You watching, you see the goodness.
[01:14:40]  They see the success.
[01:14:41]  They see the reality and they don't demand perfection and perfection is not possible on any battlefield.
[01:14:49]  But they see the incredible feats that our troops accomplish every single day.
[01:14:56]  So to those troops, stay focused, block out the noise, stay aggressive.
[01:15:02]  You are showing the world what it means to be an American warrior.
[01:15:06]  You are making this building and the American people proud.
[01:15:11]  We pray for you every day and we have your back in every way.
[01:15:16]  And to Iran, choose wisely.
[01:15:20]  I pray you choose a deal which is within your grasp for the betterment of your people and for the betterment of the world.

=== Enforcing The Blockade (07:37) ===

[01:15:28]  In the meantime, the War Department is locked and loaded.
[01:15:34]  Mr. Chairman, over to you.
[01:15:36]  Thank you, Mr. Secretary, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
[01:15:39]  Thank you for being here today.
[01:15:40]  Last week, the President of the United States directed a ceasefire that temporarily paused major combat operations in Iran.
[01:15:47]  The unprecedented effort by America's joint force during Operation Epic Fury set the conditions for this ceasefire.
[01:15:55]  And as the Secretary said, I'd like to emphasize during this pause that the United States Joint Force remains postured and ready to resume major combat operations at literally a moment's notice.
[01:16:08]  This morning, I'd like to give you an update on the ongoing blockade in the CENTCOM AOR area of responsibility.
[01:16:16]  On Monday, 13 April at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, at the direction of the President, America's Joint Force began implementing a blockade against Iran under the leadership of Admiral Cooper and the team at CENTCOM.
[01:16:33]  Let me be clear, this blockade applies to all ships, regardless of nationality, heading into or from Iranian ports.
[01:16:45]  The U.S. action is a blockade of Iran's ports and coastline, not a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
[01:16:53]  Enforcement will occur inside Iran's territorial seas and in international waters.
[01:17:02]  In addition to this blockade, the joint force, through operations and activities in other areas of responsibility, like the Pacific area of responsibility under the command of Admiral Paparo, will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.
[01:17:27]  This includes dark fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil.
[01:17:31]  As most of you know, dark fleet vessels are those illicit or illegal ships evading international regulations, sanctions, or insurance requirements.
[01:17:42]  More than 10,000 sailors, Marines, and airmen, over a dozen ships and dozens of aircraft are executing this mission.
[01:17:51]  And let me walk you through this operation a little bit.
[01:17:54]  Please go to the first slide.
[01:17:56]  First, to the graphic.
[01:17:58]  This is taken before the blockade began.
[01:18:01]  North is up.
[01:18:02]  You can see the blockade line here in the center of the graphic, denoted by the red dashed line.
[01:18:10]  This map is a poll from our common operating picture that we use to allow commanders and key leaders to see what is happening in near real time.
[01:18:22]  We just grabbed screen grabs to highlight the actions and activities.
[01:18:27]  What is not shown is how incredibly congested this area is and the incredible work that our sailors are doing to ensure that they can work in and around an incredibly busy water space.
[01:18:44]  What is also not depicted here is the massive force of fighters, intelligence aircraft, helicopters, and other embarked forces to include aerial refueling tankers that are up overhead this blockade area.
[01:19:01]  You'll note that U.S. forces are in blue.
[01:19:05]  Iranian ships are in red.
[01:19:10]  And as we started this blockade, there were seven ships of interest that were of concern for U.S. Central Command.
[01:19:19]  Through a variety of intelligence tools and with the assistance of the Office of Naval Intelligence and other intelligence agencies, the force began to hunt for potential interdictors at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
[01:19:36]  Next slide, please.
[01:19:38]  It's now 1240 Eastern Daylight Time, two hours and 40 minutes into the blockade, as attempted blockade runners attempt to hop the line.
[01:19:49]  U.S. forces began to commit.
[01:19:52]  Out in front of them was a range of intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and tactical assets.
[01:19:59]  And immediately, these runners began to see, sense, and feel America's combat power compressing upon them.
[01:20:08]  The lead ship, normally a destroyer as depicted here, along with air power off of the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group, began to move towards those ships.
[01:20:22]  At each point, the United States Navy will transmit a warning.
[01:20:28]  A young sailor, normally on the bridge of one of those destroyers, a junior officer, picks up that mic and transmits, and I quote, do not attempt to breach the blockade.
[01:20:39]  Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure transiting to or from Iranian ports.
[01:20:47]  Turn around or prepare to be boarded.
[01:20:51]  If you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force.
[01:20:56]  And as this message is being transmitted, as I mentioned earlier, those shipmasters can literally see, sense, and feel the pressure around them.
[01:21:05]  It's a finely tuned machine rehearsed multiple times and executed now 13 times since the blockade has begun.
[01:21:15]  Next slide, please.
[01:21:17]  We're now 24 hours plus into the blockade.
[01:21:21]  You can see the turning around of multiple ships, 12 of which stayed inside the blockade line, one of which not depicted off to the eastern side turned around before even attempting it.
[01:21:35]  Any ship that would cross the blockade would result in our sailors executing pre-planned tactics designed to bring the force to that ship, if need be, board the ship and take her over.
[01:21:48]  And that includes a series of escalated force options, which could include warning shots and others.
[01:21:55]  Next slide.
[01:21:57]  The final graphic shows taken at 11.20 p.m. the night of 14 April.
[01:22:03]  You can see that the captains of all these ships have made the wise decision not to move, transit, or run this blockade.
[01:22:13]  As I mentioned so far, 13 ships have made the wise choice of turning around.
[01:22:19]  And as we continue to hold this blockade at the order of the Secretary and the President, any vessel that compares to comply with our instructions will be dealt with accordingly.
[01:22:29]  As of this morning, U.S. Central Command has not been required to board any particular ships.
[01:22:37]  And I'll remind you that we are also conducting similar maritime interdiction actions and activities in the Pacific AOR against those ships that left that area before we began the blockade.
[01:22:53]  Before I turn it over to Admiral Cooper, I want to talk briefly today about the men and women enforcing the blockade, America's sailors and Marines, and today, particularly our destroyer and surface forces.

=== Surface Fleet Readiness (03:29) ===

[01:23:06]  When we talk about an American destroyer, it's important that you and the American people understand their capabilities.
[01:23:13]  An Arleigh Burke-class destroyer are the backbone of the United States Navy surface fleet.
[01:23:19]  Over 500 feet long, they displace 9,000 tons, and it is the sports car of the United States Navy.
[01:23:28]  From the keel to the mast, they stand nearly 10 stories tall, and their four gas turbine engines can drive the ship at 30-plus knots.
[01:23:38]  These ships are armed to the teeth with surface tear missiles, land attack cruise missiles, anti-ship missiles, anti-submarine rockets, torpedoes, five-inch naval guns, multiple electronic warfare systems, embarked helicopters, extending the reach and capability of each and every one of these destroyers.
[01:24:00]  But far and away, the most important weapon on board these ships is the American sailor.
[01:24:07]  Over 300 warfighters are the heart and soul of these warships.
[01:24:12]  At sea, sometimes for months, and these ships out in the CENCOM AOR have been out there for months, they operate around the clock in a constant state of readiness, always delivering for our joint force.
[01:24:25]  It's hot in the engine room.
[01:24:27]  The engineering team keeps the lights on and the ship powered and able to respond to the orders from the bridge.
[01:24:35]  On that bridge, our sailors maintain a constant watch, maneuvering the ship tactically and safely through always congested water space.
[01:24:45]  And there is a lot out there.
[01:24:47]  It is like driving a sports car through a supermarket parking lot on a payday weekend with thousands of kids in that parking lot as you attempt to maneuver through there to get to that ship that would attempt to run that blockade.
[01:25:04]  Down in the Combat Information Center, the CIC, the tactical warfare center of the ship, that is where the decisions are made.
[01:25:12]  As threats appear, these young sailors are making real-time decisions on how to identify these threats and handle them, and they always deliver.
[01:25:22]  These ships are run by the youngest sailors in our surface warfare navy.
[01:25:29]  The helmsman, the sailor on the watch at the bridge, is normally just between 18 to 19 years old, and they are trusted to drive this warship through that supermarket parking lot without hitting anything.
[01:25:44]  The conning officer, an equally young commissioned officer who's normally just a few years out of college, is the ones that are giving that young helmsman the orders on where to take that American warship to execute the mission that the Secretary and the President has given us.
[01:26:04]  These are incredibly well-trained sailors.
[01:26:08]  They are led by incredible leaders, salty, experienced leaders, and trusted with deep responsibility.
[01:26:16]  And I'm so humbled and proud of America's Navy.
[01:26:19]  These sailors choose to take the road less traveled to go into the historic surface Navy, and they deliver every single day.
[01:26:29]  Finally, as I often do, I want to highlight one of those surface sailors today and remember our fallen.

