President Trump and Iranian officials clash over the Strait of Hormuz closure, while Justice Clarence Thomas labels progressivism an existential threat. Amy Goodman defends independent journalism against Pete Hegseth's attacks as the Epstein files remain partially unreleased. Meanwhile, Trump signs an executive order with RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan to expedite psychedelic drug research for addiction, framing 1970s prohibitions as Nixon-era civil rights targeting. The episode concludes by questioning whether these policy shifts signal a broader redefinition of American governance and medical freedom. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Left-Wing Media Complex00:15:12
Text us at 202-748-8003.
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Or send us a tweet using at C-SPANWJ.
Washington Journal starts now.
This is the Washington Journal for Saturday, April 18th.
It has been another very busy news week.
Iran overnight reasserted control over the Strait of Hormuz just hours after President Trump and Iranian officials declared the waterway completely open.
The president publicly feuded with Pope Leo over the war.
Republicans tried to spotlight their economic policy record on tax day.
And two lawmakers, one from each party, resigned in the wake of scandals.
You could choose those or any other political story as your top story of the week.
And if you want to tell us what you've been tracking, here are the numbers to call.
We'd love to hear from you.
Republicans, 202-748-8001.
Democrats, 202-748-8000.
And Independents, 202-748-8002.
You could also text us here at C-SPAN at 202-748-8003.
Please include your first name, city, and state if you're texting in.
Or reach out on social media, facebook.com forward slash C-SPAN or on X with the handle at C-SPAN Washington Journal.
It has been a whirlwind 24 hours on the foreign policy front after President Trump and Iranian officials initially announced on Friday that the Strait of Hormuz, which normally sees 20% of the world's global oil supply shipping through it, would reopen after seven weeks of being largely shut down.
But now, just in the last few hours, I want to put up this headline from the Associated Press.
It says, Iran's military command says it has closed Hormuz again over U.S. blockade.
A few points here from the AP.
Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that it would continue to block transit as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports will remain in full force until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
And Iranian officials said the blockade was a violation of last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S.
The Strait will not remain open if the blockade continues, Iran's parliamentary speaker posted on X early Saturday.
Now, President Trump spent the last two days out west visiting Nevada and Arizona for economic and political events, but as he flew back here to Washington Friday night, he answered questions from the traveling press pool and talked about the war against Iran, the Strait of Hormuz, and whether or not the ceasefire that is set to expire early next week will have to be extended.
Here's what the president said.
We're negotiating over the weekend.
And as you know, we have the blockade.
The blockade's been very successful.
And of equal success has been the five weeks before the blockade.
The combination is pretty lethal, I would say.
So we're going to be knowing very shortly.
But we're talking over.
I expect things to go well.
Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.
Sir, what was the good news that you had 20 minutes ago?
Having to do with Iran.
Can you tell us anything about it?
I just think it's something that should happen.
It's something that only makes sense to happen.
And I think it will.
We'll see what happens, but I think it's well.
Have you agreed to sanctions really earlier that everything is managed?
No, we have not.
No, not.
You told me earlier that everything has been agreed to.
Iran was saying something different.
So, what has been worked out here?
Well, he's got to say something different because, you know, they have people that they have to cater to also.
Okay, great.
I'll probably.
I really don't.
I'm just doing the thing that's right.
I'm just saying it like it is.
We have a situation, I think, that is going to be very beneficial.
And the main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
And that supersedes everything else.
If you don't have a deal by Wednesday when the ceasefire ends, will you extend the ceasefire or will you not?
I don't know.
Maybe not.
Maybe I won't extend it.
But the blockade is going to remain.
But maybe I won't extend it.
So you'll have a blockade.
And unfortunately, we'll have to start dropping bombs again.
Thank you very much, everybody.
That was President Trump late last night aboard Air Force One on his way back from Arizona.
Interestingly enough, a bit unusual according to the White House public schedule.
We're going to hear from the president later this morning at 9 o'clock Eastern Time when he is going to sign an executive order in the Oval Office.
CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs is reporting that the executive order will be about psychedelics, and she said that it will have to do with a psychedelic drug used abroad to treat PTSD.
We'll be, of course, taking that executive order, signing live at 9 o'clock Eastern Time.
President Trump back at the White House after two days out west, and he is definitely going to be facing some questions about the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz, given these developments over the last couple of hours.
Let's hear from some of you calling in about your top story of the week, whether it's Iran or something else.
I want to go to Andrew calling in from Sterling, Virginia, on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Andrew.
You're on with us.
Good morning, C-SPAN.
This past week should have revealed to every Christian, evangelical Christian, every American, what an evil satanic person our current president is, Donald Trump.
He attacked the Pope relentlessly, time and time again.
He portrayed himself as Christ in that true social post, depicting himself as Jesus Christ.
He has committed blasphemy.
Why anybody of good faith would continue to support this guy when it's obvious that he is a false prophet?
If anything, he's the Antichrist.
The guy is evil.
He's always been evil.
He's a liar.
He's a cheat.
He continues to lie.
And he's taken this world apart piece by piece.
Starting with our country, he aligns himself with the likes of Putin, Xi Ji's wing of China, and attacks our NATO allies, the people he should be supporting.
In the end, I think he will betray Ukraine.
He will let Putin take over Ukraine.
And obviously, he's made deals with Putin and the Chinese prime minister.
It's awful what this guy is committing right before our very eyes.
Thank you, C-SPEN.
Got your point, Andrew.
For those who may have missed it over the last couple of days, here's a Washington Post story about the president sharing a post depicting himself as Jesus.
The post writes, Trump post appearing to depict him as Jesus removed amid backlash.
You could see the image there.
The president was asked about it repeatedly throughout the week, defended himself at one point, claimed that he thought it was an image of himself as a doctor helping people.
But a lot of even the president's own supporters reacting to this, expressing some concern over it.
Let's go now to Al calling in from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on the Republican line.
Good morning, Al.
You're on with us.
Is your top story related to that Jesus post, the war, something else?
Well, a little bit of things.
First of all, people should read about the Vatican and the use of the rat lines to help the Nazis hide in South America after World War II.
Pretty interesting.
And those that don't follow Jesus are pretty upset now about this whole thing.
But anyways, I want to talk about the left-wing media complex and how they try to tell this is a two- or three-week war.
This war is 47 years old.
And if people look back to the Carter administration, there was an internal struggle there between the leftists and others.
And of course, the leftists won.
They did not want to back the Shah, the brutal Shah, they'll say.
Yes.
And now we have something far more brutal right now.
So this war goes back 47 years.
We listened to the leftists back then.
We had a pro-West end Shah, and this is what we've had now.
And this president's confronting it.
I think we'll learn pretty soon, really, who has the hand of God on them right now.
So God can use all vessels and all people when humanity gets out of whack and we have to pull the country in down the right road.
Nobody is perfect.
If we read scripture, we'll find out God uses imperfect people to fix an imperfect world.
And there is major adjustments going on that are necessary.
We cannot have Iran have a nuclear weapon.
We can see what they've done just the last few weeks.
Thousands of Americans have died the last 47 years.
Al, if you don't mind, I'd love to ask you a follow-up question about the war.
The president said yesterday after he and Iranian officials announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened.
At one point, the President posted on Truth Social that Iran would never again close the Strait of Hormuz and they would stop using it as leverage on the world stage.
But it's just now hours later and Iran is saying that the Strait is closed once again.
As you outlined your support for the conflict, does it worry you at all that Iran seems to be going back on what the president declared or maybe that the president got too far ahead of himself yesterday?
Maybe I'll make a statement here you might get a little struck by.
Where is the United Nations?
Where is NATO?
Where is Britain and France that are vacillating back and forth?
Do you know that Britain just finished paying us for the Lend-Lease?
Remember Lend-Lease from World War II from seventh-grade civics?
They just stopped paying us 15 years ago.
They wouldn't allow us to use their bases.
This is more about hating Donald Trump.
Donald Trump could be Mother Teresa right now, and because we've politicized it.
And one more thing.
It used to be that foreign policy ended at the water's edge.
That stopped with George Bush because his poll numbers were 90% and the Democrats desperately needed to get back in power.
The Democrats were a power for most of post-World War II.
This is about power.
Do not be deceived.
Thank you.
Thank you, Al.
Hope you have a good day.
Let's go to Tehran calling in from Bakersfield, California on the Independent Line.
Good morning.
You're on with us.
What's on your mind?
Hey, good morning, John.
I would just like to say thank you for your show.
And, you know, listening yesterday, and sometimes it's amazing how jaded people are to the facts and the truth.
You know, they want to blame the liberal media and this and that.
When the facts and the writing is on the wall, we had an agreement that President Trump tore up that had the situation under control.
Iran was not going to bomb the United States.
That was a farce.
If they wanted to do that, it would have happened a long time ago.
Now, President Trump's history, before he even became president, we all knew what he was about.
But people were so enamored about making America great and believed all that nonsense with his track record that they voted him in not once, but twice.
And the second time, I think it had to really do with the fact that they did not want a black woman running the country who was way more qualified than Donald Trump in every measure.
Even his cabinet, none of them are qualified to do the job.
All the people that were in place, the professionals that do that job every day and have, you know, career professionals in their respective positions, most of them have been fired or left.
And as far as people with NATO and blaming this country and that country not backing us up, nobody wants to be involved in something that's immoral or illegal.
They don't want that.
And Americans are tired and the writing is on the wall.
You know, I'm really embarrassed.
It's embarrassing to be an American to the world.
This man has destroyed the world economy and our economy.
And they continue to grift.
Billionaires continue to make money on his market manipulation.
Oh, we're going to do this.
Market's up.
Market's down.
Market's up.
Oil is up.
Oil is down.
And I guarantee you that if they do a follow-up and investigate all the actions of this president, not only will he be convicted and guilty as he is of war crimes, but of market manipulation and every other law that's possibly out there.
I'm sorry that Republicans and people are so jaded that can't find the facts in the situation and have to go and, you know, feel with their heart and in their bones that Trump is a savior and everybody hates Trump and everybody's just against Trump because I don't know why besides the fact that he's a convicted felon, a fraud, a tax cheat.
You know, he never released, he has no one to check his power and what he does.
And he works with pure immunity.
The Supreme Court, the Republicans in Congress have no backbone and are so afraid of losing their cushy job that they won't even stand up for the American people, their constituents, and what's right.
I don't know how long and what it will take before those people choose to think for themselves and not buy into this Fox news match and so on media circus.
That's the bad part of media.
Teron, thank you.
Thanks for weighing in.
You've touched on a lot, so I want to build on a couple of the points that you made.
There's some reporting from CBS specifically about the war and the hourly updates that we've been getting over the last 24 hours that I want to touch on.
Future of Navigation in Strait00:03:49
CBS said that President Trump said in a phone interview with CBS on Friday that Iran has, quote, agreed to everything and will work with the U.S. to remove its enriched uranium.
He said the two sides are meeting this weekend and the U.S. would continue its military blockade of Iranian ports and vessels, quote, until we get it done.
Obviously, now Iran is saying because of that blockade, they have reclosed the Strait of Hormuz.
CBS says Mr. Trump also told them that removing enriched uranium from Iran would not involve U.S. ground troops.
When asked who would retrieve it, he would only say our people.
An Iranian foreign ministry spokesman told state TV the country's enriched uranium isn't going to be transferred anywhere.
Now, Tehran, you and a couple other callers have already brought up NATO and the United Nations and their role in this conflict.
We have heard from prominent European leaders like the UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer in the last 24 hours talking about the Strait of Hormuz and the role that Europe should be playing and prominent US allies should be playing in reopening that strait.
Here's what Starmer said yesterday about the future of navigation in the Strait.
We welcome the announcement that was made during our meeting, but we need to make sure that that is both lasting and a workable proposal.
And if anything, it reinforces the need for the work that we've been doing this afternoon, because we're very clear that the mission that we're putting together is a defensive mission that comes after a ceasefire.
So that's why we brought the international group together to indicate how we will play our part.
And there are a number of elements.
First, to deliver the diplomatic push for peace based on the fundamental principle that the strait should be reopened immediately with no tolls and no restrictions.
And there was absolute unity on those points across all of the states attending today.
And that transcends the other differences that countries who are with us this afternoon may have because the whole world needs to see a solution here.
Second, that we need to manage the economic shock by avoiding unnecessary trade restrictions, supporting energy and food security, and supporting industry so that shipping can resume as soon as conditions permit.
Thirdly, and crucially, we agreed to accelerate our military planning.
I can confirm that along with France, the UK will lead a multinational mission to protect freedom of navigation as soon as conditions allow.
This will be strictly peaceful and defensive as a mission to reassure commercial shipping and support mine clearance.
We invite all nations with an interest in the free flow of global trade to join us.
Some have already indicated their readiness to contribute.
We will take this forward with a military planning conference in London next week, where we will announce more detail on the composition of the mission.
And over a dozen countries have already offered to contribute assets.
But look, reopening the strait is a global necessity and a global responsibility.
We need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again to bring down prices for working people.
Our citizens need to see a return to peace and stability.
And we will play our full part.
That was UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer on Friday talking about the Strait of Hormuz.
Let's go back to some callers.
Essie is calling in from Tyler, Texas on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Essie.
You're on with us.
What's your top story of the week?
Gas Prices and War Impact00:08:42
I want to comment on Trump calling himself as Jesus.
I see it as blasphemous that he would do something like that because he's not portraying himself as a doctor.
The outfit that he has on is really something that Christ wore back in biblical time.
So a man who would do something like that, and say he's a Christian, he's telling a lie.
And blasphemy in the Bible, you cannot be forgiven.
That's a sin you cannot be forgiven for.
So if a man will do that, there's no telling what else he will do.
Since he's been updown Pennsylvania Avenue, he just has created chaos in the world.
He's not a peacemaker.
This war should have never been started, even though we know Iran is an enemy, but they have not fired upon us, so why fire upon them?
And then the gas prices.
I'm a senior citizen.
It is hard to make it out here on a fixed income.
The gas prices, food prices, just the economy, period.
And I don't think he's concerned about the American people or any people for that matter, only himself, enriching himself.
And that's what he seems to be doing ever since he's been back up down Pennsylvania Avenue is enriching himself and his rich friends.
And I don't know why, too, they let him tear down the East Wing and pave over the roads according because those things are history.
Why is he destroying history?
And why are people letting him destroy history and create chaos in this country?
Thank you.
Essie, if you could hang on for a second, a question for you.
What have gas prices been like in your part of Texas?
And what do you say to the president, who I think it was back on Thursday, was asked about gas prices and said, in his opinion, they're not that high.
And he thinks they will drop further once this conflict with Iran is sorted out.
Okay.
And I live in East Texas and in this town, gas prices have went up to $3.79, which it was like $2.39.
So for us, you know, cost of living, that's a lot.
And you have a lot of seniors who live in this part of East Texas.
So for us, that's a lot of money.
And it's probably going to go up some more.
Probably will hit $4.
And I think he's probably never ever had to buy a loaf of bread, gas, or anything else.
He doesn't know what that feels like.
