Final question. In order to get to that second phase, are you willing to release sanctions or release frozen money that the United States is withholding from Iraq? Right now, everything that's been discussed with them is that any sanctions relief.
Now remember, sanctions come, there's international sanctions, there's congressional sanctions, there's executive sanctions, so some we can release and some we cannot. But any sanctions relief is condition-based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program.
So That is Marco Rubio yesterday, the Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, and historian, archivist, everything.
So he is testifying now on the House side, and we'll play some more of that in a little while. But that was Chris Murphy, surprisingly, somewhat asking a question that would actually move the story forward, as opposed to just saying Donald Trump is losing this war. Martha McCallum joins us now, anchor of the story that begins at 3 o'clock today.
So, Martha, we're really in a holding pattern, eight weeks in now to a ceasefire, longer than the actual engagement. And last night, there was a lot of fire back and forth. They're trying to get to us. We can't.
So, when they can't get to us, they go after one of the Gulf states and they hurt 64 herds, 63 herd in Kuwait at the airport, and it shut down. Yeah, I mean, it's very. I mean, I think it's a stretch to call this a continuing ceasefire at this point. We have a lot of kinetic action that's happening. The hit on the tanker and then these retaliatory hits that we saw in Bahrain overnight.
I I think Iran From the beginning, everyone was surprised that Iran lashed out against these Gulf states, right? Their neighbors, why are they going after the Gulf states? They say they're going after U.S. bases in those places, but they're hitting civilian airports in the Kuwait airport. Can you imagine if you were in Newark airport this morning and it got bombed?
I mean, this is a huge deal. I think they're trying to calculate how to drag this out. They like this ceasefire arrangement at this point because it allows them to continue to try to lock down the strait. The longer they have this ceasefire in place, the longer their ability to. Kind of bake into the system in the strait that you go through us.
And there's an app now to help you get through the strait if you're a tanker ship and you want to basically apply to Iran. And this is how much it's going to cost. This is when you're going to go through. This is your time. The longer we allow that to go on, the more normalized it becomes.
And I think that's a big part of what they're trying to do here. And I think they continue to hit the Gulf states. They want the Gulf states, I think, now to turn on the United States to say, you know what, this is too much. We can't deal with this. Why did you start this whole thing?
I think we have to continue to look at the big picture. This is a 47-year regime that has attacked Americans over and over again. If someone doesn't put an end to their bully domination in the region, it will go on like this forever.
So I was talking to a higher-up person, and not the President, but talking to someone very close to the President last night. He said the blockade is working and working extremely well. Iran's trying anything and everything to break through. They're extremely frustrated. It's not.
And when they don't get through, like last night, that's what causes them to hit out at the Gulf states. They think in two months Iran has to come to the table, but the president doesn't feel like he has two months. But right now, he's worried about $6 a gallon gasoline. And in the big picture, this person said try to say to the President, no one's going to remember $6 gasoline if you can break this regime. If you can break the regime.
And there's people close to the President, like the Vice President. that wants this to end tomorrow. Yesterday, I should say. And those are the people close to him. And the people that could actually explain how it won't, like Cooper, Admiral Cooper is not talking to the President every day.
He's not in those meetings. The DNI, Tulsi Gabbard was never in a meeting. She missed like a hundred meetings, not invited. While others were in there talking about what needs to go forward, and the president's listening to all of it. And then deciding what to do.
And he says multiple times he was close to just going back full boar. At the very last minute, it was a golf call or a call from an aide that changed his mind.
So it's a really tough position the president is in right now. But I do think that people have to emphasize. 13,000 strikes on their military infrastructure, 8,000 from the Israelis. 13,000 from us. You should keep in mind, they cannot make ballistic missiles.
A lot of their stuff is buried and damaged. And they don't have water. They only have two hours of electricity. Everyone's forgetting how much damage has been done to Iran already. I think it's a great point.
And I think that the problem is that the only thing that the Iranian leadership cares about is the Iranian leadership. They'll figure out ways to get what they need to survive. I'm sure they have water. They don't care about the condition of the people in the country. But I think all of the things that you're pointing to have undermined and knocked the legs out from underneath this regime in a way that I think we all hope could lead, and I don't think people should give up on this, could lead to an uprising of the Iranian people.
And I sense the frustration that people have about why hasn't this happened already? A, they don't have weapons. B, that we haven't been able to supply anyone. The president doesn't want to supply the Kurds. He doesn't feel that they're a credible ally in this fight.
But, you know, you look at the fall of the Soviet Union, for example, and I look at this from the big picture. I look at Iran, Venezuela, Cuba. You know, North Korea is always in that picture to some extent. But right now, those three places. It's like dismantling.
a form of the Soviet Union in the current environment, right? These are enemies of the United States. These are places where they can harass us, undermine our other policies around the globe in the Middle East, South America.
