“The status quo continues”

Summary

Deadline: White House – Episode Summary

Episode Title: “The status quo continues”
Date: June 17, 2026
Host: Nicolle Wallace
Notable Guests: David Rhode (Senior National Security Reporter), Paul Rykoff (Independent Americans Podcast Host, Veterans Advocate), Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group), Tim Miller (The Bulwark), Janae Nelson (President, NAACP Legal Defense Fund)

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Episode Overview

In this high-stakes episode of Deadline: White House, host Nicolle Wallace and her panel dissect Donald Trump's controversial Iran deal, the resulting backlash from both sides of the aisle, and the President's recent moves to link national security priorities to aggressive voter ID legislation. The show explores how the Trump administration’s actions are reverberating within the Republican Party, harming America’s global standing, and threatening democratic norms at home. The tone is incredulous, urgent, and deeply critical, emphasizing the gap between Trump’s rhetoric and the real-world consequences of his policies.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Debunking Trump’s Narrative on the Iran Deal

• Trump’s Claims vs. Reality (01:04-05:23)

  • Trump touts his Iran agreement as a historic personal victory, denying reports about sanctions relief, a $300 billion reconstruction fund, and the maintenance of Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
  • Nicolle and her guests, citing the actual Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), expose direct contradictions:
    • Quoting the MoU: The US agrees to at least $300 billion for Iran’s reconstruction, immediate termination of all sanctions, and maintaining the ‘status quo’ on Iran's nuclear program.
  • Trump’s stance on Iran not acquiring nuclear weapons (“my Deal is a wall to a nuclear [weapon]”) is dissected; the MoU in fact includes no new nuclear restrictions.
  • Release of Iranian assets—something Trump criticized Obama for—is now part of his own plan.

  Quote:

  • Nicolle Wallace (01:49): “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Wow.”

2. GOP Backlash and Open Party Rebellion

• Internal Dissent (05:23-09:35)

  • Even Trump's staunchest former allies voice alarm and disgust. Nikki Haley calls the deal a surrender. Mike Pence labels it “worse than a mistake” (05:23).
  • Conservative media like Fox News and the New York Post blast the deal: “Love bomb: Prez says Islamic regime, ‘not radical.’ His deal showers mullahs with cash and no sanctions.”

  Quotes:

  • Mike Pence (05:03): “Much bigger than a mistake … immediate concessions, particularly sanctions waivers, right out of the gate. That would … be a lifeline to the Iranian regime.”
  • Paul Rykoff (07:55): “We’re all along for the ride on Trump’s crazy train of destruction and mayhem. This is a losers agreement. This is a surrender. This is awful. This weakens our standing in the world.”

3. Expert Analysis: The Scope of U.S. Failure

• Strategic Disaster (09:35-13:24)

  • Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group) calls the deal “probably the single biggest foreign policy failure of the Trump administration. Nothing else is even close.” (11:00)
  • Points out the US achieved none of its war aims; Iran’s nuclear program remains intact; and the deal weakens American influence.
  • Trump administration’s hypocrisy underscored by playing past Trump attacks on Obama’s Iran deal.

  Quote:

  • Ian Bremmer (11:00): “Frankly, it'd be better for [Trump] if we still didn't have [the agreement's 14 points] … Now that you’re reading through all of it, it’s very hard to deny ... it is better than continuing the war, but ... it is a dog's breakfast issue for Trump.”

4. Republican Party Dynamics & Future Fallout

• 2028 and Beyond (18:00-21:58)

  • Discussion of implications for future GOP leadership, especially on Trump’s VP J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio.
  • Loyalty to Trump—however problematic—is expected, but damaging to rising GOP figures.
  • Marco Rubio is seen as less tarnished due to distance from the Iran deal, while Vance is forced to defend policies he privately opposed.

  Quote:

  • Ian Bremmer (18:25): “The buck stops with Trump. So he needs to move to Cuba. He needs to move to domestic issues. He needs to get Iran in the rearview mirror.”

5. Global Consequences & Domestic Morale

• Erosion of U.S. Credibility (24:31-28:52)

  • Trump's weakened status on the world stage critically impacts America’s alliances, military morale, and recruiting.
  • Paul Rykoff raises concerns about adversaries (Russia, China, North Korea) seeing U.S. weakness.
  • The deal leaves U.S. veterans and the Iranian people—especially democratic reformers—betrayed.

