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'Losers' - Trump on defense after four GOP Senators vote to rein in his war powers · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back. Overnight, Pakistani officials announced that the negotiations between
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  Speaker 1: the US and Iran will pick back up next week.
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  Speaker 1: Iran is sure to be one of the major topics
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  Speaker 1: when President Trump meets with Senate Republicans today, especially after
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  Speaker 1: several of them joined with Democrats to approve a war
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  Speaker 1: powers vote demanding that Trump end the war. It's almost
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  Speaker 1: completely symbolic, but it clearly got under Trump's skin. In
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  Speaker 1: a social media post, Trump called the vote poorly timed
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  Speaker 1: and meaningless, and said that the Republicans who voted for
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  Speaker 1: it are quote losers. I want to bring in a
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  Speaker 1: panel of complete winners. Alex Ward, national security reporter for
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  Speaker 1: the Wall Street Journal, Akayla and Leanne thankfully are still
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  Speaker 1: with us. Alex, I'm going to come back to you
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  Speaker 1: because once again this morning, Iran is denying that it's
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  Speaker 1: already agreed to nuclear inspections. That's counter to what Trump
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  Speaker 1: and Vans have said. So where do things stand with
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  Speaker 1: negotiations apparently set to resume now next week.
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  Speaker 2: It's a lot of he said. She said in a way,
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  Speaker 2: during these negotiations, I think the best indication we have
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  Speaker 2: that there will be some sorts of nuclear inspection of
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  Speaker 2: the administration is claiming is that the UN Nuclear watchdog
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  Speaker 2: Chief raf failed gross. He said that these inspections will happen. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we still need some clarity and with those inspections off right,
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  Speaker 2: because Iran, as a member of already an international agreement
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  Speaker 2: on nuclear issues, was already getting inspected. The question here
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  Speaker 2: is will Iran allow access to its three main nuclear sites,
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  Speaker 2: the ones that the US hit last year in Operation
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  Speaker 2: Midnight Hammer, And that's where the majority of the rich
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  Speaker 2: material is. So that's really what the US wants to
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  Speaker 2: look into. So did Iran agree to that? Maybe, maybe not.
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  Speaker 2: You see the Iranian saying that could happen at the
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  Speaker 2: end of the process of when there's a final deal,
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  Speaker 2: where you see kind of Trump and a US officials
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  Speaker 2: say no, this should be happening as part of the negotiation.
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  Speaker 2: So we're still a bit in limbo. I think at
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  Speaker 2: the end of the day you probably will see some
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  Speaker 2: Iranian Iran get inspected, but where those inspectors go is
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  Speaker 2: a big question.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's just one of a long list of
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  Speaker 1: agreements that I think US policymakers and Republicans on Capitol
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  Speaker 1: Hill might want. Firmer footing on, especially if they are
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  Speaker 1: at some point supposed to vote on this deal.
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  Speaker 3: You know, Alex.
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  Speaker 1: The other part of this, your paper, the Wall Street Journal,
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  Speaker 1: is reporting that Trump is going to meet with military
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  Speaker 1: contractors amid major worries about the country's munitions stockpiles. It's
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  Speaker 1: something that we've heard Hegseth be pressed about in his
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  Speaker 1: various appearances on Capitol Hill, something that military leaders have
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  Speaker 1: been clear about, not just now but over the course
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  Speaker 1: of the last few years. So how big of a
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  Speaker 1: problem is it actually and then how much can these
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  Speaker 1: contractors realistically do about it as they go to meet
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  Speaker 1: with the president.
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  Speaker 2: So the administration will continue to say that they have
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  Speaker 2: enough munitions so that the US military has enough munitions
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  Speaker 2: to fight the wars that President Trump might order or
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  Speaker 2: might want to fight. The big question here, though, is
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  Speaker 2: like how much actually is there? And those are highly
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  Speaker 2: classified numbers, but what's been out in public reporting is
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  Speaker 2: that the US has expended a lot of these munitions.
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  Speaker 2: So the point that there are genuine questions about, say,
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  Speaker 2: if China worked in day Taiwan, could the US actually
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  Speaker 2: repel a Chinese force with the weaponry that the US
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  Speaker 2: has The sort of quiet answer to that is maybe not.
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  Speaker 2: So there's the fact that this meeting is happening is
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  Speaker 2: indicative of a more quiet, private concern that the US
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  Speaker 2: needs more of these things. Now, there's also just a
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  Speaker 2: broader fight that this Pentagon has been having with industry
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  Speaker 2: where and this is a fair point, industry takes a
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  Speaker 2: long time to make a lot of these weapons, particularly
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  Speaker 2: their defense systems and longer range missiles. It could take
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  Speaker 2: you know, two or so years to make some of
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  Speaker 2: these in some cases. And so there's now a movement
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  Speaker 2: to kind of go quicker and cheaper, right, especially when
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  Speaker 2: you see I mean Ukraine is a different issue, but
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  Speaker 2: they're using drones, but there are ways to perhaps go
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  Speaker 2: sort of less sophisticated, less technologically incredible. But just have
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  Speaker 2: you know a quantity of these things that make fighting
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  Speaker 2: a war a little easier and on a faster timeline.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think that is one of the active
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  Speaker 1: conversations alongside how do we replenish our men stockpile so
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  Speaker 1: that we are ready for whatever the next conflict might be.
