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: Thank you, Daria. Well, John Decker, WOR White House and
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Washington correspondent and host of the podcast, The White House
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Briefing Room with John Decker. You can find that in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, by the way. It really gets you
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: started for the day. Everything coming out of Washington, he covers.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: But let's start, John. Thanks for joining us again. Let's
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  Speaker 1: start with the Trump administration announcing what they said was
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: the biggest oil deal of all time, which gives them
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: access to 65 billion barrels of oil reserves in Venezuela.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: I think his hope is that the oil prices will
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  Speaker 1: come down before people start making decisions about the midterms.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: But I would believe it would take a little bit
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  Speaker 1: longer than that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you're right. You know, there are a lot of
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  Speaker 2: things that need to happen before we see gas prices
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  Speaker 2: come down as a result of this oil deal that
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  Speaker 2: the president announced first on social media over the weekend.
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  Speaker 2: These are oil patches, essentially, and it's not necessarily true
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  Speaker 2: that oil is going to start gushing out of these patches.
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  Speaker 2: So that's problem number one. Literally billions of dollars needs
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  Speaker 2: to be invested to extract that oil from And the
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  Speaker 2: oil itself is not going to, you know, essentially get
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  Speaker 2: to gas stations all across the country with the oil
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  Speaker 2: that the president's referring to. It would be used to
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  Speaker 2: replenish the strategic petroleum reserves, which have been depleted significantly
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  Speaker 2: by 40 percent since the beginning of this conflict with Iran.
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  Speaker 2: So that is really the goal here. And of course,
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  Speaker 2: the president's hope of, you know, seeing gas prices, at
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  Speaker 2: least oil prices come down, were dashed because of now
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  Speaker 2: the resumption of the military conflict over the weekend involving
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  Speaker 2: the United States and Iran.
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  Speaker 3: All right, John Decker, put your constitutional hat on to
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  Speaker 3: the United States Supreme Court, which back to back has
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  Speaker 3: dealt with the president's desire to complete his ballroom underneath
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  Speaker 3: the White House, the 90,000 square foot ballroom. There was
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  Speaker 3: an issue statement. Now the full court ruled on it.
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  Speaker 3: I think people look at that and they say, John,
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  Speaker 3: sometimes it takes years for an issue to get to
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  Speaker 3: be reviewed by the United States Supreme Court. Why is
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  Speaker 3: this going so rapidly?
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  Speaker 1: How can it go so rapidly?
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  Speaker 2: It's going so rapidly because of emergency appeals that have
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  Speaker 2: been filed by the Supreme Trump administration. They have lost it,
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  Speaker 2: both the trial court and the appellate court level. They
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  Speaker 2: made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. And
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  Speaker 2: we were surprised yesterday with a decision that was rendered
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  Speaker 2: by all nine justices yesterday, five to four decision. And
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  Speaker 2: the majority ruled that the entity that was bringing this
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  Speaker 2: lawsuit in the first place did not have legal standing
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  Speaker 2: to bring this constitutional issue to the courts in the
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  Speaker 2: first place. What does that mean? It means that the
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  Speaker 2: entity that brought the lawsuit was not harmed in any way.
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  Speaker 2: And for that reason, the Supreme Court said, we're not
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  Speaker 2: going to essentially stop any kind of construction on that ballroom,
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  Speaker 2: which has been going on for months. It takes place
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  Speaker 2: 20 hours a day, seven days a week, And the
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  Speaker 2: work continues. Interestingly enough, writing a dissenting opinion was the
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  Speaker 2: chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He joined the
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: three liberal justices in saying that he believed that the
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: administration would ultimately lose because he believes that because Congress
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  Speaker 2: has not given approval to this project, the project should
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  Speaker 2: not move forward.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I want to get back to Iran for a
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  Speaker 1: moment because I was surprised when Donald Trump yesterday said
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  Speaker 1: that he's not really sure if they're talking to the
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  Speaker 1: right people. He's not really sure of who is in
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  Speaker 1: charge right now. He said, I don't even think they
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  Speaker 1: know who is in charge in Iran. Can you comment
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  Speaker 1: on that and tell us, do we know who's in
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  Speaker 1: charge of Iran?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, there are three entities that, you know,
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  Speaker 2: have been dealing with this conflict. One is the mullahs.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the supreme leader always has essentially a seat
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  Speaker 2: at the table and making these very important decisions on
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  Speaker 2: behalf of Iran. Then you have the political leadership in Iran,
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  Speaker 2: individuals like the speaker of the Iranian parliament. And then
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  Speaker 2: you have the IRGC, the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps. They, too,
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  Speaker 2: have a seat at the table. So that's the way
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  Speaker 2: that Iran is run. And essentially, you have to get
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  Speaker 2: an assent from all three of those types of individuals
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  Speaker 2: that I mentioned before anything is agreed to in Iran,
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  Speaker 2: especially something as important as ending the war or bringing
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  Speaker 2: a halt to the fighting between the United States and Iran.
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  Speaker 2: So that's who essentially has been running Iran. That's who
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  Speaker 2: the U.S. has been dealing with. for the most part. So,
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  Speaker 2: for instance, Larry, when way back on April the 11th,
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  Speaker 2: when Vice President J.D. Vance led a U.S. delegation, they
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  Speaker 2: met with Iranian negotiators in Islamabad, they were simply meeting
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  Speaker 2: with the political leadership of Iran. And then they'd have
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  Speaker 2: to take what was proposed by the U.S. to those
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  Speaker 2: other two entities before getting assent. And obviously, all three
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  Speaker 2: Bodies that I'm describing have not agreed in any way
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  Speaker 2: to ending this war or, for that matter, reopening the
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  Speaker 2: Strait of Hormuz.