  Quotes:

  • Paul Rykoff (25:17): “Our president looks weak. He just took a massive loss, maybe the biggest loss in a generation... our military, I think this will impact morale. It’ll definitely impact recruiting.”
  • Nicolle Wallace (28:52): “You couldn’t have done more to strengthen the brutality of the Iranians, David?”

6. Chaos in National Security Appointments

• DNI Nominee Withdrawn Amid Voter ID Battle (32:56-39:47)

  • Trump abruptly cancels Jay Clayton’s confirmation for Director of National Intelligence, leveraging the vacancy to force Senate movement on a strict voter ID bill.
  • The White House floats Bill Pulte, a Trump loyalist with no relevant experience, as acting DNI—highlighting chaos and further politicization of national security.
  • Senators and analysts see this as a strategy to undermine election integrity, with Pulte’s role provoking bipartisan alarm.

  Quotes:

  • Janae Nelson (38:22): “This is a blatant and gross misuse of executive pressure… He’s afraid of the elections. He’s afraid of accountability.”
  • Sen. Chris Murphy (40:19): “The only thing Pulte is good for is taking secret information to use it against the president’s political opponents.”

7. Threats to Democracy and Voter Suppression

• Voter Rights Under Attack (43:35-46:14)

  • Trump’s push for the voter ID bill is denounced as a transparent attempt to suppress turnout and shape the electorate to his favor.
  • Community action and protest are on the rise, with grassroots movements mobilizing to defend voting rights.
  • The episode notes the parallels (and differences) to democratic erosion abroad, calling for renewed civic engagement in the U.S.

  Quote:

  • Janae Nelson (44:18): “This is something that is hitting every segment of our population and intends to shrink the electorate in deeply harmful ways. That’s why you’re seeing actions like Freedom Summer throughout the summer…”

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Notable & Memorable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Nicolle Wallace (01:49): “The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Wow.”
• Mike Pence (05:23): “It is worse than a mistake.”
• Ian Bremmer (11:00): “It is probably the single biggest foreign policy failure of the Trump administration. Nothing else is even close.”
• Paul Rykoff (25:17): “Our president looks weak. He just took a massive loss, maybe the biggest loss in a generation. And Putin’s watching, the North Koreans are watching, the Chinese are watching.”
• Nicolle Wallace (28:52): “You couldn’t have done more to strengthen the brutality of the Iranians, David?”
• Janae Nelson (38:22): “This is a blatant and gross misuse of executive pressure … He’s afraid of the elections. He’s afraid of accountability.”
• Sen. Chris Murphy (40:19): “The only thing Pulte is good for is taking secret information to use it against the president’s political opponents. That's the only qualification that Bill Pulte has for this kind of job.”
• Janae Nelson (44:18): “This is something that is hitting every segment of our population and intends to shrink the electorate in deeply harmful ways. That’s why you’re seeing actions like Freedom Summer throughout the summer…”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Fact-checking Trump’s Iran deal claims: 01:04 – 05:23
• Republican and right-wing media revolt: 05:23 – 09:35
• Ian Bremmer: Strategic disaster analysis: 11:00 – 13:24
• GOP 2028 succession prospects: 18:00 – 21:58
• Military & national strength repercussions: 24:31 – 28:52
• National security chaos & voter ID fight: 32:56 – 39:47
• Senate reaction to Bill Pulte as DNI: 40:19 – 41:00
• Democratic erosion & grassroots response: 43:35 – 46:14

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Final Thoughts

This episode serves as a comprehensive indictment of Trump’s Iran policy, the internal rupture within the GOP, and the dangers posed by executive overreach in both foreign and domestic policy. Nicolle Wallace and her guests deliver unflinching analysis, sound alarms over threats to democracy, and highlight a growing disconnect between political leaders and the public’s demand for accountability and integrity.

The language throughout is sharp, direct, and urgent, reflecting a sense of crisis and the necessity for civic engagement and oversight as the 2026 midterms approach.

Transcript

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[News Anchor / Host]

Hi there everyone. It's four o' clock in the East. While Donald Trump has a seemingly limitless ability to lie to the American people, his latest and possibly most egregious lie is the attempt to spin his capitulation to Iran as some sort of personal victory and masterclass in negotiating. Earlier today, at a news conference during the G7 summit, Donald Trump was asked about the pending deal to end his war with Iran, including that it would contain $300 billion billion with a B for rebuilding Iran. Here's how he responded. Watch.

[Commercial Announcer]

Well, it's been reported that it includes a $300 billion construction fund funded by Gulf allies.

[Political Analyst / Commentator]

That's false.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

False.

