The News Roundup For February 20, 2026

26:00I mean, there are thousands of these cases. There are a lot of people watching this case for legal strategy, right? Even the state of New Mexico has a case ongoing, not unlike this one. 100%. So everybody is watching the outcome of this case. Before we head to a break, a word about Oscar winner Robert Duvall, who died on Sunday at the age of 95. The Hollywood icon had more than 140 film and television roles throughout his seven-decade career. He debuted on the big screen as Boo Radley in 1962's To Kill a Mockingbird. That was a role where he spoke no lines at all. Then he worked with directors like Robert Altman, Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Sidney LeMay in some of America's greatest films.

26:42Also like The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Captain Kilgore. He loves the smell of napalm in the morning. Absolutely iconic role for Robert Duvall. He says his favorite role, though, was as Augustus McRae, an old Texas ranger on a cattle drive, in Lonesome Dove, 1989, CBS, a miniseries based on a Larry McMurtry novel. We come to this place to make money. There wasn't nothing about fun in the deal. What are you talking about? You don't even like money. You like money even less than you like fun. That's possible. An incredible career. Robert Duvall passed away at the age of 95. More on the week's news to come in just a moment.

27:28Before we took a break, we were talking about the media on television and online. Meanwhile, while we stay online, or the world of artificial intelligence anyway, over at the Pentagon, the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, he says his department is cutting ties with Anthropic. They're one of the big AI leaders in that space. and he'll designate the company, quote, a supply chain risk. Arthur Delaney, how is Anthropics AI software currently being used in the military? And why is the Pentagon breaking ties now? The big AI companies all have defense contracts. And they, Anthropics, which is a spinoff from OpenAI, because the people are supposedly more ethical.

28:12And they reportedly complained to the Pentagon. They didn't want their stuff used for weapons systems. They don't want artificial intelligence, you know, basically going Skynet at DOD. And that's the reason for this dispute. Now, meanwhile, while we're talking about the secretary, Pete Hegseth, back in the real world, not online, on the pulpit, if you like, at the Pentagon. Yes, the Pentagon now has a pulpit. But the defense secretary invited Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson to lead a worship service at the Pentagon on Tuesday. Wilson is open about his misogynist and racist views, but he says it's because the Bible commands them.

28:54He's very direct and open about this. I've seen many, many interviews with Douglas Wilson. He has said that women should lose the right to vote if the 19th Amendment should be repealed. He has said that Christian slave owners were acting on solid scriptural grounds by owning other human beings. Amanda Becker, your outlet is called The 19th. I think you should react here. What happened here? What's the response been like to Pete Hegseth having Douglas Wilson deliver remarks and hold a service at the Pentagon? Yeah, I would characterize it as shocking but not surprising, and I'll explain that a little bit.

29:31Hegseth's ties to Doug Wilson are well known. He has reposted videos in which the pastor has said women shouldn't vote. They shouldn't serve in military combat roles. They should submit to their husbands. And so this is just the natural next step in some ways of him. You know, Hegseth himself has tried to limit women's roles in the military, and the 19th has covered that pretty extensively. And so this is just the next step of bringing him straight to the Pentagon to preach this message to our members of the military. Hegseth is also a member of one of Douglas Wilson's affiliate churches, as they spread.

30:04Anne Douglas Wilson did say in an interview on CNN that the opening of one of his churches in the Washington, D.C. area explicitly is part of his desire, his long-term project to make America a Christian nationalist nation. Yes, he's very open about it. He doesn't make any attempt to hide it. He's an overt Christian nationalist and he overtly wants to limit women's roles in public life. And that starts at the military, but it apparently might also extend to the right to vote. I urge people to read up or watch Douglas Wilson because he does not hide the ball. He is very open and direct about his views.

30:39That's one of his virtues, I would say. There's nothing left to the imagination when you hear from Douglas Wilson. He has a church out in Idaho, I believe. It is. And now he's in the inner sanctum of the Pentagon. And Hegseth has not hidden his affinity for Douglas Wilson and this pastor. And, you know, as you just said, worships at one of his churches. So, you know, you can pretty much assume that whatever Douglas Wilson believes is something that Hegseth also believes. Now, that's at the Pentagon. Let's talk about environmental policy. Major moves this week in the world of policy and also in Washington, D.C.'s rivers, as we'll talk about.

31:15The Trump administration is now facing lawsuits over its plan to repeal the landmark endangerment finding just days after announcing its end this past week. Now, the endangerment finding was the legal basis for federal greenhouse gas regulations. It lays out that six greenhouse gases pose threats to public health and welfare, thus giving the EPA the authority to regulate them. On Wednesday, several environmental and medical groups challenged the Trump administration's repeal of that finding. How successful, Arthur, have these legal challenges been so far or similar challenges in the past? Where is this headed?

31:50Well, we've not had a response from the court yet, I don't think, to this challenge. But I would expect – there's a possibility that they'll get a restraining order of some sort and then it will eventually wind up at the Supreme Court. And this is the regulation that allows, for example, the government to regulate fuel efficiency standards. And it's also something that energy companies have used to shield themselves from lawsuits and say, look, you can't sue us because the EPA regulates this. And ironically, this decision could expose the energy sector to a bunch of lawsuits that are currently bottled up by the courts.

32:30So it's a huge decision with a lot of unknown consequences. While we're talking about environmental news, I did promise that we'll talk about not only policy, but poisoning in the rivers of Washington, D.C., a major sewage spill here in the District of Columbia, a rupture of a gigantic sewer line carrying human waste ruptured into the Potomac River. This is an ecological disaster in the Washington, D.C. area. It has gotten political, Jeff Mason. The president has sounded off and blamed Democrats. It's not just a political story, but as we mentioned, you know, politics is in the sewer and now the sewer is in politics.

33:13What is the president saying and where does this head as the water flows but the blame continues? I have nothing to add, Todd. You said it perfectly just now. Yeah. No, it's gross, and the politics of it are, you know, there's conflict. Although the conflict has been sort of more or less tamer in the last year between the White House and the District of Columbia. But the District of Columbia, of course, is led by a Democratic mayor. Who has made a lot of efforts to keep Trump on her good side. A lot, and that's why I was saying it's been a little bit tamer. I mean, she's worked very hard to maintain a positive relationship with the White House in part because she wants to defend Washington, D.C.'s ability to govern itself, which is called home rule.