So I think that it takes time, and I don't think people should lose hope that this regime can topple and that there could be a better future for the people of Iran. And I hope the Gulf states can hang in there. I hope that this constant barrage at the Gulf states, I think, is designed to wear them down, to make them nervous, and to have them turn against us.
So there's reason to believe that we can hear everything Iran's saying. And it's reason to believe that the Gulf states have played on both sides of the fence outside the UAE. The UAE seems to be our closest ally in the area, but they spend their whole culture is horse trading. That's how they exist. We should not think we have a true friend in the area.
And he said, Also, our NATO allies could be a huge help. He goes, if we just had two or three, England, France, we'd open up the straight in two seconds. Absolutely. And the president's 100% right and say, president goes, I don't need it, but we're not going to forget it. I think that's where the president's going to go to the NATO summit.
I think he's going to blast him. I want you to hear Marco Rubio yesterday about the supreme leader who's ultimately making the decisions, which is. Dutton, this should make you optimistic. Cut 25. Talks with Iran are not like talks with Switzerland.
I think there are indications out there that he is increasingly engaging at some level, although all of his communications have been in writing and through intermediaries.
So we killed his father, we killed his wife, killed his kid, and maimed him. And how interested in peace do you think this guy is? I don't think he's interested in peace at all. I think, you know, I know the president said in an interview with Miranda Devine that she asked, would you want to meet him? And he said, Well, I haven't used something to the effect of I haven't really thought about that.
But yeah, I guess I would want to meet him. And I think that's just the president indicating, as he has all along, that he wants to have open dialogue and he wants to talk to anybody. He wanted to talk to the leader of North Korea, Russia, China, all of them. But I think that it goes back to the point that you made in the beginning. We have to have a little strategic and national patience with this fight.
You have to keep your eye on what is right, whether it's in Iran or whether it's in Ukraine. You have to have a steely spine. And the president, as you said before, Brian, he is in a very tight position between gas prices, American sentiment in this country, and the legacy issue of a real shift in the Middle East that would be, that would change the region, would change the region for generations to have Iran out of the picture.
So these are difficult decisions, but that's why people are nominated and elected to the presidency of the United States. It's a very important thing. Very, very tough job. And it a lot depends on his ability to see this through. I know a lot of people want him to finish the job, and I think there's a lot of arguments in favor of that.
So, Senator Wicker, not somebody who gets up every day saying, What does Donald Trump want to do? Senator Tom Cotton, obviously, Lindsey Graham. You have it, Senator Tillis. Finish the job. And I was saying to them, like, why don't you say that?
You know, why is the President doing this by himself? If you really want him to finish the job, it would help if you found a microphone and took on Chris Murphy and Corey Booker and want to say we're losing. I go, why don't you come out and say it? And the president would like to know, you know, I'm doing the right thing. And they know he's doing the right thing.
But if they get to November, And they find a way to hold the House even if they don't find a way to hold the House and Senate. And it would be Titanic Expert if they lose upset if they lose the H Senate, I believe. He's taking him out. The midterms do matter. You can't pretend they don't matter.
Of course they do. But he is if they get to November and the memorandum of understanding is not in place or in place and being broken, all bets are off to a guy that the gloves are off, to a guy that is not going to be back. He's done one term and he's done after this. He's going to finish him off. And he wouldn't leave it for JD or the next Democrat, who clearly won't do this.
I think you're right. I just look at it, and I think the president himself has said, I don't care about the midterms. I care about this larger issue. I'm not sure that you would see a far tighter situation in the House and the Senate if this war wasn't happening at all. I think even without this war, you have very tight battles going into the midterms.
And I think a lot of it comes from anti-Trump sentiment around the country. And I think you would see that playing out regardless. I just think when you look back long term, obviously you have to find a way to loosen things up in the strait. But I think that the changing of the guard in Iran in a meaningful way is something that would be an enormous legacy for this price. As Mark Thiessen said, he said, look, if I'm paying $5 for gas.
Make it worth it.
So get a win.
So get a win.
So I'd rather not pay and Not get the win or make it a gray area. When we come back, Jill Biden spoke out and was confronted with a passage from Kamala Harris's book, Martha McCallum Will Come Back, not only tell us what's on her show at three, but I'm going to get her feeling about Jill Biden's book that really should be on the fiction side of the library. Back in the morning. Just like you won't admit President Trump is losing this reckless war of choice, and just like you couldn't admit that the shoes the president bought you were too big, you clearly don't know what winning means, and not because the facts are unclear to you, it's because telling the truth would cost you your job, and the American people are entitled to a Secretary of State who tells them the truth even when the President doesn't want to hear it, and my constituents, our service members, deserve better. Mr.
Chairman, I yield back. I don't know what shoes she's talking about. What is she talking about? Representative Burchett, you're recognized. Thanks, Mr.