Got it.
Well, thanks for weighing in, Essie.
I appreciate that.
And I want to go back to your comments about the president's back and forth with Pope Leo over the war in Iran.
Here's an article from USA Today earlier this week with the headline, I'm not fighting with him.
Trump says he and Pope disagree, and that's okay.
The piece says, President Donald Trump ratcheted down his week-long feud with Pope Leo, saying it's okay for the two of them to have different approaches to the world's problems.
I'm not fighting with him, Trump said.
The Pope can say what he wants, and I want him to say what he wants, but I can disagree.
The president's comments came after Trump and Leo have exchanged a series of critical messages and statements to the press and on social media about the war with Iran.
Leo has said in a post on April 10th that anyone who is a disciple of Christ is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.
Let's go now to West Virginia.
Gregory is calling in on the Republican line.
Good morning, Gregory.
You're on with us.
What's your top story of the week?
I guess it'd be the skirmish we have with Iran.
They were bad actors for 47 years.
And it's about time we had a president that would be able to stop them in their tracks.
And it seems to be working.
And what do you think about that previous caller from Texas talking about the affordability aspect of this, that the war has caused gas prices to rise and that that's having a negative impact, in her view, on people here in America?
Well, I mean, I'm up here in West Virginia, and I guess my gas price is about $3.65, which is still lower than what Biden did.
So for us to stop Iran and pay a little bit more to Pump, I have no problem with that.
And are you concerned at all about this news just from the last few hours that Iran is saying the Strait of Hormuz, that was briefly reopened yesterday, is now closed again, especially after President Trump said yesterday that he claimed Iran would never again close the Strait?
I don't believe a word coming out of our aunt's mouth, to be honest with you.
We had negotiators over there taking care of it, so let them do their job.
And we just have to stay here and listen to the non-fake radio news, and we'll see what happens.
All right.
Thanks, Gregory.
Appreciate that.
On the gas price front, News Nation has some numbers to help break this down.
They write, the military conflict in Iran, which began at the end of February, started while U.S. fuel prices averaged $2.98 per gallon.
Within three weeks of the war's start, the national average had climbed past $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 in late March.
While drivers saw the largest month-over-month jump in crude oil prices since 2020, the increase is set to affect home energy bills as well, with residential heating oil prices jumping approximately 24% in the two weeks following the war's start.
Gas buddies Patrick DeHaan say Americans could start seeing cheaper gas in three to four weeks, potentially if the Strait of Hormuz were to be opened.
Let's go now to David, calling in from Independence, Louisiana, on the Independent line.
Good morning, David.
You're on with us.
Good morning.
Mr. Taylor, isn't it?
That's right.
How are you doing, sir?
I'm doing well.
How are you?
Okay, having to listen to all the Democratic response, you know, rhetoric.
It's just unbelievable how Mr. Trump has to fight Iran and the Democratic Party.
But, you know, that's okay.
That's what this country's all about, right?
But my deal was Clarence Thomas from the Supreme Court making that speech concerning liberalism, progressivism, and how it's incompatible with our Constitution and the foundation principles that this country were built on.
And I haven't heard anybody say anything, or maybe you can elaborate some.
You know, I don't have the capability to get that message out there.
And the second part I wanted to mention, some maybe you could touch on this, is about all the scientists that are coming up missing.
And God bless you, sir.
Thank you.
Thank you, David.
President Trump, to that latter point, has been asked.
He was asked by Peter Docey on Fox News this week about scientists and other people affiliated with science.
And I'll look this up in a minute, but who have gone missing?
And both the President and Press Secretary Caroline Levitt have said the government is looking into that now.
They're not sure if these cases are connected or not.
You brought up Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
I quickly looked up this piece from ABC News from earlier this week.
It said, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas blasts progressivism as threat to America.
He said values in the Declaration of Independence have fallen out of favor.
This was on Wednesday.
He delivered a televised broadside against progressivism, ABC says, a political philosophy he described as an existential threat to America and the principles that founded it 250 years ago.
Thomas said, progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government while speaking at the University of Texas Austin Law School pegged to the nation's upcoming milestone birthday.
A spirit of cynicism, rejection, hostility, and animus toward America by Americans has taken hold.
Thomas said in remarks, carried live right here on C-SPAN.
So that's what one of the prominent justices was saying this week while on the road.
Let's go now to Joe calling in from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Joe.
What's your top story of the week?
Well, now that there's so many, I hear so many callers, and you were talking about Clarence Thomas.
Epstein Files and Israel Commitments00:09:28
Let's not forget he was the one they caught, they caught taking the billionaire cash on people that had court rulings coming up.
And not only was he taking the cash, he was hiding it.
And then when they caught him, he started reporting some of it.
It's outlandish money he's taken under the table.
That's like vulture capitalism.
So I would imagine he would be against things like everyone having health care that would be progressive.
So forget about him.
He's corrupt.
I did want to throw one thing in real quick about the Mexican border.
And if you look it up, Trump didn't close the border.
He threatened Mexico with tariffs.
And they've got their troops keeping any immigrants from reaching our border.
So that's really not the law.
But anyway, and then on to the Iran situation with Israel.
I think people need to do the two plus two.
Jeffrey Epstein, his girlfriend, Ghulane, who was getting all the girls, her father was Robert Maxwell.
Everyone should look up Robert Maxwell, the billionaire from England, who was known to be working with the intelligence of not just the UK, but Israel and you've guessed it, Russia.
Glain was his daughter.
He dropped off a boat, mysteriously died in 1991 the same year she met Jeffrey Epstein.
Well, did Epstein have any Israel connections?
Yes, he met with Ehud Barak.
Look him up.
He was their defense minister of Israel and the president.
And they got together over 60 times, 60 times, and every month during Trump's first run for president.
So just think about it.
Jeffrey Epstein's taking videos and pictures of all the wealthy, powerful political people coming through his various locations.
He's taking pictures.
Those naughty pictures are in the hands of Israeli government and Russian government because Robert Maxwell was working for all these intelligence agencies.
That's why when you really look at Trump's track record, he's pro-Israel to a fault, which is why we're in Iran right now and why he's trying to get off trying to let Russia just go ahead and roll over Ukraine.
So the common sense thing, the common sense thing is the Israeli government and the Russian government, they have the pictures, the videos.
That's part of that 3 million documents they won't release.
So as soon as those all come out or we get the actual banking records like from the Bank of New York Mellon, as soon as all these banking records come out, then the people will finally go, hey, I didn't get my, remember when Trump was going to send out the tariff checks?
Did you get it?
No, he was lying again.
Did you get your Doge check?
No, he was lying again.
So stop saying you just wait because by the time you figure out this is a big con by the orange caligula in the White House, you'll be joining the other side of the aisle just to bring sanity back.
And I'm no Joe Biden fan, right, or any of those people because they're too corporate as well.
But I will say that inflation during Biden's time, it was global.
Joe Biden had very little to do with that inflation, but he got the blame for it.
So I'm just trying to kind of do a little education here.
Got your point, Joe.
And I want to build on what you were claiming about Jeffrey Epstein.
Pulled up this article from Al Jazeera from back in February.
Their headline is: What were Jeffrey Epstein's links to Israel?
New documents show some believed the disgraced American financier had links to Israeli intelligence services and settler groups.
I'll just read a couple lines from this.
The ties between disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein and Israel are becoming clearer after the release of millions of documents related to the convicted sex offender by the United States Department of Justice following a years-long campaign.
The documents have revealed more details of Epstein's interactions with members of the global elite, including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
But they also document his funding of Israeli groups, including Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces and the settler organization, the Jewish National Fund, as well as his ties to members of Israel's overseas intelligence services.
Your point is something that a lot of Democrats, especially on Capitol Hill, have raised at various times.
And in my last few weeks hosting here, a lot of callers have brought up concerns about President Trump's commitments to Israel and this Jeffrey Epstein story.
So just wanted to dive a bit into that.
Let's hear now from Angela calling in from Virginia on the Republican line.
Good morning, Angela.
You're on with us.
Yeah, well, thank you for taking my call.
Yeah, that guy from Oklahoma, he just sounds like a crazy person to me.
And you bringing up that whole Israel thing, that Epstein article up, because the bottom line is the Democrats had the Epstein files long before the Trump administration did.
And I'm pretty sure they combed through every single letter of that file to see if there was anything that they could find proof that President Trump was doing something the way that they came after him with the law fair.
Do you actually think they would have had those Epstein files for four whole years and didn't come through them and would not?
And if there was something there that they could prove, they wouldn't have done it.
So you all sound, you only try to convince yourselves and your silly followers because they had it long before the Trump administration did, the files, the entire files.
And everybody knows it.
So the only thing they can do is now use it for innuendos just to try to say something about President Trump.
That's all that is.
And then, secondly, I would rather have a president depicting himself as Christ.
I would rather have a president doing that.
And even though he didn't depict that, someone else did.
He just posted it.
But I would rather have a president depicting himself as Christ than to be affiliated with the reprobate-mind people that will mutilate children, telling them that they can be boys and girls when they were born in the wrong body, all against the Lord.
And your first caller from wherever he was from saying if any Christian had anything about them, they wouldn't support President Trump.
Well, then if we're not going to support President Trump, then what are we supposed to support?
The reprobate-mind people that tell little girls and boys that they were born in the wrong body, that God made a mistake?
Do you want us to support that kind of nonsense?
Or people that would kill an innocent baby sleeping in the mother's womb?
You would rather us support that?
So, you know, you people have nothing to stand on.
And as far as Israel and the United States, what is all the this big thing about Israel and the United States?
The United States have to have allies all over.
So Israel can't be an ally because of why.
Okay.
So it sounds more like Jew hating to me, Zionist hating to me.
So, you know, as far as young man, are you a college graduate?
I am, yes.
Yeah, and see, and that's my whole point, because it appears to me that people who have graduated from these colleges and universities are no more, the vast majority of you, are no more the trained Marxists.
Are you a college graduate, Angela?
No, I am not.
I'm an autodidact.
Got it.
You all are trained Marxists.
The vast majority, not all.
But the vast majority of you are, because you're so against your own country.
So I'd love, Angela, if you don't mind, you raised several points there.
I wanted to pull up this one Fox News article responding to your comments about the president's depiction of himself as Jesus on social media, because while the president did receive a good amount of criticism from members of his own base, he also got some support.
This Fox News piece says, Franklin Graham defends Trump in letter shared on Truth Social after AI Jesus image backlash.
Reverend Franklin Graham defended President Donald Trump in a statement shared Thursday on Truth Social after backlash over an image critics said depicted Trump as Jesus Christ.
The statement was released Thursday by Graham and shared by the president as a signed letter.
Fox says, I do not believe President Trump would knowingly depict himself as Jesus Christ.
That would certainly be inappropriate, Graham wrote.
He added that Trump believed the image showed him as a doctor and said the president immediately removed the post after concerns were raised.
So some defense there from some of the president's allies.
You touched on a lot there, Angela.
I appreciate you weighing in.
Let's hear from John calling in from Birdsboro, Pennsylvania on the independent line.
Iranian Regime Perspective00:16:14
Good morning, John.
You're on with us.
Good morning.
Can you hear me?
I can, loud and clear.
What stories are you following this week?
Well, I was going to talk about Iran, but I've been whole so long talking about, I don't know, I can't figure people out.
That's why I'm kind of independent because it don't matter whether you're Democratic or Republican.
There's pedophiles everywhere.
Why didn't the lady ask why did the Democrats bring up Epstein?
Well, don't they remember Bill Clinton and Donald Trump used to ride together on the airplane to the island?
I can't figure it out.
There's pedophiles everywhere.
But my point is, you know, I got broke into my house.
So I went out and got a gun and put on house protected by Smith and Wesley.
Big sign.
I haven't got broke into since then.
My point is North Korea got the nuclear bomb.
All Iran wanted was a nuclear bomb so that you don't get bombed by Israel.
That's all they wanted.
They weren't going to get nobody.
It's to protect yourselves.
That's my point.
Thanks for listening to me.
Thank you, John.
Quick follow-up question for you, John.
Are you concerned at all by this news from the last 24 hours about Iran closing down the Strait of Hormuz, seeming to go back on this apparent deal that was reached yesterday?
Maybe we don't have, John.
I'll put up this Associated Press update.
There's a lot of news coming in on the Iran front.
The AP said just within the last half hour that Iranian gunboats fire on tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.
The British military says.
The AP says the British military says two gunboats from Iran's Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz after Iran said it had re-imposed restrictions on the vital waterway.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center said the tanker and crew were reported safe without identifying the vessel or its destination.
Iran said earlier it was reimposing restrictions on the strait in response to a U.S. blockade on Iranian shipping and ports.
Iran has prevented vessels from crossing throughout the seven-week-long war, except for ones it authorizes.
Let's go up to Hanover, Massachusetts, where Kathy's calling in from the Democratic line.
Good morning, Kathy.
What's your top story of the week?
The interview with Maria Bartaromo and Donald Trump, where Trump insisted that or stated confidently that Tom Tillis had left the Senate.
And Maria, when you looked at her, in my opinion, she had that look in her eyes where, you know, that passing momentary thing where you know someone's not stating something true, but it's an older kind of family member or friend where you don't want to say, hey, you're wrong.
And then he was questioning her.
He questioned, you could see that look of doubt in his face.
Like, you could see the aging going on live, is my perspective.
But that's just me.
And do you, could I ask you, Kathy, is that a conversation amongst your family, friends, community members?
Because there was so much talk.
I spent the 2024 campaign on the trail, and I heard a lot of concerns from people from all backgrounds and stripes about President Joe Biden's age at the time.
Are you hearing similar concerns now from people about President Trump's age?
Well, you don't need to listen to people to know it's true.
I mean, it's his erratic behavior in general.
I mean, when he was posting, I forget which Senate it was last weekend, but when he posted from 2:34 to 237, four times, he was up all night posting.
It's an obsession.
To your point, I just pulled up this article from the Daily Beast.
They wrote, Trump, age 79, makes mind-boggling mistakes in rambling diatribe, talking about the president's interview with Maria Bartaromo, which aired earlier this week on Fox Business Channel.
Thanks so much, Kathy.
Let's go to Larry calling in from Lumberton, North Carolina, on the Republican line.
Good morning, Larry.
You're on with us.
Let me see.
Larry, are you there?
Yes, sir.
Hey there.
Sorry about that.
You're on.
What's your top story of the week?
Well, I had a couple of things I want to talk about, but after listening to all this stuff, I want to change up a little bit.
Okay, go for it.
Number one, if people would read the Bible, they would know.
If they would get a King James Version Bible and read it, they would know what's going on.
And everybody blasting everybody is the whole problem.
But if you know the Democrats was the ones that was hiring all these people to go in these cities and towns and blow up everything and tear up everything, and then it makes it look like the Iceman is doing it and all this, but it ain't.
It's the Democrats.
That old Nas Gelowski and that King Jeffries and them, they ain't no good.
They need to be gone.
AOC needs to be gone.
There's a bunch of them need to be gone.
