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: Now it's time to bring in John Decker, WOR White
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: House and Washington correspondent and host of the podcast, The
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: White House Briefing Room with John Decker. That can be
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  Speaker 1: found on the iHeartRadio app. Good morning to you, John. Listen,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: you know, we're all members of the big iHeart family.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: And with that, you know, people in the family are
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  Speaker 1: so proud of you. You've been the star of these
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: White House polls and press conferences. And I just want
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  Speaker 1: to play a question that you asked to the president yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: Mr.
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  Speaker 3: President, you on the campaign trail, you had said that
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  Speaker 3: you had stopped Iran from having a nuclear weapon. Why
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  Speaker 3: not just declare an end to the conflict and be
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  Speaker 3: done with it?
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  Speaker 4: Because we have some great allies there and we have
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  Speaker 4: to make sure they're not hurt and they would be hurt.
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  Speaker 4: They are right now a lot safer than they were.
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  Speaker 4: six months ago, because Iran's been very much decapitated. But
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  Speaker 4: they're still the bully of the Middle East a little bit.
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  Speaker 4: And I see that. We want to make sure they're OK.
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  Speaker 4: We want to make sure it's a long-term solution, not
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  Speaker 4: just a short-term. They'll never have a nuclear weapon, but
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  Speaker 4: we have to make sure that's a long-term. So it's
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  Speaker 4: ending quickly. But we want to take care of people
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  Speaker 4: that have been very good to us over the years.
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  Speaker 1: There's so much to read in that question and answer,
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  Speaker 1: because I believe, John, if somebody from MSNOW or CNN
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  Speaker 1: had asked that question, he would have attacked them. But
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  Speaker 1: I think he has some respect for you, and that's
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  Speaker 1: the reason you got that answer. Well done. Great question.
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  Speaker 1: And it was nice that you set it up by
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  Speaker 1: being respectful in the White House.
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  Speaker 5: Well, thanks.
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  Speaker 6: There's a tone, there's a way to approach the president
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  Speaker 6: and still get a good answer from the president. And
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  Speaker 6: I think through all the years that I've known President Trump,
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  Speaker 6: first time I interviewed Donald Trump was way back in 1999.
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  Speaker 6: I've built up what you describe as a well of
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  Speaker 6: respect with President Trump. So to me, that's an important
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  Speaker 6: question because as you know, it's the vice president who
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  Speaker 6: said the war in Iran is the reason why the
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  Speaker 6: midterms went the way they did It's the president who
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  Speaker 6: said he agrees with the vice president. And that's the
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  Speaker 6: reason why I asked that question to the president yesterday.
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  Speaker 1: It was a perfect question. It was just a perfect question.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you think, Curtis?
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  Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: It goes along with me saying declare victory and get.
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  Speaker 1: The hell out of there. Right.
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  Speaker 5: I hear that from so many. I hear that from
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  Speaker 5: people that are fans of the president. And I hear
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  Speaker 5: it from.
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  Speaker 6: People who describe themselves as, you know, never Trumpers, you know.
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  Speaker 6: And so it's one of those issues that really actually
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  Speaker 6: unites people in terms of wanting to see an end
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  Speaker 6: to that conflict.
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  Speaker 2: You know, when we were most united on election night,
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  Speaker 2: John Decker, in the wee hours of the morning, the president,
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  Speaker 2: who never sleeps, gave an interview in which he said, yep,
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  Speaker 2: I see, yep, yep, I'm willing to accept the results
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  Speaker 2: of this election, the Democrats winning. That was then. And
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  Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, Monday night, Truth Social.
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  Speaker 1: This is Trump.
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  Speaker 2: Does anybody really believe this election was honest? It's all
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  Speaker 2: about the machines which are more important.
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  Speaker 1: Than the voter.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, tell me, John Decker, he didn't start this, this, this,
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  Speaker 2: the steal, you know, the election denial. Is he, is
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  Speaker 2: he starting this?
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  Speaker 6: Well, I think when the president spoke to Fox News
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  Speaker 6: in the aftermath of those election results late on Tuesday night,
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  Speaker 6: His guard was down, you know, and to a certain extent,
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  Speaker 6: you know, when your guard is down, you answer truthfully,
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  Speaker 6: you answer honestly. And, you know, now the president, you know,
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  Speaker 6: on reflection, realizes what has happened, that Democrats come January
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  Speaker 6: the 3rd will retake control of both the House and
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  Speaker 6: the Senate. There has to be a logical explanation for this, Curtis.