=== Inspiring Regional Partners (15:01) ===

[01:26:36]  Today we remember Ensign Robert Thompson of the U.S. Laffey, who died on this day in 1945 in the Battle of Okinawa.
[01:26:44]  He was killed while fighting a fire along with 31 others as two Japanese kamikaze aircraft hit their ship.
[01:26:52]  He passed away one week after his 22nd birthday and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross.
[01:26:59]  We remember Ensign Thompson today and all of our World War II vets who continue to give us the gift of a great example.
[01:27:06]  And those surface warfare sailors who are out there doing the job right now take the courage, grit, and determination that those World War II vets gave us into these actions and activities that they're tasked to do every single day.
[01:27:23]  So now I'd like to turn it over to Admiral Cooper to give us a readout of his recent trip to the region.
[01:27:30]  Thank you very much, sir.
[01:27:33]  Well, good morning, and Mr. Secretary, thank you for the kind invitation.
[01:27:35]  And Chairman, great to join you.
[01:27:37]  It's a real honor to be here representing the more than 50,000 American service members deployed throughout the Middle East today supporting operations.
[01:27:46]  And it's great to have the opportunity to highlight the tremendous efforts our warfighters operating forward and the important partnerships with regional allies that continue to thrive.
[01:27:56]  In fact, yesterday I returned from my second trip to the Middle East in the past 15 days.
[01:28:01]  Two very different visits, one during our offensive operations against Iran and the second in this most recent trip during the ongoing ceasefire.
[01:28:09]  Very different.
[01:28:10]  During both of my recent trips, I visited with our troops who were deployed across the region in more than 70 different locations in a distance that largely spans between Florida and Arizona.
[01:28:21]  I've long believed that every success that we have starts and ends with our people.
[01:28:26]  And boy, does this shine through brightly.
[01:28:28]  During these visits, I had the privilege of personally recognizing more than 100 servicemen and women for their extraordinary valor, their courage, and their initiative under fire and delivering fire.
[01:28:39]  And every time I interact with these young men and women downrange, I am deeply inspired by their courage, their resilience, and their unwavering commitment.
[01:28:48]  The stories are remarkable.
[01:28:49]  In many cases, you've seen this play out over TV.
[01:28:52]  Fighter pilots who took out Iranian missile launchers in the moments prior to their launch against Americans and our partners, and who hit key military targets in and around Tehran on the attack more than 13,000 times.
[01:29:06]  I met with some of the teams that helped to bring our F-15 airmen home safely from Iran and heard first-person accounts of the stories.
[01:29:13]  Absolute heroes.
[01:29:14]  I spent time with our troops who are employing cutting-edge tactics and technology for the first time in warfare.
[01:29:20]  I won't be able to talk about what those are, but these young men and women are breaking new ground.
[01:29:24]  It's incredibly inspiring.
[01:29:27]  I met with teams who launched our own one-way attack drones into Iran.
[01:29:31]  These were originally Iranian-designed drones.
[01:29:33]  We brought them back to America, took the guts out, put a made-American stamp on them, and fight them right back to Iran.
[01:29:38]  Very effective.
[01:29:39]  Met with teams who are employing AI every single day to help us sift through vast amounts of information to help us make decisions faster.
[01:29:47]  And importantly, humans are always in the loop in this process.
[01:29:50]  I met with our Space Force teams and our cyber specialists whose work cannot be discussed but who serve with indispensable impact.
[01:29:59]  I met with our logisticians and sustainers all over the region.
[01:30:03]  There is just no military that executes logistics like the U.S. military.
[01:30:08]  This group is doing exceptional work, moving thousands of tons every single day.
[01:30:13]  I met with our air defenders who shot down Iranian ballistic missiles.
[01:30:17]  My message for this group in particular is that their actions most certainly saved thousands of lives across the Middle East during Epic Fury.
[01:30:26]  And all told, my personal assessment is after these couple of trips is our troops are highly motivated.
[01:30:32]  They're focused.
[01:30:33]  They're vigilant and they're ready.
[01:30:35]  And they're using this time to do a couple of things.
[01:30:37]  We're rearming.
[01:30:39]  We're retooling and we're adjusting our tactics, techniques, and procedures.
[01:30:42]  There's no military in the world that adjusts like we do, and that's exactly what we're doing right now during the ceasefire.
[01:30:49]  A little note about partners.
[01:30:50]  My discussion with regional allies and partners, both at the senior civilian level and the senior military level, reinforced our shared commitment to regional security.
[01:30:59]  But beyond that, having now fought together side by side, I assess that our military partnerships are stronger than ever as we continue to maintain a very active defense posture across the region during this ceasefire.
[01:31:12]  And that posture stretches across the entire Arabian Peninsula, and it runs from northern Iraq all the way down into the northern Arabian Gulf.
[01:31:20]  In creating the largest air defense umbrella in the world across the Middle East, we embedded specially trained U.S. military air defenders alongside our partner nation soldiers, side by side, literally side by side.
[01:31:32]  And to give you a sense of their contribution and impact, the king and crown prince of Bahrain both personally knew our soldiers by name.
[01:31:41]  These leaders expressed appreciation for our service member who continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners in support of regional defense.
[01:31:48]  And this is a sentiment that is widely shared across every Gulf ally.
[01:31:53]  I heard this message over and over again, which is, we stand with you.
[01:31:57]  As the Secretary and the Chairman have said, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, and Jordan have been exceptional teammates.
[01:32:05]  I had a chance to meet with both their senior leadership as well as their troops.
[01:32:09]  Boy, equally inspiring and equally committed to mutual defense.
[01:32:12]  They defended Americans and they defended their own country.
[01:32:15]  It's inspiring.
[01:32:16]  And there's been no better teammate than Israel.
[01:32:19]  Together, the four best air forces in the world, the Israeli Air Force, the U.S. Air Force, and the Air Forces of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps, together met and exceeded our own military objectives over and over again.
[01:32:33]  Twice in the past two weeks, I've met with the Israeli Chief of Defense to ensure that we remain closely aligned, and we do.
[01:32:40]  And then finally, let me just close by saluting the brave men and women who are in uniform and who continue to answer the call with unrivaled lethality, great teamwork, and resolve.
[01:32:52]  We've asked them to stay ready during this period, and that's exactly what they're doing.
[01:32:56]  I couldn't be prouder, and I know that you and the American people sharing that same pride.
[01:33:00]  Thank you so much.
[01:33:01]  Thank you.
[01:33:02]  Appreciate that.
[01:33:04]  All right, we'll take a few questions.
[01:33:05]  Go ahead.
[01:33:06]  Thank you.
[01:33:08]  Alexander Ingersoll, one American News.
[01:33:11]  How is the Iranians' decimated command and control affecting the ceasefire at this juncture?
[01:33:16]  Ergo, how are we enforcing a ceasefire with an enemy who has virtual and if you want to keep watching the Pentagon briefing today, you can watch it over on C-SPAN2.
[01:33:27]  We're carrying it there.
[01:33:29]  We're going to continue with the Washington Journal this morning.
[01:33:32]  And in this 30 minutes, it's open forum.
[01:33:35]  Any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about, phone numbers are on your screen.
[01:33:39]  202-748-8001 for Republicans.
[01:33:42]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[01:33:45]  Independents, 202-748-8000 and 2.
[01:33:49]  As you're calling in, we're going to take you up to Capitol Hill, where we are joined by Congressman Craig Goldman, Republican from Texas.
[01:33:56]  Congressman Goldman, good morning to you, sir.
[01:33:59]  I know you were listening to most of that briefing.
[01:34:02]  What was your takeaway from the latest out of the Pentagon?
[01:34:06]  Well, my takeaway is I could listen to General Kane all day.
[01:34:09]  What an incredible, impressive leader we have, the right man in the right place at the right time.
[01:34:14]  He truly is an amazing leader and great to have him at the helm right now.
[01:34:19]  At the beginning of that briefing, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegset with two messages speaking directly to two different groups.
[01:34:26]  One is to the Iranian leadership, to the regime, saying, we're watching you.
[01:34:30]  We know what military assets you're moving.
[01:34:33]  We know where you're moving, the message directly to them.
[01:34:36]  Another set of messages directly to the American media saying, I just can't help notice the endless stream of garbage about the war, saying it's incredibly unpatriotic.
[01:34:46]  Sometimes it's hard to see what side that you're on.
[01:34:49]  What do you make of those two very different messages to two very different groups of people?
[01:34:54]  Well, first of all, let's look at where we are exactly.
[01:34:56]  Let's look where we were a few weeks ago when Iran was an extraordinary amount of missiles, ballistic missiles being shot not only at our ally Israel, but at Americans based overseas as well, and randomly shooting missiles all across in the Middle East.
[01:35:17]  That's completely changed.
[01:35:19]  They aren't shooting any missiles anymore.
[01:35:20]  The Strait of Hormuz, which was being controlled by Iran now, is controlled by the United States.
[01:35:25]  So the conflict has completely evolved and we are in way more control now than we were before.
[01:35:31]  Is it over?
[01:35:32]  No, but I think the light's at the end of the tunnel in that we can see that there is a solution coming sooner rather than later, and that's the good news.
[01:35:43]  You note that it's not over, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
[01:35:46]  Then what do you make of the war powers debate that's going to happen on the House floor today?
[01:35:51]  And where are you on a vote on a war powers resolution?
[01:35:55]  Well, I'm certainly going to vote for it.
[01:35:57]  And the point is this, is the President of the United States has the ability and needs the ability to protect American lives.
[01:36:03]  And that's exactly what President Trump did by taking out the leaders of Iran at the opportunity he did because they were the ones who were chanting death to America and death to Israel, one of our greatest allies.
[01:36:16]  And so there's any, there's no question that they were continuing to enrich uranium, to build nuclear weapons.
[01:36:26]  And we cannot have an unstable country like Iran, the leaders in Iran, having that ability to do that.
[01:36:36]  So we need a strong president like President Trump has done.
[01:36:39]  Again, past presidents have talked about, oh, gosh, I wish I could get rid of the leaders in Iran.
[01:36:44]  I wish I could make sure they don't have nuclear weapons.
[01:36:47]  And President Trump did it.
[01:36:49]  So he needs that ability.
[01:36:51]  When he sees something, we don't have the intelligence that the President of the United States does.
[01:36:55]  No, you can't share that intelligence with 435 members of Congress.
[01:36:59]  And so he had that intelligence and he did the right thing at the right time.
[01:37:03]  You mentioned you're against limiting the president's war-making ability.
[01:37:07]  Is there a limit to that, though?
[01:37:09]  You said there's a light at the end of the tunnel here, but what if this goes beyond the 60-day requirement from the war powers resolution of 1973?
[01:37:19]  In a conflict like this, I think we need to give the President of the United States the ability to do his job and General Kaine to do his job and Secretary Hexett to do their jobs.
[01:37:28]  And that's to protect American lives.
[01:37:30]  That's what this conflict has been about from the start, and that's what it's going to continue to be about.
[01:37:35]  Now, again, it's not at the level that it was.
[01:37:37]  So we've evolved in just a few weeks.
[01:37:40]  I mean, we have complete dominance.
[01:37:42]  They don't have a Navy anymore.
[01:37:44]  They don't have an Air Force anymore.
[01:37:45]  We have complete dominance, military dominance.
[01:37:48]  And we hate at the loss of lives that we've had, but they've been minimal at that.
[01:37:52]  So just an incredible performance by our men and women of the United States military.
[01:37:58]  And like I said, way different now than where it was a few weeks ago.
[01:38:04]  On protecting Americans, can you just explain what's going on today with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as we approach the expiration of the powers for that act, whether it will be renewed?
[01:38:17]  Well, that's a good question.
[01:38:19]  I can't tell you at this time whether it will.
[01:38:21]  There was supposed to be a vote last night.
[01:38:23]  That vote was pulled.
[01:38:24]  We hope to have a vote on it today.
[01:38:26]  I'm certainly for that as well.
[01:38:28]  Look, there are members that just want to make absolutely certain.
[01:38:32]  And Director Ratcliffe came and talked to us yesterday, talked to our Republican conference.
[01:38:38]  There are members that just want to make absolutely certain that Americans are not being spied on by their federal government.
[01:38:44]  And I totally understand that.
[01:38:46]  But things changed after 9-11.
[01:38:48]  You know, there was an attack on our homeland.
[01:38:50]  And the major point of that piece of legislation that I hope we renew today is to make sure that our intelligence officers and our intelligence agencies had the ability to root out our enemies who are on our homeland.
[01:39:05]  And certainly we don't want normal average Americans being spied upon or looked at by the federal government.
[01:39:11]  That's a key point.
[01:39:12]  Before you have to run, let me come to your Energy and Commerce Committee work.
[01:39:16]  I know energy issues big in your district in Texas.
[01:39:20]  Energy Secretary Chris Wright was on Capitol Hill yesterday.
[01:39:23]  He was talking to the Appropriations Committee, but if you get the chance to talk to him as he's making these rounds for the fiscal 2027 budget request, what questions are you going to have for the energy security?
[01:39:33]  Well, he's appearing before us today.
[01:39:35]  As a matter of fact, he's appearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee today, so I'm looking forward to his testimony.
[01:39:40]  I'm looking forward to, but certainly everyone's at the top of the list is what are we going to do to help bring gas prices down so gas isn't over three or four dollars at the pump.
[01:39:51]  Now, part of that is uncontrolled by us in that, you know, perfect example, the state of California has 70, 80 percent gas tax, and their so-road policies by their state government have increased gas prices.
[01:40:08]  Gas prices are way higher in California than they are in Texas for that very reason.
[01:40:13]  So Secretary Wright doesn't have control over that, but I think an overall question is how can we get more supply out there?
[01:40:20]  I certainly, I was at an LNG facility in Louisiana last week.
[01:40:25]  I saw a big tanker leaving from Louisiana Coast to go to Poland full of LNG, liquefied natural gas.
[01:40:33]  So the main thing is, is how do we continue to overturn the Biden regulations that were prohibiting such as a tanker like that from LNG being sold to our allies across the world?
[01:40:45]  And how do we get more supply of oil so that gas prices do come down?
[01:40:50]  And then finally, Congressman, before you go, just your thoughts on the resignations of Eric Swalwell and your Texas colleague Tony Gonzalez this week.
[01:40:58]  Well, I think they certainly made the right decision.
[01:41:01]  I don't think there's one member of Congress that didn't think that they made the right decision.
[01:41:05]  They certainly made the right decision to resign and go home.
[01:41:08]  Congressman Craig Goldman is a Republican from Texas, member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
[01:41:13]  We always appreciate your time stopping by the Washington Journal.
[01:41:15]  Thank you much.
[01:41:16]  Appreciate it.
[01:41:18]  Back to your phone calls.
[01:41:19]  About 20 minutes here of your calls.
[01:41:22]  Any public policy, any political issue, if you're watching that Pentagon briefing, happy to get your thoughts on it.
[01:41:29]  Reporter questions continuing in that briefing.
[01:41:33]  And you can watch it on C-SPAN too if you want to pop over there and then come back.