[News Anchor / Host]

We just got that memorandum of understanding today, so we'll double check that quote. The United States of America undertakes with regional partners to develop a definitive, mutually agreed plan with at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Wow. So let's check the tape on what Trump had to say about another provision of his deal. No immediate sanctions relief. That's what he said. But again, here's the Memorandum of Understanding. Text quote the United States of America undertakes to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. So what about Trump's demand that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon? Here's what Donald Trump said about that.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

The Obama deal was one of the dumbest deals I've ever seen. It was a road to a nuclear weapon. My Deal is a wall to a nuclear.

[David Rhode (Senior National Security Reporter)]

You're not going to have it.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

It's a wall to a nuclear weapon.

[News Anchor / Host]

A wall? What kind of wall? Well, here's what Trump's memorandum of understanding says about it. Quote, the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran have agreed to resolve the disposition of the stockpile enriched material pursuant to a mechanism that will be mutually agreed upon pending the final deal. The United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran agree to maintain the status quo. The Islamic Republic of Iran will maintain the current status quo of its nuclear program, and the United States of America will not impose any new sanctions and will not deploy additional forces in the region. Nothing about a wall. And finally, the provision that Donald Trump slammed and attacked and smeared former President Trump, Barack Obama over back in 2015, unfreezing Iranian assets. Here's how Trump is handling this now. Quote, the United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran. So despite Donald Trump's denials, the reality of the MoU is so bad and so unpalatable, so unspinnable, that even Trump's own sycophantic Republican Party is in open revolt. As one headline from Fox News puts it, quote, republicans media rip Trump's secret Iran deal with the harshest critics calling it a surrender. His former ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, reacting to Wall Street Journal reporting that the deal would allow Iran to immediately begin selling its oil, posted on social media this quote, if this is true, Iran wins, there should be zero sanctions relief on day one. Trump's own former Vice president, Mike Pence, remember him, he warned this last night watch. So, I mean, pretty bluntly, it sounds like you think from what we know so far, this is a mistake by the Trump administration.

[Political Analyst / Commentator]

Well, it's much bigger than a mistake. My concern is what appears to be leaking out these immediate concessions, particularly sanctions waivers, right out of the gate. That would what would essentially be a lifeline to the Iranian regime.

[News Anchor / Host]

It is worse than a mistake. So says Mike Pence. And if all that is not bad enough, if all that doesn't tell you how bad this is, here's the front page of the Trump friendly New York Post. Quote, love bomb Prez says Islamic regime, quote, not radical. His deal showers mullahs with cash and no sanctions. Even Trump's own political party and media apparatus calling BS on his attempt to frame his own capitulation as a deal is where we begin today. Some of our favorite reporters and friends, senior national security reporter David Roat is here. Also joining us, Paul Rykoff. He is the host of the Independent Americans Podcast and the founder and CEO of Independent Veterans of America. David Rode, you first. What is. What were they thinking? I guess is what I really want to know.

[David Rhode (Senior National Security Reporter)]

I don't know. And it was just startling to me today the tone the president used in the press conference, all these things he'd said for months. He talked about how American bombing had devastated Iran's regime and how. And even threatened that we were going to drop bombs on their heads. And then later in the press conference, he said the bombing really didn't do anything. Dropping a billion dollars didn't achieve much, so why should we keep doing that? You know, the really valuable thing was the naval blockade we created. And then he said, in terms of missiles, again, at the beginning of the war, Iran should not have any missiles. Its missile industry should be raised from the ground. And today he's like, well, you know, Saudi Arabia has missiles and it would be unfair for Iran to. To not have missiles. So it was this incredible change of tone from the president. And I, I think I got a meme from a former CIA officer about the broader message here to other rivals and threats that, to our country, that at this point, Iceland, according to the meme, is, like, eager to get into a war with Trump, hoping it can get the same deal that Iran got.

[News Anchor / Host]

I mean, it's so bad. It's the punchline of jokes being told by the New York Post. I mean, Paul Rykoff, I don't understand how we're in a place where this train just sort of rumbles along, obviously off the tracks, obviously with no braking system, obviously with no regard for the 13 men and women of the military who paid with their lives to leave the United States of America in a weaker position, where we are the butt of jokes. Countries want to go to war with us.

