Latest / Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning / Jon Decker, WOR White House correspondent Interview

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Jon Decker, WOR White House correspondent Interview · Curtis Sliwa & Larry Mendte In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, the White House has lost in court. Judges ruled, U.S.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: District Judge Timothy Kelly has ruled that they can't pull
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the press credentials. He believes, he didn't rule on this,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: he believes it is unconstitutional and might have to be
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: cleared up by a higher court. For the time being,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: he has a 14-day hold on that, a 14-day respite.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: So CNN, MSNOW, and Politico will be able to get
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: into the White House at least for the next 14 days.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: So let's talk to our own correspondent, John Decker, W.O.,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: our White House correspondent and Washington correspondent. He's also host
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: That can be found on the iHeartRadio app. So, John,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I went through a little bit on this ruling yesterday
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: about the press corps. What happens now?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: Well, what happens now is that those news organizations can
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: return to cover the White House. The ban has been lifted.
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: As you pointed out, this is what's known as a
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: temporary restraining order, a TRO. It's an injunction, but it
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: lasts for 14 days. And the administration has 14 days
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: in which to appeal this decision to the D.C. Circuit
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Court of Appeals. And I would imagine they'll do that.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: But what it means is that this particular issue in
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: the short term is is one in which the president
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: has suffered a loss in the federal courts. He predicted
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: that would happen. I predicted that would happen back on Tuesday.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: And this is one of those issues in which the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: president clearly not happy with the coverage that he's receiving
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: from certain news organizations, including the ones that were banned.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Do you see this going up to the Supreme Court?
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: No, I don't. I think that at certain points, The
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: administration drops this effort. You know, it was always and
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: is a losing cause. And for the reasons that were
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: spelled out by the federal judge, a Trump appointee who
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: was assigned this case, one, there was no due process
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: for those journalists. They have received no notice that their
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: hard passes to the White House were being revoked, nor
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: did they have an opportunity to appeal that decision. That's
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: problem number one. And problem number two, for all those
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: First Amendment advocates out there, This is a clear cut
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: case of viewpoint discrimination. In other words, the president saying
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: he doesn't like the coverage of being given to him
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: by these three news organizations. And as a result, he's
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: going to ban them from the White House. That, based
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: on a 1977 court case, also in the D.C. Circuit,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: is illegal.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Now, John Decker.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: Yesterday after the show, I was talking with Larry about, hey,
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: whatever happened to AP? They were banned a long time ago.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And Larry told me they were banned because they had
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: the culions, the chutzpahs to refer to the Gulf of
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico and not the Gulf
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: of America.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Say that ain't so, John Decker.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: No, Larry, he's right on the money. That's the reason
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: for the ban for the Associated Press. That issue, by
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: the way, still being argued in the federal court system,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: still not resolved entirely. Certain AP reporters are indeed being
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: permitted to cover certain events at the White House, including
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: those in the Oval Office. It doesn't impact AP photographers.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: They travel with the president on Air Force One. They
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: go into the Oval Office, into the Cabinet Room. But
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: that's another issue that arose early on in President Trump's
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: second term.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Well, I would say, and you can tell me if
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: I'm wrong about this, this is the most ballet, the
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: most publicized, the most newsworthy maybe visit that the president
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: had at the White House. It certainly has gotten a
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: lot of attention for even the last two weeks with
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Chairman Xi from China. What is on the agenda? I
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: would assume AI is on there, but every time I
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: say that, I'm told, no, no, no, there's many, many
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: other things ahead of AI. Is that the case? Well, yeah.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Keep in mind this. I traveled with the president back
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: in May to Beijing when the president was hosted for
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: a state visit, and now the president is reciprocating. Back
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: in May, AI was not even on the agenda, and
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: it's remarkable in just a few months, that it is
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: on the agenda. Is it at the top of the
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: list of things to discuss? No. I mean, always the
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: top when you're talking about the two largest economies in
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: the world is tariffs and trade. And so that will
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: be the number one issue discussed between the president, his team,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: President Xi, his team at the White House. A series
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: of meetings will take place. In addition to that, security issues,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: the future of Taiwan, and yes, the future of AI.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: In addition to that, Larry and Curtis, You also have
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the president will certainly bring up China's support of Iran
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: and China's support of Russia in its war with Ukraine.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Those issues will come up as well.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: Now, John Decker, based on public comments, it appears that
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: the Red Chinese and the United States, the Trump administration,
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: are on the same pathway with AI, which is this
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: is a race, no guardrails. To the winner go the spoils,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: at least apparently by public comments. But boy, at the
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: United Nations yesterday, you had the two top CEOs warning
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: the world, you know, if it gets out of control
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: of the humans, it could be dystopian. Even Zelensky, who
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: was making his yearly appeal for more help, said, and
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: let me warn you, as having been in war for
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: four years, we cannot allow AI to be involved in
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: war or it'll be devastating. Speaker after speaker after speaker said,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: And yet the two most powerful world leaders just appear
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: to be saying this is a race and we don't
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: want to be confined.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: We don't want guardrails.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good read on it. You know, the
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: president made that clear in his address that he gave
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. And although
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: President Xi hasn't spoken much about this, I think he's
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: likely on the same page as President Trump. You know,
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: if it is a race, if it is a competition...
