AAA: CA Drivers Paying About $5.89 For Gas, Highest in U.S.

24:49Well, Jake, this ruling just came down in the past few hours, and I have a little bit of reaction from folks who have been watching this so closely ever since the subpoena came down last summer. Beth Wenger. She's a professor of history of modern Jewish history. She is Jewish herself. She was one of the voices we brought you yesterday, and she wrote to me, I'm deeply disappointed by this ruling. On a fundamental level, I'm concerned about the government being allowed to gather the personal information of Jews or any other group. That is what a lot of Jewish members of this community have been telling me over the past couple of weeks, that they were concerned that their phone numbers, their mailing addresses, their names would be handed over essentially in a list to the federal government.

25:31But the judge here in this case, the federal judge here in Philadelphia, Gerald Pappert, said that this was a legitimate subpoena from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That's the commission of the federal government who has been investigating a hostile work environment, in their opinion, that has occurred at Penn when it comes to Jewish employees. The judge ruling essentially saying that any comparisons to the Holocaust or Nazi Germany, which some Jewish community members had evoked, said the judge said these were unfortunate and inappropriate. And he said specifically, though ineptly worded, the request by the EEOC had an understandable purpose to obtain in a narrowly tailored way, as opposed to seeking information on all university employees, information on individuals in Penn's Jewish community who could have experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism in the workplace.

26:24Essentially, the judge in this case saying, listen, if the EEOC wants to find if there were instances of anti-Semitism at Penn, the only way that the EEOC could reasonably do that is to ask for a list of Penn employees who might be Jewish. So Penn now has until May 1st to comply with this, though I will say Penn has responded, Jake. They said they will appeal. And they say, I'll just quote here, we continue to believe that requiring Penn to create lists of Jewish faculty and staff and to provide personal contact information raises serious privacy and First Amendment concerns. Jake, that's what Penn's feeling right now as this judge's ruling has come down.

27:05Danny Freeman, thanks so much. Appreciate it. This just into our sports lead, Tiger Woods pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges following a rollover crash in Florida last week. Woods' attorney requested a jury trial for the golfer and filed a waiver of arraignment allowing Tiger Woods to skip the initial hearing that was set for April 23rd. We're also learning some new details about the golf legend's arrest. According to a police report released this morning, Tiger Woods had glassy bloodshot eyes with extremely dilated pupils. He appeared lethargic, failed multiple field sobriety tests. Police also found prescription opioid pills used to treat chronic pain in the golfer's pocket.

27:43The 82-time PGA Tour winner is charged with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test. There's a lot coming up in today's Law and Justice League. A new lawsuit from FBI agents who investigated Trump and were fired, a ruling on Trump's attempt to strip funding from NPR and PBS, and another ruling on Trump's beloved White House ballroom. That decision as the president reacts this afternoon. We're going to get into all these cases next.

28:16Our law and justice lead now. A brand new class action lawsuit was just filed by three FBI agents who say they were unjustly terminated because they had previously investigated President Donald Trump's actions. The lawsuit demands that these three agents be reinstated to their FBI jobs. that claims they were fired without clear explanation or the ability to even respond. Each had worked on the 2020 election case with decades of experience at the FBI. If the case is successful, it could open the door for at least 50 other FBI agents who were fired after taking part in various Trump investigations.

28:50Also in our Law and Justice League, President Trump suffered two blows today on the legal front. First up, his beloved White House ballroom. A federal judge has ruled that construction on the ballroom must stop, quote, unless and until Congress blesses this project, unquote. Regardless, the judge says Trump does not own the White House and likely did not have authority to act on his own to replace an entire section of the executive mansion as he did. In a second case, a federal judge today agreed to permanently block the Trump administration from ending federal funding for NPR and PBS. The White House claims that both media entities, PBS and NPR, are counterproductive to American priorities, But the judge argues that ceasing funding is unlawful and unenforceable.

29:35Let's talk about this all with our panelists. We have David Axelrod and David Urban. David Axelrod, quite a day for the president. Yeah, well, I'll tell you, the thing that struck me about those rulings is that they both came sort of a little late in terms of events. I mean, the destruction, a lot of the destruction has been done at the at the White House and the, you know, and the destruction has been done to PBS and particularly to NPR. A lot of smaller stations around the country fatally damaged. So, you know, in a sense, the president, his modus operandi is to do things and then force people to tell him that he couldn't.

30:25And this is another one of those instances. But yeah, rebukes for sure. David and David, stand by. President Trump is speaking right now at the White House. He's taking the questions. Let's listen in. Almost its entire prison population was allowed to come into the United States of America, the Congo. Many of the countries in South America, they emptied their prisons out into our country. This was under Biden. And nobody can tell me that's a good thing. And yet they haven't changed their ways because if they ever took power, they would open up the borders and they would let people pour in and destroy our country.

30:59So I have many powers, but I don't have to use them. I mean, only in severe cases. Yeah. Mr. President, thank you. If you were able to sign the executive order, the TSA agents, why not do the same for FEMA and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security? Well, FEMA is different because FEMA, I really believe that it's fine, but I think it's very inefficient. I think, you know, we have smart governors, and one way to tell whether or not they're smart is how well they do. FEMA is a very expensive way of trying to put out a problem. But what I'd rather do is let the states do it and help them financially, but let the states do it.

31:39In other words, you'll have a hurricane in Florida, and people who come from Alaska, they haven't been to Florida. By the time they get used to it, you know, the problem can be solved. So I've never been a big fan of FEMA. I like to keep it local. I like to see governors and neighboring states help each other as opposed to FEMA. FEMA is very expensive and it really doesn't get the job done. You know, North Carolina, they did a terrible job until I became elected a second time. And I went and we had that tremendous water flow. There was a water hurricane that likes it, which nobody has seen land areas that never had lakes all of a sudden had lakes that you couldn't even get to it.

32:18And actually, we were helped by Elon Musk with the communication, with his great communication system that worked very well. We were very lucky, saved a lot of lives. But now, I, we got to do things right. And you don't do them right, we shouldn't do them at all. Yeah, please. Thank you, President Trump. After you said today that's the wrong war being soon, the stock market closed much higher. Do you have thoughts on that? And also, a judge just ordered you to stop construction the ballroom are you planning to stop well we'll appeal that but it's not i don't know this it's basically i mean i wrote i wrote a part of his opinion but basically he's saying i need congressional approval and he's so wrong this is being financed privately it's a donation that's being given by companies very rich companies very rich people so that for 150 years they've wanted a ballroom here.