34:02In this case, she has asked for a disaster declaration. She's, I believe, declared a disaster for D.C. itself, but is still waiting for the federal government to do that. And she's asked the White House to help bear the cost, even though this isn't the sort of major disaster where they typically do that. And by asking the White House to help bear the cost, she's in a way inviting this politics from the president. I mean, he's going to react. It showed, you know, many people questioned her decision to cozy up to Trump when he was taking over the D.C. police. But this shows why she wants that relationship with the president.

34:35Well, every week there's important news from the world of the Epstein files. Important news from the U.K. Of course, the former Prince Andrew arrested. That's major news from overseas. It's a measure of accountability that has not happened in this country. So let's talk about it. Convicted sex offender, of course, it continues to rattle the world of politics here. The United Nations panel this week weighed in on the case, saying that the allegations contained in the documents are so large that they could amount to, quote, crimes against humanity. That's from a U.N. panel. Now, Amanda Becker, DOJ officials like Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, have said the Epstein case is closed.

35:16Those were his words here in America. What kind of pressure, if any, does this U.N. conclusion or the arrest of the former Prince Andrew in the U.K. put on investigators and put on the DOJ to get to the bottom of what experts call a global criminal enterprise in the Epstein files? Yeah, so Blanche also acknowledged that victims want to be made whole, was his quote. But he said, you know, we can't quote, we can't just create evidence. I think that the global reaction outside of the United States shows that accountability is possible. When there is a will, there is a way. There just isn't a will from this Justice Department.

35:55And Justice Department is only one way, you know, that you can pursue accountability in the U.S. court system. I wouldn't be surprised if we see cases brought, civil cases brought perhaps against individual defendants that were involved in the Epstein circle and activities. And, you know, I think this kind of international reaction and the contrast to what we've seen here in the United States is not going to, you know, tamp down the desire we see here from even people in the president's base for accountability. Annie in Syracuse wrote in with this question. It's a good one. If a law passed to release the Epstein files, why haven't all the Epstein files been released?

36:35The U.K. is embarrassing us by doing what should have been done a long time ago. When will our Congress stop the cover-up? Anyone want to handle that question, at least about the release of the files? I've spoken to Ro Khanna about this last week. He's the Democrat who is lead guy on getting that law passed. And he said, you know, they'll pursue legal means perhaps. I mean, I don't think as Democrat he'll have a lot of leverage on getting House counsel into court. But they'll just keep using public pressure in this. And he is frequently pointed to the more intense reaction abroad as a reason that public pressure can still work.

37:12Also, just to piggyback on that, both good points. And Amanda's that Trump's political base has not let this go. That's really the key. Yeah. I mean, obviously, Ro Khanna is going to push it. And Democrats are upset about it. But it's the fact that the people who put President Trump in office aren't letting it go that continues to make it a political liability to him and his party. Here's another question from Stephen. I would like to know if there's any talk among officials of getting a special prosecutor in charge of the Epstein debacle since it's pretty clear that the AG is derelict in that respect.

37:45Can something like that be compelled regardless of what the administration wants? I mean this is just – they won't do that. You'd have – Donald Trump would have to appoint a special counsel. He's not going to do that. He doesn't like this. And as the previous listener's question about following the law, they don't follow laws they don't like. You saw this on day one with the law requiring the banning of TikTok. I just said, nah. So that's why the Epstein files have not been fully released. And Jeff Mason, what do you take away from Pam Bondi's appearance on Capitol Hill, her combative, dismissive, times sarcastic appearance as questions about the Epstein files were being asked?

38:24in my view, meant to show, meant to billboard the administration's attitude about being questioned about this. She largely has an audience of one, and he sits in the White House, and that is the tone that he likes to see, and it is the tone that she has adopted. I think it was very offensive to many Democratic lawmakers, but not offensive to the White House and the person who employs her. What about Republican lawmakers outside of Thomas Massey of Kentucky, who's been the Republican leader about this. There were a lot of Republican lawmakers who were up in arms about the Epstein files not that long ago.

38:56Well, most of them just said when it was their time to ask questions, they just said they just ceded their time to Bonnie to make more insults. But one thing that was noticeable is the chairman of the committee, Jim Jordan, when Bonnie was over talking and Democrats were saying, can I have my time? Like, it's not, she's not allowed to do that. Jordan was siding with the Democrats and saying it's their time. Let's talk about some good stuff. Let's talk about the Olympics. Let's talk about the American women, the golden American women at the Olympics. How about skier Michaela Schifrin, slalom victory, erasing an eight-year streak of Olympic losses.

39:32She's the most decorated women's skier of all time, regardless of her Olympic drought that ended with a slalom gold medal. How about figure skater Alyssa Liu, A joy-filled performance, making her the first U.S. Olympic champion in the women's individual event in 24 years. And then there were the women of U.S. hockey. The out-wood pass for Keller, a defenseman. Nice move. Cuts to the net. Score! Megan Keller, the overtime hero, the United States, wins gold and belongs. Megan Keller finds the net in overtime. The U.S. women defeat Canada to take the gold. Phenomenal. What do you guys love from the Olympics?

40:17What are you watching? Amanda? Since we were just talking about hockey, my favorite part of the Olympics so far has been when hockey player Hillary Knight proposed to Brittany Bowe. I'm not quite sure how to say her fiancé's last name. You know, I'm a sucker. So, romantic at heart, I guess. So, really enjoyed that part of the Olympics this year. I was in Georgia yesterday covering President Trump's event there, and I flew home last night commercially and got to watch the Olympics and saw the Alyssa Luce performance. And it was just—I had this huge grin watching her because of how happy she was.

40:53She's full of joy. Joy and relaxation and spirit. Like she really wants to be there. She wants to be there, but she also at least gave the impression that she couldn't have cared less if she got a gold or not. She just wanted to be out there on the ice and give an amazing performance. It's the way to win. And she did. Yeah, Arthur. I love the winning. I love the gold. We need more. You know, we're not leading that. But I also love patriotically rooting for my teams. It's not just like a random affinity based on, you know, it's a team I like. Or the shirt they wear. The shirts they wear. It's your country.