But here's the deal: I am proud to have a president like Donald Trump.
While he's out there fighting for us, all the Americans, except for the 75 million that voted for him, is fighting against him.
And if he's 79-year-old, he's going to feel like 90 because he's pulling baggage from every corner.
And I just wanted to say I'm proud to have Israel on our side.
And Larry, are you comfortable with how the president has been handling the war with Iran?
Is there anything you want to see him do differently?
Yes, sir.
And I promise you, this news coming out today that says that Iran is shutting the straight back down, I promise you within 24 hours, they won't have no gunboats out there.
How are gas prices in your part of North Carolina?
Are you worried about that?
We got the best military in the world sitting out there.
And all he's got to do is say, hey, open it back up.
And it'll be opened up.
They won't be firing at no ships or nothing else because we got the best Navy and military and Marines and everything in the world sitting out there.
There's no comparison.
And people ought to feel good about that.
People should feel good about this man out here fighting for us to keep us safe for the next 20 years.
Got your point.
Thank you, Larry.
Let's go to Arnold calling in from Daytona Beach, Florida on the Independent Line.
Good morning, Arnold.
You're on with us.
Yeah, how you doing this morning?
Doing well.
How about you?
What's on your mind?
A couple things.
Number one, I think they need to start drug testing everybody, Congress, Senate, President.
I think they need to drug test them all.
Some of the stuff comes out of this president's mouth and the lies that he puts out on Cruise Social, which is owned by him.
It's easy to lie.
And it's like us yesterday.
You know, all the straits of Hormuz are open.
You know, everything's good.
Then next thing you know, Iran says, he's lying.
You know, it's a straight-up lie.
The man has a history of lying.
I mean, that's him.
Another thing, you know, for some reason, everybody just seems to believe everything comes out of his mouth is truth, and it ain't.
You know, our news media is not doing their job because they're scared of him.
Things need to change a little bit on that, I think.
Thank you, Arnold.
I wanted to play a soundbite from earlier this week from Treasury Secretary Scott Besson talking about the war's impact economically, specifically on gas prices.
The Treasury Secretary and the Trump administration have faced a lot of questions about this over the last few weeks.
Here's what Secretary Besson said.
When are we really going to get $3 a gallon gas?
Well, I think that's going to be up to how the negotiations go.
President Trump said this morning that he thinks we're nearing the end.
The U.S. kept their side on the ceasefire.
We've stopped firing.
The straits of our move have not been completely reopened.
So we will see.
And I'm optimistic that during the summer, we will see gas with a three in front of it sooner rather than later.
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.
So not by summer, like Memorial Day, but maybe by Labor Day?
Again, I'm optimistic that sometime between June 20th and September 20th, that we can have $3 gas again.
And as I said this morning, too, we are going to be watching the gas stations because they raised prices very quickly when the crude oil prices went up.
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.
That was Treasury Secretary Scott Besson on Wednesday during a White House press briefing.
Let's go out to the West Coast.
Vera is calling in from San Mateo, California on the Democratic line.
Good morning.
You're on with us.
Well, hi.
Hey there.
What stories are you following?
Well, I'm Iranian, Iranian-American, and I just wanted to tell everybody that most Iranians, including myself, know that what President Trump is doing is the right thing because this regime has to be overthrown because for 47 years, a cancer has been created in the Middle East.
Basically, a bully, a bully that would do anything.
And the way they operate is not like a regime.
It's like a mafia.
So if it's not overthrown, I don't know what is going to happen because we're not dealing with normal national, rational people.
Do you have family still in Iran?
Yes, I have cousins, but since they shut down the internet and, you know, power and everything in Iran to the government, and the phones are tapped, basically the apps don't work anymore because that was the main way we could communicate.
Once in a blue line, blue moon, we basically get somehow connection with them.
They just send me a message that we're okay.
Don't worry.
But the message that I got from my cousin was that we are more happy when we see the bombs are coming here because what happens if this regime stays?
That's the main actually worry for people.
Because imagine if this regime stays, they're going to start basically reinforcing their own ideology.
Because then this regime came, it's not about one area.
They want to conquer the world.
And that is how they have been operating for 47 years.
They bring people from different parts of the world, including 200,000 people from Africa.
They pay them a stipend, housing, everything.
They train them on extreme Islamism.
And then after two years, they send them back to Africa.
So this is what you're dealing with.
So the rise of extremism is because of this regime, mainly.
Hezbollah, Houthi, Hashdoshab, all these terrorist organizations are funded by the Iranian government.
So when Democrats come and say, oh, you know, we shouldn't have this war, I really think the only reason they say this is to win the election and to be anti-Trump.
But the reasoning is flood.
Could I ask you, I think your perspective is really interesting, especially because you have family in Iran.
You're also calling from California, a state that has very, very high gas prices right now.
And if you've been listening throughout the last hour, a lot of callers have called in to talk about the affordability aspect of this war.
What's your message and your perspective on if higher gas prices here in the U.S., if the economic impact here feels worthwhile or not to you, especially given your family connections to Iran?
The thing is, I seem I've been in U.S. for 30 years.
U.S. is home for me.
And this country gave me everything, education, everything.
So I really, from the bottom of my heart, I love this country.
And the country is safe safety.
And it's staying in the power and the way it is is priority for me.
And I think the Iranian regime is going to undermine it.
And it has been undermining it.
A few years ago, they had these propaganda, the photo of the American Navy.
They had actually stopped a ship, American ship.
And they basically made a huge propaganda and they put it for the world to see that they had them sit down, kneel on the, you know, on the ground, and have their hand on their back.
And this is what the regime we're facing with.
They're looking for any kind of American, any kind of Western to take hostage and come to the table for asking for money or for this stuff.
So we're talking about the bully.
I'm American at this point because this is my country and I love America.
I have cousins in Iran that I haven't seen for so long.
But of course, nobody likes genocide and they killed over 100,000 people.
But what we see in Nigeria, killing of Christians by extreme Muslims, what we see in Sudan is mostly, if you ask any person that has studied these, is from the Iranian government because the Iranian government started now having influence from West Africa to East Africa to now in our continent, in American continent, in South America.
We're not far from them anymore.
It's not the other side of the ocean anymore.
They're home.
And this is very dangerous.
So I would personally take price of gas or anything to see that our country is doing well.
And honestly, in comparison to UN and EU and UK, that are really, really disappointing because U.S. has always supported them in everything NATO did.
But anytime anything happens, the U.S., all of these countries have different policies.
They become individually interested in their own single country policy and leave the U.S. behind.
But the U.S. has the highest grounds of ethics at this point.
Voting Rights and Mail Ballots00:04:04
I'm not talking about every single other world that has happened, but this one, we know what these people have done.
And another thing is Palestine has been a scapegoat for the Iranian regime for 47 years.
When I was a kid, they would line us, they would teach us, say this to America, this to Israel.
And Gaza has always been an excuse for the Iranian regime.
Iranian regime started October 7th because Iranian regime backs on us.
So anytime kids die, because we're dealing with the propaganda regime, this is the most important thing for them.
When Gaza kids die, they get happy actually.
Then Iranian people, if for any reason they are killed by non-Iranians, they make a huge history of it.
But at the same time, they kill more people inside Iran.
So this is the government we're facing.
So I'm personally willing to have some inconveniences to know that our children in the future, U.S. is on top and people here are doing well because I think U.S. has stood up to the truth at this point, yeah.
Got it.
Farah, thank you so much for sharing your story, especially for your family that are overseas in Iran right now.
I think it's also interesting you brought up Sudan and some other conflicts.
We'll be talking in the next hour with our next guest more broadly about that.
I'll touch on that in a minute.
Let's go to New Jersey.
Geraldine is calling in on the Republican line from Forkid River in New Jersey.
Good morning, Geraldine.
You're on with us.
Good morning.
First, I want to thank that Iranian-American woman for speaking.
You learn a lot when they're from Iran here, Iran.
I just want to talk about the voting because I was researching it, and I know France, Mexico, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Ukraine, Russia, Japan, all of the Middle East, and all Latin America don't allow mail-in voting.
Now, the Dems keep saying that you don't need ID, but They also keep saying you can't allow ICE near any voting areas.
So, I'm not sure.
Isn't that kind of a contradiction in itself?
No, no illegals are voting, but ICE isn't allowed near any voting areas.
So, are they voting?
Now, I do know one illegal Mexican who did vote here in New Jersey, but I know the states are different than the government.
But what do you think?
Tell me the truth.
Do you think everyone should have ID since you need it for everything else?
Even the Democratic Party, when they had their get-together, needed to show ID.
Even when the new mayor of New York City wanted them to shovel snow, they had to show two forms of ID.
So, what is going on here when the Dems don't want voter ID, and yet they say no ice near voting, even though they say no illegals vote?
Thanks for that, Geraldine.
Thank you very much.
Just one point that you mentioned.
There's this article from CBS from earlier this month where they talk about officials from 23 Democratic states in the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit seeking to block President Trump's latest executive order that aims to restrict mail voting, arguing the directive unconstitutionally attempts to interfere with states' administration of elections.
There's a much wider conversation taking place over the president's claims about voting fraud, what the reality on the ground is, and his attempts via executive order that are now facing these legal challenges.
Independent Radio History00:08:31
We've touched on a lot in this hour, but coming up in the next hour, we have a really interesting guest who's going to weigh in on a lot.
We're going to be speaking to Democracy Now co-founder and host Amy Goodman.
She'll be discussing her 40-year journalism career as well as News of the Week.
We'll be touching a lot on foreign policy, so stay with us.
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Richard Bell will talk about his book, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World, about the Revolutionary Era.
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Hi, I'm Amy Libman from Democracy Now.
Can you tell us what you think about President Trump saying climate change is a Chinese hoax?
I'm sorry, I'm running away from a meeting ticket.
Right, but you weren't running late when you're just standing there.
So my first impressions of Amy was...
What did you say to those who say that you're a war criminal?
Man, she doesn't show what anybody thinks.
So don't push me.
I'm a journalist.
Independent media is the oxygen of a democracy.
What do you mean by independence?
Not being sponsored by corporations.
Amy's chaotically brilliant at the spy game.
We began on nine radio stations.
If she believes something, she's going to fight for it and get it out to the world.
Straight up, Journal.
That was a clip of a trailer for a newly released documentary called Steal This Story, Please.
It focuses on the career of journalist Amy Goodman, who joins us now.
She is the co-founder and host for Democracy Now.
And that documentary highlights her 40-year career in journalism.
She's here to talk with us about that as well as News of the Week.
Good morning, Amy.
Thanks for being with us.
It's great to be with you, Taylor.
I know you're on tour right now promoting this documentary.
Let's do a little backstory about how did this documentary come about for people who are familiar with your work?
Well, to start, it's such an honor to be back on C-SPAN.
I used to come on with Brian Lamb and other folks on Washington Journal because Democracy Now started 30 years ago on nine radio stations and we started on the Pacifica radio station in Washington, D.C.
So I would just come over to C-SPAN.
It was just, it was the only daily election show in public broadcasting at the time.
That was the year that President Clinton was re-elected.
And it was just a project.
It was going to wrap up right after that election.
But there was such a demand for the show.
We used the primary system in the country to look at state by state what people were doing.
At the time, most people didn't vote in the United States.
When I got the call from Pacifica Radio to host this show, I was at an underground house in Haiti covering elections.
When people would go to the polls, they'd be gunned down.
When people would announce for office, they could be killed.
And yet, most people voted.
So why in the United States, in the most powerful country on earth, did most people not vote?
I didn't think it was apathy.
I really wanted to know how people were involved, what they were doing in their communities.
And so it was those authentic voices at the grassroots that is what Democracy Now became known for.
You know, movements make history.
Yes, the President of the United States occupies the most powerful position on earth, but there is a force more powerful, and it is everyone, everywhere.
And I wanted to know what people thought, what people were doing.
And so the show just started to increase just on radio, on public radio, Pacifica Radio.
And let me say a little about Pacifica Radio, where we got started.
Well, I mean, then it went the week of the 9-11 attacks.
We're broadcasting from New York from an old hundred-year-old firehouse in downtown Manhattan that had become our new home.
It was three weeks before the 9-11 attacks.
Our show at the time, it's every morning at 8.
People can check it out at democracynow.org or on local TV and radio.
But at the time, it was 9 every morning.
So the first plane hit the first tower of the World Trade Center at 8.47.
We heard a kind of sonic boom-like crash outside the firehouse.
But the show must go on at 9 o'clock.
We went on at 9.03.
The next plane hit the next tower of the World Trade Center.
And then, well, as we all know, events started to unfold.
People were running by the firehouse covered in ash.
And we just kept broadcasting hour after hour.
We were inside the evacuation zone, the closest national broadcast to ground zero.
That's when a local public access TV station in New York, Manhattan Neighborhood Network, said, can we just flip the switch?
They were connected to this community television training center and put you on.
And so once we went on one TV show, it took off.
And stations around the country started to say, can we run you as emergency broadcasting?
Then in PR stations and PBS stations, community and college stations.
And now we're on 1,500 public television and radio stations around the United States and around the world.
And that's how Democracy Now has grown.
But we started on Pacifica Radio, which is the oldest independent network in the United States.
It began in 1949 in the Bay Area.
I am headed there today for this new film out about Democracy Now, and it'll be in theaters in Berkeley and Sebastopol and at the Roxy and San Francisco and San Rafael and then Seattle and then Portland, Oregon.
But it began in 1949.
A man named Lou Hill was a war resistor.
He came out of the detention camps and he said, there has to be a media outlet that is not run by corporations that profit from war, or as George Gerbner, the late dean of the Annenberg School of Communications would say, not run by corporations that have nothing to tell and everything to sell that are raising our children today.
And so Pacifica was born, 49 KPFA in Berkeley, 1959, KPFK in Los Angeles, where I am right now.
Breaking Down Stereotypes00:02:27
We had a big fundraiser for KPFK.
Listener supported radio here when the film came out.
The film is in a lot of the Lemley theaters here in Los Angeles.
My station in New York, WBAI, went on the air in 1960.
And you'd hear debates like between Malcolm X and the great writer James Baldwin on the effectiveness of nonviolent civil disobedience.
WPFW and Washington, Jazz and Justice Radio, and in Houston, and this is the interesting story, went on the air, KPFT, in the Petro Metro in 1970.
It was on the air for a few weeks.
And then the Ku Klux Klan strapped dynamite to the base of the transmitter and blew it up.
KPFT got back on their feet.
They rebuilt the transmitter.
In a few weeks, they went back on the air.
And then the Klan strapped 15 times the dynamite to the base of the transmitter and blew it to smithereens right in the middle of Arlo Guthrie singing Alice's Restaurant.
Now, I happen to think that's a good song.
But anyway, it now took months for them to rebuild.
And in January of 1971, Arlo Guthrie came back to Houston to finish his song on the air.
The networks were there covering this station, Rising from the Ashes, and KPFT has been broadcasting ever since.
I don't remember if it was the Grand Dragon or the Exalted Cyclops, because I often confuse their titles, these leaders of the Klan.