33:16We're going to have the finest ballroom, I believe, anywhere in the world. And he said we need congressional approval. Well, they don't get congressional approval from the White House when they do things. Especially when you don't. We didn't ask for any tax money. We have no taxes. This is taxpayer free. We have no taxpayer putting up 10 cents. And I see right here, I just wrote it out. He said we need congressional approval. Well, we built many things at the White House over the years. They don't get congressional approval when they build in the White House. It's totally separate. And especially when it's a donation.

33:50I mean, the ballroom is a donation. It's gotten great reviews. People love it. And presidents for 150 years have wanted this ballroom to be built. Because when we have President Xi or other presidents or prime ministers coming, we don't have a big room. We have the East Room, which is very small. and he said we need congressional approval. He also said, but this is positive for us, I'm allowed, meaning we are allowed to continue building as necessary to, let's see, what is that? To cover the safety and security of the White House and its ground. So it says here very carefully, the safety and security have to be protected in the White House grounds.

34:37Well, that's what we're doing because everything's bulletproof glass, et cetera, et cetera, including the ballroom. And then it goes construction and all of the things necessary. It says personal safety of the president and his staff are a part of that. So it talks about that we're allowed to continue building. In other words, he put an order on and even that he gave 14 days. We don't need it because that's what we're doing. He's allowed to continue building as necessary. And when it talks about the safety and security of the White House and its grounds. So just so you know, I wrote some of the thing down.

35:17We have a drone proof roof and it talks about the president and his staff. Well, we're not a lot of bulletproof glass. The White House was built a long time ago. This has the highest level of, in fact, In fact, they call this grass, it's bulletproof and it's ballistic proof. It's very thick. It's like that. And it's going 45 feet high. And every window is covered. Every door is covered. The roof is drone proof. We have secure air handling systems. You know, bad things happen in the air if you have bad people. We have bio-defense all over. We have secure telecommunications and communications all over.

36:10We have bomb shelters that we're building. We have a hospital and very major medical facilities that we're building. we have all of these things so that's called i'm allowed to continue building as necessary so think of that for the safety of the president so we have all these things so on that we're okay where he's totally wrong and he made you know a statement that's fine but where are we i'll give you an example you have right here 300 to 400 million dollars depending on finishes if i use very expensive marble, if I use very expensive wall coatings, if I could bring it up to 400. Otherwise, we're right now ahead of schedule, we're under budget.

37:00But depending on finishes, from 300 to 400 million dollars are being given by great people, people that you all know. Rich people, rich companies, big companies, they wanted to see this bill because every president, literally for 150 years has needed a space like this. Many of you have gone to the tent when we have a president of a big country or somebody being honored of great distinction. And they sit in a tent and if it rains, you get soaked because the grass gets wet here very fast. It's a very wet area. They used to call it a wetland, but I guess they don't do that for the White House, but it's essentially a wetland.

37:40And when it rains, you're in trouble. The water can go up to three to four inches over their shoes. It's not a good feeling for Prince, who was Prince Charles, who will be here next couple of weeks. It's King Charles, who's a great guy. We don't want him to sit in a pool of water. And they've been wanting this for 100, think of it, 150 years, and we're building it. And it's covered perfectly. What's not covered perfectly is the fact that the judge said we need congressional approval. Many things have been built in the White House. They haven't gotten congressional approval, especially when the money is being not put up by the taxpayer.

38:19The taxpayer is not putting up a dime. This building was necessary for many years by the fact that I've built many ballrooms and I've built many things and I know how to build. I'm not building the Federal Reserve where the guy's spending$4 billion for a tiny little building, $4 billion for the Federal Reserve building. That contractor is going to be one of the richest men anywhere in the world after he finishes the Federal Reserve. The man is totally incompetent. Jerome, too late, Powell, is totally incompetent. And he's got to get out of office pretty fast. He's doing a bad job, but he's also done a bad job in shepherding the construction of that building.

38:56You know, they ripped down a part of that building and it was a nice, they say it's one of the nicest buildings in Washington. They ripped it down. So, so we feel and we don't feel, we know that Congressional approval is not necessary to put up a ballroom. And many things have been built on the site. They've never gotten congressional approval. And especially when the money is all put up. This is all donations by people that love our country, that love the White House, and that feel it was very necessary. A couple of questions for you on Iran. The first one affects Americans here on gas prices.

39:32Today they hit$4. We're$4, yeah. And we have a country that's not going to be throwing a nuclear weapon at us in six months. Of course, but Americans are feeling the effects in the interim. And they're also feeling a lot safer. What is the plan to bring them back down? All I have to do is leave Iran, and we'll be doing that very soon. And they'll become tumbling down. And stock prices were up today almost to a record because they know two things. Number one, we have a safe country. We had to take a little detour because we had a madman named Khomeini, who sadly is no longer with us. And we had regime change already.

40:12We've knocked out one regime, then we knocked out the second regime. Now we have a group of people that are very different. They're much more reasonable, I think much less radicalized. We've had regime change. We're dealing with people that are much more rational. And it's amazing what we've done. And we had to make a little detour. So when the stock market broke all records just a few weeks ago, when it hit 50 ,000 on the Dow, 7 ,000 on the S &P, I said to the American people, it's time that we have to make a little detour because we have a madman that wants a nuclear weapon. And if we did not come out with a B-2 bomber, we would have a nuclear weapon right now.

40:52It would have been used before this, before today. And you may not be standing there asking that question, okay? So I think we have a country that understands that. I see CNN did a poll and they talked about voters or MAGA voters. And my poll came out at 100 percent. Nobody nobody covers that poll. They had another poll was at 92 percent approval. I think that the people understand it. We'll be leaving very soon. And if France or some other country wants to get oil or gas, you know, go up through the strait. and almost straight. They'll go right up there and they'll be able to fend for themselves.

41:34I think it'll be very safe, actually. But we have nothing to do with that. What happens to the straight, we're not going to have anything to do with because these countries, China, China will go up and they'll fuel up their beautiful ships and they'll leave and they'll take care of themselves. There's no reason for us to do it. We hit them hard. We got rid of a lot of a lot of the radicalized lunatics along the straight. But if they want something. But I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three, we're hitting them very hard. Last night, we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile making facilities.

42:08We, as you probably read or wrote, we knocked out, excuse me, pardon me, the U.S. will be gone or done with the war. I think we're two or three weeks. We'll leave because there's no reason for us to do this. Look, probably the straight. A guy can take a mine, drop it in the water and say, oh, it's unsafe. It's not like you're taking out an army or you're taking out a country. They can drop it. Or you can take a machine gun from the shore and shoot a little few bullets on a ship. Or maybe an over-the-shoulder missile, small missiles. That's not for us. That'll be for France. That'll be for whoever's using the strain.