41:28Yeah. And it's bigger than just like my local teams, which I love. Yeah. It's USA. Well, I want to shout out American goalie Aaron Frankel. Logged a record four shutouts in net for the U.S. women. Allowed just two goals the entire tournament. Ridiculous. Brick wall. Aaron Frankel of the U.S. women in net. That's my shout out for the Olympics. Just absolutely phenomenal. We want to take a moment because America said goodbye to Jesse Jackson. He was a charismatic civil rights leader who established the Rainbow Coalition of Poor and Working Class People, became a political force in the United States.

42:04He died on Tuesday. He was 84 years old. Jesse Jackson ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination twice, 1984 and 1988, when he finished as the runner-up to Michael Dukakis. The New York Times obituary called Jesse Jackson the, quote, most influential black figure in the years between the civil rights crusade of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King and the election of Barack Obama. In 1972, he appeared on Sesame Street with a simple message that we all matter. I am black. I am black. Brown. Brown. White. White. I speak a different language. I speak a different language. But I must be respected.

42:46But I must be respected. Protected. Never rejected. I am. God's child. I am. Somebody. Give yourself a big hand. Amanda Becker, Jesse Jackson on Sesame Street, 1972. Yeah. What I really love about Jesse Jackson's legacy is he really laid the groundwork for what we call intersectionality in democratic politics now. You know, he not only was focused on the fight for racial justice, but also gender justice. you know, brought in LGBTQ people and really kind of laid the groundwork for what we see today. That was Amanda Becker, national reporter at the 19th. Also, you heard from Arthur Delaney, senior reporter at HuffPost and Jeff Mason, Washington correspondent at Bloomberg News.

43:32Thanks to all of our domestic news panel. We're just getting started, though, with the week's headlines. When we come back from a short break, we'll have a new panel with all the news from around the globe. Stay with us.

43:48Now let's get right into the international portion of our weekly news roundup. The first meeting of Donald Trump's Board of Peace in Washington, and the president made some major announcements about all the money. The Board of Peace is showing how a better future can be built, starting right here in this room. And I want to let you know that the United States is going to make a contribution of$10 billion to the Board of Peace. Thank you. No details about how that's legal without Congress or how the president will spend that money. We'll get into it. And once again, the president teased the prospect of military strikes on Iran.

44:28We'll get to some reaction on what that could mean. There's no appetite for war here in the United States, as polls have shown. We know that can amount to essentially political suicide. And the Munich Security Conference wraps up with a new attitude in Europe toward the United States. We need to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. And that means a world in which America abandons us or is even a hostile power. Just an absolutely dramatic shift. And in the UK, the accountability for the Epstein files many people thought was never possible. The former Prince Andrew not only stripped of his title and privileges, but now arrested, released without any charges.

45:09But he remains under investigation. We'll talk about that too. The panel is here, Robbie Grammer, national security reporter at the Wall Street Journal. Robbie, you're just back from traveling with Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State in Munich. Yeah, thanks for having me. And in Europe, it's great to have you as well. Jack Detch is here, defense reporter at Politico. Hi, Jack. Good to be here, Todd. Also back from Munich, right? Yep, that's right. Lots of eyes and ears in Europe for us here on the panel this week. Greg Myrie is here, also national security correspondent and frequent guest here on the Roundup.

45:39Hi, Greg. Hey, Todd. All right. We got a great full house here at WAMU Studios. So we thank you all for being here. It was the first gathering of the new Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday. This is Trump's new Council of Nations. He's the chair. And as we'll hear, he's the accountant as well. It's kind of a rival to the United Nations in the new world of Trump diplomacy. Now, the president said that member states had pledged more than$7 billion toward Gaza reconstruction and humanitarian efforts. That's a lot of money. But just for context, it represents just a fraction of the estimated$70 billion that the UN says would be needed to rebuild the Palestinian territory.

46:26Robbie Grammer, what was on the agenda for this inaugural meeting of the Board of Peace? Yeah. I mean, like you said, it was an inaugural meeting. And so this was really Trump's debut of his new alternative system to the United Nations here with focus on the border peace. He really tried to hash out the next steps for what will come in Gaza and trying to cement this long-term Middle East peace plan. Of course, you can pledge as many billions of dollars as you want to Gaza reconstruction, but none of that will happen, as U.S. officials, Middle Eastern officials say, unless Hamas agrees to disarm.

47:02Now, Hamas technically on paper agreed to disarm back when there was the ceasefire Trump helped broker to end the Israel-Hamas war last year. But Hamas is digging its heels in. And a lot of people say are starting to doubt, is there a clear path toward Hamas actually disarming in a way that could meaningfully create this new Gaza that Trump envisions here? And so that was the question overriding this entire big summit yesterday on the board. We're going to talk more about it. Hamas disarmament was, I mean, this was predicted from moment one, Robbie, that this would be one of the major sticking points holding up a realistic phase two.

47:38Yeah, that's right. And Trump administration officials, I mean, they say, you know, we're clear-eyed about this. We're not naive. But we do think Hamas is on the back foot. It's internationally isolated. All of the countries that at one point talked to it are pressuring it to disarm. They're saying we do have concepts of a plan, so to speak. They're not releasing this publicly yet. But that is the biggest, the main question that that will make or break whether this Board of Peace vision can be enacted. Well, as I mentioned a minute ago, the president also said the U.S. was pledging$10 billion to the Board of Peace.

48:10Jack Detch, do we know anything about where that money is coming from or how it will be spent by the lifetime chairman, Donald Trump? This is$10 billion from U.S. taxpayers. It's not a done deal until Congress says it's a done deal. They would have to get involved. This money hasn't been allocated. It hasn't been budgeted. It needs to be distributed. So this is a headline commitment, not anything fully fleshed out, not a spending plan. And Trump hasn't even really said where it's going in terms of what the money will do, presumably for Gaza reconstruction, wider war and conflict stabilization.