But he said it was his proudest act because he understood how dangerous independent media is.
Dangerous because it allows people to speak for themselves.
And if you hear someone speaking from their own experience, whether it's a Palestinian child or an Israeli grandmother, whether it's a kid from South Texas or an uncle in Iran, it makes it, it breaks down the caricatures and the stereotypes that fuel hate groups like the KKK.
First Amendment Press Freedom00:10:59
You know, I'm not saying you'll agree with what you hear.
You know, the uncle from Iran might remind you of an uncle you don't like, but it makes you much, it makes it much less likely that you'll want to destroy someone.
That's why I think the media can be the greatest force for peace on earth.
Instead, all too often, it's wielded as a weapon of war.
And that's why it's so important to take the media back.
You obviously have so much you can provide wisdom on over your decades in journalism and in independent media.
And I think this era is really striking.
You've been on the air for so long, but especially over the last couple of years, there's been almost a mainstreaming of independent media.
We even see the Trump White House talking about and embracing what they call new media on a daily basis.
I wanted to get your thoughts also because you cover foreign policy so closely.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a former Fox News personality, has been very public and very critical of news media coverage, specifically of the war in Iran.
I want to play for you a portion from his press conference earlier this week at the Pentagon.
And then on the back end of it, I'll just ask you about what you make of it and what impact you think it is having more broadly.
But here's what Hegseth said.
This past Sunday, I was sitting in church with my family, and our minister preached from the book of Mark, the third chapter.
And in the passage, Jesus entered a synagogue and healed a man with a withered hand.
The Pharisees came to watch.
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.
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.
But their hearts were hardened.
Even though they witnessed a literal miracle, it didn't matter.
They were only there to explain away the goodness in pursuit of their agenda.
As the passage ends, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel against him, how to destroy him.
I sat there in church and I thought, our press are just like these Pharisees.
Not all of you.
Not all of you.
But the legacy Trump-hating press.
Your politically motivated animus for President Trump nearly completely blinds you from the brilliance of our American warriors.
The Pharisees scrutinized every good act in order to find a violation.
Only looking for the negative.
The hardened hearts of our press are calibrated only to impugn.
I would ask you to open your eyes.
So, Amy, that was Secretary Hegseth on Thursday.
He at one point called it the legacy Trump-hating press.
What did you think about his remarks, especially to intertwine the religious aspect of it?
And how do you think it factors into this current media environment as a pioneer of independent media yourself?
Well, there's a reason why independent media is essential to the functioning of a Democratic Party.
Rather, essential to the functioning of a democratic society.
I meant to say, we are not supposed to be a party to either party, either parties.
We are there to hold those in power to account.
That is extremely important.
You know, in the film that's out about Democracy Now called Steal the Story, Please, there is a section on my interview and President Clinton who said, I find you hostile, combative, at times, disrespectful, because I was asking critical questions.
In that case, they said, you know, Clinton called in on Election Day and 2000.
That was Bush v. Gore, and he wanted to get out the vote.
And this was a tremendous opportunity to, you know, interview the leader of the free world.
And I asked a whole series of questions.
After the interview, you know, they had said he was calling radio stations, had a few minutes to speak.
They called me up and they were considering banning me from the White House.
And I said, what are you talking about?
He called me.
I didn't call him.
And they said, we told you he had a few minutes and you kept him on for more than half an hour.
And I said, he's the leader of the free world.
He could hang up if he wants to, right?
It's my job to ask questions.
And it's the president's job or whoever it is that a journalist is interviewing to decide whether they want to answer or whether they want to hang up.
But what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is saying is extremely important to understand because we have a very sharp division between church and state.
I thought it's very interesting to see how the Pope has been responding, Pope Leo.
He has, to say the least, been going back and forth responding to what Hegset has been saying, what President Trump has been saying.
He's criticized leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world is, quote, being ravaged by a handful of tyrants.
And he was responding to, among other things, the Pope, President Trump, threatening that a whole civilization will die if Iran does not agree to the demands of the United States, that a whole civilization will die.
That's threatening a war crime when you threaten civilian infrastructure.
And you see what happened the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Looks like it was a U.S. Tomahawk missile that hit a primary girls' school in Manab in southern Iran.
Over 175 people were killed, a handful of teachers, but overwhelmingly primary school girls.
This is an enormous catastrophe.
And this is what happens in a situation like this.
And I think it's also important to look at what has happened with the press in this time.
Here you have Secretary Hagseth threatening the press, talking about the Trump hating press.
The role of the press, especially in a time of war, is not to circle the wagons around the White House.
There's no more critical time to ask serious questions.
I see the media as a huge kitchen table that stretches across the globe, that we all sit around and debate and discuss the most important issues of the day, life and death, war and peace.
And anything less than that is a disservice to the service men and women of this country.
You know, they can't publicly debate whether they are sent to kill or be killed.
Anything less than that is a disservice to a democratic society.
One more question for you before we let some callers chime in and speak with you.
We recently had on a guest from Freedom House, and she shared their annual report that tracks freedom around the world.
It's gone down for 20 consecutive years.
And here in the U.S., freedom in the media in particular is ranked at the top most under threat, especially in the context of these foreign conflicts that are being covered, the U.S. on the world stage.
What's your reaction to those rankings and how it ties into press freedom and also the ability for people to get accurate information, especially in wartime?
I mean, in this country, we so deeply value freedom of the press.
It's why it's enshrined in the First Amendment.
And, you know, the reason freedom of the press is so important is that it's about the public's right to know.
And in a democracy, an informed democracy makes the best decisions.
We can debate all different issues.
People can have different points of view, but we need accurate information.
And then people make up their minds.
I think about the crackdown on the press in the United States.
You have the Pentagon demanding that journalists sign oaths that they're not going to release classified information that isn't approved by the Pentagon.
I mean, it's really laudable, important that news organizations across the political spectrum and journalists, Pentagon journalists said no.
And then this was taken to court, and a judge ruled twice that this was unconstitutional.
Go back to, for example, Vietnam.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hirsch, we would never have known about Milai, the massacre of Vietnamese civilians, men, women, and children, if he had been asking the Pentagon if this was okay.
There is, we have an awesome responsibility in this country.
We are the most powerful country on earth.
And what we do in the world matters.
And we need a press that is there as an absolute safeguard, researching, investigating.
I think that's why Democracy Now, for 30 years, as we celebrate 30 years, daily grassroots global, independent, international, investigative, and I always say unembedded news.
We're not embedded in any political institution.
We're there to hold those institutions to account.
Celebrating Thirty Years of Democracy Now00:03:39
For those just tuning in, we're speaking with Amy Goodman, the co-founder and host of Democracy Now.
There's a new documentary out about Democracy Now being on the air over the last 30 years, and we're talking about her 40-year journalism career.
If you'd like to call in and speak with her and ask her about this documentary, Steal the Story, please, you could do that now.
Let's go to some callers who have patiently been waiting to speak with you, Amy.
We'll start with Thomas calling in from Derwood, Maryland on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Thomas.
You're on with our guest.
Thank you.
Good morning, Ms. Goodman.
How are you?
Hi.
You know, it's such a pleasure to see you and to hear you because I started listening to you from WPFW in Washington, D.C.
And, you know, you and Ambrose Lane, I don't know if, you know, you might know the names, but you were such an inspiration and you always gave the truth.
And, you know, it didn't matter what side it was, Democrat or Republican.
You came on strong and you came on truthfully.
And I was a younger person then, but I listened to you and you were like so profound.
I was like, wow, who is this woman?
You know, how can she be so deep?
You know, and it's just, like I said, it's a pleasure to talk to you.
Now, I want to ask you a question about today's current events.
Like, how do you feel that, I mean, you don't talk too much about the Epstein files, but that is global, whether anybody wants to admit it or not.
How do you feel about the way that the investigation is going and how the Attorney General and different people of power are not investigating it?
You know, I feel that you have more insight into it than I will ever have.
And, you know, and that's a pleasure to know that someone is really on top of things in this world because it's just like, you know, like we're talking about Iran.
And it bothers me that they let Israel destroy Gaza.
I mean, actually destroy it.
They don't even show any pictures of it now because it's just all rubble.
It's like you went to the dump and there's nothing there.
You know, it's terrible.
So I'd just like to know your perspective on what's going on with the world today as far as like weaponsry and armed conflicts and things like that.
And I'd like to, again, have a blessed day and it's a pleasure speaking with you.
Well, thank you so much.
It's a pleasure to speak to you.
You know, steal the story, please.
The documentary is going to be at the AFI Silver Theater in Silver Spring on May 1st.
So maybe I'll get to see you there.
I do QAs after all these films on May 1st and May 2nd.
And it's also going to be in Baltimore.
But yes, we got our start at WPFW Pacifica Radio in Washington in 1996.
And you're raising so many important issues.
There are those, it's hard to joke about war, but there are those who say, you know, the war on Iran, the Pentagon called Operation Epic Fury, many have quipped Epic Fury.
Documentary Screening Dates00:14:34
What about Epstein Fury?
It is a really serious question about whether President Trump engages in these different actions to distract from the Epstein files.
Do we remember who Pam Bondi was?
Well, she's been fired as Attorney General on April 14th.
When she was attorney general just weeks ago, she was set to testify.
She was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee.
And one wonders if President Trump didn't fire her, because then she could say, this is what they've argued, that she's no longer Attorney General.
So there's no reason to put her under oath.
But she was the one who said she had the Epstein files before her.
President Trump campaigned on releasing the Epstein files.
His name is mentioned more than a thousand times in the Epstein files.
But the Justice Department has yet to release 3 million pages.
And it is extremely serious.
The charges against Epstein, the charges against his accomplice, Ghelaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The Trump administration moved her from a maximum security prison to a minimum security prison in Texas.
We have so many questions that are so important that have to do with a demand by Congress passing a law that the Epstein Files Transparency Act, that these files would be released.
And if it doesn't implicate people, or if it does, what matters is that the law is filed.
We're talking about the rape and assault of children, of girls, and what happened with the release of some of those files and the questions that Congress members had, by the way, Republican and Democrat.
Why is it that the perpetrators' names were blacked out, but often the survivors' names were not?
And their identities and addresses and social security numbers were revealed.
Yes, you know, you go back to December.
President Trump could not wipe the headlines around Epstein files off the front pages.
So what happens?
In early January, the U.S. attacks Venezuela, kidnaps the president, President Maduro, and his wife, brings them to the United States and jails them.
Now, what do the Epstein files have to do with that?
Well, it certainly wiped the Epstein files off the front pages.
And then you have the attack on Iran.
You know, you said, I don't know if these things are connected.
And you're asking a fair and profound question.
We don't know.
But what we should know is what's in the Epstein files.
Congress is demanding that.
And now that Bondi is out, we don't have the Attorney General under oath responding.
And this is a story that continues and that you should have a focus on.
Amy, to build on what you were talking about, something that raised a lot of eyebrows last week was when First Lady Melania Trump came out and delivered a straight-to-camera statement saying she was never aware of Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and didn't have that much of a relationship with him.
I was at the White House that day, and it was very, everybody was caught off guard about that.
And President Trump later said he thought that his wife decided to come out and say that because there was reporting in the works trying to link her to it.
So it's just another example of how this story continues to latch on to everything else going on.
Let's hear from another caller.
John is calling in from Princeton, New Jersey on the Independent line.
Good morning, John.
You're on with Amy.
What do you want to say to her?
Hello, Amy.
You've hit on some important topics for me.
One of them being: this is a change in subject before I get back to Epstein files.
The use of religion, religious faith, to motivate acts of war.
It's been done by Islam.
It's been done by the Catholic religion over centuries.
And people are, you know, they can be convinced that if you do these things, no matter how many sins you've committed, you're going to go straight to heaven for attacking another religion.
So one has to be careful, I think, about politicians' misuse of religious teaching.
And voters have to be careful about that, too.
It's easier for a politician to make you suspect that his opponent is a horrible person than it is for that candidate to convince you that what he or she is doing is going to help you.
It's easier to get somebody, get a voter suspicious about the other guy than it is to convince a voter that you got the right idea with no downsides, which of course isn't possible.
Okay, switch topic to Epstein.
I haven't heard Epstein was, nobody's accused him of being stupid.
Okay, he seemed to have an agenda of getting the goods for statutory rape on large numbers of politicians.
And I've never heard of, I haven't heard anything really about how that information might have been used.
But it seems to me pretty obvious that he wanted to trap politicians into breaking the law and in a way that would end their political career outright to do something really that everybody considers is immoral.
I just don't know how that information might have been used.
And I doubt that anybody who had that club used on them would actually open up and say, yeah, he tried that on me and I voted for this and that because I was afraid I was going to get nailed for statutory rape.
That's it.
Thanks a lot.
I'd love to hear.
Thank you very much.
You know, on the issue of religion, I think we just have to remember that in this country, we value the separation of church and state.
We respect people's religions and people should be able to worship freely.
And right now, it's very interesting to see The president attacking the Pope, Pope Leo, the first U.S.-born pontiff to see, I mean, just the latest news in the last days is the president has cut off federal funding for Catholic charities.
I mean, he is angry at the Pope, as the Pope says, blessed be the peacemakers.
You know, Catholic charities support so many people who are in deep need.
But overall, and then this AI-generated image of President Trump as Jesus Christ that has caused such outcry, not only among Catholics, but, you know, people of every religion, or even if they don't have a religion.
These are serious issues right now.
And on the issue of the Epstein files, we don't know a lot.
And as a result, people speculate and we should simply know.
The files should be released.
Let's hear now from Randy calling in from Kentucky on the Republican line.
Good morning, Randy.
You're on with our guest.
Good morning.
I see the picture of Pope Trump.
In fact, when I first saw that photo, that picture, I thought he was acting and emulating the Pope.
So that's what the Pope does, doesn't he?
He takes the place of Jesus.
But anyways, you don't seem to understand a lot of the laws in the country.
When you say there's a separation of church and state, can you dig into that a little further and realize that the state owns all churches, all Christians, all different denominations in this country?
Also, they tell you that you do good works with that money.
Well, can I steal your money and go down the street and give it to maybe a person that doesn't have a lawnmower or give it to her to buy a lawnmower with?
And look, Lord, what I stole for you and look at all the good works I did in your name with it.
You total hypocrites, you.
But you seem like you about to get Delane Maxwell also.
All you have to do is Google on the internet, the stupid people out there, and you'll see and convict you right away that you're not telling the truth at all because Gelane Maxwell was not brought from a maximum security prison to a minimum security prison.
It was an equal, she was down in Tallahassee, Florida, that she was in a minimum security prison there before Trump ever got into office.
And she was moved.
These people are moved all the time.
You're just so deceitful.
How can you even call yourself a fair and honest reporter?
Because when you had back when Biden was there and Trump was using the Epstein whatever situation, then he didn't hear you going in and trying to find out all the stuff on the Democrats that Trump was using that against.
It's all political.
You're so political and you're not supposed to speak out if you're a Christian or any denomination about political and social issues because LBJ took that away from them in 1954 because he wanted to be a communist like you.
