CSPAN - Washington Journal Open Forum
Aired: 2026-04-16
Duration: 29:52


=== Homeland Security and Presidential Strength (10:35) ===

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[00:00:47]  We're going to continue with the Washington Journal this morning.
[00:00:50]  And in this 30 minutes, it's open for him.
[00:00:53]  Any public policy, any political issue that you want to talk about, phone numbers are on your screen.
[00:00:57]  202-748-8001 for Republicans.
[00:01:00]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[00:01:03]  Independents, 202-748-8000 and 2.
[00:01:07]  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.
[00:01:14]  Congressman Goldman, good morning to you, sir.
[00:01:17]  I know you were listening to most of that briefing.
[00:01:20]  What was your takeaway from the latest out of the Pentagon?
[00:01:24]  Well, my takeaway is I could listen to General Kaine all day.
[00:01:27]  What an incredible, impressive leader we have, the right man in the right place at the right time.
[00:01:32]  He truly is an amazing leader and great to have him at the helm right now.
[00:01:37]  At the beginning of that briefing, the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with two messages speaking directly to two different groups.
[00:01:44]  One is to the Iranian leadership, to the regime, saying, we're watching you, we know what military assets you're moving, we know where you're moving.
[00:01:52]  The message directly to them.
[00:01:54]  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.
[00:02:04]  Sometimes it's hard to see what side that you're on.
[00:02:07]  What do you make of those two very different messages to two very different groups of people?
[00:02:12]  Well, first of all, let's look where we are exactly.
[00:02:14]  Let's look where we were a few weeks ago when Iran was had 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.
[00:02:35]  That's completely changed.
[00:02:37]  They aren't shooting any missiles anymore.
[00:02:38]  The Strait of Hormuz, which was being controlled by Iran, now is controlled by the United States.
[00:02:43]  So the conflict has completely evolved, and we are in way more control now than we were before.
[00:02:49]  Is it over?
[00:02:50]  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.
[00:03:01]  You know that it's not over, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
[00:03:04]  Then what do you make of the war powers debate that's going to happen on the House floor today?
[00:03:09]  And where are you on a vote on a war powers resolution?
[00:03:13]  Well, I'm certainly going to vote for it.
[00:03:15]  And the point is this, is the President of the United States has the ability and needs the ability to protect American lives.
[00:03:21]  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.
[00:03:34]  And so there's no question that they were continuing to enrich their uranium, to build nuclear weapons.
[00:03:44]  And we cannot have an unstable country like Iran, the leaders in Iran, having that ability to do that.
[00:03:54]  So we need a strong president like President Trump has done.
[00:03:57]  Again, past presidents have talked about, oh, gosh, I wish I could get rid of the leaders in Iran.
[00:04:02]  I wish I could make sure they don't have nuclear weapons.
[00:04:05]  And President Trump did it.
[00:04:07]  So he needs that ability.
[00:04:09]  When he sees something, we don't have the intelligence that the President of the United States does.
[00:04:13]  No, you can't share that intelligence with 435 members of Congress.
[00:04:17]  And so he had that intelligence, and he did the right thing at the right time.
[00:04:21]  You mentioned you're against limiting the president's war-making ability.
[00:04:25]  Is there a limit to that, though?
[00:04:27]  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?
[00:04:37]  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 Hegseth to do their jobs, and that's to protect American lives.
[00:04:48]  That's what this conflict has been about from the start, and that's what it's going to continue to be about.
[00:04:53]  Now, again, it's not at the level that it was.
[00:04:55]  So we've evolved in just a few weeks.
[00:04:58]  I mean, we have complete dominance.
[00:05:00]  They don't have a Navy anymore.
[00:05:02]  They don't have an Air Force anymore.
[00:05:03]  We have complete dominance, military dominance.
[00:05:06]  And we hate at the loss of lives that we've had, but they've been minimal at that.
[00:05:10]  So just an incredible performance by our men and women of the United States military.
[00:05:16]  And like I said, way different now than where it was a few weeks ago.
[00:05:22]  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?
[00:05:35]  Well, that's a good question.
[00:05:37]  I can't tell you at this time whether it will.
[00:05:39]  There was supposed to be a vote last night.
[00:05:41]  That vote was pulled.
[00:05:42]  We hope to have a vote on it today.