42:48But I think when we leave, probably that's all cleared up. Today, I heard tremendous numbers of ships were sailing through. So we're negotiating with them right now. They've been, again, we have had regime change. Now, regime change was not one of the things I had as a goal. I had one goal. They will have no nuclear weapon. And that goal has been attained. They will not have nuclear weapons. But we're finishing the job. And I think within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer to do the job. But we want to knock out every single thing they have. Now, it's possible that we'll make a deal before that because we'll hit bridges and we've hit some.

43:26We'll hit some bridges. We've got a couple of nice bridges in mind. But if they come to the table, that'll be good. But it doesn't matter whether they come or not. We've set them back. It'll take 15 to 20 years for them to rebuild what we've done to them. They have no Navy. They have no military. They have no Air Force. They have no telecommunications. They have no anti-aircraft systems. They have no leaders. You know, their leaders are all gone. That's why we have regime change. We have nice new leaders. Peter? Thanks, President Trump. You talked about how the ballroom needs to have a drone-proof roof.

44:01Right, right. There have been drone swarms flying over sensitive military installations in the U.S. over the last couple weeks. The reports are they don't look commercial and they can't feed jam. Is this another country's military? I don't think so. We have a great system of — do you notice that over the last four or five days, you haven't seen very many drone hits, right? We have some unbelievable anti-drone weaponry that's incredible. But you want to have, like, for instance, the ballroom. We have a very powerful steel, very steel roof with other things in it. And you want to have, if you're building a building for security, like, just like his judge's opinion, you have to have security for the president and his staff.

44:41They have, you need heavy, strong ceilings. You need seriously thick, bulletproof, ballistic glass. And we have that. Other buildings don't. You know, modern, fairly modern buildings don't have that. They have roofs that are weak, and they have regular glass windows. There was this incident down at Barksdale, though, where apparently a whole swarm of drones for a couple hours was over the flight line. There's a lot of really important planes down there. Yeah. How concerned are you that this is something that's happening? Well, I'm not concerned. I know about it. They've checked that out, and they've gotten to the bottom of it.

45:20You know, you have a lot of people now that fly these things all over the place, and we're coming down very hard on them. But we're able to take them out militarily. We're able to take them out very easily. And a new thing is lasers. You know, the lasers are becoming very, very effective. You hit a drone, and it melts in air. It's a beautiful thing to see. If it's coming at you, having a laser is a very nice thing. But we have their methods of defending against. I mean, the advantage from the standpoint of defense is they don't go very fast relative to a F-22, that plane right over there. They go very slow.

46:00They can be also shot out of the air by high quality aircraft, which we have more than anybody ever had. There was a viral video this week. I don't know if you saw the army helicopters hovering near Kid Rock's house in Nashville. Did you see that? I didn't see it, no, but I'm sure they had a good time. Well, so the army just said the crews of these helicopters have been suspended. What do you think of that? Well, it depends. Are they, well, they probably shouldn't have been doing it. Yes, you're not supposed to be playing games, right? But I'd take a look at it. They like Kid Rock. I like Kid Rock.

46:30Maybe they were trying to defend him. I don't know. Does Iran have to make a deal for the U.S. to end its operation in Iran? No, no. Iran doesn't have to make a deal. No. Yeah, I've spoken to a lot of people. It's a it's a new regime. They are much more accessible. They are right. You know, they said we have a present for you, Mr. President, out of respect. And they said, wait a minute, do you want me to answer the question? You're a fresh person. You know, we've had a lot of problems with you, haven't we? no they don't you ask me a question no they don't have to make a deal with me when we feel that they are for a long period of time put into the stone ages and they won't be able to come up with a nuclear weapon then we'll leave whether we have a deal or not it's irrelevant now it's possible that we'll have a deal because they want to make a deal they want to make a deal more than i want to make a deal but in a fairly short period of time we'll be finished they will not be able to do a nuclear weapon for years.

47:35And when they already, maybe in a long time from now, able to do a nuclear weapon, you'll have a president that will be like me and that he will go there and he'll knock the hell out of them again because they cannot have a nuclear weapon. They are very radicalized people. They're very sick leaderships. And I will say, though, that the leadership we're dealing with now, the new regime, because we have a new regime, and the new regime is much better than the past. Mr. President, the Iranian government threatened a bunch of U.S. companies today in the region, including Google, Apple. With what? What did they threaten them with?

48:15PB guns? They don't have much left to threaten. My question for you is, are you... I don't know. I mean, what are they... You made a statement. What did they threaten them with? I don't know. Tell me, how did they threaten them? All I know is that they threatened them, sir. What does that mean? Fair enough. He said something nasty. Is the government in touch with these companies? Are you helping to backstop them? You don't even know what the threat was. What was the threat? I haven't heard it. What was the threat? Did they say they're going to blow them up? They're going to hit them. You know what they're not going to do?

48:45They're not going to hit them with a nuclear weapon. Is this something you're concerned about, sir? No. Iran's IRGC issues and warning that they will target 18 U.S. technology companies if the U.S. continues targeted assassinations of Iranian leaders beginning on April 1st. Those companies, like NVIDIA, Apple, Microsoft. Most of those people are dead already. Yeah, Peter? I got one. Your son Eric posted a photo of what will be the Trump presidential library. It's a huge skyscraper. In Miami? Is that all a library? What else is going in? Well, it's a library. It's a museum, a library. It's a presidential.

49:19But I wouldn't start it until I'm out of office. I don't believe in building libraries or museums. It's really like the Barack Hussein Obama one in Chicago in not a good location. And it's a very unattractive building that's seriously late and seriously over budget. I think you're going to see a great one here. And it'll go up on time, on budget. Best location in Miami. Best. They say it's the best block in Miami and the state work. People live there. People live in the floors. No, it's going to be most likely a hotel. You know, this concept could be office, but it's most likely going to be a hotel.

49:54with a beautiful building underneath and a 747 Air Force One in the lobby, which is going to be a trick. And the Supreme Court tomorrow is going to hear arguments about your executive order trying to get rid of birthright citizenship. And I'm going. You're going to go to the Supreme Court tomorrow? I think so. I do believe. And just sit there and listen. Because I have listened to this argument for so long. And this is not about Chinese billionaires or billionaires from other countries who all of a sudden have 75 children or 59 children in one case or 10 children becoming American citizens. This was about slaves.

50:33And if you take a look, slaves, we're talking about slaves from the Civil War. And if you take a look at when it was filed, all of this legislation, all of this, everything having to do with birthright citizenship. It was at the end of the Civil War. The reason was it had to do with the babies of slaves and the protection of the babies of slaves. It didn't have to do with the protection of multimillionaires and billionaires wanting to have their children get an American citizenship. It is the craziest thing I've ever seen. It's been so badly handled by legal people over the years. If you look at the original birthright citizenship papers, they all happened right after the Civil War.

