Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / The Trump administration's contradictions and contortions on Iran war, Blanche nomination and more

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The Trump administration's contradictions and contortions on Iran war, Blanche nomination and more · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Two words come to mind today and after a very
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  Speaker 1: newsy weekend, contradiction and contortion. Here's a contradiction. President Trump
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: called off a planned military attack against Iran because he
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  Speaker 1: said the perimeters his word of a deal had emerged,
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  Speaker 1: and new talks would begin to bring it to fruition.
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  Speaker 1: Iran denied new direct talks were even happening, something the
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  Speaker 1: White House later sheepishly acknowledged. Here's a contortion. The US
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  Speaker 1: Treasury recently used billions, we don't know how many billions
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: to stabilize the Japanese yen. This to keep Japan's economy
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  Speaker 1: healthy enough that it doesn't panic and sell US bonds
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  Speaker 1: that service our thirty nine trillion dollar debt. The US
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  Speaker 1: has not propped up the yen since twenty eleven, but
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  Speaker 1: knows it's partly to blame for where Japan's economy finds itself,
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  Speaker 1: which is suffering from higher energy costs because of the
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  Speaker 1: war with Iran. Here's another contortion. Republican Senators John Cornin
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  Speaker 1: of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina agreed today
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  Speaker 1: to support Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation as Attorney
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  Speaker 1: General after receiving written assurances from Blanche that the so
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  Speaker 1: called weaponization fund is dead and a sweeping Trump settlement
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  Speaker 1: with the IRS covers his past misdeeds, those of his
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  Speaker 1: family and associated businesses, not everything in all directions forever,
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  Speaker 1: which the senators feared it might have. Yet, former DOJ
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  Speaker 1: lawyers told CBS News blanches new assurances, even though they're
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  Speaker 1: in writing, could easily be reversed and do not, to
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  Speaker 1: their minds, constitute a legal concession at all. Here's another contradiction.
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  Speaker 1: After much bally, who and bluster, the Justice Department has
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  Speaker 1: dismissed an indictment against three time Olympian David Hearn for
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  Speaker 1: felony vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The DOJ
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  Speaker 1: said there was no evidence Hearn vandalized anything. DOJ blamed
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  Speaker 1: the Department of Interior four misleading, it turns out, the
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  Speaker 1: DOG said late Friday in a court filing damage to
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  Speaker 1: the pool was quote the result of flawed installation by
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  Speaker 1: the contractor and the rush to complete the project prior
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  Speaker 1: to events associated with the America two fifties celebration. Trump
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  Speaker 1: immediately contradicted the US Attorney for the District of Columbia,
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  Speaker 1: who sought the indictment. Today he took it a step further, saying,
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  Speaker 1: Jeanine Piro choked and folded like an umbrella. One last contortion.
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  Speaker 1: This a continuation of serialized national contortions when it comes
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  Speaker 1: to tolerance for a president profiting from his office. Over
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  Speaker 1: the weekend, Truth Social, the social media platform that Trump
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  Speaker 1: holds a forty one percent stake in, began selling subscriptions
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  Speaker 1: to gain early access to Trump's market moving posts. Subscribers
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  Speaker 1: will pay up to one hundred thousand dollars some months
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  Speaker 1: to stay ahead of non subscribers, allowing them to rake
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  Speaker 1: in millions in high frequency trading markets. Trump of course
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  Speaker 1: controls his posts and his company will now directly profit
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  Speaker 1: from said posts. Amid all these contradictions and contortions, we
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  Speaker 1: turn with confidence as ever to Nancy Cordyce at the
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  Speaker 1: White House. Nancy, catch us up on Todd Blanche's fate
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  Speaker 1: and Cornyn and Tillis.