And he didn't want them to stop the programs that he was doing and implementing.
And therefore he said, how can we stop these Christian churches from beating me all the time?
He was the leader of the House of Texas at the time.
And he said, aha, the only way you have communism is through the tax code.
And we'll put them in the tax code.
We'll make them all corporations.
They're all 501c3 corporations.
And we'll get that atheist.
And you're probably an atheist.
I don't know, but you pay for other people's religion.
So all these religions and Christians all they have to do is just pay their taxes.
Just pay all your taxes and you're free.
Be a free church.
Don't be a government church.
Don't be a government Christian.
Be a free.
And when we listen to this view on TV or wherever, and over on the free speech TV that has zero, zero conservatives on it or Republicans on it, then you understand who and what you guys and how you've been trying to deceive us.
Just like the MSDAO or whatever that is on your forehead there, Democracy Now.
You probably fought all of your life for women's live and all that stuff and for homosexuals.
And now, because they didn't procreate, they still don't, with what we had to bring into this country just to keep our economy afloat with all these people in here with the democracy king Biden.
Biden was a king that broke the law by bringing all these people in here.
He didn't honor his loyalty and oath to the Constitution.
Hey, Randy, I'm going to politely interject just because you touched on a lot there, but I want to let Amy respond.
That started with a separation of church and state argument, dived a bit into how democracy now approaches certain coverage.
What would you like to say to Randy?
I just deeply believe in the separation of church and state.
We are not a Christian country, a Jewish country, a Hindu country, an atheist country.
We are a country that values the worship of all religions.
It is really when people look to the United States of America, it is a place where people can worship freely.
On the issue of your concerns about different kinds of people, one of the people who is interviewed in this documentary about Democracy Now,
which is called Steal the Story, Please, and the reason I call it, the reason that they call it that, it's one of the mottos of Democracy Now, is we don't want to have exclusives.
I think that would be a failure.
You want other media to pick up your stories, but you want to include so many different voices.
My colleague, a co-host on Democracy Now, Shanirmi Sheikh, talks about expanding the frame and taking the voices that are outside the frame so often in the corporate media and pushing them inside the frame and not only inside the frame, but centering those voices.
And I respectfully disagree with you, sir.
Silenced Majority Voices00:08:01
I really do think that those who care about war and peace, those who care about the climate catastrophe, the fate of the planet, those who care about racial and economic injustice,
those who care about inequality about LGBTQ issues, are not a fringe minority, not even a silent majority, but the silenced majority, silenced by the corporate media.
I think about what's happening, what happened in Minneapolis and the killing of Alex Pretty and Ne Good.
I think about the community and how it's responded.
And again, it's across the political spectrum, neighbors helping neighbors, community coming together, when immigrant families were afraid to go outside to go shopping.
Others would shop for them.
When immigrant parents were afraid, including U.S. citizens, to take their children to school, that they could be grabbed by ICE.
Others would help them, accompany them, bringing their kids to school safely, because in this country, we value education.
I mean, that was an example of people saying, no, we care about humanity and all people being treated fairly.
We have a couple more minutes with Amy Goodman, the co-founder and host of Democracy Now.
A few more callers waiting to speak with you, Amy.
So let's go to Laura calling in from Bethpage, New York on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Laura.
You're on with our guest.
Hi, Amy.
This is a real pleasure to speak with you.
I started listening to Democracy Now when I first became aware of you, and I watched you kind of take on Newt Gingrich in the 90s at a very famous press conference.
And I kind of cringe now when I watch President Trump personally attack every reporter who asks him a question that he doesn't like.
And I flash back to that famous altercation you had with Newt Gingrich.
And I think the thing I've learned the most about Democracy Now, and I wasn't aware of this documentary.
I live on Long Island.
I'm going to find a place to see it as soon as I can.
But your show and your broadcast made me aware of foreign policy and the world and politics at a much larger scale.
And I think one of the problems we have in America is we're all just about like Democrats and Republicans.
And you can hear it on the callers.
I listen to C-SPAN all the time and people say, oh, this network doesn't have any Republicans.
And this, you know, and I try to be fair and listen to some right voices, but I can only tolerate so much, right?
But I think the problem is we just don't understand what's happening globally.
And outside of a couple of mainstream media like Fareed Zakario and maybe Christian Amapur, you don't find foreign policy coverage at all.
And so I just want to credit you for that.
And I wanted to get your thoughts onto a couple of topics.
What just happened in Hungary?
It's very hard to be positive about much the past like 10 years or so, but I'm very inspired by that change and I wanted to get your thoughts on that.
And then with the Iran war, as much as I struggle with what's actually happened and the way that it's happened, I think what's been lost is the voice of the Iranian people because I really believe that the Iranian people want to be free.
They don't want to be under this regime.
And I think that whatever happens in the way that things are happening now, I feel like we're not even thinking about that aspect of like the true Iranian people and what they truly want.
And it didn't surprise me that they didn't rise up and protest because the same regime is essentially in place.
So they're not going to go out in the streets and get slaughtered like they did in January.
So I know I've put a lot out there, but I think for the listeners who might be listening to this program who aren't familiar with Democracy Now, I have to just say please listen to it.
You'll learn so much.
Your eyes will be open.
And yeah, thank you for what you do, Amy.
And I'd love to get your thoughts.
And good luck with the documentary.
I've got to find a place to see it.
Well, I know, Clice, you can see it.
I just went out to Huntington, to the Cinema Arts Center in Long Island, and did a Q ⁇ A after, and it's open there.
And hello to a sister Long Islanders, a Long Islander.
I grew up in Bayshore and went to Bay Shore High School and was active on my high school newspaper.
You raise many issues.
The defeat of President Orban in Hungary, who has been there for 16 years.
Fascinatingly, President Trump sent Vice President Vance to campaign for Orban last week before Vance then headed the delegation in Pakistan negotiating with the Iranians.
And I couldn't agree with you more.
That's so often missing from the conversation about foreign policy are the voices of people from those places.
Democracy Now centers those voices.
We bring you every day people who are commenting on stories and people from those places in Iran, whether it's people in Iran or in the Iranian diaspora, professors, artists, doctors, students.
It's so important to hear those voices.
And what I have found, because yes, Iran was an extremely repressive regime.
I just interviewed a professor who was on death row in the notorious Evin prison in Tehran.
But so often, the people who, when they were in Iran, went to the streets and outside, very critical of the regime, are fiercely critical of the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran.
They are saying that the bombing of their country and saying you're going to wipe out the civilization of their country has only, and the killing of the leaders makes the regime more right-wing, makes the regime more repressive.
And I have found that fascinating.
But to hear people from the countries that are under attack is invaluable.
And it's our job as journalists to go to where the silence is.
And in the case of wherever that silence is, and you know, it's often not silent.
People are organizing, they're raucous, they're rowdy.
It just doesn't hit the corporate media radar screen.
We need a media when we cover war that's not brought to us by the weapons manufacturers, when we cover the climate and the climate catastrophe, not brought to us by the oil, gas, and coal companies.
That's the kind of media that is independent.
That's the kind of media that will save us.
Amy Goodman, she's the co-founder and host of Democracy Now, currently on a tour promoting a new documentary about her career called Steal This Story, please.
Amy, you want to say one more thing before we go?
I just wanted to say people can check out Democracy Now at democracynow.org and to see if that film that is directed by the remarkable directing duo Tia Lesson and Carl Diel, you can go to stealthisstory.org and there you'll see all the theaters that it's in around the country.
America 250 Coverage00:03:25
Democracy Now celebrates 30 years and we encourage everyone to check it out for a daily grassroots global independent international news source.
We really appreciate you spending time with us and waking up early as you're on the West Coast right now.
Best of luck on the tour, Amy.
We'll talk to you about it.
I can't wait to see folks in the Bay Area and in Seattle.
I know, tell you, have family there in Seattle and in Portland, Oregon, as we travel across the country.
It's just an amazing journey.
Yes, that's a fun part of the country.
Well, safe travels, and thanks again for our callers wanting to chat with Amy.
Coming up after the break, we will return to Open Forum.
A lot of news to talk about.
Those are the lines to call in if you want to weigh in, and we'll be right back.
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She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubinstein.
So when you graduated from college, what did you do?
I took a class my second year at Oswego that was called The Nature of Nonfiction.
And it was taught by a retired Air Force colonel, Dr. Paul Breon.
And the first assignment that he gave our class was to go out and write an autobiographical essay.
So I went back to the dorm and I wrote a three-page story with a first-person narrator, someone of my age and ilk, but it was entirely made up.
None of it had actually happened to me.
I made up a story and I presented it as a piece of nonfiction.
And after he had gone through what I had written and corrected my spelling and my grammar and my terrible use of commas, he said, McDermott, I want to talk to you after class.
Simulated Congressional Hearing00:08:57
He said to me when I sheepishly went down at the end of class, I got bad news for you, kid.
You're a writer and you'll never shake it.
Watch America's Book Club with Alice McDermott.
Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.
Washington Journal continues.
Welcome back to Washington Journal.
We're joined now by Donna Phillips, the president and CEO of the Center for Civic Education.
She's here to discuss not only the importance of civics education, but the center's We the People competition, the national finals are taking place this weekend.
Great to have you on, Donna.
Thank you, Taylor.
So you're the president of the Center for Civic Education.
Explain to viewers unfamiliar what the center is and what its mission is.
Sure.
The center is a 61-year-old national nonpartisan nonprofit.
And in 1987, at the bicentennial of the Constitution, our flagship program, We the People, was started.
So that is in its 39th year.
And this program is a full-scale curricular program on the Constitution and its history, the Bill of Rights, and that gets integrated into social studies, history, and civics courses all over the country.
And students from all over the country participate in this program from elementary to high school.
And this weekend, we have the students who compete in a simulated congressional hearing.
The top team from every state comes to DC.
This weekend.
They're here right now to compete in our national finals.
Talk a bit more about what these students are engaging in, because a simulated congressional hearing sounds a little intimidating or intense.
Yeah, so I mean core to the center's mission is that civic education is focused on the principles and the practice of democracy.
So it is important that students learn our, you know, our foundational history.
And, you know, this is the 250th anniversary of our declaration, so what better time to think about those foundational values of equality and consent of the governed and freedom.
And so when students learn those, then they can learn how to practice those.
What does it mean to practice it?
You know, democracy isn't handed down through the gene pool, as Sandra De O'Connor liked to say, but it has to be re-fortified with each generation.
And so what the students do in this simulated congressional hearing is they simulate what C-SPAN likes to make public as part of its mission.
They come in as experts on different topics related to our Constitution and everything that relates to our history as well.
And then they get questioned by a simulated panel, folks simulating Congress.
So those are history and law professors, elected officials, legal scholars, educators.
And through that questioning, it really plumbs the depth of what the students know and learn, have learned about what it means to be a citizen in a democracy.
One of our callers earlier this morning specifically brought up, you know, I'm paraphrasing what they said, but they said people need to go back to civics class in school and kind of re-familiarize themselves with everything that was taught then.
Talk more broadly about in this moment.
There are so many headlines swirling around every day, so much happening globally.
With smartphones, we're all confronted with more information than ever.
But there's also things like AI that are changing how students approach the classroom and what they might be learning about in their government.
So talk about your organization's broader approach in that realm.
And are you finding it harder now because of all those factors?
Or is it easier because students have so much more exposure to stuff?
It's kind of both things.
There's more of an urgency now.
In this moment in particular, there's an urgency and a renewed interest.
I think because of our semi-quincentennial, but also because of the, you know, the headlines and the rapidly changing landscape due to technology and AI.
So it's almost like a doubly renewed call for civic education.
And in fact, yesterday during one of the simulated hearings that I got to sit in on, students and their judges were talking about just that, that civic education itself has to evolve rapidly and meet those moments and account for that.
So that is part of the landscape, you know, and when you're looking at, for example, how amendments and cases were interpreted even just 10 years ago, but certainly at our founding, are we taking an originalist standpoint on how to interpret our rights?
You know, is the landscape so different for this particular right that we have to evolve even quicker in our constitutional understanding of it?
And then, what does that mean for that headline you just saw about a Supreme Court decision?
So, it's taking in that totality and it's just never ending, it's always ongoing.
Yeah, yeah, seriously.
There's a great piece in the New York Times I wanted to flag for people who may not have seen it.
The headline is: Two student teams stuns the competition at U.S. Constitution Contest.
Matthew Myers and Colin Williams of Oregon won first place at the national U.S. Constitution team competition.
Then came the recount that threatened to unravel their achievement.
And the story is a good piece about it.
But I think what's interesting, because I was also reading how the center holds a national invitational competition for middle school students, and that's happening next month.
I want you to talk about that.
And more broadly speaking, if folks see that article where these are like two Wiz kids, what's the goal, especially to get younger folks interested in this stuff in the age of TikTok, where they could just be scrolling away on an iPad or a phone kind of mindlessly?
Yeah, so that was quite a year last year.
And that team of two, which is not typical, you know, we have full classes of students, but that particular team of two, they were Wiz kids.
Their program had been canceled at their school due to funding for teachers, you know, so civics teachers.
And these two students were still so motivated because they had been looking forward to it and knew about the program that their teacher agreed to coach them and work with them and compete.
And they won their state competition.
They earned their spot to come to national finals.
They did not expect to win the whole thing.
And you mentioned what the group, the Times piece, said it would be like a baseball team winning a game with just four players to put that into perspective for people.
Yes, I mean, you know, and so it's so that's not typical.
We want classes of 36.
We want as many kids as possible to engage in this.
But those students, you know, again, the judges look for the depth of their knowledge and the way the students are able to connect the past with the present and future.
And those students won the day.
Now, it was a very tight competition.
There was a recount on the scoring that had just some computer, I'll blame AI, some computer glitch that prompted that story.
But what it did is it inspired that school to rethink its priorities.
And so this year, that teacher has a full class and a full class within the school day.
So that was a great outcome of that.
And this competition is for our high school students, but our middle school competition, our invitational, also brings students from all over the country.
That's a hybrid competition.
Prior to the pandemic, it was in person.
When we went virtual for several years with both of our competitions, we saw that we had more classes able to participate virtually at the middle school level.
So we kept it virtual hybrid.
And students who do the We the People program in their school can all can participate in the invitational.
And so we have the same judges from all over the country.
They commit to full days of sitting on Zoom with students.
And then in between that, students can tour the Capitol and do sightseeing and then prepare for their next rounds.
It sounds so interesting.
At a time when so many people, when I've been traveling for work, tell me they're disengaged with politics and the civics process.
This is really encouraging.
Donna, we really appreciate you coming in.
We hope the rest of the competition this weekend goes well.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Well, we'll be announcing the winner on Sunday night at 7:30.
So we hope everyone tunes in then.
Strait of Hormuz Blockade Update00:03:50
I'll be watching very, very closely.
That's Donna Phillips with the Center for Civic Education.
Big weekend for their We the People competition.
Coming up, the White House has said that at 9 o'clock Eastern Time, President Trump is going to be signing an executive order in the Oval Office, a fairly unusual event for a Saturday.