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  Speaker 3: You mentioned Vice President J.D. Vance. He went to attempt
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  Speaker 3: to deal with Maine and the Republican Party there. He
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  Speaker 3: would not answer any questions about the economic war against Canada,
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  Speaker 3: the tariff war. He was in Michigan, wouldn't answer any
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  Speaker 3: questions about that. That's obviously a midterm issue in some
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  Speaker 3: of the border states. Do you see that being resolved?
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  Speaker 3: Because that certainly does hurt our border states because of
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  Speaker 3: their trade back and forth with Canada.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, you're right, Curtis. You know, and, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: one of those issues that could lead to the defeat
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  Speaker 2: of Susan Collins, who's a Republican running for another term
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  Speaker 2: in the U.S. Senate. And she is the only Republican
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  Speaker 2: running for reelection in a state won in 2024 by
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  Speaker 2: Kamala Harris. So she has some headwinds. And now there's
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  Speaker 2: another headwind, and that's this trade war or trade dispute
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  Speaker 2: between the United States and Canada. And there are other
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  Speaker 2: border states, as you mentioned, Curtis, that are dealing with
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  Speaker 2: this because of the enormous amount of trade between the
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  Speaker 2: United States and Canada involving places like Michigan and Iowa.
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  Speaker 2: And interestingly enough, there are Senate races there as well.
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  Speaker 2: You asked me, will it get resolved? I think that
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  Speaker 2: Susan Collins and those other Republicans that are running for
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  Speaker 2: certainly hope it gets resolved soon because it is making
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  Speaker 2: their life more difficult in terms of trying to win re-election,
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  Speaker 2: in her case, to the Senate and in some other
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  Speaker 2: cases to Congress for Republicans that represent districts that border Canada.
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  Speaker 2: And so we'll see what happens. Right now, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: look like there is any movement in terms of resolving
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  Speaker 2: that trade dispute.
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  Speaker 1: The Trump administration and several Republicans, by the way, are
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  Speaker 1: blasting Prime Minister Mark Carney. They're saying he didn't want
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  Speaker 1: a deal all along, that they had a deal, and
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  Speaker 1: at the last minute, he pulled out of it. He
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  Speaker 1: won election on this issue of being anti-Trump and anti-American,
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  Speaker 1: and his popularity has gone up since this tariff deal
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  Speaker 1: has happened. Exactly the opposite in our country, but in Canada, apparently.
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  Speaker 3: This is popular.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he is. You know, we're talking about, like, super popular,
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  Speaker 2: like an 80 percent approval rating right now for Mark Carney.
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  Speaker 2: And you're right, Larry, he did campaign on getting tough
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  Speaker 2: or remaining tough with the United States as it relates
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  Speaker 2: to trade negotiations. And he's following through in that promise.
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  Speaker 2: So difficult to see how, you know, there's any concession
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  Speaker 2: made by Canada when, you know, he's popular in the
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  Speaker 2: positions that he's taken so far in this trade dispute.
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  Speaker 2: That also makes it difficult to get to the point
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  Speaker 2: where this trade dispute is resolved.
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  Speaker 3: Speaking of disputes, the president has jumped in both feet
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: on the proliferation of the AI data filing centers throughout America,
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  Speaker 3: in blue states, red states, it doesn't matter. And yesterday,
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  Speaker 3: I don't think he made any verbal statements, but he
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  Speaker 3: published on Truth Social simply that if you're opposed to
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  Speaker 3: these data centers, then I guess you want to end
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  Speaker 3: up being backwards and poor and not successful and rich.
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  Speaker 3: I do not think that is a successful strategy, because
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  Speaker 3: if you would listen to Governor Abbott, who's done a
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  Speaker 3: pirouette in some of the other red states, you'd realize
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  Speaker 3: there's a lot of anger in communities who just don't
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  Speaker 3: want them in their backyard, do not want them within
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  Speaker 3: proximity to their homes.
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  Speaker 2: Right. You mentioned Governor Abbott of Texas. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: Republicans have essentially done 180s on their position on these
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  Speaker 2: data centers, initially very much for them in their communities,
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  Speaker 2: in districts, simply because of the potential for economic prosperity,
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  Speaker 2: the jobs that it would potentially create in their districts
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  Speaker 2: or in their communities. But now they realize it's not
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  Speaker 2: popular with their constituents. And that's the reason for the
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  Speaker 2: reversals that we've seen being made by a number of
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  Speaker 2: Republican politicians. So the president not essentially listening to what
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  Speaker 2: Governor Abbott is saying, putting out that post on Truth Social.
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  Speaker 2: And this is another one of those issues in some communities,
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  Speaker 2: not all, but in some communities that could impact who
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  Speaker 2: controls the House after the November midterm elections.
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  Speaker 1: John Decker, WOR White House correspondent and Washington correspondent and
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  Speaker 1: host of the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with
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  Speaker 1: John Decker. John, as always, thanks a lot. Great to
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  Speaker 1: talk to you.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks, Larry. Thanks, Curtis. Have a great day. Talk to
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: you soon.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: Bye-bye.