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  Speaker 2: Major, good to see you. So Todd Blanche had said
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  Speaker 2: over and over again, this anti weapon at Weaponization Fund
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  Speaker 2: is dead. It's not going anywhere, and that was not
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  Speaker 2: good enough for Senators Cornyn and Tillis, who knew very
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  Speaker 2: well that the fund could be resurrected. They were demanding
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  Speaker 2: that he put it in writing. Over the weekend. He
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  Speaker 2: did just that. He issued an order saying not only
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  Speaker 2: that the fund is dead, that it's not going anywhere,
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  Speaker 2: but that is not going to go anywhere in the future.
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  Speaker 2: That appeared to be enough for Cornyn and Tillis, who
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  Speaker 2: released a statement today saying that they are pleased and
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  Speaker 2: they are now looking forward to voting on his nomination.
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  Speaker 2: So that basically ensures that he makes it out of
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  Speaker 2: the Senate Judiciary Committee and then it goes to the
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  Speaker 2: full Senate for a vote where he will need a
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  Speaker 2: near unanimous support from Senate Republicans. President Trump did not
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  Speaker 2: make this any easier for his ag nominee because even
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  Speaker 2: as Todd blanche was assuring senators that this anti weaponization
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  Speaker 2: fund was dead, President Trump kept saying that he wished
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  Speaker 2: that it wasn't dead, and that he felt that people
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  Speaker 2: who were convicted served time for their roles on January
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  Speaker 2: sixth were treated horribly and deserved compensation. Now that it
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  Speaker 2: is officially in writing that this fund isn't going anywhere,
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  Speaker 2: President Trump says he's going along with it. He thinks
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  Speaker 2: that Blanche did the wrong right thing, but that he
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  Speaker 2: still thinks it would have been a great thing for
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  Speaker 2: people who were targeted, in his view, by their government.
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  Speaker 2: Take a listen.
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  Speaker 3: He's going to do a great job. Everybody knows it.
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  Speaker 3: And I understand there's been a sign off, but I
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  Speaker 3: don't know what they agreed. I think Todd Blanche agreed
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  Speaker 3: to reconfirm things that he's already said, and what he
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  Speaker 3: said was okay.
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  Speaker 2: So he says he doesn't know the specifics, but whatever
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  Speaker 2: Blanche signed off on, he's okay with it.
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  Speaker 1: And Iran and talks and whether they're direct or indirect
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  Speaker 1: or even substance.
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  Speaker 2: On that, President Trump said that the talks are happening,
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  Speaker 2: even if the Iranians deny it. He says that he
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  Speaker 2: doesn't know why they deny, deny and insist that talks
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  Speaker 2: aren't happening, but he says those talks are on. He
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  Speaker 2: even insisted at one point today major that the straight
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  Speaker 2: of Hormuz there's going to be a deal in place
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  Speaker 2: by tomorrow to get it reopened. So we'll watch to
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  Speaker 2: see whether that is indeed the case. But he also
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  Speaker 2: said that Iran really had a close call because if
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  Speaker 2: they hadn't come back to the negotiating table. In his view, again,
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  Speaker 2: Iran denies this that he would have bombed them harder
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  Speaker 2: than anyone has bombed anyone since World War Two. Take
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  Speaker 2: a listen.
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  Speaker 3: This is the last chance. This is not something that
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't happen. This is the last chance for them
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  Speaker 3: to shine a good document.
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  Speaker 2: So President Trump saying that this is Iran's last chance
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  Speaker 2: to sign a deal, but he has said words very
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  Speaker 2: similar to that before.
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  Speaker 1: Major, Boy is he ever Nancy cortis Rotha al the
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  Speaker 1: White House? Thanks so much. CBS News National security analyst
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  Speaker 1: Aaron McLain joins me now. He is also host of
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  Speaker 1: the School of War podcast erin there's a marquee song
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: from the musical Annie that comes to mine. Snal come
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  Speaker 1: out tomorrow. Tomorrow, the strain of hormones will be open
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  Speaker 1: and the sun will come out. I'm not trying to
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  Speaker 1: be glib, but that is the thing I do with
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  Speaker 1: you frequently, because there is a part of this that
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  Speaker 1: just lends itself to it, because we keep talking about
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  Speaker 1: the same things in the same ways.
