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: Well, there's so much going on with the midterm, so
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: much going on with Donald Trump traveling around the country.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: And of course, we have that scandal playing out in
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Alaska that we just told you about a moment ago.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: That's why we're fortunate to have John Decker. John Decker
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: is the WOR White House and Washington correspondent and host
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: of the podcast, The White House Briefing Room with John Decker,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: which can be found on the iHeartRadio app. And John...
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We're fortunate to have you this morning because I know
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: you traveled with the president to Alaska. You interviewed him there.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: And there was rumblings about this potential scandal that the
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: Peltoa campaign kept saying, no, no, no, that's ridiculous. And
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: now we find out from the New York Times that
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: it may be all true. What did you hear when
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: you were there? And are you surprised at this outcome?
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not surprised by the outcome and the reporting
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: in the New York Times, which has not been matched
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: by anybody. That's because this reporter was so good. He
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: has all of his sources locked up in terms of
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: this story. And do I have any doubts about the
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  Speaker 2: veracity of this story? No, I don't. I don't. Now,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: when I was out in Alaska, Senator Dan Sullivan, who
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I interviewed, spoke about this. He believed that there was
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: essentially dirty tricks being perpetrated by the Peltola campaign as
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: it relates to the constituent named Dan Sullivan also running.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: And the Peltola campaign denied any such involvement in Dan Sullivan,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: the constituent, wanting to run for the U.S. Senate. I
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: think that this has a major impact on that race.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: And I say that thinking before that story came out
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: that Mary Peltola was going to win that race. And
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  Speaker 2: she may still win that race. Remember, they have a
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: lot of early voting there. A lot of votes have
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: already been cast. So this story may not have the
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: kind of impact that it would have had had it
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: come out, let's say, two months ago. But it will
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: have an impact. And in a very close race, I
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: think it will have a negative impact on Mary Peltola.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: And as a result, I think that Dan Sullivan is
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: going to eke out a victory in that race.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
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  Speaker 3: Now, John Decker, I see people who are running around
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: the White House extolling the virtues of the New York Times.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Pulitzer Prize, Pulitzer Prize. I thought for all these years
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: it was fake news.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, their Pulitzer Prize-worthy news organization, when they come
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: out with a story that benefits the administration, right? That's
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: what we're seeing here. This was great reporting on the
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: part of this reporter. I think there's just one reporter
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: involved in this, and boy, he really was able to
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: track things down. He even had a former campaign manager
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: for Mary Peltola actually go on the record and talk
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: about how the Peltola campaign was involved in looking for
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: an individual in the voter rolls who had the same
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: name as the incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan. And they
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: got somebody, this person from a remote fishing village in
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: in Alaska to decide to run for the U.S. Senate.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: He got two and a half percent of the vote
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: in the primary, but that was enough to move him
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  Speaker 2: on to the general election where the top four finishers
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: are competing. And so we'll see. We'll see ultimately what
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: happens next Tuesday. It's going to be a while, by
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: the way, for us to know who wins that particular race.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason I say that is based upon what
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: happened in the primary. It takes a while to count
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: votes from certain remote parts of Alaska, and to get
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: a final vote count, I think it's going to take
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: a few days.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: What I really loved about the story, and you're going
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to appreciate this as not only a journalist but an attorney,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: was how a few of the people that were involved
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: and the sources that were involved, especially the named sources
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: like the campaign manager, tried to pull out at the
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: very end. And the New York Times wrote that entire thing,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: that why they weren't going to allow it to be
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: pulled out and why they tried to pull out. I
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: thought that was fascinating. Not only was it a good read,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: but it is also smart on their part because it
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: stakes their claim to this is why we did it
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: and this is why it's legal.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just. straight shooting with the readers explaining what
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: happened behind the scenes, you know, those individuals went on
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: the record, uh, on the record, uh, they cooperated, uh,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: with the reporter, uh, in going on the record, describing
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: what happened, describing how, uh, this constituent named Dan Sullivan, uh,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: ultimately was, uh, uh, recruited to run for this Senate seat.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that that's a good thing for a
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  Speaker 2: news organization, trying to win credibility with readers and maintain
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: its credibility. And The New York Times did a good
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: job in terms of doing that.
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  Speaker 3: Now, John Decker, if I had invested in Cheesecake Factory stock,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: I'd probably be swimming in dough. The two superstars of
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: their respective parties, President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: can't stop talking about Cheesecake Factory when attacking one another,
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  Speaker 3: including even the Treasury Secretary went to the local Cheesecake
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  Speaker 3: Factory there in the greater D.C.
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  Speaker 1: Area.
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  Speaker 3: Have you ever seen anything like this?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have, because, you know, both Barack Obama and
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, it's pretty clear, They're not fans of one another.
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  Speaker 2: And in the 2024 campaign for president, in the 2016
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: campaign for president, in the 2020 campaign for president, they
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: both said unflattering things about each other. They do not
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: hide their dislike for each other. So, no, it doesn't
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  Speaker 2: surprise me at all. And, you know, you have to
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  Speaker 2: go back all the way to when President Barack Obama
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: was in the White House as president. that White House Correspondents' Dinner,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: in which he devoted pretty much his entire speech at
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: the White House Correspondents' Dinner to insulting a private citizen
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: named Donald J. Trump.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: You know, you're a veteran at the White House. You've
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: been through several administrations. And I know you've been through
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: these scenarios that we're about to see, where an opposing
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: party either takes one of the chambers of Congress or
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: both of them. And what that means. So what can
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: we expect from your experience over the next couple of
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: years in both of those scenarios? They take one, they
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: take the House, and the Democrats I'm talking about take
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: the House and then lose the Senate, or if they
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: win both?