=== Watching The Briefing (02:41) ===

[01:41:37]  Here's the numbers to call in.
[01:41:38]  202-748-8001 for Republicans.
[01:41:41]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[01:41:44]  Independents, 202-748-8002.
[01:41:47]  We'll begin in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[01:41:50]  Larry, Republican, go ahead.
[01:41:54]  Yes, sir.
[01:41:54]  My comment is about what happened when Pete Pitch Commander of war, or whatever, and he talked about the media and everything coming down on Trump all the time.
[01:42:06]  I'd like to ask the Democrats to what do you call it, look at the soldiers over in harm's way.
[01:42:14]  And if they turned on CNN or MSNBC, do you think, hey, that the soldiers over, you know, what do they think about our policies and our congressmen always condemning their president and everything?
[01:42:31]  Larry, did you?
[01:42:32]  It sounds like you watched the briefing.
[01:42:33]  What did you think of the comparisons that Pete Hegseth was making between the American media and the Pharisees in the Bible quoted in the book of Mark?
[01:42:45]  Yeah, I'm a good scholar.
[01:42:48]  I ain't saying a scholar on the Bible, but it's the same way that Jesus, when he walked on the earth as, what do you call it, as the anointed one and he, and he, the Pharisees always try to trip him up because they thought they had the power.
[01:43:06]  Well, that's the Democrat and the media.
[01:43:10]  That's Larry in Virginia.
[01:43:12]  Eric is in the land of 10,000 lakes.
[01:43:15]  Democrat, good morning to Minnesota.
[01:43:18]  Yes, I'd like to point out that a caller on the Republican side was adamant in pointing out that if something is illegal, it needs to be regarded as such across the population.
[01:43:30]  And he was pointing to those who had crossed the border illegally, etc.
[01:43:35]  I would simply reference the moment when a crowd shattered the windows of our Capitol and broke in with the intent of trying to turn over an election under the urging of the person who is currently president.
[01:43:51]  That would seem to be illegal by every definition, and the Proud Boys who were involved were subsequently indicted and convicted.
[01:44:00]  Why was it that the same group who wants to define illegality as pertains to border crossers gave that group a pass?
[01:44:12]  And why did the current president not only give them a pass, but pardon them?

=== Undocumented Immigrant Costs (04:31) ===

[01:44:18]  And they're passing further legislation to erase those wrongs from the Proud Boys' criminal history.
[01:44:27]  Why is this double standard applying to anything the current president favors as opposed to those things he does not?
[01:44:35]  Thank you.
[01:44:36]  And it's not further legislation.
[01:44:38]  It's a legal filing by the Justice Department.
[01:44:41]  The Washington Post wraps it up pretty well.
[01:44:43]  Federal prosecutors are seeking to wipe out the seditious conspiracy convictions of 12 members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers who helped plan the January 6, 2021 riots at the United States Capitol.
[01:44:55]  The request from U.S. Attorney Janine Piro of D.C. is likely to be granted, they write, because prosecutors have broad discretion to pursue or drop criminal charges even after defendants have been convicted.
[01:45:06]  They note that if Piro's request is approved by the courts, it will wipe out the last remaining convictions related to the January 6, 2021 assault.
[01:45:17]  That's the story in the Washington Post.
[01:45:20]  Maria is in the Buckeye State Independence.
[01:45:23]  Maria, go ahead.
[01:45:26]  Hi.
[01:45:28]  I have heard quite a few calls today regarding complaining about the cost of undocumented immigrants that is supposedly spent by the government with them.
[01:45:42]  No, undocumented immigrants actually contribute much more to the economy of anywhere where they live than what they take from the United States.
[01:45:59]  They contribute, even if they may have any type of documents, always there's taxes taken out of their wages, there's Social Security taken out of their wages, there's all the same taxes that we pay, they are taking from their checks as well,
[01:46:23]  even though they will never be able to see any kind of benefit, okay, for themselves.
[01:46:32]  So, all these people complaining about undocumented immigrants, they have a very low rate in regards to being and having making any kind of killings or whatever it is.
[01:46:55]  The rate is so low in comparison to American citizens.
[01:47:01]  I'm tired of these people doing that.
[01:47:02]  Maria, I assume on the costs and benefits, you might be referring to this Cato study.
[01:47:09]  Cato, one of those think tanks, a libertarian think tank here in D.C.
[01:47:13]  This got some attention at the time when it came out in February.
[01:47:17]  Immigrants reduced the deficit by $14.5 trillion since the year 1994.
[01:47:23]  It's their study on immigrants' recent effects on government budgets from 1994 to 2023.
[01:47:32]  They try to look at the net fiscal effect of all immigrants from 1994 to 2023.
[01:47:38]  They note that every year since 1994, when data collection began, immigrants have paid more in taxes than they have received in benefits from the federal, state, and local governments where they live.
[01:47:47]  The fiscal benefits have continued to rise, reaching their highest level ever in 2023.
[01:47:53]  And we can show you the chart that goes along with it if you're more of a visual learner.
[01:47:59]  That's it on the screen.
[01:48:01]  You can find it at cato.org.
[01:48:03]  Maria, is that one of the studies you're referring to?
[01:48:08]  Yeah, and I mean, even in government websites, it shows how much undocumented immigrants do contribute, you know, in regards to labor, you know, shortages of labor.
[01:48:20]  Why has Trump reduced the amount of enforcement in farms and meat processing companies and so forth?
[01:48:34]  Because there is not enough labor in the country, you know, to fulfill all those jobs.
[01:48:43]  So, that's Maria in Ohio.
[01:48:46]  Got your point.
[01:48:46]  Let me go to Dan in the Pine Tree State Independent.

=== Welfare Funding Mandates (12:22) ===

[01:48:49]  Dan, thanks for waiting.
[01:48:52]  Hi, good morning.
[01:48:53]  Yeah, I had some questions for the representative, but I'll ask him of you and see if you can come up with some answers.
[01:49:00]  I haven't heard much on the news about the 13 bases that we have in the Middle East and the current condition of them.
[01:49:08]  I understand that they're destroyed or partially destroyed, but I hear nothing about that.
[01:49:14]  And that speaks to the message from the Secretary of War this morning that this is happening right before our eyes.
[01:49:25]  I would like to see what eyes he's seeing this through because I don't see much of anything about the destruction that's going on in Iran.
[01:49:35]  And especially, and you probably could explain to the audience what a double hit is of 140 kids that were incinerated by us on the first day of the war.
[01:49:46]  I mean, war crimes are, I mean, I don't know when we said that killing is okay just because we think it's a good thing to do.
[01:49:56]  I don't get it.
[01:49:57]  So, thanks for your patience.
[01:49:58]  Have a great day.
[01:49:59]  That's Dan in Maine this morning to Ernie out of the Keystone State.
[01:50:05]  Good morning.
[01:50:08]  Thank you, John.
[01:50:10]  You presented us with all these decorated military and the war secretary.
[01:50:20]  And they tell you how great we are, but no one ever brought up that since Monday the 13th, China has over 11 vessels escorting all the oil that belongs to them, and nobody's talking about this.
[01:50:38]  So this is a false narrative that our military is there prohibiting all ships.
[01:50:46]  And Russia is also included with their fleet.
[01:50:52]  So why are we getting one side of the story?
[01:50:56]  What's going on is you're inflating the ego of the American ignorant masses.
[01:51:03]  So, Ernie, the way the blockade is working, as the Defense Secretary explained in that briefing, is not to prevent all ships.
[01:51:13]  It's to prevent any ships transiting to or from Iranian ports.
[01:51:17]  But they made a point to say it's not a blockade of the Straits of Hormuz.
[01:51:21]  I think that was the chairman, the Joint Chiefs Chairman, who made that point.
[01:51:26]  It is a blockade of Iranian ports and ships going in.
[01:51:30]  They know as propagandists how to split hairs.
[01:51:34]  In the beginning, it was a blockade.
[01:51:36]  Now we're defining it as a limited black.
[01:51:41]  It doesn't make sense.
[01:51:43]  We're spending all this money for what?
[01:51:46]  It doesn't benefit the American population.
[01:51:49]  It benefits the big guys with the big cigars running the show.
[01:51:55]  And the show is a Masonic Jewish matrix.
[01:51:59]  All right, that's Ernie.
[01:52:00]  We'll go to Jeff.
[01:52:02]  New Hampshire, Republican.
[01:52:04]  Good morning.
[01:52:06]  Good morning.
[01:52:07]  Yes.
[01:52:08]  I just wanted to talk about the illegal immigrants.
[01:52:11]  I mean, the fact that they're, I can't shut this radio off.
[01:52:15]  There we go.
[01:52:17]  It's my son-in-law's.
[01:52:19]  But the so you have a displacement of jobs, right?
[01:52:25]  You get the lower-income jobs that are being taken by illegal immigrants.
[01:52:29]  And why can't they be legal immigrants?
[01:52:31]  Every year, the United States needs 10 to 30% immigrants to come in to fill new jobs created in the economy.
[01:52:41]  The other thing is, when you have 40 million people on welfare, why is it that we cannot fill those jobs with the people that, like they do in Europe, they work part-time and still collect welfare?
[01:52:57]  So, Jeff, you're advocating for work mandates to be able to continue to receive government aid.
[01:53:05]  That's one of the alternatives, but it doesn't have to be full-time.
[01:53:09]  It could be a progressive, you know.
[01:53:12]  They had the military, when they came back from World War II, they had the jobs act for the military.
[01:53:21]  And they sponsored a certain amount of money for each military person getting a job and trained.
[01:53:27]  I mean, I don't know why we can't do that as well.
[01:53:29]  I mean, we have 19 different organizations in the government trying to get people to work, and they don't work too well.
[01:53:36]  So, my understanding, I'm not an expert on this, but my understanding is that able-bodied adults to receive government assistance, things like SNAP benefits, that sort of thing, that they have to either be working or volunteer or do job training to the tune of 20 to 30 hours a week.
[01:53:56]  So there are those mandates in place, Jeff.
[01:53:59]  You're saying they should just be stricter or they should be more hours or that sort of thing.
[01:54:06]  Well, when did those mandates come in place?
[01:54:09]  I thought it was just recently they passed that.
[01:54:12]  Again, I don't have the exact date for you, but it's something that's been around for a while, Jeff.
[01:54:18]  Okay.
[01:54:20]  But part-time, unpaid, I don't know.
[01:54:25]  It just seems like there's enough people, and we're always looking for people legally to come into the country and take the jobs that are needed to be filled.
[01:54:36]  And obviously, you have the part-time jobs during picking, you know, plant harvesting that comes across most of the southern border to work.
[01:54:44]  And even all the way up to Maine.
[01:54:46]  Maine, they have the blueberry pickers up there.
[01:54:48]  So this, you know, it doesn't have to be illegal.
[01:54:53]  The word illegal doesn't have to be in front of it.
[01:54:56]  And to get the point to the guy that talked about the hypocrisy of the people during January 6th, you know, that's the people's house.
[01:55:05]  They have a right to go and be in that house.
[01:55:10]  Most of the people wanted to observe it.
[01:55:13]  And 90% of the people were not the people that created that riot.
[01:55:17]  I mean, knuckleheads, yes.
[01:55:19]  But sedition, they hardly were organized and armed well enough or if anybody was armed that I know of to take over the country.
[01:55:30]  So you're okay with dropping all the charges for everybody from January 6th?
[01:55:36]  No.
[01:55:37]  I mean, people that actually did any type of violence, which absolutely more people died on the rioter side than on any other side.
[01:55:46]  I mean, the police officer originally said that they beaten him to death, but he had a heart attack.
[01:55:53]  So, you know, the congressional police, you know, there's a lot of misconceptions.
[01:56:00]  Obviously, everybody spins it their way.
[01:56:02]  The liberals spin it one way to get their people to vote for them.
[01:56:07]  And the Republicans spin it their way.
[01:56:09]  And I understand that.
[01:56:10]  But we've gotten so polarized here.
[01:56:13]  I don't see this good for the nation.
[01:56:14]  And particularly with this war, I agree that the press and the liberals are really pushing, almost favoring that the Iranians win this or that we lose it is more how to frame it.
[01:56:28]  And that's, I was in the military in the Marine Corps and the Navy Reserve.
[01:56:32]  And if you're in a wartime situation, the last thing you want to hear is that.
[01:56:39]  It's Jeff out of the Granite State.
[01:56:42]  This is Delia, New York City, Democrat.
[01:56:44]  Good morning.
[01:56:46]  Yes, good morning.
[01:56:47]  And I want to just say thank you for taking my call.
[01:56:52]  I want to say that I was very glad.
[01:56:59]  I mean, I want to say proud to see the Secretary of War.
[01:57:03]  Hegseth, quote the scriptures.
[01:57:05]  As you said earlier, I would piggyback off of what he said.
[01:57:09]  He quoted the scripture of the, was it lawful to heal the man on the Sabbath?
[01:57:15]  And of course, he was absolutely right that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, you know, tried to catch Jesus.
[01:57:23]  And he said, you know, of course, I mean, that is the compassionate thing to do.
[01:57:28]  And in the Old Testament, same thing with King David.
[01:57:32]  You know, Jesus brought up that scripture where he was it lawful for King David to eat the showbread when he was running from King Saul.
[01:57:42]  So Delia, bring me to 2026.
[01:57:45]  What?
[01:57:46]  Bring me to 2026.
[01:57:47]  And I'm saying that from the old to the New Testament, it was lawful in the sense that he was running for his life.
[01:57:56]  The compassion is what I'm saying now.
[01:57:58]  As I'm saying that, and also quoting, listening to what the caller said before as far as the illegal alien situation here.
[01:58:09]  I live in New York.
[01:58:10]  I live in Harlem.
[01:58:11]  And to see what's happening, and the gentleman that just spoke is absolutely right.
[01:58:15]  And mind you, I'm a Democrat.
[01:58:16]  I'm a Democrat.
[01:58:17]  I'm a Christian, and I am African American.
[01:58:20]  And to see what's happening with how they got around it in New York as far as the benefits is concerned and the illegal aliens coming, and words do matter.
[01:58:30]  They came in, and instead, when the president, who I voted for, you know, I'm proud to say that I did.
[01:58:38]  When they came into New York State, when they came into New York State, I'm sorry, what did you say?
[01:58:44]  You said the president who I voted for.
[01:58:46]  I assume you're referring to Donald Trump.
[01:58:48]  Yes, yes, absolutely.
[01:58:49]  Who's the last Democrat?
[01:58:50]  I'm out of that vote too.
[01:58:51]  Who's the last Democratic presidential candidate that's Hillary?
[01:58:55]  Hillary.
[01:58:55]  I'm a Clinton Democrat.
[01:58:57]  I wanted to say that too.
[01:58:59]  What does it mean to be a Clinton Democrat?
[01:59:02]  Oh, go ahead and say it.
[01:59:04]  Well, he, I don't, you know, to look at, you know, between him and President Trump, I don't see that many differences.
[01:59:13]  He was just left of center.
[01:59:15]  He brought it from record deficits to record surpluses.
[01:59:19]  I got my first job, excuse me, I got my first job in corporate America when he did, as the gentleman just said, the welfare to work program, you know, and they didn't force us to do it.
[01:59:31]  I got my first job in corporate America.
[01:59:33]  I pulled myself up by my bootstraps.
[01:59:35]  And, you know, I'm sorry that he and his wife, I mean, particularly Hillary, when she ran for real for election to president, that she didn't make it because I think she would have continued the policies that made this country great.
[01:59:49]  And, you know, we had peace and prosperity here and all over the world.
[01:59:56]  Now, having said that, I also want to say that how they have been getting around when the president, President Trump cut the funding, the federal funding, because they kept giving the benefits to the illegal aliens, how they have gotten around it, and I'm being affected by it, ill-affected.
[02:00:16]  One, I'm no longer in the place where I have been living.
[02:00:19]  They have made room in Harlem.
[02:00:23]  You wouldn't even know Harlem now.
[02:00:25]  Harlem has been taken over by the illegal aliens on the east side.
[02:00:30]  There are hardly any black people that are left.
[02:00:33]  I mean, it's a very noticeable difference to see how they brought them in.
[02:00:38]  And mind you, I'm not even going to say it was just the white people.
[02:00:44]  When you look at what happened with, I'm sorry, with this woman that got the real estate frauds, Letitia James, when she's doing what she did, the corrupt stuff that she was doing with that, and going after the president, that should have been, you know, looking after what was happening in Harlem, not to mention Bragg, letting the criminals go, giving them no cash bail, giving them, you know, catch and release.