48:44But there's no actual budget line here. So they're going to have to find the money. In the past, Donald Trump has not waited for budget lines to do what he wants with taxpayer money. Canceling USAID and using some of the funds for security details for some of his aides is just one example. there are dozens. Does he plan to go to Congress and get this money the legal way? It's not clear yet. There's some scuttlebutt from the administration. They could try and use quote unquote efficiencies from disbanding USAID and other agencies within the government. That could be sort of an option to do an end around of Congress.

49:18But you already have a Congress that's upset about the Greenland issue, that's been very upset with Donald Trump, even Republicans on just a number of issues. So if he sort of tries to flout congressional authority at this point, he could have some Republicans at his neck. Alongside financial support, the board highlighted troop and police contributions to the International Stabilization Force. This is a newly formed multinational force with a mission in Gaza. Boots on the ground, Greg Myrie, the force that's supposed to enforce the ceasefire. We already talked about the difficulties of Hamas disarmament.

49:55What will this force do exactly? What will it look like? Yeah, Todd, nothing is easy in Gaza, but this piece of it is really interesting to me because this stabilization force really for the first time would put foreign troops between Hamas and Israel. And we've just seen round after round of fighting between the two sides. And there was nothing to keep the Israelis from going in and striking at Hamas whenever they wanted to. Hamas could fire rockets or launch an attack against Israel. So what's interesting here is you've got five countries, and I'll name them because they sound kind of random, Indonesia, Morocco, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Albania.

50:34They do have something in common. They're all Muslim countries, majority Muslim countries. So Hamas and the Palestinians would seem to be okay with them. Four of the five have relations, diplomatic relations with Israel, all except Indonesia, which has informal ties. So they're acceptable to Israel as well. Now, they're supposed to go there and sit between Hamas and Israel, but not fight with either side. They're not going there to disarm Hamas. They want to bring down the temperature. And this will just add a – if they get in place, would add a really new and interesting dynamic of having foreign forces there between Israel and Hamas and could lead to the Israeli withdrawal.

51:18Israel still holds about half of Gaza's territory. Meanwhile, Robbie, invitations went out around the world. You can become a gold card member. I don't remember the name of it, a gold card member. Platinum member. Okay, platinum. A billion dollars gets you platinum. I should have known. For a billion dollars, you can be a platinum member of the Board of Peace. Other countries were invited to join, but many did not. There are countries that are staying away. What's the dynamic? Because you send a message, right, whether you join or stay away specifically from the Board of Peace. And ultimately, how does this affect what they're supposed to be doing, which is not only enforcing peace in Gaza, but bringing some prospects to the people who live there?

51:58Yeah, I mean, I think what was significant about this Board of Peace meeting, the summit Trump hosted, is not only who was there, but who wasn't there. Really important key allies like the United Kingdom, France, and Germany haven't joined the Board of Peace yet. There's a big sticking point among U.S. allies. First, the first red flag for them was that Trump invited Russia to join the Board of Peace as it's waging its war in Ukraine, costing hundreds of thousands of lives. And the second is that there's a real fear among some U.S. allies that the U.S. is looking to supplant the United Nations system or replace the U.N.

52:33with this Board of Peace. Trump has hinted at it, alluded to it. Some of the members, some of the presidents and foreign leaders who did show up also brought up this idea and said, you know, if it's not meant to replace the UN, maybe it can shake the UN out of its slumber. Everyone across the board, left, right, center, agrees that the UN is just not fit for purpose. It's just not working now. And so the people who are supportive of the Board of Peace say, yes, maybe there's an opportunity here to shake up the UN a bit. Well, as he often does, the president took credit for other peace efforts like averting a conflict between Pakistan and India last year and a deal between Albania and Azerbaijan.

53:12Trump also shouted out the leaders of Japan and Hungary and Argentina, all of whom he's personally endorsed. I'm not supposed to be endorsing people, but I endorse when I like people. You know, I've had a very good record of endorsing candidates within the United States. But now I endorse foreign leaders, including Viktor Orban, who's here, and others. And I endorse this gentleman, Millet. He was a little behind in the polls. He ended up winning in a landslide. I just endorsed the prime minister of Japan. She was in a tight race, but was probably going to win. And she won in the largest number in the history of Japan.

53:52So she likes me a lot. Greg Meyrie, there was a time, many, many decades, when American presidents did not endorse foreign candidates. It was considered meddling in other sovereign countries' elections. Here at home, sometimes the Trump endorsement helps a candidate. Sometimes it really does nothing to help them. It depends on the race. Has it made any difference the way the president thinks it has in these incumbents getting elected or getting reelected in foreign countries? Hard to say definitively, but it does seem to give them a boost. and you see so many foreign countries not wanting to pick a fight with the Trump administration and certainly getting an endorsement from Trump may sway voters and politicians in those countries to say it's not worth the trouble of picking a fight with the Trump administration.

54:39You also see endorsements from the Trump administration officials like J.D. Vance and allies like Elon Musk for far-right parties and candidates in places like Germany and the AFD there. Well, at the Board of Peace's inaugural meeting in Washington, the question of Iran hung heavily in the air. They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region, and they must make a deal. Or if that doesn't happen, I maybe can understand. If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. But bad things will happen if it doesn't. Now, Trump and his aides both said they expect developments, including a decision on whether to strike Iran within the next 10 days or the next couple of weeks.

55:24Jack Dutch, what do you make of the timeline and the rhetoric of pressure coming from the White House right now? The timeline tells us two things, Todd, and it's obviously not the first time Donald Trump has thrown out a timeline that may or may not actually exist in reality. But number one, Trump hasn't greenlit any specific military option. Number two, this looks like he's losing patience. We can't predict when he's going to lose patience either. It might be five days. It might be 10 days. It might be two weeks. It might be two years. But we know that Trump is certainly upset with the way that the Iranians have carried out this negotiation.

55:58He's upset they might be trying to play for time here. And he tends to get frustrated with Ukraine, with Iran, with NATO, and there could be a spiraling out there. But there's still been a sense that an attack could be kicking a hornet's nest. There's no clear endgame. And it doesn't look like you can do an attack like you did in Venezuela, where you grab the Ayatollah and basically make a dash for it. Well, let's talk about what's going on, not only in the world of diplomacy, but on the high seas. Indirect talks in Geneva, moderated by Oman, ran just about three and a half hours between Tehran and Washington this week.