[Political Analyst / Commentator]

Yeah, we're all along for the ride on Trump's crazy train of destruction and mayhem. And this is a losers agreement. This is a surrender. This is a concession. This is awful. This weakens our standing in the world. I think it's a disgrace to the military that's been ramped up for this and told that this is such an existential threat and such an important fight. What does Trump say to the 13 families of the troops that were killed in this operation, the troops that have been wounded? Every single objective that he put forward to the world and to this country has not been met, and the regime is still in place. And now he's acting like there a group of people that are reasonable and we can negotiate with after they slaughtered their own people. He did this with Putin, too. I mean, the problem here is we have the videotape. We can go back and see his own words and there's no spinning this or selling this. And I think it's time for Congress and the American people especially to hold him accountable. And keep in mind he wants to go further. He wants to go hit Cuba. So let's keep this in mind as he starts to ramp up for Cuba that maybe we should have a war powers act before he strikes Cuba instead of afterward like we did in Iran and Venezuela.

[Interviewer / Moderator]

David Rode, two part question. One, what if any, is the prospect for that? And two, let me just add the new dynamic here, which is that the most blistering attacks are coming from the right in American politics. This is a tweet by a right wing Washington Post columnist. Quote, $300 billion to Iran under any circumstances is a disaster, like offering the Marshall Plan to rebuild Germany while the Nazis were still in power. So we have Mark Diesen making the Nazi comparison and telling the Nazi joke about Trump today.

[David Rhode (Senior National Security Reporter)]

Yeah, it's extraordinary. And the whole question though is, and there are Republicans that are pushing back about against this, but Senator Lindsey Graham, and maybe I missed another tweet from him, sort of said he talked today with Steve Witkoff, the president's envoy, and he thinks that signing the MOU is like a step in the right direction. And he said he hopes this can all lead to a comprehensive agreement. So I guess I'm skeptical of, you know, Republicans are really going to push back on this. Thom Tillis did push back much more aggressively. But I just want to emphasize this isn't like we're comparing the Trump nuclear deal with Iran to the Obama nuclear deal. There is no Trump nuclear deal with Iran. There is nothing in this agreement that actually restraint decides anything or restricts or changes Iran's nuclear program. It's literally the language we're reading. The status quo continues with Iran's nuclear program. So I think as time goes by, there'll be more opposition. And then lastly, there's going to be opposition from Israel. I don't know how an Israeli can listen to him joke about or even a Saudi, frankly, or an Emirati. You know, that it's no big deal if Iran has these missiles when you know, they can menace the whole region with them.

[Interviewer / Moderator]

I'm going to bring into our coverage Ian Bremmer. Ian Bremmer is the founder and president of The Eurasia Group, which is a global political risk research, research and consulting firm, and someone we turn to on momentous days like this. Your reaction?

[Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group Founder and President)]

Yeah. It is probably the single biggest foreign policy failure of the Trump administration. Nothing else is even close. He has not been able to achieve any of his war aims. What we saw today was basically undoing some of the damage that was done by the war. So we no longer have active hostilities between the US And Iran. That's good. We're going to have the strait reopened. That was open before the war. It's been closed because of the war. That's good. And everyone is happy to see it. By the way, there's also, in the first paragraph of this agreement, it says that there's no more war in Lebanon, but the Israelis are not a signatory, neither Hezbollah. So the United States doesn't actually have jurisdiction or control over the conflict to make that commitment. So in some ways, it's kind of a stillborn deal to begin with. And I can understand why Trump didn't want the 14 points to be made public. Frankly, it'd be better for him if we still didn't have them. Because now that you're reading through all of it, it's very hard to deny and, and the outcomes are. I mean, it's better than continuing the war. So, I mean, Trump did finally take the off ramp. He should have taken the off ramp a month or two months ago. The same deal would have been offered to him. The Iranians clearly understood that the United States had no stomach for continuing this fight. And that's by the way, that's why there's very little reason to believe that they will go ahead for a final agreement that would end up at the level of the jcpoa, the Obama nuclear deal. Because if you're Iran and you know the Americans have no fist in their glove ongoing, you're just going to cut deals with the Gulf states and others to charge for access to the strait going forward. That's the most likely outcome here.

[News Anchor / Host]

Ian, I know we live in post

[Interviewer / Moderator]

hypocrisy America, but I do, just for my own sense of personal satisfaction, want to play what Donald Trump said about Obama, Obama's nuclear deal in 2015.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

He dealt from desperation and he shouldn't have been desperate. First of all, we're giving them billions of dollars in this deal. Well, the unfreezing is an easy one to answer. We have taken a lot of their money and we have their money. We have taken them. It's not our money, it's their money, and we froze it. At a certain point in time, I guess we're going to have to give it back.