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: China would like to win that race. China would like
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: to win the competition, just like the president spelled out
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: in his speech and even before his speech that he
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: gave at the U.N.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I was listening to both Chuck Schumer and
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Hakeem Jeffries, both from New York, giving press conferences yesterday,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: and they were naming all these issues that they believe
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: Congress has to deal with. And they were frustrated that
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: there's not going to be enough time, and they were
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: blaming the Republicans for that. Just correct me if I'm
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: wrong on this, but usually right before a midterm election,
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Congress is off a lot because they have to go
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: out and they have to campaign. Isn't this normal?
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: It is normal. It's just a matter of when that
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: recess takes place, when they adjourn. It's just a matter
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: of timing. And maybe it was a day or two
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: earlier that we saw Congress adjourn to get back to
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: their states, to get back to their home districts. But
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: it's generally around the same time that we saw the
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: adjournment take place in other midterm election years, just like
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: we saw this year as well.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: Now, we saw yesterday the president of Iran spoke and
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: he talked about we will not buck or bow or bend,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: but we still we want to discuss. You know, we're
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: open to discussion. Did anything result from all the backchanneling
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: that took place first when our president spoke the day
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: before and when President of Iran spoke yesterday between the delegations,
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: the Americans and the Iranians that were there?
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: No, we're still in the same place, unfortunately, because I
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: think that, you know, hearing it from Republicans, the president's
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: own allies, they want this war. They're saying this publicly.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: They want this war to end quickly as well because
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: they're hearing it from their constituents, you know. You have
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: gas prices so high, diesel prices so high, the prices
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: at the supermarket because the diesel prices are so high.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: All of those reasons you have very prominent supporters of
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the president urging him to end this conflict as soon
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: as practicable. But it hasn't happened yet. And those discussions
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: did take place in New York, but it didn't move
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the needle in any way.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Well, John Decker, God bless you because I have never
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: seen a news cycle this chaotic. Almost every single day
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: there's a new topic thrown at you. As you mentioned,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: AI now is a big deal. Remember the flock cameras
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: were a huge deal. It's China. It's everything. What's gotten
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: lost in all of that is Cuba. And is there
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: any news out of there? I mean, we isolated Cuba.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: We talked about possibly taking the government over, and now
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: it just seems to hang on in defiance of us.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: Well, the president brought up Cuba in his speech to
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: the UN, hinted, you know, that Cuba could be next.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: He's got a lot. He being the president, President Trump
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: has a lot on his plate right now that he's
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: dealing with. And let's not forget the midterm elections. They're
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: less than six weeks away. So it's not that Cuba
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: has disappeared. It's not like Cuba has gone away. Cuba, however,
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: has taken a backseat to these other more important issues
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: that are on the president's plate right now. And I
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: would imagine he'll return to Cuba once these issues have
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: been cleared off his plate.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: And then finally, John Decker, with the meeting with Red
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: China out of the way as we get through the weekend,
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: when is the president beginning his promised barnstorming on behalf
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: of 38 separate Republicans either running for re-election or trying
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: to get elected? That includes Congress and the Senate.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: Well, I think you're going to see that this week.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: In fact, I just got word the president just added
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: to the schedule he's going to be attending a college
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: football game. I don't have an indication about which one
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: on Saturday he'll be attending, but my guess is it's
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: going to be in one of those states that has
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: a very competitive Senate race. That would be my guess.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: And then as far as next week's schedule is concerned,
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: I would imagine that the president will hit the road
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: on behalf of of a candidate who is in a
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: competitive race, whether it's the House or the Senate, the
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: president realizes what's at stake. So it's really going to
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: begin in earnest this coming week, Curtis.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: John Decker, WOR White House and Washington Correspondent, host of
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: You can find that on the iHeartRadio app. Good talking
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: to you, John. Thank you.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Have a great day. Bye-bye.