=== Democracy Unfiltered (02:21) ===

[02:01:12]  One of the reasons, again, that I'm suffering now, or whether what happened with Eric Adams, you know, giving $1,000 cards to them.
[02:01:19]  And again, how they got around.
[02:01:21]  I've got to say this.
[02:01:23]  And I'm running out of time, Delia.
[02:01:24]  Okay, the federal funding, they cut the citizens, particularly African Americans.
[02:01:30]  We are suffering in New York.
[02:01:32]  And I can count.
[02:01:34]  Delia, I got your point.
[02:01:35]  Let me leave it there.
[02:01:36]  That's Delia in New York City, our last caller in this open forum.
[02:01:40]  It's 9 o'clock, the top of the hour.
[02:01:43]  And coming up in just a few minutes, we're going to be joined by Democratic Congresswoman Jill Takuda of Hawaii, member of the House Armed Services Committee.
[02:01:52]  We'll get her reaction to the ongoing campaign in Iran and Pete Hegseth's press conference this morning.
[02:01:59]  Stick around for that conversation.
[02:02:00]  We'll be right back.
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=== Building Trust Relationships (13:08) ===

[02:03:33]  Advance the mission.
[02:03:34]  Donate today at c-SPAN.org forward slash donate.
[02:03:38]  Together, we keep democracy in view.
[02:03:43]  Washington Journal continues.
[02:03:46]  Congresswoman Jill Takuta joins us now, a Democrat from Hawaii.
[02:03:49]  She's a member of the House Armed Services Committee.
[02:03:51]  And Congresswoman, it was less than an hour ago that we heard Defense Secretary Pete Hegset speak to reporters at the Pentagon.
[02:03:59]  He said, among other things, that the blockade that is happening right now is, quote, the polite way telling the Iranian regime to choose wisely.
[02:04:08]  Your energy industry is not destroyed yet, saying we prefer to do it the nice way or we can do it the hard way.
[02:04:15]  Your thoughts on the blockade and what happens in the remaining days of this ceasefire.
[02:04:21]  Right, and let's just remember that there aren't many days left in this ceasefire.
[02:04:25]  We are literally talking about less than a week coming up on when this very fragile, quite frankly, ceasefire will end.
[02:04:33]  And we also need to remember that this is Trump's war.
[02:04:36]  Let's call it what it is.
[02:04:37]  This is not, this was a unilateral decision.
[02:04:41]  This was not the will of the people.
[02:04:42]  This was President Trump and his minions and his cabinet executing this war on Iran that ultimately is costing taxpayers dollars.
[02:04:52]  It is costing gas to go up.
[02:04:54]  It's costing food to go up.
[02:04:56]  This is a war in America that it's becoming right now.
[02:04:59]  And this latest blockade, we have to remember, a blockade like this takes a lot of resources.
[02:05:06]  And right now, with the kind of threats that Secretary Hagseth is issuing, it's putting American service members' lives at risk as well.
[02:05:14]  What's your expectation for what happens with this war powers vote today in the House?
[02:05:18]  We saw it defeated yesterday in the Senate.
[02:05:21]  Is it likely to have any different result today in the House?
[02:05:24]  Well, I can tell you that Democrats are going to stand firm again and vote in support of the war powers resolution.
[02:05:29]  All we need are a few brave souls to really take a step back and think about this.
[02:05:34]  Do they want their legacy to be flawed by Trump's award?
[02:05:38]  Do they want their constituents to look at them and ask, why?
[02:05:41]  Why is my gas prices going up?
[02:05:43]  Why are our service members putting themselves in harm way for a war in which we have no idea of when it will end?
[02:05:50]  We have been hearing for days and weeks now the president saying this is over.
[02:05:53]  We've won already.
[02:05:54]  We're going to be out soon.
[02:05:55]  And here we are today with thousands and thousands of more troops headed to the Middle East as we speak right now.
[02:06:02]  Let us hope that today, when we once again vote for that war powers resolution, so we can have a few brave souls from the Republican side find their courage, put partisan politics aside, take back our power as Congress to actually declare war and vote in favor of the resolution.
[02:06:18]  Why have this vote now?
[02:06:19]  Why not wait until the 60-day mark of the beginning of a conflict as laid out in the War Powers Resolution of 1973?
[02:06:28]  The president can take action for 60 days and then he has to come and either ask for an extension or end it.
[02:06:36]  Why does this have to happen now?
[02:06:37]  And I know the 60-day mark is May 1st, so it's close, but there's still some time.
[02:06:44]  The American people will tell you that we don't have time to wait.
[02:06:47]  Let's think about the sacrifices that they are making every single day, paying at the pump, questioning whether they can't even afford food to put on their tables.
[02:06:54]  And I have heard from service members, families worried, worried about where their husbands and their wives, their sons, and their daughters will end up going in the next days, weeks, or potentially months, depending on how long this war actually lasts.
[02:07:08]  We don't have time to wait, and that's why every single day that we have the opportunity to put that resolution on the floor, we need to hold people accountable to the way that they vote.
[02:07:18]  And that's something that everyone, Democrats and Republicans, have to remember.
[02:07:22]  Their constituents will look at them and ask them, How did you vote?
[02:07:25]  to support yes, American freedom, but also to make sure that we have the freedom to be able to live and work and thrive here in our own country.
[02:07:34]  And right now, too many Americans don't have that luxury because things are just far too unaffordable as a result of Trump's war.
[02:07:41]  How would you vote on an impeachment resolution against the Defense Secretary?
[02:07:45]  There was one of those filed yesterday by your colleague, Congresswoman Ansari of Arizona, a fellow Democrat.
[02:07:52]  Are you on board with the idea of impeaching Pete Hegseth?
[02:07:56]  From the very beginning of his tumultuous tenure in this position, with Signal Gate, with a lot of the flawed decision-making that we saw coming out, his mass firing of top generals, I have said that Pete Hegseth is not fit to serve.
[02:08:12]  He does not have both the competency as well as the character to be able to lead the Department of Defense, and he should be impeached.
[02:08:21]  And so, if there is a vote, I would support it.
[02:08:24]  Congresswoman Jill Takuda here with us this morning, taking your phone calls on phone lines split as usual by political party.
[02:08:31]  Republicans 202-748-8001.
[02:08:33]  Democrats 202-748-8000.
[02:08:37]  Independents 202-748-8002.
[02:08:40]  Congresswoman Takuda, as folks are calling in, can you explain your understanding of where we are on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and its likely future here?
[02:08:50]  You know, I think once again, what we are seeing is that push and pull between the Republican majority and how they will be able to win stragglers over.
[02:09:01]  They are clearly a majority that cannot lead.
[02:09:03]  They can barely get to a majority to pass their rules and their procedural votes as well, let alone something like FISA.
[02:09:11]  And right now, we're seeing them kick the can down the proverbial road by pushing off votes because they don't have the numbers and they're back to the usual tactics of when they can't get the votes, send them to the White House to be bullied and beaten into submission.
[02:09:26]  And if that doesn't work, you keep pushing it down the road again.
[02:09:29]  And so here we are, weeks from when they originally had wanted to vote on this measure, and we will see what happens today and tomorrow.
[02:09:37]  Let me see what happens on the phone lines.
[02:09:40]  Phone lines are open for you to call.
[02:09:42]  And up first, it's Rex out of Minnesota and over Minnesota line for Democrats.
[02:09:47]  Rex, you are on with Congresswoman Takuda.
[02:09:51]  Good morning, Don, and I appreciate the wonderful job you do every time you're on.
[02:09:58]  It is so appreciated.
[02:10:00]  Thanks a lot, Rex.
[02:10:01]  What's your question for comments?
[02:10:02]  Takuda, it's an honor to be speaking with you this morning.
[02:10:05]  And let me just say this about the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegset.
[02:10:12]  The first thing that happened in this ugly, ugly elective war was a missile going onto a school of girls killing over 158 innocent school children based on false intelligence from at least 15 years ago.
[02:10:32]  If that doesn't warrant impeachment, I have no idea what does or what possibly could.
[02:10:38]  Now, here's the main point that I wanted to bring up in speaking with you this morning.
[02:10:43]  Republicans are very fond of saying as the main crux of their argument that Iran has to be eradicated because they have the nuclear potential, that they will kill millions and millions of people, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
[02:11:03]  What I say to that, and I want to know what you think of their insane rhetoric.
[02:11:08]  Of course, if you have a nuclear weapon, you can kill a million people.
[02:11:12]  But that rhetoric is so over the top and unrealistic.
[02:11:16]  If you don't want people to attack you, then don't attack them.
[02:11:22]  If Israel has a nuclear bomb, then Iran should be able to have a nuclear bomb too.
[02:11:28]  I don't like nuclear proliferation, but Iran deserves to be able to protect its own way of life, even if we disagree with it.
[02:11:38]  And I heartily disagree with the idea that they should never have what everybody else.
[02:11:44]  Rex, got your point.
[02:11:45]  Let me let the congresswoman jump in.
[02:11:48]  Thank you for that question, Rex.
[02:11:50]  And I agree with you.
[02:11:51]  The list is long as to why Secretary Hagseth should be impeached.
[02:11:55]  And yes, murdering schoolchildren in Iran by bombing with false, faulty, old intelligence, likely because they've gotten rid of intelligence bureaus in the Pentagon since they've taken over.
[02:12:10]  That is just one of the many egregious, heinous things on that list as to why Pete Hegseth must go.
[02:12:17]  I respectfully disagree with you.
[02:12:20]  I think Iran should never have a nuclear bomb.
[02:12:24]  But let's remember, we could have been far ahead of where we are today had President Trump in his first tenure, in his first term, not canceled the Obama Accords.