[Interviewer / Moderator]

I mean, the Obama administration spent years making the exact same point, that we didn't give them pallets of cash, we gave them back their money. Trump's going to try to deliver the very same message with a much larger sum to a very hostile Republican Party, a MAGA coalition already pissed off about going to war in the first place. But I wonder if you think there's any appetite for the airing of his flagrant reversal and hypocrisy on this issue of unfreezing Iranian assets.

[Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group Founder and President)]

Well, I mean, first he's going to spin it by saying that he's not doing the unfreezing, that the unfreezing is done by the Qataris who have the $24 billion, in the same way that whatever the mechanism is that by Oman and Iran with the Gulf, that determines how Iran's going to make money going forward. That's not America determining that. That's the Gulf states. And while the ballistic missiles, the Saudis have them. So it's up to the regional parties to determine what should happen with an Iranian ballistic missile problem. Basically, not it. It's not me. So he will try to spin it differently, but again, it doesn't matter so much how he spins it. You know, the one thing that you said that I take some issue with is the idea that, like, Maga opposes this. 70% of Republicans say the war is successful, say they support the war. It's not because they actually believe that. It's because they believe that it is more important for them to support their president, support the head of the Republican Party, no matter what the issue over undermining that person and therefore aligning with the political opposition. I happen to disagree that that's. I don't think that's the way one should make decisions on, on policy, but Trump's control of the Republican Party. Even today, as we see with most primaries, as we see with the way that most elected Republicans continue to respond to Trump, you can find a few that are the exceptions, that are unhappy and willing to voice that. But the vast majority continue to go with what is, again, an utter disaster of policy on its face. And everyone in the world understands this, but Trump manages to have loyalty from most of the Republican Party.

[Interviewer / Moderator]

No disagreement with me on that. I guess I would just point out that it's a shrinking number of Americans, that the number of people who identify themselves as MAGA Republicans seems to shrink by the week when the polls are when the question is put to Americans. I want to just show you, though, all that they've made available in terms of saying one thing and then doing something else. This is the Trump administration then and

[News Anchor / Host]

now,

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

Anytime, anywhere we should be able. Anytime, anywhere, we have to be able to go in and inspect. And if you don't have that, you have nothing. Because you know the Iranians are going

to cheat any place, anywhere, anytime U.S. inspectors.

[News Anchor / Host]

That's part of the deal.

[Political Analyst / Expert]

Yeah, that's, that's absolutely something that we are negotiating over.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground.

[News Anchor / Host]

You're saying they have 21, 22% of

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

their missiles left, Correct? Yes.

[Political Analyst / Expert]

It's one thing for the Iranians to say that they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. It's another thing for us to put in place the mechanism to ensure that's not going to happen. Part of that is, of course, to ensure that they don't have the ability to enrich uranium.

[Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group Founder and President)]

They are agreeing never to enrich.

[Political Analyst / Expert]

They're agreeing right now to eliminate the enriched stockpile. And if they don't get to a point where they agree to stop enriching, then they don't get the other benefits

[News Anchor / Host]

of the bargain and they keep their highly enriched uranium.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

No, no, we'll probably destroy it after we get it, but we're not going

[News Anchor / Host]

to let them have it.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

You could make the case. Why are you even bothering? Because it's not really valuable. It's, you know, it's probably half a million dollars worth. It's not very valuable stuff. But I think psychologically we want to get it.

[News Anchor / Host]

I mean, if you're still standing up for the incoherence of all that, I guess what's left is a whole lot of cleanup on aisle six for JD Vance or Marco Rubio or whoever inherits the movement. Because while the rank and file MAGA person falls in line behind Donald Trump, we've not tested whether they'll do the same for J.D. vance. What sort of baggage do you think they carry out of this?

[Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group Founder and President)]

