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: I'm a little concerned about John Decker. John Decker, WOR
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: White House and Washington correspondent, host of the podcast, The
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: White House Briefing Room with John Decker. By the way,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: to hear that podcast, and it's really great, it can
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: be found on the iHeartRadio app. John, have you tried
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to use your White House access pass yet since the ban?
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely.
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: I was at the White House yesterday. My hard pass
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: works fine. But the hard passes for journalists that work
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: at three news organizations, do not work right now. CNN, Politico,
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  Speaker 3: and MSNOW, they have been banned, as you know, from
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  Speaker 3: the White House by the president. A lawsuit filed yesterday,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: and a hearing concerning that lawsuit will take place tomorrow morning.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just a quick follow-up. You're a constitutional attorney. I
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: know there was a famous case back in 1977 that
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: ruled that the White House can't do this. Where do
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: you see this going?
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  Speaker 3: Well, this is something that I think the White House
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: will lose on two grounds. One, due process grounds. The journalists,
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: the news organizations were not given notice, nor were they
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  Speaker 3: given the option or opportunity to appeal this decision by
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  Speaker 3: the president. So that's number one. The other one reason
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: is viewpoint discrimination. And that's what came out of that
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  Speaker 3: 1977 case that you just cited, Larry, this is problematic.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: The president cannot just ban a news outlet or journalists
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  Speaker 3: from a news outlet based upon what they're reporting. And
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  Speaker 3: so on that ground as well, the president will lose
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  Speaker 3: in the federal courts.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: John, the preview to the president's address before the U.N.
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  Speaker 2: General Assembly this morning is that he's going to talk
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: about Iran and how we can't allow them to have
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon That's been done before by Bibi going
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: back to 2012. Is it possible the president might take
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: the opportunity to meet with the president of Iran who
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: is representing his country and will probably be sitting there
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: in the General Assembly watching our president's address to the world?
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: The president has not ruled that out, Curtis. So that
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: is a possibility for sure. The president has never shied
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: away from meeting with people that maybe other U.S. presidents
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: would not have met with, Kim Jong-un, to cite one example. But, yeah,
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: that is a possibility. I've seen his schedule. It's jam-packed
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  Speaker 3: today with bilateral meetings. But I'm sure the president, if
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: he wanted to, could carve out time to meet with
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: his Iranian counterpart.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: We're going to deal coming up with the president's visit
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: to Gracie Mansion to see Zoran Mamdani. And so we'll
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: get into the specifics of what happened at that point.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: But I wanted to ask you, since you may have
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: been there when Mamdani was at the White House, I
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: don't know. But about this relationship, it's weird. They heavily
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: criticize each other. Yet when they're together, they look like
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: long lost friends.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a really interesting relationship. The third time that
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: they've met, first two times at the White House, yesterday
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: at Gracie Mansion. And I don't know, it's really interesting
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  Speaker 3: in terms of the way they deal with one another,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: even though they are so far apart politically from each
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  Speaker 3: other on just about every issue you can think of.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: And yet yesterday, as you point out, Larry, they look
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: like they could, you know, Have dinner together, go on
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: vacation together, whatever you want to talk about. They look
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: pretty comfortable, despite the fact they're so at odds with
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: one another on just about every domestic and foreign policy.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: John, let me take you back to your hood, which
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: is Washington, D.C., and this arch. President now says, oh,
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  Speaker 2: the arch, which I want built as quickly as possible,
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  Speaker 2: will house ammunition and drones.
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  Speaker 3: What?
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  Speaker 2: Does this change by the day as to what the
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: purpose of this Arc de Triomphe instead of Arc de
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Triomphe is going to be?
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  Speaker 3: Well, we've seen this play out before. The president originally
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: spoke about a ballroom, and now it's a ballroom that
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: has security features. The president originally spoke about a huge arch,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: an arch that would rival any other arch in the world.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, it would be the tallest in the world,
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  Speaker 3: 250 feet. The president has given a new justification for
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  Speaker 3: the arch, calling it a military complex because ammunition, he says,
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  Speaker 3: would be stored in the arch. There would be snipers
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: on top of the arch. There would be drones that
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: could be launched from on top of the arch. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 3: there's a lawsuit that is aimed at stopping any construction
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: concerning this arch. And the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, has
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: said that construction could actually begin on that arch, not
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  Speaker 3: far from Arlington National Cemetery, within the next two weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me the logic in making that claim that it
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  Speaker 1: has defensive purposes and that there's going to be snipers.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Is that to give it more credence? Is that to
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  Speaker 1: make it more necessary? And does the money then come
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  Speaker 1: from the Pentagon, if that's the case?