We're going to carry that live when it begins.
Of course, the war in Iran continues to be a major headline that the president is talking about.
Here's what the president said on Air Force One last night when he was coming back here to D.C. We're negotiating over the weekend.
And as you know, we have the blockade.
The blockade's been very successful.
And of equal success has been the five weeks before the blockade.
The combination is pretty lethal, I would say.
So we're going to be knowing very shortly.
But we're talking over.
I expect things to go well.
Many of these things have been negotiated and agreed to.
Sir, what was the good news that you had 20 minutes ago?
Having to do with Iran.
Can you tell us anything about it?
But I just think it's something that should happen.
It's something that only makes sense to happen.
And I think it will.
We'll see what happens, but I think it will.
Have you agreed to sanctions early earlier that everything has been agreed to?
No, we have not.
No, none.
You told me earlier that everything has been agreed to.
Iran was saying something different.
So what has been worked out?
Well, he's got to say something different because, you know, they have people that they have to cater to also.
I really don't.
I'm just doing the thing that's right.
I'm just saying it like it is.
We have a situation, I think, that is going to be very beneficial.
And the main thing is that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.
And that supersedes everything else.
If you don't have a deal by Wednesday when the ceasefire ends, will you extend the ceasefire or will you?
I don't know.
Maybe not.
Maybe I won't extend it.
But the blockade is going to remain.
But maybe I won't extend it.
So you have a blockade.
And unfortunately, we'll have to start dropping bombs again.
Thank you very much, everybody.
That was President Trump aboard Air Force One last night flying back from Arizona.
He spent about 24 hours out west for some economic and political events.
Would love to continue to hear from you.
There are the phone line's up on screen if you want to call in Republican, Democrat, Independent Line as we wait to hear from the president live again for an executive order signing that's set to take place in the Oval Office.
Just to kind of recap a bit on this topic of the Strait of Hormuz in Iran, I want to tick through some headlines from the Associated Press that has a live tracker going.
Their headline right now is Iranian gunboats fire on oil tanker and Strait of Hormuz as Tehran re-imposes restrictions.
And if folks are just waking up and catching up on where things are, the AP breaks down.
Iran swiftly reversed course on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, warning that it would continue to block transit as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
Iran said Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels.
But President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports will remain in full force until Tehran reaches a deal with the U.S., including on its nuclear program.
The AP goes on to say, Iranian officials said the blockade was a violation of last week's ceasefire agreement between Iran and the U.S.
The Strait will not remain open if the blockade continues.
Iran's parliamentary speaker posted on X early Saturday.
Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to fighting in Lebanon, which Iran claimed was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered ceasefire.
Trump later suggested the AP writes a second round of direct U.S.-Iran talks could happen this weekend.
I'll also point out that yesterday in a flurry of Truth Social Post, President Trump at one point claimed that Iran would never again close the Strait of Hormuz and that that country would stop leveraging the strait as some type of economic weapon.
President as Jesus Controversy00:05:43
But now that is not the case.
So while we're waiting for the president, let's hear back from some callers.
We have Bill calling in from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania on the Democratic line.
Good morning, Bill.
You're on.
What's your top story of the week?
Well, actually, I had been waiting the whole time that Amy Goodman was on, and I wanted to comment about Amy.
Go for it.
Thanks for your patience.
It's okay.
Real quick, who I am, 75 years old.
I got a degree in journalism in 1973.
And Amy Goodman is incredible as a journalist.
And I mentioned 1973.
That was a time when Woodward and Bernstein, the reporters, were instrumental in bringing down the Nixon administration.
And Amy covers what truly mainstream media today does not.
And I mentioned the Washington Post.
The Washington Post is nothing compared to what it was under Jeff Bezos today.
Oligarch Jeff Bezos, I might add.
But the only thing I wanted to, the other thing I wanted to say is Amy Goodman and Democracy Now, I watch Democracy Now and listen to C-SPIN every day.
Nearly every day, Democracy Now covered the genocide in Gaza when it was getting very little fair coverage from other media.
And Amy and Democracy Now saw what was going on.
It was a genocide, one of the biggest stories ever.
I mean, a genocide.
It's a very loaded word.
And on Democracy Now, you never heard anything that was anti-Semitic.
It's not anti-Semitic to be sympathetic to the Palestinians who have lost 75,000 people, men, women, and children, from bombing by Israel.
And just to put a fine point on it, I have nothing against Israel.
I'm a Christian.
I believe Israel is a very important country.
It is the government of Bibi Netanyahu that is corrupt, that is evil, that is like Trump, Netanyahu trying to stay out of jail.
And so he keeps the war going and going and going.
But anyway, Amy Goodman is a treasure as a journalist.
Thanks so much, Bill.
Appreciate you weighing in.
I just wanted to point it to a pool report we just got from the White House press pool.
They've been called to gather for President Trump's executive order signing in the Oval Office.
And according to the pool, the White House says this will be an executive order signing on medical research with some special guests.
So we're waiting to see what that will be about.
But no doubt, the president will continue to face questions about the war in Iran, about the Strait of Hormuz.
So we'll be carrying that executive order signing once it starts.
But Bill, thanks for weighing in.
One of the topics we didn't get to with Amy Goodman was Democracy's Now, now's additional coverage on foreign policy matters, specifically the four-year civil war in Sudan.
That's been playing out.
It stuck out to me toward the end of our conversation how Amy talked about the mission of going where there is silence.
So thank you for weighing in on that.
While we're waiting for the president, let's hear from another caller, Shirley, calling in from Pennsylvania too on the Republican line.
Shirley, good morning.
If I have to cut you off, if the president starts, apologies in advance.
But what do you want to say?
Okay, I just want to tell you who the enemy is.
We all know that God made the earth.
He made all the people.
He loved them all dearly.
And he wanted everyone to love each other.
But God said that he would take care of people.
But God has an enemy.
It is Satan.
He's a devil whose idea is to hurt God and I'm taking his people away from him.
He is going to be taking people to Israel, and he wants to take Israel down because that is where he's going to be thrown into hell.
And he'll take all his people with him, people who decide.
So whose side are you going to be on?
Are you going to be on Satan's side or are you going to be on God's side?
Let us be on Satan.
Let us be on God's side.
We do not all want to go to hell with Satan.
Please be on God's side.
Read the Bible.
Study.
It matters.
It's the whole thing.
Shirley, could I ask you what you make of earlier this week when the president, when President Trump shared that AI image depicting many saw it as him depicting himself as Jesus?
What'd you think about that?
I just don't know what's behind it.
I don't know what Satan does with AI.
He is so smart.
He is so against God.
So he is trying to take us all to hell with him.
Do not pay attention to that.
Read the Bible and be on God's side.
Do what God says to do.
Love one another and love God.
We are on his side.
All right, Shirley.
Thank you for weighing in.
Let's hear from Candace calling in from Auburn, Mayne, I believe, on the independent line.
Candace, good morning.
Carol, you're doing a wonderful job.
Really enjoying this morning.
Price Cuts and Healthcare00:09:58
And I know you might have to go, so I'm fine with that.
Love that you talked about civic education.
I'm a big advocate of that.
And my daughter is currently taking Model UN at our high school here.
And so she loves it.
So I think we need more of that.
I was actually wanting to chime in about Amy Goodman.
And I was hoping somebody would ask her because one thing I'm always fascinated with is how language permeates culture.
And what I've noticed in the past, I don't know, decade, I guess since 2016 when Trump came on the scene, is the Democrats became democracy, democracy, democracy.
It's all you hear.
I don't remember that back in the Clinton days or, you know, when I was growing up.
So this is something that has kind of become a call.
And I was hoping someone would ask Amy, what are they writing about how the Democrats' internal nomination process has eroded?
And, you know, it used to be you would let the ambitious candidates get in and the cream would rise to the top.
Think of, you know, Bill Clinton is what comes to mind when I think of that.
Someone that you never thought, a little governor from a small southern state becomes president.
And I just, I want us to really call for that more.
We all deserve to have our vote actually count and mean something.
If this is democracy, democracy, well, let's actually walk the walk.
And Candace, I believe, actually, Candace, thanks for wrapping up.
I think we're going to go now to the Oval Office where President Trump is doing a Saturday morning executive order signing.
The White House says it's about medical research and it says he's joined by some special guests.
So let's listen in.
Tremendous professionals, medical professionals most.
And some military, like Marcus, some great military professionals, too.
Real hero.
Today I'm pleased to announce historic reforms to dramatically accelerate access to new medical research and treatments based on psychedelic drugs.
In many cases, these experimental treatments have shown life-changing potential for those suffering from severe mental illness and depression, including our cherished veterans.
Our veterans are having a tremendous hard time.
You know, the suicide rate, we have it down a little bit, but they are having a hard time.
And I got a call from a number of people, including the great Joe Rogan.
And he said, we have to do something about this.
And I looked into it.
I called Bobby, I called Oz, I called Marty and Jay, and it was really, it was uniform support.
And I said, so why would we wait three or four years to get it done?
Or 10 years, frankly.
Let's get it done immediately.
And that's what happened.
This has probably never been anything happened so quickly.
Everybody is so strongly in favor of this.
It's for a lot of people, but it's for our military in particular.
The suicide epidemic among veterans is a national tragedy.
Since 9-11, we've lost over 21 times more veteran lives to suicide than on the battlefield.
So we lose, think of that, 21 times more.
And today we're bringing them new hope.
I think you're going to see a big difference and a big reduction in that number.
I want to thank Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's a fantastic...
Where are you, Bob?
Over here.
He always makes it difficult for us.
He's done a great job, too.
And people love him.
And more importantly, your wife is here someplace, Bobby.
She's out there.
Where are you?
The real boss in the family.
It was fantastic.
Thank you very much for being here.
As well as FDA Commissioner Marty McCary, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, NIH Director Dr. Jay Patticheria.
See how easy that name is, Deborah?
You know, it used to give me a little trouble.
That was a tough name.
Congressman Morgan Luttrell, who's a friend of mine and a real, he's a real war hero.
He knows, he knows something that a lot of us will never find out about.
Retired U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the two of them.
I don't know what, what was in the, what's in your blood, fellas?
You guys are.
Good mom and dad.
Good somebody.
Good to have you.
Joe Rogan, who's a fantastic person.
We did a little interview before the election.
We had over 300 million people.
And I said, oh man, I hope Kamala doesn't do it.
And she didn't.
He wanted her to do it, but she didn't.
Someday Joe's could explain why.
I could tell you why.
But along with many other veterans, she didn't want to, with many other veterans.
And I just want to thank the people behind me who are outstanding.
It's an amazing group.
The executive order I'm signing, we're actually signing the executive order today, is really a moment.
It directs the FDA to expedite their review of certain psychedelics already designated as breakthrough therapy drugs are very much being discussed.
It's one of the hottest things I think you're talking about, Ozar.
It's nothing.
If these turn out to be as good as people are saying, it's going to have a tremendous impact on this country and other countries too.
These treatments are currently in the advanced stages of clinical trials to ensure that they're both safe and effective for the American patients.
And the nice part is we're actually doing this early, but it has been going on.
Research has been going on for quite some time.
But you know, usually with things like this, nothing ever happens, no matter how the research ends up.
But we're changing that.
This order will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA approved.
And we think many of them will go very quickly.
And I have to say, the most favored nation's pricing that we established, that I established, has been knocking the cost of drugs down by 50, 60, 70, 80%.
And I also want to thank you and Bobby for the great job you've done.
It's incredible.
The press refuses to write about it.
I think it's probably as big as what we're talking about today.
The drug costs are going down at, and by the way, Trump RX, which is the way you go to get your very low-cost drugs.
But when you think in my first term, for 28 years, drug prices went up, and I got it down one quarter or one-eighth of a percent.
I was so proud of myself.
It's the only one that in 28 years got them down.
And I had a news conference to explain how great I was.
I said, I'm the greatest there ever was.
I got it down one-eighth of a percent.
Okay, I was very proud because it only went up.
For 28 years, it went up.
Now I got it down a little bit.
And now I got it down 50%, 60%, 70% with these guys.
So now I am, you know.
But nobody wants to write about it, but it doesn't matter because the people have found out and they're getting, you know, we're the highest, we were the highest in the world by far.
Sometimes would be 10 times higher than other countries.
You'd buy a drug, I call it the fat pill or the fat drug.
You'd buy it in London.
You'd buy it for $10 for a pill, let's say, or a pill generally.
But actually, to be specific, London, $87, New York, $1,300.
I said, how can that be possible?
How can it be possible?
$87.
And actually, a friend of mine called me up and he said, you know, he's a very rich guy.
And he happens to be on this Ozepic, I guess, at the time.
And it was not working, by the way.
The guy was extremely successful, but highly neurotic.
Got a lot of problems.
I will not mention his name.
He's begging me not to mention because he's become quite famous.
He's a big factor.
But he's very smart, very rich guy, very, very successful guy.
And he said, hey, president, he used to call me Donnie.
Now he calls me president, sign of respect.
He said, I'm in London.
I bought this stuff for $87.
In New York, I pay $1,300.
What's going on?
I said, well, that's the way it is.
We pay the highest prices in the world.
And it sort of hit me that how ridiculous it is.
Made, by the way, he checked it.
He had a whole big research done on it because he couldn't believe it.
Made in the same factory, same plant, everything was the same except the price.
And now we are the lowest price.
We are tied.
In other words, whatever the lowest price in the world is, that's the price we pay.
That's a tremendous difference.
So we'll be paying, they go up a little bit.
So the 87 will go like to 120 and we'll go down from 1,300 to 120.
So we'll have these massive price cuts, and they've already started.
And I think it's one of the biggest things, but unfortunately the press doesn't like to talk about it.
But because if I were a Democrat, it would be headlines all over the place.
So I do that.
That's why I like live television, actually.
It's great because you can't do any cutting.
But we're so honored by that.
And that's going to have a huge impact on this also, because the pricing, not only is it important, but the pricing is going on.
Right to Try Legislation00:03:39
And you're going to get the rescheduling done, right, please?
So will you get the rescheduling done, please?
You know, Joe, they're slow walking me on rescheduling.
Okay, you're going to get it done, right?
In 2024 study from Stanford University, 30 special operation veterans with traumatic brain injuries underwent, it's called Ibogaine Treatment, Ibogaine.
Remember the name.
Is that pronounced relatively properly, what you said?
Yes.
I don't want to get it wrong.
Ibogaine, because it's so important, and experienced an 80 to 90 percent reduction in symptoms of depression and anxiety within One month.
Can I have some, please?
I'll take some information.
I'll take whatever it takes.
I don't have time to be depressed.
You know, if you stay busy enough, maybe that works too.
That's what I do.
In Texas, Republican leaders have already committed $50 million to the Ibogaine research, and today the federal government is making a $50 million research investment in its own, and so that was just approved just last night.
We're also opening a pathway for Ibogaine to be administered to desperately ill patients under the right to try law.
That's a law that I started and I got right to try.
Very proud of that.
It was done in my first term.