Well, I mean, first, if I'm Trump, I want to move on to any other issue as soon as possible. It's another reason why we're not going to see much out of the 60 day negotiation on the nuclear side is because Trump doesn't want to be talking about this in 30 days and 60 days. As you just showed, Iran is a loser issue for him. He's gotten himself crosswise. He's had to backtrack on everything he's been saying about it. It is a dog's breakfast issue for Trump, and he doesn't have anyone to blame. He's the one responsible for the deal. He's the one responsible for the war and everything in between. It's all unilateral. It's all on him. The buck stops with Trump. So he needs to move to Cuba. He needs to move to domestic issues. He needs to get Iran in the rearview mirror. And he should have come to this deal a couple months ago, but it's better now than in another month, in another two months. At least gas prices will start coming down. At least you can start to, to move on. Now, if you're J.D. vance, the problem you have is that, you know, right now, you look at Vance over the last two days and he's saying, oh, the Iranians, they finally learned after 47 years that they need to work with us in a different way. I mean, it's going to be very hard to run as Kamala to Trump. Right? I mean, she got utterly destroyed when she said, I wouldn't do anything different if, if, if than Biden has done. When obviously that is the wrong answer. It's the worst possible answer. And now you've got Trump at 38% approval ratings, and Vance has to display complete loyalty on every issue, even the most challenging, even issues he clearly doesn't agree with privately. It's really hard for him to do. And I thought Vance was effective when he said that. Look, my disagreements, I'm the vice president, I'm going to air them privately in cabinet, privately with Trump. I'm not going to do that with you publicly. But as soon as he starts running for president, he can't use that argument anymore. It's going to be very hard because he will be punished by Trump for doing precisely that. Marco is in a much better position because Marco, of course, has not been seen as front and center in driving the Islamabad memorandum, in driving those negotiations. He's been front and center on Venezuela, which has been quite successful for Trump on Cuba, where, I mean, the bar is a failed Obama policy and Trump is more likely to have some success at the margins. The Western Hemisphere has arguably been by far the most successful piece of foreign policy that Trump has had. Look at Melaye and his successes in Argentina. Look at Panama doing much more of America's bidding and much less of China's. Look at the latest elections in Colombia. Look at Honduras. Look at El Salvador. The list goes on and on. Mexico, not aligned with the Americans, but doing everything the Americans are asking so and Marco has been running point on that. So he's in the much better position in terms of who comes away less bruised and bloodied for the 2028 election. Though again, given how much Trump is prepared to beat on anybody that says anything that isn't fully aligned with him. No matter how loyal you've been historically, my advice for Marco, take it for what it's worth, is sit out 2028 and 2032. You could be the future of the Republican Party.

[News Anchor / Host]

Ian Brower, thank you for your thoughts today. We appreciate your time. We'll bring David and Paul back into our coverage on the other side of the break. Also on the other side of the break, Donald Trump sending an overnight message to his Republican colleagues in the Senate pushed through an incredibly unpopular, strict voter ID law, or else you'll be stuck with his incredibly incompetent pick, the housing guy to lead the nation's intelligence agencies. Plus, just hours before they were supposed to consider redrawing congressional maps, Georgia Republicans scrapped their gerrymandering plans. We'll get Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock's first reaction to this. He called the GOP's redistricting efforts a betrayal to American ideals. We'll get to talk to him about that in his new book and everything else in this crazy news cycle. A little bit later in the broadcast. Also had former President Barack Obama's president Presidential center officially opens this week in Chicago, and he speaks with our friend and colleague Michelle Norris about a special tradition he held during his time as president at the White House. We'll bring you that interview and much more with Deadly White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.

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[News Anchor / Host]

Maybe it was the deal getting no love, or maybe he was just bored. But Donald Trump looked a little checked out and out of it and literally and figuratively alone on the world stage earlier today, posing with the other leaders of the G7 for their group photo. We're back with David and Paul. Paul, the optics used to be everything for Donald Trump, and that was at least within his own political coalition. How he got away with the substance never being exactly what everybody thought they were getting with him. The optics are now catastrophic for Donald Trump. And I wonder your thoughts about why the White House can't do a better job when the cameras are rolling.

[Political Analyst / Commentator]

It's also embarrassing for America. I mean, just to see, you know, our president roaming around in that way and ineffective and waffling and flailing. But I think it's even worse than that. I mean, it's dangerous. Our president looks weak. He just took a massive loss, maybe the biggest loss in a generation. And Putin's watching, the North Koreans are watching, the Chinese are watching. So if you're sitting there thinking about what to do on Taiwan, you're in the driver's seat. And our military, I think this will impact morale. It'll definitely impact recruiting. And we've reduced our stockpiles. 40% of our Navy was occupied. We spent tens of billions of dollars that they still can't fully account for. And they're putting forward a defense budget at the end of the year that has a $500 billion plus up for Iran, probably just to cover the cost of what they already spent. So it's just a loss across the board. But from a strateg strategic standpoint, this weakens our country and our standing in such a profound way that our enemies are celebrating.