[02:12:34]  Now, we know it was just because another administration, a Democrat, had made that decision, but think about how far along we could have negotiated ourselves to put us in a position where we were safe from Iran having that kind of capability.
[02:12:48]  Whereas right now, we took a million steps backwards and here we are today just trying to buy us time.
[02:12:54]  Remember, this is not about permanently making sure they don't have a weapon.
[02:12:57]  They're literally trying to buy us years, years.
[02:13:01]  Think of where we could have been had they not undone the good work and the efforts of the Obama administration when they came into office during that first term.
[02:13:10]  And so this is very frustrating.
[02:13:14]  It's angry to watch all the steps back we've taken when at the end of the day there is a lot of agreement that we do not feel that Iran should have nuclear weapons.
[02:13:22]  But the way that this administration has carried on their feckless and reckless diplomacy has set us back, in my humble opinion, generations.
[02:13:31]  Let me take you down to the Yellow Hammer State.
[02:13:33]  This is Bill in Alabama, Republican.
[02:13:35]  Bill, you're on with Congresswoman Jill Takuda.
[02:13:39]  Well, I do not agree that the Obama Accord was an intelligently thought-out thing, but I have a suggestion that could have incorporated some of that that would solve this problem.
[02:13:51]  The Iranians need to have nuclear power in order to produce electricity, but it's too dangerous to allow them to be producing it because they have death for America, death for Israel.
[02:14:05]  They're not responsible.
[02:14:06]  But, you know, we donate, we dedicate our land in various countries around the world, including the United States, to foreign countries.
[02:14:15]  They own the land where embassies are located, so that there's clarity that that's their property.
[02:14:22]  If the Iranians would dedicate land in Iran to America to build nuclear power plants, let Americans produce the nuclear power with an agreement on pricing and a guarantee that it would be at the same level as charged in America, and that America would agree to produce these nuclear power plants that we would then own on our land.
[02:14:44]  So there's no question of inspection, no question of overseeing the amount of energy generated into that uranium.
[02:14:54]  We could produce the power for them.
[02:14:56]  They don't have to be dependent on something other than nuclear power, which it maybe is in the future, and we can solve the problem.
[02:15:04]  Well, Bill, let me give that idea to Congresswoman Jill Takuta.
[02:15:08]  Well, first of all, just thank you for calling in with suggestions on how we could approach the situation and the problem differently.
[02:15:17]  I think that's the kind of activity and ideas and discussions and dialogues that we need to be having.
[02:15:25]  I would love that idea, but I will tell you this right now.
[02:15:28]  All of that would be predicated on a relationship of trust.
[02:15:32]  And the Trump administration has to understand that everything that they do right now, in negotiations, outside of negotiations with their warships in the straits, it's all about trying to get us to a point where we can have a dialogue and discussions based on some semblance or some structure of trust to do something as radical, but albeit cooperative agreements, looking at how we all are able to provide energy and electricity, basic needs for our country.
[02:16:01]  I think that would be the most optimistic future we could all want.
[02:16:04]  But again, it is building on a foundational relationship of trust.
[02:16:08]  And that is what is so critical that this administration understands that they need to start working towards a trust relationship.
[02:16:16]  And a relationship built on fear, on threatening, does nothing for that trust.
[02:16:24]  That we will ultimately get to that kind of future that you are talking about.
[02:16:27]  But thank you for that suggestion and for thinking about what we could do to find some kind of agreement and peace between our countries.
[02:16:35]  Back to that line for Democrats, Parsons, West Virginia, Jim.
[02:16:38]  Good morning.
[02:16:41]  Good morning.

=== Defense Of Our Country (06:13) ===

[02:16:42]  And good morning, Representative Takuta.
[02:16:45]  I wanted to commend you for how you spoke out and the things that you're trying to communicate clearly to the American people.
[02:16:56]  I agree with you 100% about as far as Secretary Hegseth.
[02:17:04]  I don't understand his, it's perpetual bombast and childishness and very politicized the way he speaks to the press, the way President Trump frequently speaks to the press.
[02:17:18]  They expect that the press is not supposed to ask questions or that the American public shouldn't have an opinion or a viewpoint that differs from theirs.
[02:17:29]  I think it's atrocious the approach that Secretary Hegset takes, you know, these rules he's implemented at the Pentagon as far as the press.
[02:17:40]  And for example, he came from Fox News.
[02:17:45]  Just an example I want to put out there.
[02:17:49]  Republicans are not told, they weren't told by Fox News during the Biden administration when the Biden administration was trying to peacefully complete the withdrawal from Afghanistan that President Trump started in his last year of his presidency.
[02:18:07]  You know, President Trump signed a treaty with the Taliban that released 5,000 dangerous Taliban prisoners.
[02:18:18]  And then when they came, you know, and caused all that mayhem when the Biden administration was trying to go ahead, you know, complete the withdrawal peacefully and safely, Fox News, you know, it's as if they ridiculed, almost as if they were cheering for the Biden administration's, you know, the problems for their failure.
[02:18:40]  And we were trying to merely safely complete that withdrawal.
[02:18:43]  Jim, let me take the question, and Congressman Takuda from his press conference earlier, if you missed some of the quotes or some of the viewers missed some of the quotes, in his direct comments to the American media, Pete Hegseth said, I just can't help but notice the endless storm of garbage from the U.S. media, calling it incredibly unpatriotic, saying sometimes it's hard to see what side you're on.
[02:19:05]  Just a few of his quotes from earlier this morning, about an hour and 15 minutes ago.
[02:19:11]  You know, well, I can tell you as a member of the Armed Services Committee, as a citizen of this country, it's very, it's hard to watch Pete Hegseth try to turn the Pentagon and our American military into his own personal frat house.
[02:19:24]  Because that's honestly what it sounds like whenever he gets up to the podium and speaks, when he presents himself, as he's literally trying to fire and get rid of the most competent people who may question him, trying to get press that ask hard questions, throwing them out, you know, of the briefings, all of these things.
[02:19:41]  You cannot pick and choose the truth.
[02:19:44]  You cannot pick and choose the facts.
[02:19:46]  The American people deserve to have those answers.
[02:19:50]  And again, why we go back to that question that was asked, should Pete Hegseth be impeached?
[02:19:55]  100%.
[02:19:57]  Because we're talking about something that goes beyond partisan politics.
[02:20:00]  We're talking about our national security.
[02:20:01]  We're talking about the defense of our country.
[02:20:04]  We are talking about service members and their families constantly putting themselves in harm's way.
[02:20:09]  And we have someone who is both incompetent, lacks the character or the decorum to be able to do the job in a way that protects American lives and American interests.
[02:20:18]  On people losing their jobs, what's your view this week of the resignations of your colleague Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez of Texas?
[02:20:27]  We're jumping to the expulsion votes then right now.
[02:20:32]  You know, the American people deserve better.
[02:20:35]  When they look at Congress and they see this kind of abusive behavior, it puts a stain on the institution.
[02:20:46]  And when there is a blight on this institution, it really is up to us to make sure that we clean house and we hold people accountable, whether it's through strong ethics committee, whether it's through expulsion votes as well.
[02:20:59]  But all of our constituents deserve to know that the people in this house have their best interests at stake and hold themselves above the bar, that they understand that they have to behave ethically with the values and the morals that this country upholds to be truthful to that oath that we took to the Constitution.
[02:21:21]  And right now, what you are seeing in the kinds of behaviors, actions that led to these resignations, which quite frankly should have come sooner than later, it's cast a shadow on this house.
[02:21:37]  And we have got to make sure that going forward, that kind of behavior never happens again.
[02:21:42]  And that perhaps means stronger guidelines and rules, and we have to hold our own colleagues accountable.
[02:21:47]  What are examples of stronger guidelines or rules that could have helped here?
[02:21:52]  You know, it's hard to say exactly what could have prevented these kinds of things to happen.
[02:21:59]  But I think we do have to talk to staff and ask: are there proper, are there adequate reporting mechanisms where you would feel safe reporting a member of Congress or anyone in this body that is acting inappropriately?
[02:22:12]  Now, there are always those systems where people can confidentially come and confide, but are they working?
[02:22:17]  That's my real question here.
[02:22:18]  If this has become a pattern of abuse, are the systems that we have in place to allow staff to allow participants that come into this building to feel safe?
[02:22:28]  And if the answer is no, then we better figure out how we're going to create that mechanism in which we can, again, hold members, hold everyone in this building accountable for their actions by making sure that those that are victimized, those that are parade upon, can have a safe place to be able to report these kinds of actions.
[02:22:44]  Because remember, sadly, that title is very intimidating to a lot of individuals, whether you're working here, whether you're coming here to advocate, but that does not put anyone above the law.