And I used to marvel at the fact that people that were terminally ill could not get a drug.
They're terminally ill.
They're going to die.
And the FDA, right, Marty and Jay, the FDA was protecting them from dying, but they're going to die.
And so we have these incredible drugs, and they may work and they may not work, but we wouldn't let anybody get them because they were bad for your health.
But these are people that were going to die.
And it never made sense to me.
So one of the first things I did early in my term, and it was very tough to get, actually, hard to believe.
It was very tough with Congress, but they came through.
The Republicans came through.
And we have something called right to try.
And we've saved thousands and thousands of lives.
If you're terminally ill or very ill and there is a new drug that is not available because it's going through the process of the FDA and Marty's cut that process down by 50%.
We're down.
It used to take 12 years and now we have it down to five or six years and it's one of the most important things that you can do.
But if you're terminally ill and there's a new drug that may work or may not work but it hasn't been approved yet, you sign a document and you're not going to hold the country liable.
You're not going to hold the drug companies or the insurance companies or anybody liable.
And you have the right to try.
And what it's done, and nobody wanted it, the insurance companies hated it.
Even the doctors, they were all afraid of it because they didn't want to be sued.
But I took all of the liability out of it.
You sign a document, you're not going to sue the doctor, you're not going to sue the hospital, you're not going to sue anybody, including the country.
And everybody signs it like immediately.
And we have tens of thousands of people on this.
And we've saved thousands and thousands of lives.
And what it has done, we never thought of it so much odds, but what it has done is in some cases these drugs are working so good.
It literally cures people that were terminally ill.
But it's one of the things I'm most proud.
I'm proud of a lot of things we've done, but that's one of the things we're most proud of, right to try.
But I've always believed in ensuring that the American patients have access to breakthrough treatments and therapies with love for our veterans.
And I have real love for our veterans.
Breakthrough Treatments for Veterans00:15:10
I was with a group yesterday.
It's incredible what they've gone through.
And care for American patients.
Today's order will ensure that people suffering from debilitating symptoms might finally have a chance to reclaim their lives and lead a happier life.
Just lead a happier life.
They've been through so much.
So I'd like to ask Secretary Kennedy to say a few words, followed by Commissioner McCary, Marcus Luttrell, Joe Rogan, and anybody in the group that would like to speak.
You're tremendous people.
I know many of you.
You're really highly respected people.
And the Lattrell family is well represented, but I don't mind having both Luttrell's, both Luttrells could say a few words, okay?
Great people.
And so, Bobby, do you want to start it off, please?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you so much.
Good morning, and thanks to the leadership of President Trump for making this historic day possible.
Under the executive order, HHS will accelerate research, approval, and access to new mental health treatments, including psychedelic therapies such as IBCAM.
We're taking this decision, this decisive step, to confront one of the most urgent public health challenges facing our nation, the mental health crisis.
More than 14 million Americans live with serious mental illness, and one in four adult experiences a diagnosis disorder each year.
Suicide has risen by more than 30% over the past two decades, with another peak in recent years.
Among veterans, more than 6,000 die by suicide each year since 2001.
We have lost far more veterans to suicide than to combat.
At the same time, millions of Americans living with depression, BTSD, addiction, and other conditions do not respond to existing treatments.
We owe it to our warfighters and veterans to turn over every stone to alleviate the emotional and mental health blowback from their deployments.
It's disturbing to me and to the President that hundreds, in fact, thousands of veterans are having to travel to Mexico or other countries to experiment with interventions that hold great promise but for which our knowledge is still insufficient.
This executive order will remove the legal impediments and block American researchers, scientists, physicians, and clinicians from properly studying these medicines and where appropriate, establishing protocols for their safe therapeutic use.
We're directing the FDA to prioritize therapies that have received breakthrough therapy designation treatments that early evidence suggests may improve what we have today.
We're expanding the use of right to try so that eligible patients with treatment resistant conditions can access these therapies under medical supervision.
We're also coordinating with the DEA and the Department of Justice to begin rescheduling reviews after successful Phase III trials.
When the FDA determines that therapy is safe and effective, patients should not face avoidable delays in access.
At the same time, HHS will work with states, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other federal partners to strengthen research and share clinical data.
We will use that data to support faster evidence-based decisions.
Through ARPA-H, HHS will allocate, as the President says, at least $50 million from existing funds to partner with states that are advancing these therapies.
We will support those efforts with funding, with technical assistance and data sharing consistent with applicable law.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Harvard, and other leading institutions have reported meaningful and in some cases extraordinary clinical improvements.
If these results continue, these therapies could offer longer-lasting relief, not just symptom management, and reduce economic burden of mental illness, which costs this country hundreds of billions of dollars every year.
This policy creates a strict, science-based pathway for FDA approval and controlled medical use.
The bottom line is progress in mental health treatment has not matched the scale of the problem.
I want to thank Joe Rogan for helping bring national attention to innovative, potentially life-saving treatments for veterans and others living with mental illness and for pushing this conversation into the mainstream.
I also want to thank Representative Morgan Luttrell from Texas and former Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell for their leadership on this issue.
I also want to thank the CEO of American Thrive again, Brian Hubbard, and the organization's ambassador, former Navy SEAL Henry Berkowitz, and former SEAL team six, Rob O'Neill.
I want to thank a couple of people for getting this record time across the finish line, Callie Maines.
And Dr. Heidi Overton, thank you, Heidi, for your leadership and for your attention to detail, which is often frustrating.
I'm always right, so thank you, and thank you above all, Mr. President.
Thank you very much, Bobby.
You're fantastic.
Bobby's really done an amazing job.
You know, Maha, it's a big deal.
And I want to thank you.
You really, you worked so hard, Oz and everybody up here.
And I just want to thank you.
Great job.
And he's somewhat outside of the box, would you say?
And we need outside of the box a little bit, right?
Would you say Oz?
Marty, please.
Great.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Next week, the FDA will issue three national priority vouchers for serotonin 2A agonists, also known as psychedelics.
Under this new program in this administration, drugs can get approved in weeks, not a year or a year plus, but in weeks, if they are in line with our national priorities.
We have 18 vouchers in the program.
We'll be adding three more next week.
This is an unmet public health need, and there are potentially promising treatments.
That's why there's a sense of urgency around this.
That's why we're doing it now.
The applications are about to come in, so this is the natural, perfect timing for this announcement.
For many men and women, they have been fighting battles on the ground.
But even after the wars are over, those battles continue in their mind.
Now, there are a lot of medications in medicine where we don't know exactly how it works, but we see profound results.
If we actually listen to those who experience the therapeutic value, we can learn as a medical field.
We just have to listen.
The stories of those individuals with dramatic results, that is data.
That is scientific data, even from a single individual.
We also have randomized controlled trials.
And we have to do that because we need to be able to say there's good support when we recommend these therapeutics.
If you look at those trials, there's a 30 to 40 percent remission rate for conditions like PTSD.
Otherwise, we got nothing.
We have almost nothing for these conditions.
And today, the FDA is also announcing the first IBOGAIN investigational new drug clearance.
This will pave the way for the first and ever human trials in the United States.
To be clear, the FDA will also have criteria and circumstances that have to be used to administer these drugs.
These drugs can have side effects, and so it's not like you go to the pharmacy and pick it up.
It's like medications that are administered in an ICU or an operating room.
There are criteria for doing it in a controlled setting.
Finally, given the urgency of today's mental health crisis, I just want to thank you, Mr. President, and say the FDA is proud to support this broader effort to evaluate new therapeutics for some of the greatest Americans we have in this country.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Great job, too.
Appreciate it.
Marcus?
Yes, sir.
To start off, Mr. President, thank you so much for having us in here and doing this.
You're going to save a lot of lives with it.
I'd like to say how grateful I am to have the opportunity to go through the program and receive the Eibogain.
It absolutely changed my life for the better.
I went through a lot of the programs that the veterans are going through, and I always kind of felt like I was a victim coming out of the program.
When I came out of this, I felt like I had gotten my life back.
That was five years ago.
I literally lived the best days of my life every single day.
I'm so thankful for everybody who's in this room to help out with this.
I know this is kind of a new frontier for us.
And just the fact that we're taking this kind of slowest, smoothest, fast, and we're getting it in there so we can test this out so we don't get ahead of ourselves.
I think that's very impactful.
I think there's a lot of people out there that need help, not only our veterans, but our civilian population that can benefit from this.
And it's going to do great things for our country to get it back on track and open up a lot of doorways and pathways for us to be successful in the future.
Thank you for your time.
That's fantastic.
See you this five years.
Yes, sir.
And it's just been a whole different day.
Every single day is a better day for me.
Wow, that's amazing.
Well, thanking God for that.
Come here, this guy's got guts.
Come here.
These guys.
Two big guys.
I didn't realize you were involved in it already.
It's the best testimony that you can have.
There's nothing better than that.
A man who's really respected by everybody, and he's a fantastic person, Joe Rogan, to say a few words, please, Joe.
Well, I want to say that I'm here because of the man to my left.
Brian Hubbard and former Texas Governor Rick Perry came on my podcast.
They told me how impactful this medicine is.
And having that conversation with them, millions of people got a chance to hear their story, hear the stories of all the different people that have had life-changing experiences from it.
And I want Brian to be able to speak about this.
Brian, please.
Thank you, sir.
I heard that, Joe.
You have no trouble speaking.
No trouble speaking.
I want to assure you that my presence here is the most concrete affirmation that God has a wonderful sense of humor.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Federal prohibition of psychedelic medicine in America is over.
On the 250th year.
On the 250th year of our nation's founding, everyone who has fought for this day through decades of monumental struggle, sacrifice, and suffering can now declare a seminal victory for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Rights we bear as images of our eternal Creator, whose essence is almighty, eternal, unconditional love for each and every one of us.
This is the end of the beginning.
We have moved mountains, yet there are mountains to move.
Government systems which have relentlessly suppressed psychedelics are the same systems which will now manage their emergence.
We dare not let our guard down for one second and be higher trigger ready to impose accountability for incompetence, obstruction, or failure.
Credit belongs, where credit is due.
With this executive order, President Trump has delivered an epic victory for all humanity.
I thank him for having the courage to make this happen.
And my mission brother, Joe Rogan, for having the spine to make the ask.
To our brothers and sisters, in Gabon, you have our deepest gratitude for your stewardship of the sacred tree grown for the healing of nations.
I will do my best to deliver the respect and honor you deserve for helping heal this nation.
It is my joy to deliver these good patents unto the meek, which will hopefully bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to all who are banned.
God bless you and God bless Americans.
Thank you.
I want to tell everybody how this happened.
I sent President Trump some information.
We have a gigantic opiate problem in this country, obviously.
In 2024, more than 80,000 people died of overdoses.
It's a horrible number.
And there's more than 5 million people that are addicted to opiates right now in this country.
With one dose of ibogaine, more than 80% of people are free of that addiction.
With two doses, it's more than 90%.
I sent him that information.
The text message came back, sounds great.
Do you want FDA approval?
Let's do it.
It was literally that quick.
These drugs are illegal not because they're harmful.
They're illegal because of the 1970 Controlled Substances Act that was passed by the Richard Nixon administration.
They did it to target the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement.
It's not because these drugs harm people.
And for 56 years, we've lived under those terrible conditions.
We're free of that now.
We're free of that now.
Thanks to all these people that we see next to me, and thanks to President Trump.
We all respect Joe, and he's a little bit more liberal than that's okay.
I have a lot of friends that are liberal, but Joe is an amazing guy, and he wrote, made a little note about this, and I had it checked out.
Mental Health Crisis Solutions00:15:17
I didn't just do it.
I had it checked out.
I went to Bobby and Oz.
I went to some of the people that work for you, real pros, and everybody came back with the same answer.
You know, normally they'll come back because this happens a lot.
We have a couple of them like that where they're not sure.
It's like, you know, it goes two ways.
This thing, everybody thought it was incredible.
And I told Bobby, I said, Bobby, let's just do it and get Oz involved.
And it's going to get done so quickly.
And you guys did a great job.
Would you like to say something else?
Mr. President, I want to thank Matt Zohrd, who's hiding in the back there, who actually on Sunday wrote a draft for this.
You already thanked Heidi and Callie, but Susie Wiles makes everything run here.
This was an unimaginable task in one week to be able to go from a series of connections and communications with Joe Rogan through the honey badger of them all, Bobby Kennedy, who said, we're not going to stop.
We didn't start calling everyone down.
The bike Steph Spear has been involved and Chris Columpu, who's been doing a fantastic job helping run everything in great efficiency, made something.
I just want to emphasize this.
This is an entire paradigm shift away from a one-day appeal model, which has failed so many.
And the many who are drug-resistant that Joe just spoke to, this offers them a way of getting out of that ruck.
The question now is: can we study why it works to understand it better, to use it better?
That's what Jay Bhattashari is going to do at IH with major funding support, perhaps in ARPA as well.
Marty spoke eloquently about the FDA's accelerated pathway for this.
And then we're going to, when we learn more, figure out better ways of getting access to these products through our health care system.
But it's an extraordinarily exciting day, and it would never have happened if the president just would not take no for an answer.
He went, he called on the way, Joe, to the fight on Saturday.
And I think he was as determined to get this done as the men in those rings and women in those rings that night.
Thank you, sir.
I want to thank Professor Nolan Williams.
When I was a professor at Stanford, I got to know him, and he taught me about Ida Gain and all the promise that it has for treatment-resistant depression and so many other conditions.
And frankly, for me, I learned a lot.
Unfortunately, he passed away last year.
I want to thank this amazing team that just moved heaven and earth to get things done.
I do want to emphasize this is something that we're still studying, and we have to keep studying.
We have to figure out the right way to make sure we administer it, that it's safe, that we don't just take it for granted.
We already know everything because we don't.
And for the NIH and for ARPA-H, we are absolutely committed to making sure that we keep studying it, keep getting the best gold standard science on it.
You can see here Norvolka, who's my National Institute of Drug Abuse Director, she's been an absolute hero in just developing scientific so the commitment for American science to focus on this.
And in many ways, it's that scientific advance that brought us to this moment.
So, thank you.
I thank you, President Trump.
But if it's good, we want to get it fully approved fast, right?
I mean, for the things that have great evidence, and that's what we're doing.
We've been on these studies, they're going for a long time.
And if it's good, I mean, I have a witness right here, these two incredible brothers that to me is a study, right?
Just as Commissioner McCary said, there's stuff that we know, and we can tell it works.
We still got to figure out sometimes how it works or why it works.
That we've got to keep doing even as we move forward fast.
But it does work.
Some of those, I mean, absolutely, some of those treatments absolutely work.
You can see the assessment here.
I'm trying to get the answer because it either works or it doesn't.
I would think that there's been a lot of research already, indirect research, maybe the ultimate research, people that have taken it.
Because I've spoken to people that have taken it, aside from the trail, both of them.
I've spoken to five people that had big problems.
Some of three times it fixed my demonic relationship with Rob O'Neill, who's a friend of mine and a great guy.
Go ahead, Rob.
It fixed my demonic relationship with alcohol.