[News Anchor / Host]

You know, I also think that David Rhode, we're at this point where Trump announces something. Everybody learns the reality of it. His own party recoils. The right wing press, you know, barfs all over it and he undoes it. I mean, he said twice in today's news cycle that he reserved the right to, quote, drop bombs on the heads of the Iranians. Is this really over?

[David Rhode (Senior National Security Reporter)]

We don't know. I mean, he did raise this possibility of the pushing the signature back. But it's, it's a pattern here of, I think Trump just showing such Deep disregard, you know, for the future of his own party. We were talking about JD Vance earlier and yeah, we, I've heard from sources, it's been well reported Vance completely opposed this war and now he's being forced to publicly defend it. It's going to damage his political future. And then Paul mentioned the defense budget. Just back to look back to the working class Americans who voted for Donald Trump, who've hoped, you know, through all these elections that he was going to turn around their lives, their sense of being left behind by the rest of the country. The total new defense budget was $1.5 trillion. That includes tens of billions of dollars for Trump class battleships that, you know, Republicans say the Navy doesn't need, they need more Aegis destroyers. That's what would have helped us break this Iranian blockage of the strait. And then lastly, I, I just feel, watching the president today and the way he's erratic, I feel bad for young Americans of all parties, you know, for presidents. They've had two octogenarians who are struggling, I think, you know, to not be erratic, to, I'll be polite about it. And that's all they've seen. And I just worry they won't vote, they won't think it matters. And I, I feel for them. And so it's a critical challenge for the country. But I, there's a new generation to state the obvious, that that is needed.

[Political Analyst / Commentator]

Nicole, can I make another point, too? What about the Iranian people? What about the Iranian people? All the brave young Iranians who stood up and died and we're waiting for America to save them. So many Iranian, American friends that I have are saying, you know what, I'm rooting for this to happen so that we can finally get that generational change that we want and we'll know that things are different in Iran because the Iranian people will tell us. And now they're completely hung out to dry. This regime is still in place and it's going to go right back to killing any Iranian who stands up to them. And I think that's an underreported part of this story that's incredibly tragic and damaging long term.

[News Anchor / Host]

Well, and will you be more brutal or less brutal if after the president of the United States of America said, quote, help is on the way? He did leave the, remove the sanctions on day one, return all of the brutal regime's assets on day one, the thing he attacked Obama for doing for a decade, and leave the nuclear issue. I mean, he could not have made this brutal regime stronger if he'd sat down with a team of advisors and asked him for a plan of how to make the brutal regime stronger. He did all the things that would have been on. And I'm not suggesting that he was executing a plan because he never is. But if he asked his advisors to write down a plan how to strengthen the brutal leaders of Iran, you would have done all these things. Remove sanctions on day one, let them possibly charge for passage to the Strait of Hormuz, which was before open, leave in place the nuclear program, deal with it at a later date, release all their assets. I mean, you couldn't have done more to strengthen the brutality of the Iranians, David?

[David Rhode (Senior National Security Reporter)]

Yes, absolutely. And my heart goes out for the Iranians as well. This is an extraordinary country. You know, and it's interesting, again, J.D. vance said this publicly, White House officials said this, that they and the president, that there's somehow some change with the new leadership, that they're excited because Iran, Iran's new leaders can see they can be one of the richest countries in the world, like Saudi Arabia or like Kuwait. And that's just a fantasy. I mean, this is an ideological regime, an ideological movement. The president talked about killing, I think he said, 28 of their top leaders, including the current supreme leader's father and I believe, wife. And so this is not a regime that's going to decide. It wants to be rich and cares about oil and wants to be like Saudi Arabia. It's going to take that 300 billion and rebuild parts of the country, but it's also going to rebuild its missile stockpile and it's going to fund its proxies.

[Political Analyst / Commentator]

Yeah, and it's so not over. I mean, he can try to turn the page on this, but it's so not over, especially for the allies in the region, for Israel. He can try to turn the page on this, but this isn't going away.

[News Anchor / Host]

David Rhode and Paul Rykoff to that point that it is to be continued, we will continue to call on you. Thank you for starting me off today. When we come back, Donald Trump blocked his own DNI nominees confirmation hearing scheduled for today. He pulled the plug on that at the last minute and he did that to force a vote on a voter ID bill that the GOP Senate leader says has no votes. We'll bring you into that wild, wild story next. Don't go anywhere.