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  Speaker 6: And the logical explanation, according to the president, is that
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  Speaker 6: this was an election.
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  Speaker 1: That was rife with fraud.
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  Speaker 5: And he's the only one out there saying it.
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  Speaker 6: I don't hear others either within the administration or allies
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  Speaker 6: of the president saying the same thing.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, hopefully it's a one-off. He got it out of
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  Speaker 1: his system and now he's going to move on to
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  Speaker 1: other things. So we should move on to other things
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  Speaker 1: like Pete Hegseth is going to have a press availability today.
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  Speaker 1: This is going to be quite a fight. in the
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  Speaker 1: House of Representatives because the last time he was there,
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  Speaker 1: it was fireworks. This time, I think it's going to
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  Speaker 1: be even more.
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  Speaker 6: Well, I agree with you, and I honestly don't know
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  Speaker 6: how this vote is going to turn out. Now, we
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  Speaker 6: know it's not going to be a party-line vote because
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  Speaker 6: the person who brought the articles of impeachment to the
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  Speaker 6: floor of the House is a Republican, so at least
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  Speaker 6: there will be one Republican voting with every Democrat trying
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  Speaker 6: to impeach Pete Hegseth. There could be others because there
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  Speaker 6: are Republicans in the House that are heading out the door, Larry.
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  Speaker 6: This is their final weeks in the House of Representatives.
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  Speaker 6: To a certain extent, some of them blame the president
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  Speaker 6: for that. So you could see a few other Republicans
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  Speaker 6: join with Democrats in trying.
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  Speaker 5: To impeach Pete Hegseth.
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  Speaker 6: We'll know the answer to that question likely within the
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  Speaker 6: next 24 to 48 hours.
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  Speaker 2: Now, did the president address the.
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  Speaker 2: CCP spy that he was having the urge to merge
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  Speaker 2: with from Singapore that he gave super chips to, most
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  Speaker 2: valued by everyone, that went to the red Chinese. Did
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  Speaker 2: the president acknowledge that apparently he had been told this
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  Speaker 2: by a memo from Rubio that the guy is compromised
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  Speaker 2: because of this love affair he had with that CCP woman?
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  Speaker 6: Well, the president gave an answer to that very question.
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  Speaker 6: And he says he doesn't remember reading or seeing that
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  Speaker 6: memo that was written by Marco Rubio, reported by the
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  Speaker 6: New York Times, not denied in any way by the
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  Speaker 6: State Department.
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  Speaker 5: So that memo certainly was written. And that memo spells out.
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  Speaker 6: The danger that the CEO, the president, the founder of
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  Speaker 6: NVIDIA could be under in the sense that he was
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  Speaker 6: having an affair with someone who was a spy for.
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  Speaker 5: The Chinese government.
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  Speaker 6: And given all of the interactions between Jensen Huang and
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  Speaker 6: the president, between Jensen Huang and the Chinese government, you
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  Speaker 6: can understand why that memo was written by Marco Rubio.
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  Speaker 1: What do you expect over the next two years? Because
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  Speaker 1: you've been there before with people that have taken a
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  Speaker 1: bath during the midterms, and he has reached his hand
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  Speaker 1: across the aisle on a couple of issues very early on,
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  Speaker 1: which is unlike him. Can we expect him to be conciliatory,
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  Speaker 1: or do you think that was just in the moment
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  Speaker 1: when he was taking in the results?
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  Speaker 6: You know, I don't know the answer to that, Larry, because,
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  Speaker 6: you know, every president that is essentially counting down the
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  Speaker 6: dead days until they leave the White House does think
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  Speaker 6: about their legacy. Now, the president has a physical legacy,
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  Speaker 6: all the things that he's done to the property of
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  Speaker 6: the White House. But you also want to have a
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  Speaker 6: legacy beyond that. He has a legacy certainly at the
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  Speaker 6: Supreme Court. But does he want to have a legacy
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  Speaker 6: for these final two years and move legislation through Congress
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  Speaker 6: to do that? It's something in which you need compromise,
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  Speaker 6: you need conciliation. And so we'll see whether the president
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  Speaker 6: decides to move in that direction to try to move
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  Speaker 6: forward legislation on, for instance, immigration, something he brought up
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  Speaker 6: that on Tuesday night, last Tuesday night, as the results
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  Speaker 6: were coming in.