51:20The reason was it had to do with the babies of slaves. And hopefully it's going to say because our country is being scammed. We're getting all of these people. They're selling the rights to them. people are making a living, a big living, getting hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars from bringing people in and saying, congratulations, your whole family is going to be a citizen of the United States of America. That's not what it was for. It wasn't for billionaires bringing people in or family in. It was for the children of slaves. And what you really have to do, and I don't think the lawyers talk about it as much.

52:01Look at when the Civil War ended and look at the date of when this was enacted. Okay. Have you ever met in the Supreme Court? Is this going to be the first time going to the Supreme Court? No, once before, the opening of the Supreme Court and the last administration. And which justices will you be listening for most closely? I love a few of them. I don't like some others. And you know, you say what you want, but you have the ones that were appointed by Barack Hussein Obama and Biden. I don't care how good your case is. You can have the greatest case ever. They're going to rule against you. They always do.

52:38And it's not supposed to be that way. Now, the Republicans tend to be very different. They want to show how honorable they are so a man can appoint them and they can rule against him. He's so proud of it. We're so proud we ruled against Trump. We're so proud. We're above it. There are those that say that's wonderful. And there are those that say they're so stupid. But the Democrats never fail at one thing. When Barack Hussein Obama or when Biden appoints somebody, they go along that line. You can have the greatest case in history and almost, I guess I have to say almost, maybe, I don't have to say it, almost without fail, those people, four of them, sometimes five of them, but four of them will vote against you.

53:34You don't have a chance. You don't have a chance. And that's not what the court system is. Now, the Republican appointees tend to go, and this has been long before me, this has been for many years. Some people would call it stupidity. Some people would call it disloyal. Some people would say they're right in doing it. And I don't mind being right, but the other side almost never does it. Almost. I think you could find maybe a couple of instances. Almost never does. When a Democrat appoints a judge, and I'm talking about judges, not just justices. You go before some of these Democrat judges in Washington, D.C., you don't have a chance.

54:14That's why I gave pardons to hundreds of people that were so badly treated having to do with J6. Yeah. As President of the South America Act. Oh, next. Oh, do you have a question? Let's go. I didn't see you over there. I'm sorry. You've been so nice. Here we go. Now she's going to hit me with a bad one. Go ahead. On the South America Act, Mr. President, do you still think it's going to pass? Were you signed? I don't know. It's the craziest thing. The Democrats are totally against it. And again, they're unified. I think maybe you would have Fetterman, who I have a lot of respect for. But the Democrats are unified against it.

54:50And you need Democrat votes. Unless you do something smart called the filibuster, terminate the filibuster, which they should do. Republicans should do that. But there are a couple of Republicans that maybe they're not so smart. Because the Democrats will do it on the first day in office. Maybe the first hour. It's a question. Will it be the first hour or the first day? So who can who can believe that a person you can't even get it to the floor that a person wouldn't vote for. Think of it for citizenship, proof of citizenship for voter identification. And we also added one. We added mail-in ballots, mail-in ballots with exceptions for the military, for people that are sick, people that are traveling, the disabled.

55:38We have very generous exceptions. But who would believe that that would be possible not to get those things to vote for? And then we added best of Trump. We added no men and women sports. Different subject, but we added that. And we said no transgender mutilization of our children. These are all 90, 95, maybe 98 in some cases, maybe 99 in terms of those first two. if you talk about the first two, I think, you know, I think, I think in 98, 99 percent voter identification, right? Wouldn't you think, don't you think it's nice with picture? Wouldn't you think it's nice when the Democrats had their convention, I remember it so well, you had to have identification to get into the arena.

56:28And they had a card that was bigger than most of their chests. And it had everything. It had their picture. And if you didn't have that card, they threw you away. In New York City recently, we had a big snowstorm. Mayor Mandami had, he called out for people to shovel snow. But you had to give identification with picture. If you didn't have, it wasn't. All right, we're going to break away from President Trump. We're going to continue to monitor what he's saying, but he is repeating things that he said in the past. We covered that because the president just signed an executive order on mail-in ballots, which is relevant to what's going on in the U.S.

57:11today. We're going to talk about that in a second, but I do want to focus on something that the president said at the top of his remarks to reporters about the war in Iran. He said that the war could be over within the next two or three weeks. Let's play this one key moment. I would say that within two weeks, maybe two weeks, maybe three, we're hitting them very hard. Last night, we knocked out tremendous amounts of missile making facilities. We, as you probably read or wrote, we knocked out, excuse me. Pardon me if I'm interrupting. The U.S. will be gone or done with the war. I think we're two or three weeks.

57:50We'll leave because there's no reason for us to do this. Look, problem with the strait, a guy can take a mine, drop it in the water and say, oh, it's unsafe. It's not like you're taking out an army or you're taking out a country or you can drop it. Or you can take a machine gun from the shore and shoot a little few bullets on a ship or maybe an over the shoulder missile, small missiles. That's not for us. That'll be for France. That'll be for whoever's using the strait. But I think when we leave, probably that's all I'll clear it up. President constructing an exit ramp of sorts there for the war.

58:28Let's bring back David Urban and David Axelrod. David Urban, the president there seeming to suggest that the war could be over before the end of April. And also that having the Strait of Hormuz released from Iranian control will not be a goal of the war. What's your reaction? Yeah, Jake, you know, you've heard him say this, and the members of the administration say that they're looking towards Europeans. European allies have great mind-sweeping capability, and they're hopeful that they will participate in clearing and cleaning and opening the Straits of Hormuz. So I don't think that that's any surprise.

59:09I do think it's a surprise to hear the president come out and say two to three weeks. But, you know, Jake, when the meeting with Xi was put back on the calendar for some, I think it's May 15th, you kind of knew that there was going to be a wind down of this war. I couldn't see President Trump and President Xi meeting while there's still hostilities ongoing in the Middle East. So I think the DOD, I think they're working through their target list. I watched the press conference this morning. You know, they're doing their primary, secondary, tertiary targeting. They're wiping out as much as they can.

59:39They're mowing the lawn is now the euphemism, right? They're doing as much lawn mowing as they can and setting this regime back as far as they can. And you heard him talk about we've had regime change, right? We've gotten rid of those 30 or 40 people at the top. Well, there's still the same theocracy there, different leaders, but you could call it regime change. And so I think this is, you know, it's a smart way for the president to get out of here. And I think the American people, as gas prices, as you pointed out earlier, as they climb higher and higher and higher, I think gas people's opinions will wear thinner and thinner and thinner in America, unfortunately.

1:00:18David Axelrod, your reaction? He obviously is leaving not only the Strait of Hormuz as an open question as to what's going to happen there. He expressed hope that there would be a deal that would open up the Strait, but it's not a must. And also there's the question of whatever remaining nuclear material is in Iran. What's your reaction, David Axelrod? Well, look, we were told at the beginning, I mean, the president and others said, we don't want to have to go back. We don't have to mow the lawn. Now, lawn mowing is in fashion, I guess. But I'll tell you the numbers that I think were affecting the president.