[00:05:44]  I'm certainly for that as well.
[00:05:46]  Look, there are members that just want to make absolutely certain.
[00:05:50]  And Director Ratcliffe came and talked to us yesterday, talked to our Republican conference.
[00:05:56]  There are members that just want to make absolutely certain that Americans are not being spied on by their federal government.
[00:06:02]  And I totally understand that.
[00:06:04]  But things changed after 9-11.
[00:06:06]  You know, there was an attack on our homeland.
[00:06:08]  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 have the ability to root out our enemies who are on our homeland.
[00:06:23]  And certainly we don't want normal average Americans being spied upon or looked at by the federal government.
[00:06:29]  That's a key point.
[00:06:30]  Before you have to run, let me come to your Energy and Commerce Committee work.
[00:06:34]  I know energy issues big in your district in Texas.
[00:06:38]  Energy Secretary Chris Wright was on Capitol Hill yesterday.
[00:06:41]  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?
[00:06:51]  Well, he's appearing before us today.
[00:06:53]  As a matter of fact, he's appearing before the Energy and Commerce Committee today, so I'm looking forward to his testimony.
[00:06:58]  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.
[00:07:09]  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.
[00:07:26]  Gas prices are way higher in California than they are in Texas for that very reason.
[00:07:31]  So Secretary Wright doesn't have control over that, but I think an overall question is how can we get more supply out there?
[00:07:38]  I certainly, I was at an LNG facility in Louisiana last week.
[00:07:43]  I saw a big tanker leaving from Louisiana Coast to go to Poland full of LNG, liquefied natural gas.
[00:07:51]  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?
[00:08:03]  And how do we get more supply of oil so that gas prices do come down?
[00:08:08]  And then finally, Congressman, before you go, just your thoughts on the resignations of Eric Swalwell and your Texas colleague, Tony Gonzalez, this week?
[00:08:16]  Well, I think they certainly made the right decision.
[00:08:19]  I don't think there's one member of Congress that didn't think that they made the right decision.
[00:08:23]  They certainly made the right decision to resign and go home.
[00:08:26]  Congressman Craig Goldman is a Republican from Texas, member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
[00:08:31]  We always appreciate your time stopping by the Washington Journal.
[00:08:33]  Thank you much.
[00:08:34]  Appreciate it.
[00:08:36]  Back to your phone calls.
[00:08:37]  About 20 minutes here of your calls.
[00:08:40]  Any public policy, any political issue?
[00:08:42]  If you're watching that Pentagon briefing, happy to get your thoughts on it.
[00:08:47]  Reporter questions continuing in that briefing, and you can watch it on C-SPAN too if you want to pop over there and then come back.
[00:08:55]  Here's the numbers.
[00:08:55]  Call in 202-748-8001 for Republicans.
[00:08:59]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[00:09:02]  Independents, 202-748-8002.
[00:09:05]  We'll begin in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
[00:09:08]  Larry, Republican, go ahead.
[00:09:12]  Yes, sir.
[00:09:12]  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.
[00:09:24]  I'd like to ask the Democrats to what do you call it?
[00:09:29]  Look at the soldiers over at Sinharm's Way.
[00:09:32]  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?
[00:09:49]  Larry, did you, it sounds like you watched the briefing, what did you think of the comparisons that Pete Hegset was making between the American media and the Pharisees in the Bible quoted in the book of Mark?
[00:10:03]  Yeah, I'm a good scholar, 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 hey, and he, the Pharisees always try to trip him up because they thought they had the power.
[00:10:24]  Well, that's the Democrat and the media.
[00:10:28]  That's Larry in Virginia.
[00:10:30]  Eric is in the land of 10,000 lakes.
[00:10:33]  Democrat, good morning to Minnesota.

=== Immigrant Rights and Legal Debates (14:56) ===

[00:10:36]  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.
[00:10:48]  And he was pointing to those who had crossed the border illegally, etc.
[00:10:53]  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.
[00:11:09]  That would seem to be illegal by every definition, and the proud boys who were involved were subsequently indicted and convicted.
[00:11:18]  Why was it that the same group who wants to define illegality as pertains to border crossers gave that group a pass?
[00:11:30]  And why did the current president not only give them a pass, but pardon them?
[00:11:36]  And they're passing further legislation to erase those wrongs from the Proud Boys' criminal history.