56:33But what they talked about precisely to outsiders is largely unknown. On Tuesday, Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News that the United States has, quote, a lot of options when it comes to dealing with Iran. Everything is on the table. We certainly want Iran to stop being a state sponsor of terrorism. They're one of the world's largest state sponsors of terrorism. There are a lot of ways in which they endanger America's national security. But the most important way they could is if they acquired a nuclear weapon. And that is the red line the president of the United States has consistently set.

57:04Over the past several days, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group has been seen in the Persian Gulf moving into range of Iran. The USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group moving into the Mediterranean. Other naval assets and land assets around the region well reported on at this point. The U.S. military appears to want those assets well reported on because of the billboard that they send to the region and to Iran. Greg Myrie, the readout from the talks in Geneva appears to be unclear. One of the big questions, though, is why? Why now? What is the American goal here? The president has said it's about protesters.

57:44He said it's about nuclear fuel. They've said it's about missiles. They've said it's about Hezbollah. What is the timing? What is the why now? What is the justification and the rationale for what appears to be a potential step to war here? Yeah, exactly, Todd. The president has thrown a lot of things out there, and it's hard to tell exactly what he really wants to do. Now, it was the protests and the Iranian crackdown on those protesters that sort of brought Trump into the Iran issue and talking about helping the protesters. That seems to sort of move to the side as the nuclear talks have begun and now this military buildup.

58:22So I think it's quite extraordinary that the U.S. could be moving toward a war, an actual war with Iran. The president has not delivered a major speech to the American public, though his State of the Union address is Tuesday. He hasn't sought support in Congress. He hasn't – his administration has not made its case to the United Nations. He's not tried to build a military coalition beyond cooperation with Israel. So he's been fuzzy about why now he has not tried to build a strong case in public opinion. And it's also not clear what exactly would satisfy him. Could it be a nuclear deal? Could it be limited strikes?

59:07Or does he want full-scale regime change? We just don't know. He hasn't made the case. Back to the talks themselves, Robbie Grammer, in Geneva. The readout is unclear, as I mentioned. What do we know? What are some of the biggest questions that remain unanswered about whether Iran and the United States can avoid a kinetic confrontation here? Yeah, I mean, the central question this boils down to is, can Iran's maximum demands meet Trump's minimum demands? We don't know about the Gulf there yet. But there are three big issues here. The first is Iran's nuclear program, which Greg mentioned. The second is Iran's arsenal of missiles, which can threaten Israel and other allies, some of which could potentially be nuclear capable if and when they point come.

59:54And the third is Iran's funding of terrorist proxy networks such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis in Yemen. And so the question here is, is the negotiations, are they going to center around just enriched uranium, the nuclear program, the nuclear sites, or will it also expand to try and will the U.S. try to pressure Iran to also include a deal that includes these ballistic missiles, the funding of proxy terror networks? And those talks are ongoing if and until Trump decides to strike, which as Jack alluded to, you know, could be days from now, could be weeks from now. We just don't know. Well, after the first American strikes on Iran, the president declared that Iran's nuclear material had been obliterated.

1:00:35That appears to be self-evidently false since we're still involved with trying to get rid of nuclear material. Speaking of the first point that you raised, Robbie, the nuclear material, the fissile material that Iran holds early this week, Iran's foreign minister reasserted his country's right to its nuclear program and to respond to any attacks. And while the talks were underway, the supreme leader addressed the nation. here's a bit of what the Ayatollah had to say. The President of the United States repeatedly says that his military is the strongest in the world, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard that it can no longer get up.

1:01:15They constantly say, we have sent an aircraft carrier toward Iran. Sure, very well, an aircraft carrier is certainly a dangerous piece of equipment, but more dangerous than that is the weapon that can sink your carrier to the bottom of the sea. Robbie, what do you make of those bellicose remarks from that? Yeah, not so subtle diplomatic signaling here. I mean, the problem, I mean, we were just talking about confusion on, you know, trying to read into what Trump's vague threats. There's the same problem on the Iranian side. The Supreme Leader of Iran posts on social media vague threats against the U.S.

1:01:51and Israel like every Tuesday and every Thursday. So it's hard to tell what's bluster and what is not. What is clear is Iran is preparing for some form of military action. They're battening down the hatches. There are videos emerging of troops going around Tehran. Obviously, they're still reeling from these massive protests that led to this massacre of protesters just a few weeks ago. And so Iran is on edge right now and just like us, waiting to see what Trump's next move will be. Jack Dutch, meanwhile, on the third point that Rabi raised, which is Iran's support for proxy terrorist groups, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis in Yemen, and the list goes on.

1:02:31Many of these organizations have lost a lot of their offensive capacity in the war with Israel. Iraq seems to be recalibrating, distancing itself from the regional confrontation with Iran here. As it looks out its own windows and as the Ayatollah makes threats about sinking ships. How is Iran viewing the region as it looks out now and its position there? Well, the Iranians can't see their allies from their house anymore. I guess it's getting kind of lonely in the region when you look at it. And for decades, they'd built up what you alluded to, kind of this axis of resistance, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Gaza.

1:03:09That's all been teetering sort of ever since October 7th, 2020. Syria is off the table. Syria is probably off the table, although there's a lot of ungoverned space in Syria. The U.S. is pulling out troops from Syria, so there may be an angle for Iran to use its supply routes. And still, remember, Iran, as Robbie alluded to, has thousands of missiles. Thousands of them are distributed to these proxy groups, including Hezbollah, Gataib, Hezbollah in Iraq as well, that satellite. So there are opportunities for these sort of asymmetric salvos, similar to what we saw in the end of the first Trump administration when there was that tit for tat that, of course, led to the death of Qasem Soleimani.

1:03:44Well, Iranians are marking the end of the traditional 40-day mourning period for thousands of protesters killed by the government in a deadly crackdown last month all over that country. At least 7 ,000 people are believed to be killed. The actual number could be much higher. And over the weekend, around a million diaspora Iranians gathered in cities around the world. They were there to demonstrate for regime change in Iran. Some were also calling for the return of exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi. He's the son of the Shah backed by the United States and deposed in the Islamic revolution, of course, in 1979.