=== Bridging Political Divides (15:10) ===

[02:22:56]  In fact, we are sworn to uphold that law, and we have to be held accountable for every action that we take.
[02:23:02]  Less than 10 minutes left with Congresswoman Jill Takuda, Democrat from Hawaii, before she has to go and start her day, a busy day on Capitol Hill.
[02:23:09]  The House is in, again, at 10 a.m. Eastern.
[02:23:11]  Senate's Inn at 10 a.m. Eastern.
[02:23:14]  You can watch on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, respectively.
[02:23:17]  And this is Rod out of New York on that line for independence.
[02:23:21]  Rod, good morning.
[02:23:25]  Rod, you with us?
[02:23:26]  Hello.
[02:23:26]  Go ahead, sir.
[02:23:27]  Yeah.
[02:23:28]  We're still on the Pope conversation with Trump.
[02:23:31]  We can be on the Pope conversation if you want, Rod.
[02:23:33]  What do you want to say about it?
[02:23:35]  Oh, okay.
[02:23:37]  I thought the Pope was asked on the plane trip to Africa.
[02:23:41]  He's on a tour now in a mission in Africa.
[02:23:45]  And he was asked by a reporter what was his reaction to Trump's, you know, I'm going to destroy the civilization in Iran and that threat.
[02:23:55]  And he commented that, you know, he's a man of peace and the message from Jesus is as a peacekeeper.
[02:24:04]  And then the press reacted immediately, you know, opposing Trump with pictures of the Pope and his comment.
[02:24:14]  And then Trump reacted to that with his AI, I'm Jesus Christ with the light in his hand.
[02:24:21]  He's not a doctor, he said.
[02:24:24]  And I think that that's kind of a distraction.
[02:24:27]  And I think that that's what Americans seem and the world, I don't know, I can only speak for Americans.
[02:24:34]  I'm an American.
[02:24:36]  We seem to react to it like it's the national inquirer type news.
[02:24:40]  Meanwhile, Trump hasn't explained why we're, I mean, I guess he kind of has explained in a roundabout way, but I don't know what's going on and why people are making such a big deal about this.
[02:24:51]  And then JD Vance even has to join in and saying the Pope shouldn't moralize.
[02:24:56]  But that's the Pope's job, to moralize.
[02:24:58]  I mean, he has the standard bearer of Christianity, and that's the message.
[02:25:06]  Oh, Rod, let me take that to Congressman Jill Takuda.
[02:25:08]  Is the Pope Trump flap a distraction?
[02:25:14]  It is a distraction, but it also hits home for millions of Americans when you see something as sacrilegious as what we saw happened with the president's response to the Pope.
[02:25:25]  You know, other presidents, if they had seen even headlines, headlines that could have been taken out of context about what the Pope had said, they wouldn't have responded by a sacrilegious, ridiculous meme and AI-generated image.
[02:25:40]  They would have picked up a phone and gone through the channels, probably called the Pope himself and asked, What did you mean by this?
[02:25:46]  Do you understand the situation that we're dealing with?
[02:25:49]  It would not have been handled through the media in such a callous way.
[02:25:52]  And worse, it wouldn't have been handled by an AI-generated image disparaging Christianity.
[02:25:58]  It absolutely went up.
[02:25:59]  So, again, we have to think back to both the mental fitness, the decorum of this president, ask ourselves, should he actually be handling the codes to the nuclear football?
[02:26:10]  Should he be making decisions unilaterally about Iran like he is?
[02:26:14]  Should he be creating more costs, increased costs on food, because he has waged a tariff and trade war on our allies across the globe?
[02:26:23]  Ask ourselves some fundamental questions.
[02:26:25]  Yes, this is a huge distraction, but it's a disparaging one that hurts millions of Americans and people around the world.
[02:26:33]  And I think it is just one more and that tipping point towards asking ourselves the real fundamental question: is President Trump fit to serve through the Blue Breast State?
[02:26:42]  This is Mike, Republican Line.
[02:26:44]  Good morning.
[02:26:46]  Good morning.
[02:26:46]  Yes, I would just like to have a few comments on the way people use, you know, the word impeachment.
[02:26:55]  When I was growing up, impeachment really meant something.
[02:26:58]  But now, every time you turn on the news or look at the news, it's impeachment, impeachment, impeachment.
[02:27:06]  And what do we do?
[02:27:08]  Just impeach everybody we don't like that's on the opposite side.
[02:27:12]  And another thing that kind of catches me is when I'm watching C-STAN, y'all use the term Secretary of Defense.
[02:27:22]  There is no such thing as Secretary of Defense.
[02:27:25]  It's Secretary of War.
[02:27:27]  And I don't know why you don't do that right.
[02:27:30]  I guess because Trump implemented it.
[02:27:33]  And basically, and the representative from Hawaii, she says she knows all about Pete Hegseth's character.
[02:27:41]  Well, has she ever even met the man to say she knows his character?
[02:27:47]  Congresswoman Takuda.
[02:27:49]  Thank you.
[02:27:49]  I appreciate those comments.
[02:27:52]  Secretary Hagseth has come to the committee and testified before me.
[02:27:55]  He is the man who could not say that he would not follow an order to shoot American citizens in the leg if President Trump called the orders.
[02:28:03]  So yes, I have met him.
[02:28:04]  I have talked to him as well in front of a hearing as well.
[02:28:08]  It is still the Department of Defense.
[02:28:10]  That is Congress's job to change the department.
[02:28:13]  It is Trump's decision to call a Department of War.
[02:28:15]  And quite frankly, similar to the Pope, I think our goal should be defending our values, defending our freedoms, defending our allies, not instituting war, as this administration has made clear, is their intent since day one, since they've taken office this second time.
[02:28:31]  And in terms of the word impeachment, I agree with you.
[02:28:33]  You know, when we were growing up, you didn't hear a lot about impeachment, but that is also because people took personal responsibility that when they did wrong, when they screwed up, they left office, they resigned.
[02:28:43]  When people did wrong, higher-ups like the president or the administration or members of Congress called on them to step down and they did.
[02:28:50]  So they would not actually get to that point of impeachment.
[02:28:55]  That's the difference that we are seeing today.
[02:28:57]  You can do wrong, you can screw up, you can put American lives in jeopardy.
[02:29:02]  And nobody moves an inch, which is why we are having these difficult impeachment discussions.
[02:29:08]  That's why even in Congress we're talking about expulsion.
[02:29:11]  Americans, I don't care what side of the party lines you are on, we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.
[02:29:16]  We have to hold ourselves accountable.
[02:29:19]  And when we do, maybe we won't hear the word impeachment or expulsion so much because we'll actually do the right thing.
[02:29:24]  And when we don't, we will step away and do what's right for the American people.
[02:29:28]  And you noted it, but the caller's question was to C-SPAN about a Secretary of Defense or Department of Defense.
[02:29:36]  And just to follow up on what you said, this is an article from military.com that came out around the time that the president was referring to it as the Department of War.
[02:29:45]  They wrote the headline, it's not legally, despite what President Trump's executive order really does.
[02:29:51]  They note in that story, only Congress can amend or replace statutory titles, and the Department of Defense currently remains the legal entity established by Congress in 1949.
[02:30:03]  Trump's executive order does not override the existing law on that.
[02:30:06]  It authorizes a secondary title that may be used in non-statutory communications.
[02:30:12]  So that's what the executive order did.
[02:30:14]  That's sort of the background on the names there.
[02:30:16]  But that was just to follow up on that for you, Congresswoman.
[02:30:20]  Thank you.
[02:30:21]  This is Terry in Rogers, Minnesota, Republican.
[02:30:24]  Terry, go ahead.
[02:30:27]  Good morning.
[02:30:28]  Good morning.
[02:30:28]  I can't help but mention, Jilly.
[02:30:31]  Really, when I listen to you, I see everything wrong with Congress.
[02:30:36]  The zealotry is just amazing to me.
[02:30:40]  Will never come anywhere.
[02:30:42]  I think you should think about getting a psychological.
[02:30:48]  Yeah, well, yeah, my question is this.
[02:30:52]  How and why don't you resign?
[02:30:56]  Why don't you do something that will help the nation?
[02:30:59]  Got your point.
[02:30:59]  That's Terry.
[02:31:00]  I'll give you the final minute, Congresswoman.
[02:31:02]  Thank you so much.
[02:31:03]  You know, thank you, Terry, for sharing those views.
[02:31:05]  But I humbly disagree with you.
[02:31:08]  Right now, Congress needs a voice for the people.
[02:31:10]  People want a voice here in the people's house, not individuals, not a majority that's going to be complicit to the president, simply rubber stamp his agenda.
[02:31:18]  Whether it's cutting off critical services to health care, a trillion dollars in Medicaid, $200 billion in SNAP, that's food money for everyday people in states like yours, where you are living right now, and instead trying to push over a billion dollars a day for this unilateral war in Iran.
[02:31:34]  Hundreds of billion dollars more that they are asking to do this mission that they chose to do themselves, putting service members from our country at risk, causing the price of gas to go up in states like yours, making food much more expensive.
[02:31:48]  I sound like a zealot.
[02:31:49]  I am passionate because I go home to Hawaii and I see people suffering and they deserve a voice.
[02:31:54]  And every person suffering now because of Trump's unilateral decisions deserves a voice in this House and that's why we are here.
[02:32:00]  Congresswoman Jill Takuda, member of the House Armed Services Committee, Democrat from Hawaii, we do always appreciate it when you stop by.
[02:32:07]  We'll let you get on with your day.
[02:32:09]  Aloha.
[02:32:11]  Back to your phone calls right after the break in open forum.
[02:32:15]  It's any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about.
[02:32:19]  That's how we'll end the program today.
[02:32:21]  30 minutes left to do so.
[02:32:22]  So go ahead and start calling in and we will get to your calls right after the break.
[02:32:32]  Best ideas and best practices can be found anywhere.
[02:32:35]  We have to listen so we can govern better.
[02:32:37]  Democracy depends on heavy doses of civility.
[02:32:40]  You can fight and still be friendly.
[02:32:42]  Bridging the divide in American politics.
[02:32:44]  You know, you may not agree with Le Democrat on everything, but you can find areas where you do agree.
[02:32:48]  He's a pretty likable guy as well.
[02:32:50]  Chris Kins and I are actually friends.
[02:32:51]  He votes wrong all the time, but we're actually friends.
[02:32:54]  A horrible secret that Scott and I have is that we actually respect each other.
[02:32:57]  We all don't hate each other.
[02:32:59]  You two actually kind of like each other.
[02:33:01]  These are the kinds of secrets we'd like to expose.
[02:33:03]  It's nice to be with a member who knows what they're talking about.
[02:33:06]  You guys did agree to the civility, all right?
[02:33:08]  He owes my son $10 from a bed for a year.
[02:33:11]  He is paid.
[02:33:12]  Fork it over.
[02:33:14]  That's fighting words right now.
[02:33:15]  I'm glad I'm not in charge.
[02:33:16]  I'm thrilled to be on the show with him.
[02:33:18]  There are not shows like this, right?
[02:33:20]  Incentivizing that relationship.
[02:33:23]  Ceasefire, Friday nights on C-SPAN.
[02:33:32]  Join C-SPAN Saturday, April 25th at 7 p.m. Eastern for Washington's premier black tie event, the White House Correspondents Dinner.
[02:33:40]  Watch live coverage from the Washington Hilton featuring red carpet arrivals of top journalists, political leaders, and celebrities.
[02:33:46]  This year's featured entertainer is renowned mentalist Bose Perlman.
[02:33:50]  And President Donald Trump is expected to make his first appearance as president.
[02:33:53]  The White House Correspondents Dinner, live Saturday, April 25th at 7 p.m. Eastern on C-SPAN, C-SPAN now, our free mobile app, or online at C-SPAN.org.
[02:34:04]  Washington Journal continues.
[02:34:07]  Less than 30 minutes left in our program on this Thursday morning, less than 30 minutes before the House and the Senate come in, and you can watch both live, of course, gabble-gabble on C-SPAN and C-SPAN 2, respectively.
[02:34:18]  Until then, your phone calls, any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about, now is the time to call in.
[02:34:25]  And we will get right to the calls.
[02:34:26]  Leanne Arlington, Texas, Democrat.
[02:34:29]  Good morning.
[02:34:30]  Good morning.
[02:34:32]  I just like to, I'm so glad.
[02:34:34]  I mean, well, I didn't hear what Headset has to say, but what I'd just like to tell my senior callers who are calling in is that it's just to be the Republicans.
[02:34:48]  Is that, you know what?
[02:34:49]  If you got to remember, you guys want to quote the Bible.
[02:34:52]  Well, guess what?
[02:34:53]  You do not, you are not supposed to worship any idols.
[02:35:00]  Every time Trump goes somewhere, he wants something gold idol.
[02:35:04]  The next one is Pete Hedset.
[02:35:07]  I want to know how in the heck can we get this man away from being the Secretary of War?
[02:35:20]  Because if you guys pull up how he didn't want black women to get their stars to become generals, and that was, I mean, that was just, I mean, you know, he doesn't want anybody smarter than him to stand next to him.
[02:35:44]  You got generals who are standing next to him, who have so much more experience, experience than this man will ever hold in his pinky finger.
[02:35:58]  That's Leanne in Texas, the Defense Secretary, briefing reporters in the 8 a.m. Eastern hour.
[02:36:05]  If you missed it, you can watch on our website.
[02:36:07]  He was with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the head of Central Command in today's briefing talking about the blockade of Iranian ports.
[02:36:19]  They went for about 45 minutes or so.
[02:36:22]  Again, you can watch at c-span.org.
[02:36:24]  This is John in Germantown, Maryland, Independent.
[02:36:28]  Good morning.
[02:36:29]  Can you hear me there?
[02:36:30]  Yes, sir.
[02:36:32]  I just want to talk about language, language in our news media language from our presidential public relations team.
[02:36:42]  A lot of us are old enough to have seen multiple wars campaign, whether it be my parents' generation, Vietnam, our generation, Iraq.
[02:36:54]  I think a lot of folks that voted for Trump feel a little bit betrayed in the way that so much of the language on the campaign was rhetoric that described a president that was going to be opposed to overseas wars.
[02:37:10]  And a lot of red meat was thrown politically towards prior presidents and administrations who had really partook in overseas prolonged wars, especially in the Middle East.
[02:37:22]  And a lot of criticism was thrown at the prior Bush administration, even the Clinton administration, for their lying to the American public.
[02:37:31]  The language they used very specifically was weapons of mass destruction.
[02:37:35]  Well, a president is very specific not to use that current language.
[02:37:40]  So, what he keeps saying, and what the current public relations team for the White House keeps saying is: I'm not going to let them have nuclear weapons because he does not want you guys to remember the exact same rhetoric that was used to convince the American public it was okay to send our boys and gals over to Fallujah and come back with the horrific trauma that they did come back with and the prolonged war and cost that we dealt with over that generation.