1:00:53And yes, the U.S. and Israel have done tremendous damage to Iran and set their program back, not just their nuclear program, but their missile program and their ability to mount aggressive tactics in the region. But what we haven't, what he hasn't done is regime change. What he hasn't done is recover that nuclear material. And I think, Jake, the numbers that he was looking at were an approval rating that has now slipped below 40, the worst of his administration, and gas prices that have slipped over$4. And it is having a really serious political impact on him. And he's hearing it a lot, I'm sure, from his Republican colleagues who are on the ballot in November.

1:01:41This was a predictable moment. There was no way that Donald Trump was going to hang in there in light of these polls and public opinion sliding against him and putting in jeopardy the House and the Senate, which are already in deep jeopardy come November. And I think the press conference also, if you hear all the other things he was talking about, was a political attempt to blast through all that by firing off his golden oldies and trying to create other controversies. So as to say to people, this is done. We're back to business. Now, now let's turn to the executive order. President Trump just signed.

1:02:20It has to do with mail in voting. The White House says this order will give state election officials a comprehensive view of who eligible voters are in their specific areas. It orders the Postal Service to verify ballots will only be sent and returned to and from eligible voters. Let me bring into the conversation David Becker, who's the CEO and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. David Becker, you're an election security expert. What is your take on this executive order? Well, I've just quickly reviewed it, Jake. It just came out and it appears the president hasn't learned any lessons from his previous executive order, which he signed almost exactly a year ago and which was blocked by three different federal courts.

1:03:00And it didn't try to go nearly as far as this one appears to try to go. It is very clear that the president is trying to dictate policy to the states. And it's also very clear that the United States Constitution prevents that. The Constitution, Article 1, Section 4, has the Elections Clause. That Elections Clause says the state legislatures have the ability to pass election policy, and also that Congress can do it if the state legislatures don't act or if Congress wants to impose some regulations for federal elections. But the president alone has no power. His power is limited only to that which Congress has expressly authorized.

1:03:37And so looking through this executive order, it attempts to mandate that the DHS create a national citizenship registry, which Congress has not authorized by any means. Their data is incomplete. We know that. DHS already admits that. It dictates that states should only be able to send mail ballots to those individuals that the federal government has deemed eligible, not that the states have deemed eligible under their laws. That's clearly unconstitutional. And it even goes so far as to say that the federal government is going to design the envelopes for mail ballots, which is something that can't just be instantly done.

1:04:14This is something the states have worked very hard on according to their state laws. Look, the framers were very, very wise. Election policy is best made at the state by the state legislatures, and the president trying to bypass it here won't have any legal effect. This is going to be blocked almost as soon as that ink is dry. David Urban, I know I don't have to tell you the name of somebody who recently voted by mail in the state of Florida. His name is Donald Trump. Yeah, look, Jake, listen, I think we need to tighten up the state, how we vote by mail. I think the state of Florida has figured it out, right?

1:04:50I vote by mail in Florida because I'm usually out campaigning someplace. But look at our own home state, Jake, of Pennsylvania. It's a mess. 67 counties. Each of those counties has their own election rules, their own, you know, how you count ballots. You know, ask Dave McCormick in his first race. It was, you know, down to the wire and it took forever. And I think the American people deserve an election system, which they believe is transparent, is quick, is free of air. Look, we can vote in a day in India and the biggest democracy in the world, press a button, and we know who wins on election night.

1:05:25You know, the three of us, Jake Yu, myself, David Axelrod, and others have sat on the set at CNN all night some nights waiting and wondering when the election is going to be over, who's going to win. Drags on for weeks and months in California. We can do better as Americans, and we need to, because faith in the American electoral system is going down the drain quickly. Yeah, except the way we do it is it's up to the states, and Vermont and Kentucky are always the first. The states are screwed up. Well, I mean, Vermont and Kentucky know how to do it. Texas does it. Ohio does it. Then we've got craziness in Arizona.

1:05:58Florida does it, right? Yeah, Florida, yeah. Jake. Yes. Can I just say, yes, one of the reasons the people are losing faith is because the president keeps insisting that our elections are dishonest, that there is massive fraud, that people who are not American citizens are voting. And this has been examined and reexamined and he's had his own commissions. And so no one can find any evidence of that. Our election system has been the envy of the world. And the reason we and so this is all about Donald Trump's assertion that he didn't win an election. He put a commission together about the election.

1:06:38He won because he said he had beaten Hillary Clinton in the popular vote. Pence headed up that commission. A year later, they had to disband because they found no evidence of that. So we are having we are being thrown into another chaotic kind of legal battle over something that we're trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist. David, David, David, thank you so much. Appreciate it. The final preparations are underway for NASA's historic launch is tomorrow. Four astronauts set to travel around the moon as part of a mission to get humans back on the surface of the moon in the coming years. Serious issues delay the launch earlier this year.

1:07:13Could the same happen tomorrow? We're hoping not. We're live near the launch site at Kennedy Space Center in moments.

1:07:25In our out of this world lead, the countdown's on. We're now just about 24 hours out from a historic space mission. Tomorrow, NASA intends to send four astronauts on a mission around the moon, a crucial step in landing humans on the moon once again for the first time in more than 50 years. Final preparations and testing are happening right this minute at the Kennedy Space Center on the Florida coast, where astronauts are in quarantine under strict health monitoring and on a controlled sleep schedule to prepare for launch. CNN's Pete Muntean is live for us now at the Kennedy Space Center. And Pete, this is a really important part of NASA's mission to return humans to the moon.

1:08:05Yeah, not just critical, Jake. It's necessary for NASA to prove that the SLS rocket can get out of the Earth's atmosphere, that the Orion space capsule can maneuver in low Earth orbit, which is critical to docking for later missions, that they can do this free return trajectory around the moon, using the moon's gravity to slingshot the capsule around the moon, then point it back at Earth, and then, of course, land safely on Earth. It is no small task. The shot clock behind us, 23 minutes, 23 hours, 58 minutes, 13 seconds. We just hit the 24-hour mark until this launch window opens at 6.24 p.m.

1:08:47Eastern Daylight Time. The big message here from NASA right now is confidence. Even after this failed wet dress rehearsal only eight weeks ago, the big issue really has been focused on hydrogen, which is one of the main fuels that is in that big orange tank for the SLS rocket. And the leaks that hydrogen has caused, it is a very small molecule. In fact, the smallest molecule, making it incredibly leak-prone. NASA has not found any new issues in that regard, but we won't really, really know until NASA begins what's called tanking or fueling the rocket tomorrow around 730 Eastern Daylight Time. I want you to listen now to NASA's Jeff Spaulding, who says that even though things are quiet right now, NASA has not found any new problems.