It saved my life, and then it saved my wife.
So every day is a blessing.
It took about three years of I did it three times.
It's a different adventure every time.
That's not fun.
So without it, you would have had problems.
I did it with there was a Green Beret, 28-year sergeant major, that told me when we finished, make sure you tell Amber Capone, the CEO of Veterans Explorer and Treatment Solutions, that she saved my life because I was going to kill myself next week.
This is my last chance.
I had a 28-year menu tell me that.
This works.
Okay, good.
Mr. President, ask Marcus to speak about his experience.
Thank you, Secretary.
Yeah, Mr. President, what Robin Neal is talking about.
My wife Amber Capone is the CEO of our charity, Vets, Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions.
We had prayed for this day to come 10 years ago when we started the charity.
We've been sending veterans outside the country, Joe, that you've been talking about for years, several thousand now.
And we said the mission will end once this day happens.
So we believe this is a huge step in maybe that the mission goes away and now we have affordable access right here in the U.S. Why didn't they get it done?
We're getting it done right.
You're getting it done.
Why yet are the presidents looking at it?
Why didn't they get it done?
I think we needed you.
I got that much off.
If I can answer that question, sir, you might.
There's a small group of us in the House that have been trying to move legislation since I showed up.
Mr. Correa, Mr. Bergman, Mr. McCall, Mr. Crenshaw, every year have tried to move legislation.
That side of the room is not going to like what I have to say about this.
And every year it has all fallen short.
Every year it has all fallen short.
And it's because of the proverbial roadblocks that were always in the way.
That's right.
Fair assessment.
But those members and myself were convicted never to give up, ever.
And with this executive order, I'm going to maintain proposal, Mr. President.
With this executive order, you have broken down those barriers and allowed us.
I have all the faith in the world that this will codify and remain forever.
So thank you very much for taking care of your service members and your veterans and giving the members that have been working on this for so long a chance.
Thank you, sir.
Well, this, when I sign this, this does solve it for the three-year, but we'll get that codified very easily.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Once I sign it, we get them codified.
So that'll be, we'll make it permanent.
I have no doubt it's going to be working.
Would anybody else like to say something?
These two women are so talented.
Well, I love an executive order that says research, research, research, because it's ultimately what guides us onto how to optimally do things.
And I think that this is what hopefully will start to happen and bringing up change in a system that has been very difficult to modify because of prior experiences.
These drugs have unique characteristics that could actually, if we don't investigate them, can bring us into potential applications that currently we're not thinking about.
But if we close the door to science, if we close the door to data, we'll just keep on doing the same thing again.
Do you think the door was hard to do?
It was hard to be recently.
It's very, very hard.
And it's actually just by scheduling as a one.
It makes it very difficult.
This is a big move then.
It is going to happen.
They will facilitate.
There's just this one thing that we're talking about.
That's good.
That's good.
I'm glad we didn't waste this Saturday morning.
Please.
Yes.
Mr. President, this is a much needed, bold move for precision mental health for our veterans and others and accelerates access to personalized targeted treatments.
As you have heard, many, many veterans and others experiencing mental health disorders, they go through up to years of trial and error, trying one treatment that doesn't work, trying another, and not knowing why.
My work at Stanford and with my colleagues is to develop brain-based tests that can be measured right now in our VA and other locations that help us understand why these new treatments work and who they'll be most effective for.
So with your mandate, we are in a position to really accelerate saving lives of many more people and getting them well sooner.
And I believe that with this, the United States will be the first country in the world to treat mental health like we do cancer and like we do many other chronic mental illnesses.
We know the world is.
The world is actually watching this because there are a lot of countries that want to do this and they haven't been able to.
They're going to be following suit very, very strongly.
Thank you very much both.
Anybody else?
You guys okay?
Everybody, let's sign it, right?
Say something?
Mr. President, thank you.
This treatment saved my life as well.
And so many fellow veterans helped me get off OPX.
Stop using a nerve stimulator.
I hadn't planted sleep for the first time in over 10 years.
So thank you.
And you have no doubt, right?
Zero.
Well, that's to me that's the best research of all, frankly.
Thank you.
Okay, it's my honor.
Good, that's a good one.
I wanted to worry about you.
You think Biden can do that?
Do you have any questions of the folks?
And I think we'll keep it on the subject pretty much.
You'll have some questions on Iran, I know that.
But this is such an important subject that I'd rather let this just speak for itself.
And we'll be talking about Iran later.
We have very good conversations going on.
It's working out very well.
They got a little cute, as they have been doing, for 47 years.
Nobody ever took them on.
We took them on.
They have no Navy.
They have no Air Force.
They have no leaders.
They have no nothing.
Actually, their leaders are, it is regime change.
You call that enforced regime change.
But we're talking to them.
They wanted to close up the strait again, you know, as they've been doing for years.
And they can't blackmail us.
In fact, a lot of the ships are coming up to Texas.
I don't know if you know, in Louisiana, the ships are coming up.
They got used to it.
Maybe they'll keep doing it.
It's worked out pretty good.
But it's going actually along very well.
And we'll see.
But we'll have some information by the end of the day.
We're talking to them.
And, you know, we're taking a tough stand.
They've killed a lot of people.
A lot of our people have been killed.
A lot of your fellow soldiers have been killed over the years by Iran.
The roadside bomb, Salome, I killed Salome.
He was making the explosive floor penetrators.
They're making them in Iran bring it to Iraq and blast him through the vehicles.
Well, he was the father of the roadside bomb, essentially, and he killed a lot of people.
And when you see soldiers or others, but soldiers generally walking around with no legs, with no arms, a face that's been smashed, that was Salome.
It was Iran that did that.
So we have a much different view on it than other presidents.
They've gotten away with murder for 47 years.
They're not getting away with it anymore.
Does anybody have any questions with the great professionals, please?
So I wanted to know: could this potentially ever be available through the VA?
You know, because I was talking to William over here, one of your, you guys have been down in Mexico together, but it's really expensive.
And this is another drug.
It's expensive.
We have the right guy, us.
A lot of veterans need this.
Way, are you good for this question?
They're talking about expense and availability.
So I spoke to Doug Collins.
Obviously, both he obviously pays for the VA and we pay for Medicare, Medicaid, children's health insurance are very focused on the results that the NIH and FDA are going to offer us.
We have a mechanism of creating models, CMMI.
That might be the wise way to go because we can continue to study the impact.
This is such a massive shift in how you deliver care.
Imagine instead of taking a pill a day for your depression, you go through one treatment, but you have to have a few people watching you.
It's a very different world.
So we're working that through.
That's why the president, I think this is the perfect step to get everything rolling, to deliver on the promising media.
Would you say before you know?
Well, we could have a CMI model that we would announce by the end of this year.
But the reason I'm not committing to that now is I want to make sure that the FDA and NIH have time alone with the great scientists to give us a bit more information about how to deliver care.
I'll give you one concrete example.
For things like, well, Ibergain is a little different story, but you wouldn't want two people in the room during the treatment.
That's true for many of these approaches.
That's a very different way of delivering medicine.
And so the models that we, Abe Sutton runs that group for us and has done a great job for the president.
That would be probably the fastest way of moving forward and give the VA data so they can make wiser decisions because Doug Council is very focused on this.
There's one thing I'd add.
There's nothing more expensive right now than the mental health crisis in America.
21% of Americans have a diagnosable mental health condition.
The leading cause, excuse me, the second leading cause of death for young adults today is suicide.
Mr. President, antidepressants right now are the most prescribed class medications in the country.
Over 20% of women are on an antidepressant disease.
Good in terms of do they work?
There's highly problematic research on the fact that over 20% of U.S. women are on these drugs that are prescribed for life.
We have a mental health crisis.
Do they work?
No.
They don't.
I'm on a couple of them.
I would not have got it.
Mr. President, what you and Secretary Kennedy unlocked is for the first time questioning this system, where we spend three times more per capita than any other country in the world, and we are living six, seven years less.
We have the highest rates of suicide and depression in the developed world.
The incentives of our system...
By the way, autism, which we're really working hard on, we have the highest rates of the pressure.
And we're coming up with some pretty amazing findings.
We are struggling and we're paying more than any other country.
And the power of this ejective order is really representative and gives validation to the cries of Maha moms and the votes of Maha moms because for the first time it's taking a therapy.
Autism Research Findings00:08:40
That's one time.
This is a one-time, one-time, not a lifetime drug that can change someone's life.
And that's the power.
And I think that's why this is the same thing.
So the antidepressants, all that we read about and we prescribe our military, they're not very effective.
It's a lifetime drug.
Well, even if it's lifetime, but do they...
Look at what's happened as we've prescribed and made one of the days and one of the most prescribed.
The numbers are not great.
Perhaps I could jump in from the scientific side of the public.
Thank you, Mr. President.
What's the timeline for those?
I just wanted to say something to you.
I think what's really important about your order is you include, we really want to understand why these rapid-acting treatments work.
We need that for every treatment in mental health illnesses.
Standard antidepressants in research, they do work for some people, but certainly not everyone.
And if we think of cancer, all other conditions, we have a test to know which treatment is needed.
And we don't have that for mental illness.
It's guesswork.
This is not.
With that, it either works or it doesn't work.
And you have the results for this year.
It's part of this order.
I think it's really important that we're able to have the investment to understand who does this work for and the test to accompany that.
So thank you for making that.
Do you think this could be a big step above antidepressants, what we're doing?
I think it can be identifying who doesn't respond to an antidepressant straight away rather than waiting for years.
And what percentage of people respond positively to antidepressants?
20 to 30 percent.
That's not great.
No.
That's not great.
Well, thank you.
Mr. President, what's the timeline for those with mental health disorders, substance abuse disorders to readily take advantage of this treatment based upon the executive order that you're signing today?
So I'd like to ask maybe Marty that question.
Sure.
So first of all, right now it's available on clinical trials.
We have not had applications in-house at the FDA.
There was one that came in under the Biden administration.
It was kicked out and not accepted.
We now have three applications that are imminent, and we'll be issuing vouchers next week.
The fastest FDA approval was 42 days during the HIV epidemic.
On our national priority voucher program under President Trump, we are now down to that timeframe on a routine basis instead of a year.
In my opinion, we need the same level of urgency we had with HIV for PTSD and depression and anxiety and our mental health disorder and cancer and heart disease and so many other conditions.
So you're going to see decisions out from the FDA later this summer as soon as we get the applications.
That's great.
That's great.
And Mr. President, I like that answer.
I really like that answer.
Thank you, Mr. President.
And then in regards to the timing of the executive order, was there not enough known about this treatment a year ago or five years ago or eight years ago to sign the executive order that you signed?
So do you want to answer that question?
Go ahead.
I would just add in 2016, the lead professor at Johns Hofkin said this was the most promising therapy that he's seen in his career and many doctors from leading institutions said that.
There's been a hold.
There's been incentives against this and to the bravery and leadership of President Trump.
That's going to be a good question.
Yes, it started.
And this, to be clear, is starting a scientific, a fast-track scientific process that's subject to FDA approval.
But this has been known among leading institutions for many times as a very promising therapy.
So could it not have been signed in your first term or there just wasn't enough information on it?
Nobody told me about it, frankly.
I mean, all of a sudden I've been getting a lot of calls.
I think a lot, in all fairness, I think a lot's been learned over the last few years.
I mean, a lot has been learned over the past few years.
I think in the first term, if I was standing behind the president, I would have been much more uncomfortable than I am now, thanks to the research that's been done.
I mean, it's still a lot more to do.
It's worked for so many people, and that's really a great move to do this.
But the research is really important because we're going to keep improving, keep learning, and make sure that the people get the treatment they need when they are depressed, when they are addicted, when they have PTSD.
If you keep doing the research and also acknowledge the research that's been done, that's when you get good health policy.
And Secretary Kennedy's role, he just doesn't stop.
Every day, all day long, until he gets these things done.
This is not an easy boulder to push up the hill.
And Secretary Kennedy was undaunted, and he'd been talking about it for a while, so he had a passion anyway.
But his mentoring has allowed a lot of folks to move this quickly.
If I can jump in rapidly, because I was one of those doctors that was not supportive of psychedelic therapy because I thought it was magical thinking.
But over the past six to ten years, we have seen an emergence of data that we cannot ignore.
These drugs have the capacity, as was mentioned before, with one single administration to change the behavior of someone towards a therapeutic effect.
In animal models, one single administration creates, recreates pathways that have been eroded because of pathology.
So we have a tool that potentially could allow us to basically manipulate the ability of our own bodies to heal itself if we know how to properly use it.
And that's why research, as I mentioned before, is opening up doors to explore what else can we do, how to optimally use it.
But you're just hearing and seeing automatic research.
You're hearing and seeing things now that you wouldn't have really able to have done a couple of years ago.
I mean, it just seems to me, I've been hearing about it a little bit over the last year, over the last year.
I never heard anything about it in the past.
It was almost like taboo.
It's not taboo anymore.
And they were not enough science neither.
And I think that's where the evidence speaks for itself.
And ultimately, that's why I say, I was one of those doctors that didn't believe in it.
So we do data in order to change our perspective and to do things better.
I was just surprised to hear about the antidepressants.
I assume they'd be better.
That's not very good.
So, Bobby, you're going to push it very hard?
Yes, we'll get it done.
These two guys, and this third with Rob, too, and with you.
I mean, that to me is research, right?
Maybe the ultimate research, right?
Big fans, all big fans.
But I want to thank everybody.
And it's going to be a good question.
Thank you very much, Julie.
Thank you guys.
That was President Trump speaking live from the Oval Office on this Saturday morning, signing an executive order having to do with directing the FDA to expedite their review of certain psychedelics already designated as breakthrough therapy drugs.
The White House says that the EO will clear away unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles, improve data sharing among the FBA, FDA, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, and facilitate fast rescheduling of any psychedelic drugs that become FDA approved.
The president hosting some celebrity guests, including the podcaster Joe Rogan, who is supportive of a specific psychedelic drug called Ibogaine.
And we heard from various cabinet members saying that the FDA is going to expedite this approval and that they expect later this summer there will be some developments there.
The last thing I'll mention, the president made some brief comments about Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.
He said it's working out very well.
They've gotten a little cute talking about closing the Strait of Hormuz.
He said we're talking to them.
They can't blackmail us related to the Strait.
And the President promised some more information by the end of today, but he didn't really take questions on that conflict.
So we'll have to see if he weighs in publicly for the rest of the day.
But as of now, the President is slated to spend the rest of this Saturday in Washington after returning from a trip to Arizona and Nevada over the last two days.
And the global community right now is tracking the Strait of Hormuz and whether or not the U.S. and Iran are inching any closer to a peace deal, that straight getting reopened, oil prices dropping, or if this conflict is going to be prolonged.
Ceasefire Talks on Strait00:00:29
That's it for Washington Journal today.
Thanks for calling in and tuning in.
Ceasefire is up next.
Welcome to Ceasefire, where we look to bridge the divide in American politics.
I'm Dasha Burns, Politico White House Bureau Chief, and joining me now on either side of the desk, two