=== Future Of Journalism (14:56) ===

[02:38:06]  So, I want you guys to really be careful and dissect the language that you're hearing.
[02:38:11]  I also want to point out that I feel like we've migrated into a docile democracy.
[02:38:16]  I remember during those times, the youth, high schools, there were a lot more marches.
[02:38:21]  And I don't know if our youth is afraid or if the public feels too distracted or we've gotten too caught up in the Truman show.
[02:38:28]  But it's our time to express our democratic right and get out there and march and express your disdain for what was the last demonstration or march that you participated in.
[02:38:42]  You know, we had the large walkouts that partook during Iraq.
[02:38:48]  So those were very popular in the high schools throughout the nation in the early 2000s, I want to say.
[02:38:54]  It was around 2002, 2003, 2004 that we were leading up to that.
[02:38:59]  And the language was very specific: weapons of mass destruction.
[02:39:04]  And I found it very, very got your point, John.
[02:39:06]  Joyce is waiting in Atlanta, Georgia.
[02:39:09]  Republican, good morning.
[02:39:12]  Yes, I had wanted to speak with the Congressman from Hawaii.
[02:39:17]  She's so concerned about America's safety.
[02:39:21]  Why don't the Democrats go ahead and pass the funding for the homeland?
[02:39:29]  She badmouths Pete Hexet.
[02:39:33]  I guess she was great with Austin, who wasn't even around for weeks and no one knew, not even President Biden.
[02:39:45]  Yes, everything's political because the Democrats want to make it political.
[02:39:51]  And just like the guy that just got through talking about President Trump and the Republicans are disappointed.
[02:39:59]  No, we are not.
[02:40:02]  We elected President Trump.
[02:40:04]  And if the Democrats don't like it, then keep their mouths shut until they get back in power.
[02:40:11]  But the American people, and I love how they always talk about the constituents and the American people, then why don't they care that we voted for him?
[02:40:24]  That's Joyce in Georgia to Vittorio State.
[02:40:27]  This is Steve in Stanford.
[02:40:28]  Democrat, good morning.
[02:40:31]  Hey, good morning, John.
[02:40:32]  I've got a couple things here, real quick for you.
[02:40:35]  First off, and I've made this suggestion several times.
[02:40:40]  How about dividing the phone lines by education?
[02:40:43]  College, high school, no high school, didn't finish high school, whatever.
[02:40:48]  What would you get from that, Steve?
[02:40:51]  What I think you would get from that is you would see where people's perception comes from.
[02:40:59]  You know, I listen every morning, and it's the same old thing from both sides, you know?
[02:41:04]  And anyway, so I'd like to give a shout out to Steve from North Charleston.
[02:41:10]  I think he said he dropped out of the GOP and became an independent.
[02:41:15]  See, he's a smart man.
[02:41:18]  He actually can look at things and figure it out.
[02:41:21]  I'd like to say hey to Miss Betty of Spartanburg.
[02:41:24]  She's the same age as my brother, who lives in Mississippi.
[02:41:28]  And they think just alike.
[02:41:31]  And according to my brother, everything welcome, Mississippi is because of black people.
[02:41:36]  So there you go.
[02:41:37]  That's Steve in North Carolina.
[02:41:39]  More of your phone calls after our discussion here on President Trump heading to the Silver State today, which makes it a good day to check in with John Ralston.
[02:41:51]  He's the CEO of the Nevada Independent, longtime expert on all things Nevada politics.
[02:41:57]  John Ralston, where is President Trump going today?
[02:42:00]  Who's he going to be meeting with?
[02:42:02]  Well, he's going to a hotel, a relatively new hotel, a boutique hotel in downtown Las Vegas.
[02:42:08]  It's called the AC Hotel.
[02:42:10]  It's a Marriott property, and he's going to do a roundtable.
[02:42:14]  Now, whenever presidents come to visit and do, it doesn't matter the party, when they do these roundtables, they're not really policy discussions as they are meant to highlight certain issues to help the president and his party.
[02:42:28]  That's true today when Trump is going to be discussing the no tax on tips, no tax on overtime that has had an effect and may have helped him win the state in 2024.
[02:42:40]  He'll be meeting with, for instance, the head of the police union, who was a big Trump supporter and a candidate for the Assembly who was a big Trump supporter, and then some others who will, I'm sure, talk about how they have benefited from these policies.
[02:42:57]  So what this really is, is a campaign event for the Republicans who need some help here during the midterms in some major races disguised as a public policy discussion.
[02:43:10]  You mentioned he won the state in 2024.
[02:43:12]  It was close, 50.6%.
[02:43:14]  What is the president's standing in the Silver State today?
[02:43:18]  So he is underwater in most polls, meaning that his disapproval is higher than his approval.
[02:43:24]  It's not as bad as some states, some of the bluer states.
[02:43:28]  Nevada is a purple state.
[02:43:30]  Registration is almost even between the Democrats and the Republicans.
[02:43:35]  But his numbers are what really worry Republicans here, in addition to why those numbers are not so great anymore, including higher gas prices and the economy showing some signs of being rickety.
[02:43:53]  And there have been a lot of national stories now about how Las Vegas has had a bit of a slump.
[02:44:01]  It's not acute yet, but it's definitely there.
[02:44:05]  We spend a lot of time on election night in 2024 looking at Nevada returns in the midterm elections.
[02:44:13]  What are the key races that are going to be on the ballot this November in the Silver State?
[02:44:18]  So we don't have a Senate race this time as we have the last two cycles, but the big race, and it's being watched nationally because Joe Lombardo, the Republican governor, is considered perhaps the most vulnerable Republican incumbent.
[02:44:33]  And he is running a campaign against probably the Attorney General of Nevada, who's a Democrat, A. Ron Ford, although Ford has a primary against the chairman of the Washoe County Commission.
[02:44:46]  For those who don't know, Washoe County is where Reno is.
[02:44:51]  Polls have shown the race relatively close.
[02:44:54]  And to be honest, Lombardo has a huge financial advantage.
[02:44:58]  The governor has immense power in Nevada because the executive branch is so dominant.
[02:45:05]  The legislature only meets every other year.
[02:45:08]  So he can do a lot of different things and raise money because he has jurisdiction over the Las Vegas Strip, which is the economic engine.
[02:45:18]  And so Lombardo is really most worried, not about his Democratic opponents as much as he is worried about Trump's numbers.
[02:45:27]  And that race, which probably will be a close one in November, Lombardo's people, one of them said to me recently, and I think this is very telling: if the guy's name in the White House was Joe Smith, this would be a double-digit race.
[02:45:44]  And he's probably right.
[02:45:45]  Speaking of the White House, I know we have a midterm to take care of before the next presidential election, but who are the key political players, the national names that have come to Nevada already and are being mentioned as a potential presidential candidate?
[02:46:03]  So as you know, Nevada is very important in the presidential cycle now, not just because we're a swing state in November, but because we're an early state in the Matrix.
[02:46:14]  And so one of seven states to determine the presidency and one of a handful of states that really makes a difference in the nominating process.
[02:46:22]  And the Democratic candidates really realize that.
[02:46:25]  And there have been half a dozen or more of them who have come through the state in the last six months or so or so.
[02:46:33]  Rob Emanuel, Andy Bashir, Roe Khanna has been here.
[02:46:37]  J.B. Pritzker has been here.
[02:46:40]  And they're going to keep coming because we're such a purple state and because we not only could be pivotal in the nominating process, but we're going to be important in November of 2028 as well.
[02:46:54]  And finally, before you go, since you kindly put it over your right shoulder, I want to ask you about your book that just came out in January.
[02:47:01]  We covered it on C-SPAN's book TV, The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight.
[02:47:10]  As we have all these political discussions of today, what do we learn from the rise of Harry Reid and his history that can teach us about what could happen in Nevada in the months and years to come?
[02:47:24]  Well, I truly appreciate your noticing my unsettled positioning of the book.
[02:47:28]  Thank you.
[02:47:29]  Listen, Harry Reid was a fighter.
[02:47:33]  The overused boxing metaphor for the former boxer during his time in the Senate, which was a very long career, 40-year career.
[02:47:44]  And what he brought that I think some Democrats both in Nevada and nationally think is lacking is a relentlessness and a willingness to speak truth, sometimes very painful truths.
[02:47:58]  And I think that the lessons of being a pugilist, especially these days, would be very important for Democrats to learn.
[02:48:08]  What was your relationship like with Harry Reid?
[02:48:11]  Did you ever get into a boxing match on politics with him and how did you fare?
[02:48:18]  Well, listen, I had a very, very rocky relationship with Reed, or maybe it's more accurate to say it was a roller coaster.
[02:48:25]  He tried to get me fired from several jobs and he actually succeeded.
[02:48:30]  But as the godfather of Nevada politics, I knew that it was business, not personal.
[02:48:38]  And so we had our set-tos, but there was a mutual respect.
[02:48:42]  And I finally, after years, maybe decades of trying, got him to agree to do the book.
[02:48:49]  And it has been a long labor of love and sometimes hate, to be honest with you, to go from starting this in 2021 to getting it published very recently.
[02:48:58]  What was the worst fight you ever had with Harry Reid?
[02:49:02]  He was very upset.
[02:49:04]  This would have been in the early, about 2010, 2011, with me writing columns about how he had used his influence to help some of his family members advance.
[02:49:14]  And he, and I think even more so his wife, Landra, and their 62-year marriage is really remarkable, were upset with me, considered that an attack on his family.
[02:49:25]  I thought it was a legitimate course of inquiry, that he was using his immense influence to help his family.
[02:49:31]  And he was very, very upset about that.
[02:49:33]  And when he finally agreed to do the book, he asked me to please not to attack his family and just tell the story as it was.
[02:49:41]  And as a guy who started the Nevada Independent today at the Pentagon Press briefing, Pete Hegseth with some pretty harsh words for the media, saying that it's sometimes hard to tell what side the media is on, saying they've been incredibly unpatriotic.
[02:50:00]  How do you, I know this could be an hour-long question, but how do you understand the state of the media right now and its relationship with both a public that is less and less trustworthy of it and this administration that is very, very critical of it?
[02:50:18]  It's a great question.
[02:50:19]  And I've worried more and more in my career, you know, more than 40 years, covering politics and looking at the media and covering politicians, how voters have become more and more negative about the media.
[02:50:33]  Trump did not cause this, but he certainly exploited it and has made it worse.
[02:50:39]  And the kind of comments that Hegseth makes, and he does this regularly at his briefings, and I saw part of the one this morning before I came on with you, are absolutely outrageous to say that it is unpatriotic for the media to ask pointed questions, especially, especially during a war.
[02:50:58]  It is the heart of patriotism to question your government all the time.
[02:51:04]  And so they don't like to be questioned.
[02:51:06]  No administration really likes harsh questions, but Hegseth has taken this and Trump too to another level to say that the media is being unpatriotic.
[02:51:16]  I am very concerned about the future of journalism and I'm so glad that there are so many people both whether it's in Nevada on my team or other or other organizations or in Washington DC or in the States who are still willing to ask the tough questions no matter what kinds of names we are called.
[02:51:38]  You can find John Ralston and his colleagues work at the NevadaIndependent.com.
[02:51:42]  John Ralston, it's always a political education, a media education when we have you on.
[02:51:46]  Come back again soon.
[02:51:48]  Thanks so much for having me.
[02:51:50]  Back to your phone calls in the last 10 minutes of our program today.
[02:51:54]  Open forum until the House comes in.
[02:51:56]  They will gavel in at or around 10 a.m. Eastern.
[02:52:00]  We'll get you there before that gavel hits.
[02:52:02]  In the meantime, your calls guess is Catherine New Hampshire Independent.
[02:52:06]  Thank you for waiting.
[02:52:08]  Hello.
[02:52:09]  I'm calling because I have a comment and comments and asking a question after.
[02:52:19]  And there could be a worst possibility with AIs than them being smarter than we are or more creative.
[02:52:33]  Human brains could become courts of yogurt blobs.
[02:52:38]  No emotions, never to feel emotions, no sad, no ire, no joy, no love, no sorrow, no tears, no silly, no wonder, no awe.
[02:52:51]  Now my question, could Congress consult their AIs and ask their AIs what they have planned for humans?