1:09:34Doesn't mean that NASA is not looking out for them. I wouldn't necessarily characterize that because it's quiet that we're not still doing the same amount of rigor out in the field. We're just finding less things now than we had previously. I think at times you get to a point where you have found and corrected as many things as maybe are available to you. And so the things that we find now are quite small and much less significant than we had in the past. Of course, the other big X factor here, Jake, at Kennedy Space Center is the weather. And the latest weather briefing we have received from the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron is that things are 80 percent go weather-wise when it comes to the weather tomorrow.

1:10:23Of course, there are a lot of factors here, dozens of criteria from the wind to rain to lightning. Nothing really on the weather map right now. There was some concern about a solar flare yesterday that proved to be quite large. Thankfully, though, it was pointed away from Earth. The issue here, the rub is that after we lose this window tomorrow, the weather does not look as good for the future windows, although NASA meteorologists aren't ruling out something that screams no go for a launch on Thursday, Friday or Saturday as a backup. So we're hopeful here. All right. Pete Muntean at Kennedy Space Center.

1:10:58Thanks so much. Joining me now to discuss former NASA astronaut Leroy Chow, who spent more than 229 days in space. He's also the author of an upcoming book called Dinner with an Astronaut, Serving Space Stories, Past, Present and Future. So, Leroy, you also have launched from Kennedy Space Center. What do you think the astronauts are feeling right now? We know they're in quarantine. What are they doing right now? Oh, they're relaxing. You know, they're extremely well trained. You know, they've been training for this mission for a number of years. And they're just relaxing, maybe looking over some notes, maybe watching a movie.

1:11:36Certainly, you know, having dinner with their close family, people who are allowed into the quarantine area. And so they're just getting ready for tomorrow. They're going to go to bed early, I'm sure, even though they can sleep in a little bit tomorrow because the launch is until the evening. But they're ready to go. And this launch obviously was supposed to happen in February. But at that point, there were a number of issues, including hydrogen leaks. So what are you going to be looking for tomorrow? And do you have any similar do you have any concerns that similar problems might pop up? It's always possible.

1:12:09Hydrogen is tough to deal with in the shuttle program. It was definitely a bugaboo here and there and delayed many a launch. But, you know, it looks like from the last dress rehearsal, they've got their arms around it. They had that issue with the upper stage. They had to roll back for having to do with helium. They got that fixed. So right now, I don't think they're working any significant problems. problems. Weather's looking pretty good. 80 % is good. You know, there are a lot of more criteria on the shuttle back in those days. And so I'm feeling really good about them going tomorrow evening.

1:12:40The ultimate goal is to land humans back on the moon. Why is this mission going around the moon so important to getting humans back on the moon? It's a stepwise progression. So this is going to be the first time we've launched astronauts on the Orion and on SLS. And so we're We're going to really exercise the life support system, thermal control system, communication systems, see how they perform when we get really far away from the Earth and around the moon. And this crew will be going farther than any other humans in history so far away from the Earth. So we want to make sure all those systems are going to work.

1:13:18Of course, the heat shield, that's the big question, too. After Artemis 1 some three years ago, boy, the heat shield was a lot more damaged than we expected. NASA engineers and contractor engineers worked hand in hand for the last several years. They think they've got their arms around it. They've got a good story. And I'm confident they've got it figured out. But, you know, there's nothing like a test. So let's see how it goes. All right, Leroy Chow, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Don't miss CNN's special coverage of the launch of Artemis II. It starts tomorrow, 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific.

1:13:51As gas tops$4 a gallon here in the United States, President Trump is lashing out of European nations for not helping to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so as to allow more oil tankers through. His message to those allies is next. Plus, an Afghan man who helped U.S. forces and then had to flee the Taliban found a new life in the United States, and now he's worried his family is going to be deported back to Afghanistan. Despite the dangers for them, he's going to Join us live in studio to explain.

1:14:23In our world lead, the news organization Al-Monitor confirms the kidnapping of an American journalist in Baghdad, Iraq earlier today. Iraqi security forces launched an operation to try to track down Shelley Kittleson. She's a contributor for Al-Monitor. The Ministry of the Interior in Iraq says she was taken by unknown individuals. Let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's in Tel Aviv. You're learning more about what might have led up to Kittleson's kidnapping. What can you tell us? Yeah, that's right, Jake. A source familiar with the matter telling me that Kittleson was warned of a plot to kidnap or kill her.

1:14:59This plot was a plot by Khatib Hezbollah, and she was warned by the U.S. government, according to this source. Khatib Hezbollah is an Iran-backed proxy militia operating in Iraq. This administration will be very familiar with Kataib Hezbollah, not only because of the current war with Iran and the role that this group has played targeting U.S. facilities in Iraq, but also because this administration helped secure the release of Elizabeth Turkov, a Russian-Israeli Princeton University researcher who was held by Kataib Hezbollah for 903 days. Already, Iraqi authorities are working to secure her release.

1:15:36We do understand that security forces apprehended one of the suspects and seized a vehicle that was used in the kidnapping, the State Department and the FBI, both on the case. Jake. Now, amid the war in Iran, let's turn back to where you are in Israel. Amid the war in Iran, Israel's parliament voted yesterday to pass a controversial law that would expand capital punishment inside the country. But it's a little bit more complicated than that. Tell us more. Yeah, that's right, Jake. And that's because, you know, many critics of this law say that it discriminates quite clearly between Palestinians and Israelis and that this death penalty law will only apply to Palestinians.

1:16:17And that's because it would apply the death penalty as the effectively the mandatory sentence for individuals convicted of killing Israelis with the quote, intent to negate the existence of the state of Israel. And that basically means that it will not apply to extremist Israelis who kill Palestinians as we have been witnessing the rise of settler violence in the West Bank, for example. Human rights organizations have raised concerns not only because of that discriminatory nature of the law, but also because it would primarily affect Palestinians in the West Bank who are subject to Israel's military judicial system, a system in which there is a 96 % conviction rate, according to B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization.

1:16:59And there's also no process of appealing this law. But what there is an appeal for right now is with Israel's Supreme Court. An Israeli human rights organization has already filed an appeal, and legal experts say that they expect that this law will likely be struck down. But nonetheless, Jake, a very controversial moment here in Israel tonight. All right, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv for us. Thanks so much. Also in our world lead, nearly five years ago, we told you the story of an Afghan man forced to flee his homeland after the Taliban took over and the U.S. military withdrew, leaving behind haunting scenes of chaos.