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, if you had asked me yesterday before
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: this news regarding the New York Times story about the
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Peltola campaign, I would have said that I think the
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: Democrats will win both the House and the Senate. So
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I think the Alaska race changes things in terms of
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: my calculations. I think that after the midterms, Democrats will
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: control the House. They won't control the Senate, but it
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: will be a very narrow majority. And also keep in mind,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I think Susan Collins is going to win. And she
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: is one of those independent minded Republicans, along with Lisa Murkowski,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: which means that the president cannot always count on a
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: unified Republican Party to support all of his nominations, for instance.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: So It's not as simple as just saying, you know,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: one is controlled by the House, the House is controlled
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: by the Democrats, and the Senate is controlled by Republicans.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's going to be a really narrow victory
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: for Republicans in the Senate in particular. What it means,
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: it means that the president's legislative agenda will stall. He
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: can't get things through Congress. And as a result, I
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: think it's going to frustrate him. The other day I
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: asked the president about this. Larry, I asked the president,
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: are you prepared for political gridlock after the midterms? And,
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: you know, the president, I think it's so interesting because
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  Speaker 2: for most politicians, you ask that question, Larry and Curtis,
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  Speaker 2: they say, I'm not going to talk about hypotheticals. First
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  Speaker 2: of all, we're going to win. I'm not going to
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  Speaker 2: talk about a hypothetical situation. The president actually took the
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: question on and he said, well, if we lose, he
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: actually said it, if we lose, It will mean that
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  Speaker 2: I will veto everything that comes my way if Democrats
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  Speaker 2: control both houses of Congress. And then that will force them,
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  Speaker 2: the president told me, to compromise, to compromise on legislation.
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  Speaker 2: So the president's prepared for that possibility. The president's prepared
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  Speaker 2: for being bipartisan. Bipartisanship should happen. Republicans lose control of
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  Speaker 2: both the House and the Senate.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, fascinating.
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  Speaker 3: John, the president is on his way to South Carolina.
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  Speaker 3: He should take residency there because of all the golf
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: courses in Myrtle Beach. Why is he there so much?
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  Speaker 3: This Graham campaign seems to be losing the support of
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: some well-known Republicans.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Well, you're right. So Ralph Norman is a congressman, and
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: he was in that runoff Republican Senate primary against Darlene Graham.
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  Speaker 1: And he lost.
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  Speaker 2: And he's still really angry about it. He's in his
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: early 70s. He spent his whole life in Republican Party politics.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: He saw this as a great opportunity to finally be
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: a U.S. senator. And then what does President Donald Trump do?
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  Speaker 2: He says, I'm endorsing someone who's never been a politician,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: the sister of Lindsey Graham. And that's angered his family
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: in particular. His entire family has publicly said, we are
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: voting for Annie Andrews, the opponent of Darlene Graham. I
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: don't know if that impacts the way other Republicans feel.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: or the way the supporters of Ralph Norman feel, but
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: the president is very nervous. This race has gotten very close.
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  Speaker 2: There's been polling which shows that the race is now
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  Speaker 2: tied statistically, and the president feels it's necessary to go
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: down to South Carolina for another time. to help out
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: darling graham with another campaign rally when you.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Make a couple of predictions you said you talked about uh...
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: but dan sullivan and you talked about maine what do
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: you think about michigan in texas uh.
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  Speaker 2: two different things so i think that they're it's interesting
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: that you ask me that question larry because i thought
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  Speaker 2: i think that of these two states it's where both
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  Speaker 2: parties have flawed candidates uh... republicans have a flawed candidate
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  Speaker 2: in texas with ken paxton for all the scandals and
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: political baggage that he has. And Democrats have a flawed
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: candidate in Abdul El-Sayed for all the reasons that we know.
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  Speaker 2: His support of Hassan Piker, his campaigning with Hassan Piker,
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: the things that he said out on the campaign trail
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  Speaker 2: even before running for the U.S. Senate. I think that
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  Speaker 2: in Texas, that's going to be the big surprise of
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: this election cycle because a Democrat hasn't won statewide Since 19...
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: What's her name? Governor....
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Help me out here.
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  Speaker 2: I can't remember. Early 90s. Ann Richards? Ann Richards. Thank
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: you so much, Larry. Since Ann Richards won statewide. That's
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: going back to the early 90s. But I think that
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: James Tallarico is going to pull out a victory there.
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: I talked to so many Texas Republicans when I was
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: down at the Republican... midterm convention in early September, and
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: they told me, this candidate, their candidate, Ken Paxton, is
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: so bad. They told me at that time, he's just
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: not going to win. So I think that that's going
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: to be the surprise of this midterm election. As it
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: relates to Michigan, I know what the betting markets say.
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: The betting markets say Abdul Sayed is going to win.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: I know what the polls say. They say Abdul El-Sayed's
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: going to win. I think they're wrong. I think that
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Mike Rogers is going to win that race And it's
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: because El-Sayed is a flawed candidate for all the reasons
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: that we know. And so, interestingly enough, it will be
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: a pickup, the way I see it, for Democrats in
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: Texas and a pickup for Republicans in the state of Michigan.
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Wow, that was great, John. I'll tell you what, I've
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: always avoided asking you about races and who you thought
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: was going to win because I thought you wouldn't answer.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: But man, that analysis was perfect. Way to go. That
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: was great. Well, I say way to go. You've been
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: doing this for years. John Decker, WR, White House, and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: Washington correspondent and host of the podcast, The White House
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Briefing Room, with John Decker, which can be found on
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app. Thanks a lot, John. That was fascinating.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Larry. Thanks, Curtis. Bye-bye.