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  Speaker 5: That's an area, he says, in which he could cooperate
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  Speaker 5: with Democrats.
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  Speaker 2: John Dagger, over the years, you've seen chiefs of staff
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  Speaker 2: come and chiefs of staff go. some with accommodation, some
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  Speaker 2: with a lot of vitriol. Susie Wiles leaves for another
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  Speaker 2: position and Stephen Miller is elevated from deputy chief of
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  Speaker 2: staff to the chief of staff. First off, what is
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  Speaker 2: the role of the chief of staff? And number two,
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  Speaker 2: was that a signal that he has a wartime consigliere now?
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  Speaker 5: Well, that's what I hear. That's what I've read. You know, that's,
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  Speaker 5: Stephen Miller's style. He is a pugilist. He is a fighter.
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  Speaker 6: He is not a compromiser. So if you want someone
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  Speaker 6: in that role to have that kind of tone and
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  Speaker 6: tenor set at the White House as it relates to
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  Speaker 6: relations with Congress, the president chose the right person in
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  Speaker 6: Stephen Miller. Stephen Miller is a longtime aide to the president.
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  Speaker 6: He's the architect of his immigration crackdown, and the president
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  Speaker 6: trusts Stephen Miller. So what I expect is Stephen Miller
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  Speaker 6: being given essentially free reign to run the White House
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  Speaker 6: in the way that he wishes and to deal with
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  Speaker 6: Congress in the way that he wishes. And what I
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  Speaker 6: do expect is a lot of battles between the White
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  Speaker 6: House and Congress, which will be controlled by Democrats for
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  Speaker 6: the next two years.
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  Speaker 1: You know, the midterm results are sort of like a
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  Speaker 1: starting gun for the 2028 presidential election. People are already
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  Speaker 1: starting to claim their ground, especially the governor of Florida,
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  Speaker 1: Ron DeSantis. Give me a ballpark. We were trying to
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  Speaker 1: figure this out here. How many people do you think
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  Speaker 1: are going to throw their hat in the rain for
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  Speaker 1: the Democrats and how many for the Republicans?
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'd say maybe 10 to 15 on each side.
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  Speaker 6: I think that it's just an interesting environment. We don't
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  Speaker 6: know what the environment is going to be like two
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  Speaker 6: years from now.
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  Speaker 5: It may not be what it exists right now.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe the U.S.
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  Speaker 6: Economy makes a huge comeback, you know, and, you know,
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  Speaker 6: it's just firing on all cylinders. And if that's the case,
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  Speaker 6: that's the perfect environment for someone like J.D. Vance on
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  Speaker 6: the Republican side to, you know, keep that good economic
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  Speaker 6: feeling going within the administration. On the other hand, you know,
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  Speaker 6: if the feeling or environment is like it was on
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  Speaker 6: Tuesday night, last Tuesday night, it's not a good sign
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  Speaker 6: for someone within the administration. And then Ron DeSantis could
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  Speaker 6: take advantage as an outsider running for the Republican nomination.
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  Speaker 6: On the Democratic side, you have so many governors and
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  Speaker 6: some that just did really well, like Josh Shapiro, won
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  Speaker 6: by more than 20 points, who will certainly throw their
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  Speaker 6: hat in the ring. You have a number of senators
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  Speaker 6: who Certainly, Cory Booker is going to run for president.
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  Speaker 6: Any Republican or Democrat who's run for president in the
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  Speaker 6: last 10 years will certainly give a strong look at
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  Speaker 6: running again in 2028.
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  Speaker 1: John Decker, WOR White House and Washington correspondent, host of
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker,
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  Speaker 1: which can be found on the iHeartRadio app. John, it's
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: going to be a fascinating two years. I can't wait
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  Speaker 1: to talk to you about it.
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  Speaker 5: Thanks, Larry.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks, Curtis. Have a great day.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Bye-bye.