1:17:34Muhammad Iqbal Salani worked as an interpreter for U.S. forces before he joined the so-called zero units led by the CIA. And Muhammad's work with the U.S. clearly, obviously, put him and his entire family in danger. Luckily, they got out of Afghanistan and were given special immigrant visas and a chance to start anew in their adopted country, the United States of America. We even saw Mohammed reunite with his friend Josh Rodriguez, a U.S. service member with whom he served alongside in Afghanistan. Then came November 2025, when an Afghan refugee who also served in the zero units attacked members of the National Guard blocks away from the White House, killing two of them.

1:18:16In response, President Trump cracked down on all asylum seekers, including those from Afghanistan, including those who served bravely and honorably with the U.S. And suddenly, Mohammed and his family and more than 1 ,900 other Afghans who have settled in the United States since 2021, people who served honorably with the United States in Afghanistan, they now live in fear of being deported. Mohammed joins us now. Thank you so much for joining us. And I've known about you for a long time. I covered the units, some of the units that you served with in Afghanistan when I wrote the outpost. And obviously we covered your return to the United, your coming to the United States.

1:18:59What has life been like for you and your family in the U.S. since you came here in 2021? Thank you, Jack. It's really an honor to be here and to be able to share and tell a little bit about my story. Well, since 2021, I came to this country. Life has been mixed for me. It's hopes and a struggle. It's always hard to adjust to a new country, a new system, new culture. But I am very grateful to be here, to be safe with my family, and to have new opportunities for the future of myself and my kids. Where does the status of your special immigrant visa stand? Have you applied for asylum? Because obviously, if you were to be sent back to Afghanistan, that's essentially a death sentence.

1:19:43They're going after anybody who helped the U.S. Yes, absolutely. That would be a chaos for me to go back. But luckily, I applied for a SIV program and I got approved. And currently, I am a green card holder. Oh, that's great. Given that you served alongside the U.S. and risked your life for years with U.S. service members and with the CIA. Do you feel that the fact that they're even talking about getting rid of Afghan heroes, Afghan allies, and sending you back, does that feel like a betrayal? Well, I hope this will not happen because many of our Afghan allies who supported the U.S. and international community missions back in Afghanistan, they risked their life.

1:20:28They trusted because our service was with loyalty and the hope for the better future. that we fought for. And now as we are here, so I hope that will not happen. But somehow, if that's the case, that would be a disaster for all those who served alongside with the U.S. troops. What was your response the day that you heard about that horrible attack on those two National Guard members by an Afghan who had served alongside the U.S.? Did you worry that something like this would happen, that the entire asylum program for people like you would be put in jeopardy? Well, first of all, every act is individual.

1:21:08We all, all the Afghan community were completely heartbroken after what had happened on that day. None of us, we were expecting that. But like, as I said, a mistake can happen and crimes are individual. This is not that community had agreed on. We had no idea that it will hurt us, but yes, we had some kind of feeling that will impact our current situations in America. If you could talk to President Trump right now, he sometimes watches our show and he sometimes watches clips. If you could talk to him right now, what would you want him to know about why you need to stay here? Well, to anyone who is hearing me through your channel.

1:21:57All I can say is this, all Afghan allies who served alongside with U.S. troops back in Afghanistan, they trusted them and the promise that they were made, that they will be not going to leave behind and then they will have a better future. We risked our lives. We put our families in danger and we fought the war together with the international troops against terrorism for the better future. So our hope is to what had happened. We all are very sorry, and we share our deep condolence. But it is not what we are meant to be here. We are here to contribute and work hard and be part of the U.S. community.

1:22:43I told you, so many of the guys that I wrote about when I wrote The Outpost send their regards, Colonel Kalinda. And I also sometimes talk to Dave Roller and Alex Newsome, who I'm sure you know. And then when I visited Afghanistan in 2011 and I was with the Wolfhounds and I hung out with Shachman and Dom Edwards and Eric Schultz. These are all guys you know. These are all guys you worked with. Yes, we had great times together. We trusted each other with our lives. And we shared many hard situations together. We've been on battlefield together. We've been in very hard and tough times with each other.

1:23:23All right. Well, stay in touch with us, okay, because we're going to continue to talk about the important work you did. Thank you. And how one guy, horrifying situation has nothing to do with you and your family. Absolutely. Thank you so much. All right, Mohammed. Thank you so much for visiting us. We appreciate it. She was the first female Speaker of the House, and now Nancy Pelosi is sharing when she thinks the U.S. will have its first female president. That's next.

1:23:50In our national lead, tributes to the now disgraced labor leader Cesar Chavez in the form of murals and statues, names of schools, streets, institutions were common in countless cities and communities across the United States and especially here in California where it included a state holiday which would have been today, March 31st. I'm here on Cesar Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles, a street that was renamed in the early 1990s. And a year ago on this day, March 31st, what was then called Cesar Chavez Day, this entire area right near the birthplace of Los Angeles, Olvera Street, was a huge celebration in honor of Cesar Chavez.

1:24:34But as you can see, Cesar Chavez Avenue no longer a huge party location, festival celebration on what is no longer Cesar Chavez Day. The holiday canceled in the wake of the extremely disturbing allegations of rape and the sexual abuse of minors against Chavez in The New York Times. And it's not just in Los Angeles. Communities across the state and the country are now taking down the many landmarks, streets, parks, schools, statues in honor of Chavez. In San Francisco, this mural of Chavez was painted over immediately after the New York Times report. Fresno State University erected a plywood box around a monument to Chavez.

1:25:15Here, the city of San Fernando covered a statue with a tarp at Cesar Chavez Memorial Park. These monuments and others were made to honor Chavez for his efforts in helping to secure better wages and working conditions for farm workers in the United States. No place, however, has recognized Chavez more deeply than California, where Cesar Chavez Day was a state holiday. That was until the New York Times report in March prompted Governor Gavin Newsom last Thursday to sign a bill renaming the holiday Farm Workers Day. At Los Angeles City Hall, that's the big white building behind me. Mayor Karen Bass immediately signed a proclamation changing the name of the holiday.

1:25:54The L.A. County School Board last week voted to remove Chavez's name from its institutions. The speed at which these efforts are taking place is remarkable, given Chavez's esteemed standing among the political left, which has only grown since his death in 1993. President Barack Obama designated Chavez's former home and headquarters as a national monument, and President Joe Biden put up a bronze bust of Chavez in the Oval Office. Back here on Cesar Chavez Avenue, local residents are already calling for the previous name of the thoroughfare to be restored, Brooklyn Avenue. It's quite a fall for a man who just a few weeks ago was considered the most prominent farm labor and Latino civil rights leader in American history.