=== AI And Human Emotions (06:22) ===

[02:53:03]  Thank you.
[02:53:05]  That's Catherine in the Granite State.
[02:53:07]  This is Gina in Mississippi, Republican.
[02:53:11]  Good morning.
[02:53:14]  Good morning, John.
[02:53:15]  I thought it was interesting that the discussion you had with the prior guests that you had on about the media.
[02:53:27]  The media has been in control of almost everything for the last 10 years.
[02:53:33]  And I know you know what I'm going to say, but I have been an avid watcher for 20, I don't know how long y'all have been on.
[02:53:44]  And I saw what the Democrats did to Trump with the help of the media.
[02:53:53]  And that includes Washington Journal.
[02:53:56]  And I also notice now how many more Democrats, Trump haters, that you're having on now the close it gets to the midterms, which I think is so unfair.
[02:54:08]  And I think it's a shame because Washington Journal could be a great show if you only played fair.
[02:54:16]  Oh, Gina, I'm 73 years old, and I've been watching this show long enough to know and to see and to notice what is going on.
[02:54:27]  And no, and yes, I love Trump, but I also notice his faults.
[02:54:32]  And I do not like his latest, whatever that was, where he put himself up there at Jesus.
[02:54:40]  I don't like that.
[02:54:41]  And I don't like some of the things he says.
[02:54:43]  But the question is, or the statement is that the Democrats have nothing better than Trump.
[02:54:52]  Joe Biden was nothing.
[02:54:54]  For four years, he did nothing.
[02:54:56]  He tried nothing.
[02:54:57]  And nothing was ever said on this show about what he did or did not do.
[02:55:02]  And John, if you're honest with yourself, you know I am telling the truth.
[02:55:07]  Gina, I would just say, keep watching the show.
[02:55:10]  We try very hard every day, week in, week out, to bring a variety of viewpoints, a variety of opinions.
[02:55:18]  And most importantly, I think it's what makes our show great, is to create a forum where people can call in and say what they think.
[02:55:25]  And that doesn't happen a lot.
[02:55:26]  So, you know, I appreciate how long you've been watching.
[02:55:30]  And we're going to keep doing the same thing we've been trying to do since you first started watching.
[02:55:37]  You don't give the Republicans as much time as the Democrats.
[02:55:41]  Gina, I would encourage you just to watch and try to see if that's actually true, because we work really hard to try to bring those viewpoints out and give viewpoints the time to actually have a full discussion.
[02:55:54]  It's why we book guests for an hour at a time, 45 minutes at a time.
[02:55:58]  Members of Congress will take as much time as they can give us.
[02:56:00]  Usually it's about 30 minutes or so.
[02:56:03]  But whatever they want to give, we'll have them on for that long.
[02:56:06]  So I promise you we try to do that, Gina.
[02:56:10]  Never had anything negative on your show about Joe Biden.
[02:56:13]  Never, never.
[02:56:15]  And he had dementia, for God's sake.
[02:56:18]  Gina, I would just encourage you to go back and watch some of those shows during that time.
[02:56:23]  I think you'll probably hear some of what you're looking for from various voices.
[02:56:27]  But I appreciate the feedback.
[02:56:28]  I've got about five minutes until the House comes in.
[02:56:31]  Let me go to Dave in California, Independence.
[02:56:35]  Go ahead.
[02:56:36]  Good morning.
[02:56:37]  Good morning.
[02:56:38]  I disagree with the previous caller.
[02:56:40]  I think you guys do a good job presenting both sides of an issue.
[02:56:47]  The thing I have been most disappointed about in this war is the extent to which the Democrats in Congress and their allies in the media have been rooting against us.
[02:57:04]  You know, to say that this is a war of choice is a little bit like telling a cancer patient that he or she has a choice of getting radiation treatment or chemotherapy or not.
[02:57:19]  They could choose not to, but they may not like the consequences.
[02:57:23]  And I view that regime in Iran as a cancer.
[02:57:27]  And just like all cancers, it requires a certain amount of pain and hardship to get rid of.
[02:57:36]  Only in this case, instead of radiation treatment and chemotherapy, it requires economic hardship, including high gas prices.
[02:57:45]  But if we don't get rid of the cancer, if we don't kill the cancer, the cancer will kill us.
[02:57:53]  You know, I hear a lot of talk about the cost of the war.
[02:57:56]  Well, how much would it cost if a missile carrying a nuclear weapon were to strike, say, New York City or Los Angeles?
[02:58:05]  And if you don't think that regime over there is crazy enough to do something like that, just consider the amount of terrorism that they sponsored, the killing of Americans, the fact that they just slaughtered 45,000, estimated 45,000 of their own citizens to stay in power, the firing of missiles and drones at their Arab neighbors, mostly civilian targets, despite the fact that those Arab neighbors wanted nothing to do with this war.
[02:58:34]  So my advice to the Democrats would be to get on board because I think that party has been so infected with TDS that they would prefer that the Iranian regime get nuclear weapons and develop missiles capable of hitting us than they would for Trump to be given credit for making what I think is the right decision.
[02:59:04]  You know, the majority of the American people were opposed to us getting involved in World War II prior to Pearl Harbor, even though the atrocities that were being committed by the Nazis were very well known at that time.
[02:59:17]  So I'm glad that Trump isn't letting the polls dictate his decisions.
[02:59:23]  That's Dave in California.

=== Reminding History Matters (02:33) ===

[02:59:25]  Omar is out of Brooklyn Independence.
[02:59:28]  Thanks for waiting.
[02:59:31]  Hey, Don.
[02:59:31]  Good morning, America.
[02:59:32]  And most importantly to me, good morning, Foundational Black America.
[02:59:36]  I want to send a message or remind y'all of some things because I hear a lot of people just calling up here just complicit to white supremacy.
[02:59:45]  They don't care about human life.
[02:59:47]  On Eastbourne, on Resurrection Day, the man, your president, was posting stuff about open up the straits of our mood, or we're going to kill everybody.
[02:59:59]  Is that what the Catholics are, is that what the Christian nationals are promoting, killing people?
[03:00:07]  You know, they did this to black people in America.
[03:00:10]  They did that at the riots in Oklahoma, in Tulsa.
[03:00:17]  They killed all the black people.
[03:00:19]  Why?
[03:00:20]  Because they had something.
[03:00:22]  They were pulling themselves up from the bootstraps.
[03:00:25]  And the white supremacists, your forefathers killed black people just like they killed, just like the Irans, how you are so upset about the Iranians killing their people.
[03:00:37]  But you have no idea that they killed a bunch of black people in Tulsa.
[03:00:42]  This is the history, the American history, that we need to start reminding people about.
[03:00:46]  Omar, yesterday, if you go to American History TV, we actually have several programs on the Tulsa Race Massacre book programs as well.
[03:00:57]  During the 100th anniversary of that, there was a couple books that came out, and we covered those as well.
[03:01:04]  If you're talking about learning the history of this, that's perhaps a great place to go and check out some of that history.
[03:01:11]  No, that's fair, John.
[03:01:12]  And I'm just saying, I'm reminding these people that call up and just want to say, blame it on the black people, blame it on Obama, blame it on Lloyd Austin.
[03:01:22]  They brought out Lloyd Austin tonight, of all people.
[03:01:24]  I mean, today.
[03:01:25]  Like, stop trying to blame somebody for all the problems that white supremacy has done to this country.
[03:01:31]  You killed a bunch of black people in this.
[03:01:33]  Wait, let me just say this, John, really quick.
[03:01:35]  And the House is coming in, Omar.
[03:01:37]  Stole the country.
[03:01:38]  They stole a country.
[03:01:39]  And then, next thing you know, they imported some black people.
[03:01:44]  And you call the people who you imported as slaves, you call us immigrants.
[03:01:47]  We are not immigrants.
[03:01:49]  We did not choose to come here.
[03:01:52]  Got your point.
[03:01:53]  That's Omar in Brooklyn, New York.
[03:01:56]  Omar, going to be our last caller for the day.

=== Full Coverage Ends (00:59) ===

[03:01:59]  A reminder that today, the House is in at 10 a.m. Eastern and about to walk in the doors.
[03:02:05]  The Senate is in as well over on C-SPAN 2 this afternoon.
[03:02:09]  We'll continue to bring you full coverage of the Artemis II mission as four astronauts who are on board speak to reporters in their first news conference since returning to Earth.
[03:02:18]  That is from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, live starting 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
[03:02:23]  That's on C-SPAN 3.
[03:02:25]  And we'll be back here tomorrow morning on C-SPAN at 7 a.m. Eastern, 4 a.m. Pacific.
[03:02:32]  In the meantime, we hope you have a great Thursday, and we take you to the floor of the House of Representatives.
[03:02:42]  The House will be in order.
[03:02:43]  The prayer will be offered by Chaplin Kibben.
[03:02:46]  Would you pray with me?
[03:02:49]  Holy Lord, we dare to approach this day and the tasks set before us, thinking it is our expertise and experience that will advance us toward our goals.