1:04:21Greg Myrie, can we expect to see protests pick back up in Iran? And what about that part of the equation that Robbie mentioned, right? I mean, Trump has also said, and you mentioned it, in the past, this was about protesters. I don't, I'm not a military strategist. I know of no way that bombing from an aircraft carrier or cruise missiles can protect protesters. I'm not aware of how that works. But as protesters mark the 40-day mourning period here, what are the dynamics inside Iran that are important? Yeah, a couple of things to note. It's very clear that a lot of Iranians do not like the government, would like to see it changed or overthrown.

1:04:59There's this huge diaspora that also opposes the government, but they're not organized. There's no real figure to rally around. You mentioned Reza Pahlavi, but he hasn't lived in the country since his father was overthrown in 1979. He was a teenager. There's no rallying point, and the Iranian government has crushed any opposition. So first of all, you don't know that the Iranians will rise up should the U.S. unleash airstrikes, for example. But it is a concern. One of the people I spoke with this week is Alex Vatanca at the Middle East Institute, and he said it is pretty clear the Iranians are worried about sort of a confrontation on two fronts, the U.S.

1:05:45and the Israelis bombing from the skies, protesters rising up on the streets. That's a concern. We don't know if it's going to happen, and you would certainly expect the Iranians to hit pretty hard. They hit very hard last month, and now if there's a full-fledged war going on, you would certainly expect them to hit back again. We got this question from Marvin. It's about Congress. The way it's supposed to work, Marvin says, is that Congress has to authorize military action with certain exceptions. My question is, does that include substantial military asset positioning? Does that cover, Robbie Grammer, a buildup?

1:06:20That costs millions. It does not cover the buildup. There is precedent here for the U.S. to launch military strikes without congressional approval. There's a big debate in Congress right now about how or whether the U.S. should do that. But previous administrations have done that before without congressional approval. Bill Clinton in Kosovo in 1999, the Obama administration in Libya. But there are a lot of members of Congress, particularly Democrats, who say, wait a second, we're going to go to war with Iran. We should have a say in this. That's our constitutional obligation to authorize war. Well, one more story we've been watching this week very closely.

1:06:57South Korea's ex-president, Yoon Suk-yul, sentenced to life in prison for masterminding an insurrection by trying to impose military rule in December of 2024. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty. They didn't get it. It's life in prison. Life in prison for trying to foment an insurrection and take over the government in South Korea. That's what accountability looks like in that country, life in prison for the former president. All right, I want to move to news from Russia and Ukraine. U.S. brokered talks between those two countries. The sides met in Geneva, not too far from the other talks that were going on on Wednesday that we've already mentioned.

1:07:38But officials abruptly ended that session signaling an impasse in those talks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was not present at the talks, said on social media, yesterday's meetings were indeed difficult, and And we can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached a final stage. Greg Myrie, we are days away from the four-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine. What do we know about this meeting and the impasse? Yeah, I mean, one of the leading Russian figures in those talks apparently just gave another history lesson to the Ukrainians.

1:08:15And Zelensky was not there, but when he responded on social media, He was just dripping with frustration and sarcasm saying, I don't need another history lesson. And perhaps even the most charitable interpretation of these talks is the Russians seem to be dragging them out. They're willing to meet. They're willing to talk. But they're not moving away from any of their maximalist positions. They're continuing with these heavy airstrikes aimed at civilian targets, the power grid, civilians in Ukraine. The Ukrainians have done pretty well on the battlefield recently, holding the front line or even retaking some territory.

1:08:55We're still in the middle of winter there, but spring is perhaps on the horizon. That's a big marker there because there's so much pressure on the civilians in Ukraine with these nightly attacks during the winter. So just making it to the spring is a big deal. This will be the fourth winter that they will have survived and without any major concessions. But I don't see the talks go anywhere. Jack, where do you think talks go from here? I mean, I noticed a lot of analysis this week concluding that in Russia there are millions of casualties. Inflation is high. Prestige is on the line. The economy is stagnant.

1:09:38all adding up to the fact that the cost for Putin to end the war is higher domestically in terms of social unrest and economic unrest than just continuing on. What do you make of that? And what do you make of Putin's incentives right now? Yeah, I mean, the pressure isn't there. And Volodymyr Zelensky, when he came to Munich, was very clear. He said, I need more sanctions. He was asking lawmakers behind the scenes for Tomahawk long-range strike missiles that could shoot deep into Russia. The Ukrainians have a lot that they can carry out on the front lines. They have a lot in the deep strike. They don't have a lot in the mid-range.

1:10:16That's been a major problem for them as well. So I think the feeling is from the Ukrainians, we need more to really put the pain to Vladimir Putin. They don't have enough. Yeah, and I think, I mean, Greg hit the nail on the head there. The problem is Putin has not changed his calculations from the first day of the war. But if there's one thing that both sides agree on that we saw out of these Geneva talks, it is that they don't want to piss off Trump. They don't want to be the impediment or be seen as Trump's impediment to peace. So there's this weird sense of political theater where both sides are going through the motions of these peace talks and saying, yes, of course, we're working with Trump to get this war ended.

1:10:54While at the same time, neither side budging. A brief note from Europe this week. French icon Giselle Pellico's memoir was released worldwide on Tuesday in 22 languages. Pellico recounts her story of survival in the book after she was drugged by her husband, who then recorded her. She was raped by more than 51 men over several years. In 2024, she waived anonymity in a landmark trial. Here she is speaking to CBS News in her first U.S. TV interview. At first I wanted a closed-door trial and I didn't want to see the videos. I knew it was going to be very difficult for me. And I saw a woman, I didn't recognize myself, surrounded by men committing horrific acts.