[00:11:45]  Why is this double standard applying to anything the current president favors as opposed to those things he does not?
[00:11:53]  Thank you.
[00:11:54]  And it's not further legislation.
[00:11:56]  It's a legal filing by the Justice Department.
[00:11:59]  The Washington Post wraps it up pretty well.
[00:12:01]  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.
[00:12:13]  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.
[00:12:24]  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.
[00:12:35]  That's the story in the Washington Post.
[00:12:38]  Maria is in the Buckeye State Independence.
[00:12:41]  Maria, go ahead.
[00:12:44]  Hi.
[00:12:46]  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.
[00:13:00]  No, undocumented immigrants actually contribute much more to the economy of anywhere where they live than what they take from the United States.
[00:13:17]  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,
[00:13:41]  even though they will never be able to see any kind of benefit, okay, for themselves.
[00:13:50]  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.
[00:14:13]  The rate is so low in comparison to American citizens.
[00:14:19]  I'm tired of these people doing that.
[00:14:20]  Maria, I assume on the costs and benefits, you might be referring to this Cato study.
[00:14:27]  Cato, one of those think tanks, a libertarian think tank here in D.C.
[00:14:31]  This got some attention at the time when it came out in February.
[00:14:35]  Immigrants reduced the deficit by $14.5 trillion since the year 1994.
[00:14:41]  It's their study on immigrants' recent effects on government budgets from 1994 to 2023.
[00:14:50]  They try to look at the net fiscal effect of all immigrants from 1994 to 2023.
[00:14:56]  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.
[00:15:05]  The fiscal benefits have continued to rise, reaching their highest level ever in 2023.
[00:15:11]  And we can show you the chart that goes along with it if you're more of a visual learner.
[00:15:17]  That's it on the screen.
[00:15:19]  You can find it at Cato.org.
[00:15:21]  Maria, is that one of the studies you're referring to?
[00:15:26]  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.
[00:15:38]  Why has Trump reduced the amount of enforcement and farms and meat processing companies and so forth?
[00:15:52]  Because there is not enough labor in this, in the country, you know, to fulfill all of those jobs.
[00:16:02]  That's Maria in Ohio.
[00:16:03]  Got your point.
[00:16:04]  Let me go to Dan in the Pine Tree State Independent.
[00:16:07]  Dan, thanks for waiting.
[00:16:10]  Hi, good morning.
[00:16:11]  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.
[00:16:18]  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.
[00:16:26]  I understand that they're destroyed or partially destroyed, but I hear nothing about that.
[00:16:32]  And that speaks to the message from the Secretary of War this morning that this is happening right before our eyes.
[00:16:43]  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.
[00:16:53]  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.
[00:17:04]  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.
[00:17:14]  I don't get it.
[00:17:15]  So thanks for your patience.
[00:17:16]  Have a great day.
[00:17:17]  It's Dan in Maine this morning to Ernie out of the Keystone State.
[00:17:23]  Good morning.
[00:17:26]  Thank you, Don.
[00:17:28]  You presented us with all these decorated military and the war secretary.
[00:17:38]  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.
[00:17:56]  So this is a false narrative that our military is there prohibiting all ships.
[00:18:04]  And Russia is also included with their fleet.
[00:18:10]  So why are we getting one side of the story?
[00:18:14]  What's going on is you're inflating the ego of the American ignorant masses.
[00:18:21]  So Ernie, the way the blockade is working, as the Defense Secretary explained in that briefing, is not to prevent all ships.
[00:18:31]  It's to prevent any ships transiting to or from Iranian ports.
[00:18:35]  But they made a point to say it's not a blockade of the Straits of Hormuz.
[00:18:39]  I think that was the chairman, the Joint Chiefs Chairman, who made that point.
[00:18:44]  It is a blockade of Iranian ports and ships going in and out.
[00:18:48]  They know as propagandists how to split hairs.
[00:18:52]  In the beginning, it was a blockade.
[00:18:54]  Now we're defining it as a limited black.
[00:18:59]  It doesn't make sense.
[00:19:01]  We're spending all this money for what?
[00:19:04]  It doesn't benefit the American population.
[00:19:07]  It benefits the big guys with the big cigars running the show.
[00:19:13]  And the show is a Masonic Jewish matrix.