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  Speaker 4: By my count, Major, this is now the fifth time
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  Speaker 4: that the President has threatened massive escalation against Iran and
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  Speaker 4: then either said that allies from the region are intervening
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  Speaker 4: or a deal is imminent, and back down basically once
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  Speaker 4: a month since March he has done this. It does
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  Speaker 4: not inspire, I think, fear in the hearts of the
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  Speaker 4: Uranians every time that they go through this cycle. It
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  Speaker 4: doesn't inspire confidence in our partners in the region. And
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  Speaker 4: it's possible there could be a deal to reopen the
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  Speaker 4: straight up Hormuz tomorrow, but color me skeptical, right.
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  Speaker 1: And when we say that, as the president has acknowledged
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  Speaker 1: the Saudi's call, the Katari's call you wrote, you're know
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  Speaker 1: ebraah Mwert's call to don't do this massive strike, it's
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  Speaker 1: not as if tomorrow they're not going to be as
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  Speaker 1: adamant not to do that, because what are they worried about.
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  Speaker 1: They're worried about their own energy producing plants and infrastructure.
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  Speaker 4: That's right. And look, does the United States military retain
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  Speaker 4: the capacity to level some sort of massive attack on
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  Speaker 4: Iranian est? Does it does? And those targets get There
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  Speaker 4: are plenty of targets, could be the electrical system, could
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  Speaker 4: be all kinds of stuff. But there are two things
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  Speaker 4: you got to worry about. Then one, as our partners
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  Speaker 4: in the region are worried about, what does the counter
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  Speaker 4: strike look like, what kind of targets get hit in
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  Speaker 4: places like Saudi Arabia in response? And two is the
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  Speaker 4: political outcome going to be what the president wants it
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  Speaker 4: to be? After all this time? Will the Iranian regime,
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  Speaker 4: whether whatever that attack is, for some time and still
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  Speaker 4: hold on to the strait by its fingernails? What do
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  Speaker 4: you do then?
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  Speaker 1: And the President has said correctly many many times, the
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  Speaker 1: United States is better buffered from oil price shocks than
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  Speaker 1: would have been twenty years ago because of massive increases
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  Speaker 1: in natural gas and oil production here. That's true. Some
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  Speaker 1: of it's with policy before Trump reflects Trump policy, but
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  Speaker 1: that doesn't mean everyone is soap buffered. Japan is not,
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  Speaker 1: and the intervention over the weekend to stabilize the end
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  Speaker 1: strikes me as part of the war story.
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  Speaker 4: But we live in a globalized economy, so the prices
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  Speaker 4: of commodities interact across the globe. One nation's financial crisis
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  Speaker 4: becomes another nation's financial crisis pretty quickly, So I think
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  Speaker 4: you're right to draw that connection between Japanese financial issues
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  Speaker 4: and the energy issue in the Middle East and This
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  Speaker 4: is another way in which the President is really in
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  Speaker 4: a bind. If he escalates the Iranian encounter strike against
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  Speaker 4: energy targets in the Gulf could harm energy markets. If
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  Speaker 4: he stays the same, we stay the same in this
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  Speaker 4: constant sort of simmer of problems in the market. If
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  Speaker 4: he retreats, the Iranians still control the Strait, which means
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  Speaker 4: they still get to mess with energy traffic at their
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  Speaker 4: ledger in definitely going forward. It is an unenviable set
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  Speaker 4: of choices that he has dealt himself.
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  Speaker 1: And when an ally needs currency stabilization because of a
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  Speaker 1: war the United States help launch, that's a real consequence.
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  Speaker 4: It is a real consequence. This story isn't over yet.
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  Speaker 4: We don't know what's going to happen yet. The President
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  Speaker 4: may yet follow through in his threats, but like I said,
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  Speaker 4: it's not a great range of choices right now.
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  Speaker 1: Aaron McClain, great stuff, as always, Thank you so much.