1:11:42I was sacrificed on the altar of vice. I was fortunate to have been unconscious under those anesthetics. I could have died from everything I endured, that sedation. But I'm here to bear witness to what I lived through and to say that I'm very much alive, a survivor, but alive. A devastating case in France. Giselle Pelico telling her story there in her memoir just released this week. All right, let's jump now back into the war between Ukraine and Russia for just a moment. and top military chiefs from the UK and Germany penned an op-ed in The Guardian warning about Moscow's intentions. They wrote, quote, Moscow's military buildup combined with its willingness to wage war on our continent, as painfully evidenced in Ukraine, represents an increased risk that demands our collective attention.

1:12:39Jack, what do you make of this warning now from high-ranking officials from US allied territories? what we often refer to as NATO allies, UK and Germany. Well, they're trying to threaten the Baltics. They've apparently begun not replacing some of those losses in Ukraine and trying to refit their units that can then go to the Leningrad district. We haven't seen a huge shift in posture, but this is exactly what the UK and German chiefs are warning about in this op-ed. And the other thing is trying to break the taboo, right? Because Europe, despite all this talk of European sovereignty, despite all this talk about industrialization, The publics aren't really prepared for war.

1:13:19You saw a couple of years ago, the UK army chief getting fired for making remarks very similar to these. So this is an effort by the militaries to try and break the taboos and almost get like a Nordic type of response to say, hey, we're preparing for war and really show a thorny exterior to the Russians. Alex Ward, national security reporter at the Wall Street Journal and frequent guest on the International Roundup was on 1A on Wednesday. He was talking about Munich. Now, Robbie, you were at Munich, Jack Dutch, you were at Munich. And the message that European attendees heard loud and clear. Now, this is from Marco Rubio.

1:13:53Robbie, you were traveling with Rubio on his European trip through Munich. So I want to get your reaction to this. The secretary of state talking not only about Ukraine, of course, but America's position vis-a-vis Europe and the national security future envisioned by the Trump administration. Here's Alex Ward earlier this week. The call is coming from inside the house. the creator of that rules-based system is now saying it doesn't work for us in the U.S. and we're willing to blow it up. Maybe we might rebuild it. Maybe we might revive it. But you guys have to come along with this blow up. Otherwise, we're going to go our separate ways.

1:14:28Robbie Grammers, is that the message that you heard? More importantly, is that the message that European leaders heard from Marco Rubio during his appearances this week? Yeah, I mean, European leaders were reeling from these types of stinging rebukes from Trump from, you know, pulling back from American arms shipments to Ukraine to Trump's efforts to try and annex Greenland. And so they're really starting to question the U.S. alliance here, this so-called international order that they've comfortably been in and the U.S. has led since the end of World War II. And Marco Rubio, in his speech, he gave a very poignant speech in Munich, agree or disagree.

1:15:06And his point was basically, you know, we are jointly civilizational powers. He said America will always be a quote, a child of Europe. But if we're mean to you, it's because we want you to get your act together. And some Europeans took that well, said, OK, it's well-intentioned. We need to build up our own defense, take more responsibilities. And some really bristled at that. They said, wait a second, Trump, you have been bashing allies nonstop, working with Putin on this war. When we say that Putin's not ready to negotiate, threaten to annex territory from Greenland, which is a part of the Danish kingdom, Denmark's a close U.S.

1:15:39ally. And now you're coming here and lecturing us on standing up. That really didn't sit well. Jack Detch, what did you hear from Rubio? How did you interpret it? Two things. First off, Rubio's call for one civilization, Western civilization, the rise of Western civilization again, certainly looked different from Europe being a declining power, as we saw in the national security strategy. And Europeans really took this to be, okay, this is more U.S. interference in what Europe's going to look like. And one attendee quipped next to me, Europe's all right if it's all white, seems to be the message coming from Rubio.

1:16:14The second thing is the ally piece. There's no carrot and stick approach, as the Europeans see. It's all stick and no carrot. Even the good allies feel like they're getting whacked. One ally I was talking to, just deeply frustrated over cocktails, was saying to me, look, we've tried to do everything. We've tried to raise the defense spending to 5%. We've tried to buy American weapons. The weapons aren't even coming on time, and now we're navigating between a United States that's more predatory and a China that is definitely a predator in the international. I saw the foreign minister of Poland, a close U.S.

1:16:46ally, Radislav Sikorsky, make the point that countries in Europe are financing Ukraine security now. Europe is the one paying, not the United States. This kind of goes to your point, Jack. Europe is buying U.S. weaponry, but if Europe is already paying for the war in Ukraine, why would they care what the U.S. thinks? Why is the United States even trying to call the shots anymore? I'm paraphrasing, but this was his basic message, fed up from the polls. Well, they need to keep the U.S. involved because the U.S. is providing the weaponry, right? So the program now the Europeans are on is buying the weaponry from the United States, and then the United States sends it through NATO to Ukraine.

1:17:28Now, it isn't necessarily the easiest program to go by because American weapons are late. They're slow. So now the Europeans kind of looking to build up their own houses, as Robbie sort of said, and this European sovereignty model of buying, building, doing their own stuff without the Americans. Yeah, and just also the U.S. does provide intelligence. It still is able to help in other ways that are significant. And it shows you how after you've built a system over 80 years how hard it is to disentangle that. So even if the Europeans have the money and want to buy the weapons, they still need to work with the U.S.

1:18:04in many ways. Robby, after Munich on Monday, Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, he traveled. He held meetings with two far-right prime ministers in Europe, Viktor Orban of Hungary, Slovakia's Robert Fizzo, sent a message by appearing next to those two leaders in Europe. What did Rubio communicate? What did he want to communicate by having those two meetings? Yeah, I mean, on paper, the meetings were about energy cooperation, these civil nuclear agreements talking about energy cooperation. Behind the scenes, there's questions of whether Rubio pressured these two right wing populist governments who have more of a pro-Russia bent than the rest of the EU.

1:18:44Could he have pressured them to say, hey, stop buying Russian oil, stop buying Russian gas? But of course, publicly, the atmospherics could not have been clearer. Here is Rubio going from Munich when all these allies are doubting the United States as a trusted ally and meeting the two leaders who are seen as most pro-Russia, especially Viktor Orban. And Orban has a really critical election coming up in the coming months where he's behind in the polls to an opposition leader that's much more pro-EU, that's highlighting Orban's years of corruption and in public mismanagement at a point when Trump just endorsed Orban in a way to give him a boost.