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, for all of those reasons, that is
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  Speaker 3: the reason why the president is giving that new justification. Otherwise,
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  Speaker 3: if it's just a tourist attraction, you would need money
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  Speaker 3: coming from the U.S. Congress and authorization from Congress to
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: construct such a monument. Here, the president's saying, hey, this
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: is a military complex. We need this. It's a necessity.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: And for that reason, the president believes that he can
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: get that arch completed under that new justification.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Now, all of a sudden, out of nowhere in the
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: last month, as you've seen, John, The whole subject of
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: artificial intelligence has exploded across the world. Every other day,
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  Speaker 2: there are new stories, pro and con, pro and con.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: And the president, who's been very emphatic, he says it's
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: all fake news about the dangers of AI, but still
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: went ahead and says, well, I'm going to put together
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  Speaker 2: what he called the artificial intelligence force, sort of like
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Space Force, with an artificial intelligence czar in charge. That's
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  Speaker 2: all we heard. Has there been any movement to do that,
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  Speaker 2: especially in advance of his meeting after the General Assembly
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: later on with the president of Red China?
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah, President Xi coming to the White House on Thursday
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  Speaker 3: and the president and President Xi met a few months
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  Speaker 3: ago in Beijing. I was at that meeting. I was
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: on that trip. And the issue of AI was not
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: near the top of the agenda when they met just
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  Speaker 3: a few weeks months ago, but now it is at
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  Speaker 3: the top of their agenda when they meet on Thursday.
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  Speaker 3: And I'll be in the pool, by the way, on
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Thursday for that meeting. So the president, I think, trying
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: to listen to the critics who say that federal regulation
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: of the artificial intelligence industry is necessary. And that's the
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: reason why the president announced this AI force to perhaps
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: try to hold off any type of legislation from moving
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: forward in the House or the Senate.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you about Iran right now. And I
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: have a couple of questions. First, just if you can
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: tell us what's going on with the Straits of Hormuz,
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: what's happening there. But also, President Trump has said now
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: a few times that nothing's going to happen. Iran's not
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: going to cut a deal until after the midterms. That
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: seems to make a lot of sense if they've been
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: following how much, because they can't attack us, but they
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: could hurt Donald Trump.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Well, I think that's true. I've asked the president that
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: very question in the Oval Office. Essentially, is Iran closing
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: down the Strait of Hormuz to impact you, to impact
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: Republicans ahead of the midterms? And the president told me, yeah,
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: I think they are doing that. And maybe Iran would
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: be up for a deal after the midterms. I don't know.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: I can't get inside their heads. I don't think anybody can.
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: But it's pretty clear that between now and and November
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: the 3rd, there is likely not going to be any
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: movement in terms of ending that conflict, nor, Larry and Curtis,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: will there be any movement in terms of opening up
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: the Strait of Hormuz to the level that it was
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: prior to this conflict, in which 130 cargo ships were
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: traveling through the Strait every day. Now, the number is
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: less than 30, and that's the reason for the high
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: gas prices, the high diesel prices that we're experiencing right
• 8:37
  Speaker 3: now all across the country.
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  Speaker 2: Now, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia has acknowledged that
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: he made two calls to our president to seek some
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: military assistance as the Houthis are basically gobbling up territory
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: in Yemen and the Saudi-backed government is losing ground. Apparently,
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: our president said no. He's going to have to address that, right,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: at the General Assembly meeting with the Saudi prince. Do
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: you think there'll be any movement on that or are
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: the Saudis pretty much on their own?
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: Well, as far as what I believe the crown prince
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: of Saudi Arabia was asking for, the answer is going
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  Speaker 3: to be a no. And the reason being is because
• 9:19
  Speaker 3: what he's asking the U.S. to do is to get
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: involved in the Red Sea and perhaps have a direct
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: conflict with the Houthi rebels. And the president does not
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: want to risk American service members' lives on that front.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: And that's the reason why the U.S. is concentrating on
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: the Strait of Hormuz in terms of Any type of
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: military action. So the president certainly in just a few hours,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: I believe at 9.55 a.m. is when he's scheduled to
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: address the U.N. General Assembly. And the number one item
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: that he'll talk about is this conflict, which is now
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: in its seventh month, the war with Iran and how
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: to end it and what the president is calling on Iran.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: to do in order to end this conflict.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: John Decker, WOR White House correspondent and host of the podcast,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: The White House Briefing Room with John Decker. You can
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: find that podcast on the iHeartRadio app. John, thanks.
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: Thanks a lot, Larry. Thanks, Curtis. Have a great day.