Chairman. If you'd like to answer any of that, I don't know about the shoes. I mean, he gave me some Florsheim shoes. They're actually pretty good. They fit fine.
I don't know what she's talking about. And maybe that's what she's referring to. Your shoes look very nice today, Mr. Secretary.
Well, how can you see them? They're way down here. We're talking about shoes. Are you guys kidding me? I mean, is this the Foreign Affairs Committee or is this like a circus?
What is this?
So, you know what he's talking about.
So, Martha McCall's history. Good question. What, I mean, can you imagine? People, you know, 50, 60 years ago in these forums having this kind of conversation. It's inane.
It makes you wonder: how do these people get elected? They're looking to well he did it yesterday. Do we have that cut from yesterday too? And we played it this year. And you're doing this for your TikTok video?
It was Jackie the senator from. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, it was Jackie. It was Jacob, not Jackie Jacobs, but where is that? Here we go.
Jackie Rosen, come 29. A cut 29, yeah. This is why I was shocked to see that you were at a party with President Trump in Miami instead of accompanying Vice President Vance to Pakistan for negotiations. What party was I at?
Okay. I was at a party? It was publicly reported, and there's photos there. But what party? No, no, no, no.
But you're going to say that. I'm going to answer it. I'm going to answer that question because that's an absurd statement. I was not at a party. Where I was is next to the president.
Because in the midst of those negotiations, I was in communications with them. I know your staff wrote up this cute statement for your TikTok video, but it's not true. And it's not real. Thank you. Right.
So, thank you. I just love that he's not letting this stuff blow by him. He's like, no, no, no, no, I'm going to answer your question as stupid as it is, essentially. But it's so true. And I think social media is like, you know, I use it, we all use it.
It's basically the downfall of society. And he's right. Right.
True. Or you might see enough to want to see more.
So Marco Rubio yesterday, but you're not going to touch him. He is emerging as a true star of this administration. It was pointed to me. If you want to know what's going on. When Marco Rubio is involved, think of it as something that goes well.
And a case in point is Venezuela. And number two is watch Cuba because it is thoroughly a Rubio operation. And he's doing it exactly like he wants to do it. They're letting him go. And the president, I don't explain, they're very different.
But there's such a mutual respect between the two. And the first time I saw it when he was senator on foreign relations, and he basically, Trump, who was just had a brawl with him during the primaries, said, You handle Central and South America. And he took the lead on all these things. And he's like, I cannot believe how much gravity. the president's giving me to work here and he's made started started making real progress.
You know, I think the evolution of Marco Rubio has been extraordinary to watch. He was always very smart as a young man. He was elected very young. You know, you watch him go through all of this process. I think one of the most difficult periods for him was when he was up there on stage with President Trump, running for the nomination of the Republican Party.
It was very rough and tumble. You know, talk about inane conversation. They got into like hand size and all that stuff. That never fit him. Like it always looked uncomfortable for him.
And I think right after that, I think it's very interesting that he's the only person who was on that stage with him, who has won the respect of the president in such a Such a forceful way. And it's because he is deeply educated, very well read. He understands these issues. He's lived them. And you can see it in his own lived experience.
There's nothing like watching our Secretary of State speak perfect Spanish in these environments and float back and forth between English and Spanish in that environment when he's dealing with Cuba and Venezuela.
So it's impressive.
So I want you to hear Joe Biden on the view confronted with this going to be not impressive. It couldn't be less, it couldn't be least impressive. Cut 38. In her book, she alludes to a much more fractured relationship between the Bidens and the Yet Moffs. She writes that your family asked if she and Doug were loyal to your family.
And she wrote that her husband, Doug, said they hide you away for four years, give you impossible bleep jobs, don't correct the record when those tasks are mischaracterized, never fight back when you're attacked, never praise your accomplishments. And then he added, and still they have to ask if we're loyal. Yeah. How does How do you respond to that? You know, I never saw that.
I never felt that way with Kamala and Doug. I thought we were a great team. Yeah, you look shocked. Yeah, I mean it's um I don't know. Way more.
I think it's interesting. I think I'm glad that she's being, that these questions are being asked of her. I think it's interesting to watch her answer them. She seems to be caught off guard quite a bit. Absolutely.
Who's on your show?
So, we're going to speak to Rebecca Heinrich about what's going on in Iran. We also have, I think, a great lineup for the California race, which we've been covering really closely. We're going to talk to Kevin McCarthy and Billy Bush, who's been working closely with Spencer Pratt on this election. There's a long way to go there. They're going to be counting votes for three weeks in this thing.
So, stay tuned. Yeah, at least he's a solid second. I don't see any way that she wouldn't think that Ramen can close an eight-point gap, but you never know. All right, we're going to watch you today at three o'clock, and always keep it here on the Brian Killmee show. Thanks so much for listening.
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