1:19:25We will have a lot more to say about Orbán's upcoming attempt to be reelected, about Ukraine's prospects and America's support for Ukraine or lack thereof in Europe. That story will keep going on. I want to stop by the UK, make sure that we cover really an astounding story and for many people, a shocking story of accountability in England. on Thursday, British police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, brother of the king. Andrew was held for 11 hours, then released while still under criminal investigation. He says he was not charged. King Charles III issued a statement the same day, signed by him, not by the palace.

1:20:09That's important too, signed by the king himself, giving his support to the investigation, saying, quote, the law must take its course. And when I say that Andrew's arrest was a shocker. Here's some context. You have to go back nearly 400 years for the last time an English senior royal was jailed. That was King Charles I. That started a civil war, that event. This does not happen in England. It is a big deal that a royal, a former royal, still a royal, would be arrested and held potentially to criminal account. Greg, what could British police be investigating here about the links between Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein?

1:20:50Yeah. So based on the reports we're seeing in the British media, it appears they're looking into whether the former prince shared confidential government information with Epstein. So as far as we know, it doesn't involve any potential sexual crimes or sexual impropriety, which may, if indeed they happen someplace else outside of Britain. So that's what seems to be the focus of the investigation. Obviously, we don't know how far it'll go, where it will lead. Just the fact that he was detained was shocking. And then, of course, the tabloids had a field day of this picture of him being driven home last night looking sort of shell-shocked.

1:21:28The look on his face, a former prince of England. Looking like very much a suspect who's been dragged through to the police station. Looking like, if I can say, looking like his life has passed before his eyes. Absolutely, absolutely. And it just speaks to this broader issue now of we're seeing people in Europe, some in the Middle East, who have been dragged into the case, but not here. Well, on the question of the Epstein files and accountability in America and in Europe, we got this question from Stephen. Is there any chance Interpol will launch an Epstein investigation, given the growing evidence that this is an international mess?

1:22:14Greg? I don't know. I don't know what authority they would have to do that. It's a very interesting question. I wish somebody knew, but I don't. The question goes to the desire for accountability. And the point that you made just a moment ago is that this accountability of the former Prince Andrew, photographed in a car having just been arrested, stands in stark contrast to the lack of accountability here in the United States. I mean, that's how Americans are viewing the story. Yes, it's remarkable. It's been 400 years. This is accountability in the UK, and it's accountability that has, I mean, the deputy attorney general has said that this case is closed here in the United States.

1:22:54Robbie, what's your take on whether this international difference applies any real pressure here? Yeah, I mean, I think there's real genuine anger among the American public about all of these questions about what is still left unsaid in the Epstein files, what hasn't been released. And as you said, there's this stark contrast between all of these public officials in Europe getting scrutinized, taken out of their jobs. The same thing is happening in Norway as well. And here in the United States, nothing. I want to, before we go, get reaction from you guys on the panel, our experts, to the Supreme Court decision on international tariffs.

1:23:31Now, the court's striking down a large chunk of Donald Trump's authority to institute international tariffs. It is a political blow to Donald Trump here domestically. Give me your international take on what this means now to United States Trumpian relations with all of the countries who've been tariffed or have done lots and lots of machinations to get out from under tariffs, Jack Deitch. Sometimes that includes making a deal with Donald Trump personally, like to build a golf club in Vietnam, for instance. Well, I'm actually not looking for golf clubs in Vietnam. I'm looking for the signs that there's actually a genuine break.

1:24:06was talking to the CEO of Helsing, one of Europe's biggest drone makers at Munich. He said, point blank, we're not thinking of working with the U.S. right now. We're going at it within Europe. So I'm going to look at the supply chains across the Atlantic and whether they're consolidating. Looks like they are. Raises a lot of questions. I would particularly look at China, which pushed back very hard. And now we'll probably push back even harder saying, you can't tariff us. And, you know, we have the upper hand now in terms of this international trade relationship. I mean, tariffs are a central plank of Trump's foreign policy.

1:24:39When he plays hardball, he goes to tariffs first, be it on Russia, China, be it on U.S. allies. And so the Supreme Court taking this away really does in a way completely hamstring Trump's entire approach to foreign policy here. And seeing how it plays out is going to be very fascinating and whether Congress, the Republican-led Congress, can facilitate some sort of makeup to help Trump get tariffs back into his foreign policy toolkit. Now, the Trump administration has made clear if they were to lose this case, which they just did 6-3, they have other laws, other avenues, other tricks to try to institute tariffs around the world.

1:25:17It may not be as efficient or as global as what the president called Liberation Day. But they say, Robbie, that they're not done. Yeah, that's true. But again, Trump likes to move fast and break things. That's his whole MO in foreign policy. And this defangs the central tenet of his approach to tariffs here. So they can use these other laws, but it's going to be watered down in a way that's really going to make Trump bristle. Well, much more to come on this seismic 6-3 decision from the Roberts court taking away Donald Trump's supposed authority to institute tariffs across the world. Some of it, some of the tariff authority remains, and we'll talk about that in the coming days here on 1A.

1:25:56Before we wrap up the discussion for the week, just a note about this week and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Catholic fast of Lent, and the lunar new year celebrating the year of the horse. They all started this year within a 24-hour period. Now, three different lunar calendars govern all three of these holidays. Billions of people celebrate them around the world. But you have to go back to 1863 for the last time they all aligned like they did this year. And it won't happen again. Do the math. Until 2189. Get out your lunar calendars. It's a good moment to remember our shared humanity.

1:26:38Robbie Grammer, Jack Detch, and Greg Myrie, I want to thank you all. Mike Kitt is our sound designer and engineer. Chris Castano is our digital editor. Maya Garg is our acting executive producer. Alexander Bouttee is our acting senior managing producer. Aileen Humphreys is our senior producer and editor of 1A On Demand. And Thomas Liu produces our podcast. Special thanks to Matthew Simonson for additional podcast support this week. This program comes to you from WAMU, part of American University in Washington. It's distributed by NPR. I'm Todd Zwillick. Have a great weekend. We'll be back Monday, Jen White and me.

1:27:12This is 1A.