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  Speaker 1: You bring up Taiwan. That is an example that we
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  Speaker 1: hear a lot. So that's a conversation on Capitol Hill
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  Speaker 1: Leanne and then also the Pentagon coming to the Senate
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  Speaker 1: and saying they finally have a number for that supplemental
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  Speaker 1: bill about eighty billion dollars, mostly to pay for the
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  Speaker 1: Iran war. And it puts Republicans in the position of
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  Speaker 1: not having had a say in the war, not being
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  Speaker 1: brief to their liking by the Administration on progress or
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  Speaker 1: this memorandum of understanding. And yet here we are lean
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  Speaker 1: that they may have to vote to fit the foot
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  Speaker 1: the bill anyway. And I wonder how much they hate that.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, they absolutely hate it. This is putting Republicans in
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  Speaker 4: a really tough position. We'll see where this goes, how
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  Speaker 4: it happens. There's already a one point oh seven trillion
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  Speaker 4: dollar appropriation's request from the administration that Congress is moving
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  Speaker 4: through the committee process, through the appropriations process. They want
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  Speaker 4: eighty billion dollars more. The White House wants Publicans to
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  Speaker 4: do it along a party line vote, which is making
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  Speaker 4: Republicans uncomfortable. They don't want to shoulder this responsibility on
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  Speaker 4: their own. They want Democrats to also have to play
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  Speaker 4: a role here. But you know, there's just such deep
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  Speaker 4: frustration from both parties about this war. The fact that
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  Speaker 4: it happened. Some Republicans absolutely agree that it should have
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  Speaker 4: others don't. But also Congress hasn't been fully briefed yet
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  Speaker 4: on the MoU Pete Hegsath, the Defense Secretary, is coming
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  Speaker 4: to Capitol Hill today to brief a group of conservative
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  Speaker 4: House Republicans. He is to hold in a classified briefing.
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  Speaker 4: He is holding that briefing before he has provided an
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  Speaker 4: all member briefing for members of the Senate in the House,
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  Speaker 4: for any Democrats to be briefed, And so there are
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  Speaker 4: just so many boxes that still need to be checked
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  Speaker 4: before Congress is going to feel comfortable and entertaining this
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  Speaker 4: request from the administration. Ally.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you wonder why there's frustration among Republicans
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  Speaker 1: even saying, hey, we should be on your team. We're
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  Speaker 1: not even getting clear briefings when you do come up
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  Speaker 1: to brief us, which is definitely not as often as
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  Speaker 1: they want. And then Akayla, all of that comes as
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  Speaker 1: Marco Rubio is in the Gulf trying to get our
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  Speaker 1: allies on board with this memorandum as well as the
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  Speaker 1: ongoing negotiations, telling them no country can charge ships to
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  Speaker 1: go through the Strait of Horror.
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  Speaker 4: Moves.
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  Speaker 1: It kind of feels like it might be a damage
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  Speaker 1: control mission for Rubio after the initial blowback at home
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  Speaker 1: from the deal. But what is it that he's trying
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  Speaker 1: to sell? What are your sources telling you.
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  Speaker 3: One of the reasons why this trip is so important
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  Speaker 3: is golf allies, frankly, aren't totally comfortable with this deal.
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  Speaker 3: You have to remember, countries like UAE took the bulk
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  Speaker 3: of that counter attacks from Iran. They saw several missiles,
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  Speaker 3: they saw deaths, people wounded, so they are very skeptical
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  Speaker 3: of this MoU, but like many others, they also want
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  Speaker 3: the war to end. But another reason why this is
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  Speaker 3: so important is I asked Vice President jd Vance in
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  Speaker 3: his last press briefing, who exactly is funding that three
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  Speaker 3: hundred billion dollar fund for reconstruction to Iran? And he
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  Speaker 3: said it's going to be golf allies. And I pressed him,
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  Speaker 3: does he expect that to be some private money? Are
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  Speaker 3: we talking about public money? And he didn't exactly know.
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  Speaker 3: He said potentially that it could be private money from
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  Speaker 3: countries like UAE. So to me, that really signals even
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  Speaker 3: though this is written down in MoU in the MoU,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think that there's a clear sign of exactly
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  Speaker 3: where all that money is coming from, that the US
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  Speaker 3: has frankly committed to making sure that Iran.
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  Speaker 1: Gets Yeah, and we've seen this White House over the
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  Speaker 1: course of various moments, whether it's South Korea or other
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  Speaker 1: golf nations, say okay, they're putting money into a fund.
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  Speaker 1: Is that an instance of this How is that money
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  Speaker 1: coming through? I think all of those are valid questions
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  Speaker 1: that we and I think lawmakers as well want some
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  Speaker 1: answers to. Alex Akaela Leanne. Thank you all for coming
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  Speaker 1: on and answering some of our questions now