1:26:40Back here in our studio and our politics lead, tonight the personal life of a top Trump administration official, or our future, or is she, I'm not sure if she's still in the administration, to be quite honest, but it's under scrutiny. Photos obtained by the Daily Mail show the husband of now former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wearing what looked like fake breasts, and all of it raises security concerns about potential blackmail attempts and vetting procedures, or the lack thereof, by the White House and Congress, and what the family of Kristi Noem seems to be saying is a shock and an embarrassment.

1:27:19Let's go to CNN's Tom Foreman. Tom, tell us more about this story. Well, Jake, this news about Brian Noem is ricocheting all over D.C., and so are the pictures as they appeared in the Daily Mail, which show him dressed in costumes with extremely large breasts. This is the husband of Kristi Noem, who less than a month ago was fired from her job as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security for President Donald Trump. She is now a special envoy appointed by Trump as part of a security initiative aimed at combating drug cartels. The New York Post says a representative for the Gnomes said, Christy Gnome is devastated by this news and her family was blindsided by it.

1:28:03There is no indication that this had anything to do with her dismissal from Homeland Security. and the mail says Trump told them he is surprised by the family's statement about Brian's behavior. They confirmed it, the mail says. Trump said, well, wow, I feel badly for the family. If that's the case, that's too bad. I haven't seen anything. I don't know anything about it. That's too bad. But I just know nothing about it. Of course, this is precisely the kind of matter that security experts have long said must be ferreted out during the confirmation process for cabinet members because it presents such an obvious target for bad actors who might want to blackmail or leverage that information against Kristi Noem.

1:28:47Undoubtedly, there will be a lot of questions from Congress now about why the White House seemingly knew nothing about this, or if it did know, why it went ahead with Noem's confirmation in the first place. CNN has reached out to Brian Noem for comment and has not heard back. Jake. All right, Tom Foreman, thanks so much. In studio to discuss this and other political stories, CNN correspondent and anchor Alex Michelson and Melanie Mason, who she is Politico's California bureau chief and co-author of California Playbook. So just to be clear for our viewers out there, this isn't about a couple photos.

1:29:22This is about a lifestyle that is being alleged, a secret lifestyle of Mr. Noem. And Alex, let me start with you. Why is this a concern? I mean, it's not just about prurient interest in personal life of somebody who wasn't a governor and official, his wife was. It's about real security issues. Right. I mean, she was the secretary of homeland security who is in charge of so much around the world and the fact that this could be a potential blackmail. I mean, we know even from that statement from Donald Trump, this is not the kind of thing that he wants to get out there, the fact that he denies that he's even seen this.

1:29:59And so that raises concerns about, did they know about this and were they hiding it or not? It's also a question about whether Kristi Noem did not know anything about this too, if she was being honest with President Trump. Well, right. I mean, look, to each their own, right? I mean, these pictures are, as you said, prurient. But I do think that this larger question of what is the credibility coming from the administration, what's coming, the credibility of the former secretary, Did she divulge this even personally with her higher-ups? I think that that is the thing that if Congress was really going to take this seriously, that would they press forward on, less so about the photos themselves, as though they might be unusual for most of us.

1:30:35But I do think this question about security is sort of where this goes next. Let's talk about the fact, let's change subjects. Today's the last day of Women's History Month. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was serving her last term in Congress, she shared her views on a possible woman commander-in-chief in this MSNOW interview. Take a listen.

1:31:23Well, we hope that Nancy Pelosi lives a long time and does see it, whatever party. Michelle Obama got a lot of attention earlier when she said the U.S., in her view, still is not ready for a female president. This is, I don't know if it's optimistic. She says she doesn't expect to see it in her lifetime, but it is going to happen. What do you make of it all? I mean, I think that this actually reflects a conversation that I've heard quite a bit from sort of Democratic insiders, Democratic donors and voters. even as recently as last year after the 2024 election results. I do think that Democratic women, as much as they wanted to see Kamala Harris win, I think that maybe there is the sense that maybe it might be too tough for a woman to win for president.

1:32:05So I heard from donors explicitly, I'm not so sure that I can get behind backing a female president for the next go-round because they're just not so sure that that person can break that glass ceiling. Interesting. I've had Republicans say to me confidentially, Alex, that their party has a real problem with electing women. That's gotten better, but not much better. Most of the women in the House and Senate are Democrats. Yeah. But if there was a Republican nominee, that person may have a better chance of getting elected than being a female Democratic nominee. I mean, what Pelosi is basically saying is, because Kamala Harris is sort of trial ballooning this idea of running for president, she's saying she doesn't think that's going to happen the next time around.

1:32:48And then there's other people, AOC, Gretchen Whitmer, other women that potentially could be the nominee a year and a half from now. So one of the other things from this interview is Speaker Pelosi also confirmed that she has talked to President Biden since she publicly urged him to get out of the race in 2024. She didn't reveal any details of the phone call they had. She did say this. Rather than talking about that, I'd rather talk about Kamala Harris. I think she doesn't deserve enough credit for what the outcome of the election in terms of we would have lost probably 14 seats in that election if she had not been the candidate.

1:33:30That's an interesting comment. Well, it's especially interesting because, look, Pelosi and Kamala Harris did not have a particularly warm relationship, especially back here in California. You know, they're both from the Bay Area, but they weren't necessarily seen as allies. In fact, I think the relationship was much warmer with former President Biden. And yet we know that he and people close to him felt very betrayed by what Nancy Pelosi did in that run up in 2024. So the fact that we see her pivot to say nice things about Kamala Harris, it's a little unanticipated. Although it's also a backhanded compliment because she's saying if Biden had stayed on, it would have been a bigger disaster.

1:34:04Right, which is really complimenting herself because she helped get Biden out of there. So in some ways she's complimenting her own political instincts. Although it also is a, not a shot across the bow, but like there are still these Biden diehards that are like that last Japanese soldier found in like Hawaii or wherever he was found, the Philippines, like in the 1970s, still thinking he was fighting World War II. There are still these Biden diehards who think, oh, he could have won. He stood up. And like she's saying no. Well, Mike Donilon, who, of course, you know, was one of the key players.

1:34:36I did a whole thing with him at USC last year, and he's arguing that he Biden would have been better than Harris and putting out polling to show that. So that is probably where Joe Biden's headspace is right now. Yeah, I don't think he put out polling. He claimed he had polling because all his pollsters say it's nonsense. But I remember, Alex, that interview that you did, and I was really struck by how dogged Mike Donilon was. I mean, this counterfactual, they were just insistent that he would have won. And so clearly that is the narrative, at least in some corners of Biden world, that is still persisting.

1:35:05Yep, it is. Alex Michelson and Melanie Mason, thanks so much for being here. Great to have you. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram threads, Blue Sky X, and on the TikTok at Jake Tapper, you can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch the whole thing on the CNN app. My good friend Aaron Burnett picks it up right now.

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