[00:19:17]  All right, that's Ernie.
[00:19:18]  We'll go to Jeff, New Hampshire, Republican.
[00:19:22]  Good morning.
[00:19:24]  Good morning.
[00:19:25]  Yes.
[00:19:26]  I just wanted to talk about the illegal immigrants.
[00:19:29]  I mean, the fact that they're...
[00:19:30]  I can't shut this radio off.
[00:19:33]  There we go.
[00:19:35]  It's my son-in-law's.
[00:19:37]  But the so you have a displacement of jobs, right?
[00:19:43]  You get the lower income jobs that are being taken by illegal immigrants.
[00:19:47]  And why can't they be legal immigrants?
[00:19:49]  Every year the United States needs 10 to 30% immigrants to come in to fill new jobs created in the economy.
[00:19:59]  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.
[00:20:15]  So, Jeff, you're advocating for work mandates to be able to continue to receive government aid.
[00:20:23]  That's one of the alternatives, but it doesn't have to be full-time.
[00:20:27]  It could be a progressive.
[00:20:29]  You know, they had the military, when they came back from World War II, they had the Jobs Act for the military.
[00:20:39]  And they sponsored a certain amount of money for each military person getting a job and trained.
[00:20:45]  I mean, I don't know why we can't do that as well.
[00:20:47]  I mean, we have 19 different organizations in the government trying to get people to work, and they don't work too well.
[00:20:54]  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.
[00:21:14]  So there are those mandates in place, Jeff.
[00:21:17]  You're saying they should just be stricter or they should be more hours or that sort of thing?
[00:21:24]  Well, when did those mandates come in place?
[00:21:27]  I thought it was just recently they passed that.
[00:21:30]  Again, I don't have the exact date for you, but it's something that's been around for a while, Jeff.
[00:21:36]  Okay.
[00:21:38]  But part-time, unpaid, I don't know.
[00:21:42]  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.
[00:21:54]  And obviously, you have the part-time jobs during picking, you know, plant harvesting that comes across most of the southern border to work.
[00:22:02]  And even all the way up to Maine.
[00:22:04]  Maine, they have the blueberry pickers up there.
[00:22:06]  So it doesn't have to be illegal.
[00:22:11]  The word illegal doesn't have to be in front of it.
[00:22:14]  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.
[00:22:23]  They have a right to go and be in that house.
[00:22:28]  Most of the people wanted to observe it.
[00:22:31]  And 90% of the people were not the people that created that riot.
[00:22:35]  I mean, knuckleheads, yes.
[00:22:37]  But sedition, they hardly were organized and armed well enough or if anybody was armed that I know of to take over the country.
[00:22:48]  So you're okay with dropping all the charges for everybody from January 6th?
[00:22:54]  No, I mean, people that actually did any type of violence, which absolutely more people died on the rioter side than on any other side.
[00:23:04]  I mean, the police officer originally said that they beaten him to death, but he had a heart attack.
[00:23:11]  So, you know, the congressional police.
[00:23:16]  You know, there's a lot of misconceptions.
[00:23:18]  Obviously, everybody spins it their way.
[00:23:20]  The liberals spin it one way to get their people to vote for them.
[00:23:25]  And the Republicans spin it their way.
[00:23:27]  And I understand that.
[00:23:28]  But we've gotten so polarized here.
[00:23:31]  I don't see this good for the nation.
[00:23:33]  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.
[00:23:46]  And that's, I was in the military Marine Corps in the Navy Reserve.
[00:23:50]  And if you're in a wartime situation, the last thing you want to hear is that.
[00:23:57]  It's Jeff out of the Granite State.
[00:24:00]  This is Delia, New York City, Democrat.
[00:24:02]  Good morning.
[00:24:04]  Yes, good morning.
[00:24:05]  And I want to just say thank you for taking my call.
[00:24:10]  I want to say that I was very glad.
[00:24:16]  You know, I mean, I want to say proud to see the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseph, quote the scriptures.
[00:24:23]  As you said earlier, I would piggyback off of what he said.
[00:24:27]  He quoted the scripture of the, was it lawful to heal the man on the Sabbath?
[00:24:33]  And of course, he was absolutely right that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, you know, tried to catch Jesus.
[00:24:41]  And he said, you know, of course, I mean, that is the compassionate thing to do.
[00:24:46]  And in the Old Testament, same thing with King David.
[00:24:50]  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.
[00:25:00]  So Delia, bring me to 2026.
[00:25:03]  What?
[00:25:04]  Bring me to 2026.
[00:25:05]  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.
[00:25:14]  The compassion is what I'm saying.
[00:25:16]  Now, as I'm saying that, and also quoting, listening to what the caller said before as far as the illegal alien situation here, I live in New York.
[00:25:28]  I live in Harlem.
[00:25:29]  And to see what's happening, and the gentleman that just spoke is absolutely right.

=== Federal Funding Cuts in Harlem (03:26) ===

[00:25:33]  And mind you, I'm a Democrat.
[00:25:34]  I'm a Democrat.
[00:25:35]  I'm a Christian, and I am African American.
[00:25:38]  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.
[00:25:48]  They came in, and instead, when the president, who I voted for, you know, I'm proud to say that I did.
[00:25:56]  When they came into New York State, when they came into New York State, I'm sorry, what did you say?
[00:26:02]  You said the president who I voted for.
[00:26:03]  I assume you're referring to Donald Trump.
[00:26:06]  Yes, yes, absolutely.
[00:26:07]  Who's the last Democrat?
[00:26:08]  I'm proud of that vote too.
[00:26:09]  Who's the last Democratic presidential candidate that's Hillary?
[00:26:13]  Hillary.
[00:26:13]  I'm a Clinton Democrat.
[00:26:15]  I wanted to say that too.
[00:26:17]  What does it mean to be a Clinton Democrat?
[00:26:20]  Oh, God, say it.
[00:26:22]  Well, he, I don't, you know, to look at, you know, between him and President Trump, I don't see that many differences.
[00:26:31]  He was just left of center.
[00:26:33]  He brought us from record deficits to record surpluses.
[00:26:37]  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.
[00:26:49]  I got my first job in corporate America.
[00:26:51]  I pulled myself up by my bootstraps.
[00:26:53]  And, you know, I'm sorry that he and his wife, I mean, particularly Hillary, when she ran for election to president, that she didn't make it because I think she would have continued the policies that made this country great.
[00:27:07]  And we had peace and prosperity here and all over the world.
[00:27:14]  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, and I'm being affected by it, ill-affected.
[00:27:34]  One, I'm no longer in the place where I have been living.
[00:27:37]  They, you know, have made room on East and Harlem.
[00:27:41]  You wouldn't even know Harlem now.
[00:27:43]  Harlem has been taken over by the illegal aliens on the east side.
[00:27:48]  There are hardly any black people that are left.
[00:27:51]  I mean, it's a very noticeable difference to see how they brought them in.
[00:27:56]  And mind you, I'm not even going to say it was, you know, just the white people.
[00:28:02]  When you look at what happened with, I'm sorry, with this woman that got the real estate fraud, Letitia James, when she's doing what she did, the corrupt stuff that she was doing with that, and going after the president, when 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 release.
[00:28:30]  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.
[00:28:37]  And again, how they got around.
[00:28:39]  I've got to say this.
[00:28:41]  And I'm running out of time, Delia.
[00:28:42]  Okay, the federal funding, they cut the citizens, particularly African Americans.
[00:28:48]  We are suffering in New York.
[00:28:50]  And I can tell you.
[00:28:51]  And Delia, I got your point.
[00:28:53]  And let me leave it there.
[00:28:54]  That's Delia in New York City, our last caller in this open forum.

=== Israel Lebanon Ceasefire Agreement (00:53) ===

[00:28:59]  President Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon earlier this morning.
[00:29:04]  The post reads, I just had excellent conversations with the highly respected President Joseph Aoun of Lebanon and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel.
[00:29:13]  These two leaders have agreed that in order to achieve peace between their countries, they will formally begin a 10-day ceasefire at 5 p.m. Eastern.
[00:29:22]  On Tuesday, the two countries met for the first time in 34 years here in Washington, D.C. with our great Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
[00:29:31]  I have directed Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, together with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Raisin Kane, to work with Israel and Lebanon to achieve a lasting peace.
[00:29:43]  It has been my honor to solve nine wars across the world, and this will be my 10th.
[00:29:49]  So let's get it done.
[00:29:50]  President Donald J. Trump.