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[News Anchor / Host]

Donald Trump made crystal clear today that he is more than willing eager in fact, to trade our country's national security if it makes him just a little bit easier to try to rig the midterm elections. At 4 o' clock in the morning here, 10 o' clock at his hotel in France, Donald Trump placed Senate Republicans between Iraq and a hard place, announcing that he would be canceling the scheduled nomination hearing for Jay Clayton as director of National Intelligence in a bid to force Congress to act on his deeply unpopular voter ID bill. That bill does not have the votes to pass right now. Clayton's nomination had been fast tracked to help reauthorize fisa, an important surveillance tool since presidents do not have the power to cancel Senate hearings. Trump's post over social media sent a wave of confusion through Capitol Hill, with Republican Senator Tom Cotton appearing to maybe consider for like 15 minutes, standing up to Trump, claiming the hearing was still on before he just backed down like they all always do, a couple hours later, stating it was, quote, regrettable that Trump told Clayton not to show up. And according to Democratic Senator Mark Warner, Jay Clayton himself might have even been left confused by Trump's social media post.

[Donald Trump (quoted)]

I am not sure whether Jay Clayton has simply been postponed or withdrawn. I wonder whether Jay Clayton knows whether he has been postponed or withdrawn. And again, that is a level of chaos, incompetence when we're talking about our national security, when we're Talking about adversaries around the world. What signal does this send? I mean,

[News Anchor / Host]

the chaos would be comical if it wasn't so dangerous. And now, with Clayton's nomination and the future of the 18 intelligence agencies that are under the Director of National Intelligence in complete limbo, Donald Trump says the housing guy, his personal attack dog, Bill Pulte, who has zero national security experience, who faced bipartisan backlash when he was tapped as acting Director of National Intelligence. He was the reason Jay Clayton was nominated in the first place. Trump has gone back to saying he's just going to do the job and serve as acting dni. I want to bring into this conversation Janae Nelson, the president and director counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Also joining us, political analysts and host of the Bulwark Podcast, Tim Miller. Tim, I start with you because there's chaos, which is the Trumpian strategy, to just do such a volume business of scandal that no one can focus in on any one of them. And then there's the Abbott and Costello sort of sluggish mayhem, which is what this seems to fall into. This is incompetent, even by Trumpian standards.

[Commercial Announcer]

Yeah, right. It's always a question with Trump. Right. Are we dealing with malice? Are we dealing with incompetence? Are we dealing with petulance? Right. And it's always like kind of a little bit of all three. Right. But in this case, it's hard to kind of tease out. Exactly. Which is which. I think there are a lot of concerns there could be malice. We talked, I think, the last time I was on Nicole, about Bill Pulte, how he has abused his pretty limited powers at the top of a housing agency to go after Trump foes with, you know, cockamamie investigations into their mortgages. And so imagine what he could do at DNI with the power of our intelligence agencies. We know that Tulsi Gabbard was down in Fulton county and that they want to use the intelligence and counterintelligence apparatus to, if not rig the elections, least cast doubt upon them and allow for chaos after the election. So that's the malice part of this. It was concerning when Bill Pulte was first nominated. That's why people, senators of both parties were concerned. And now it seems like he is back on track to at least be the acting dni. So that's something to worry about. And so the question is like, is that Trump's motivation? Is it all about the midterms, or is he having a temper tantrum about his Iran disaster? Because that also could be what is happening. Right. Like, there are a lot of senators that are unhappy with him. They were unhappy with the Bill Pulte nomination. They were fast tracking this DNI nomination. Viewers might notice this is happening really fast. Like that. They were really moving this Jay Clayton thing through really quickly because the Republican senators are like, we want a competent person there. It's like, let's get this done. And Trump pulls it back and is like, because he's mad at John Thune and the other Republican senators for bucking him, or is it just drama, chaos? He wants people to look over there and it's hard to kind of tease out. And maybe it's just a combination of all three.

[News Anchor / Host]

And Janae, at the end of the day, whether this was brilliantly executed or comically incompetently executed, it's all in service of the same thing. Putting in someone who will make it harder to vote, putting in someone who will attack the integrity of the vote, and holding a political sort of gun to the heads of Republicans to pass legislation that makes it harder for people to vote. He's obviously very, very, very afraid of what will happen if people vote.

[Janae Nelson (NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director Counsel)]

Oh, that's clear. There's, there's a clear desperation that forces him to attack voters from every possible angle. And no matter what his particular motivation is or strategy or lack thereof, we know that these antics, by demanding that senators attach the save, the so called SAVE act, to the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance act, endangers our national security and it also endangers the integrity of our elections. So this is not just fun and games to sit back on the couch and watch it happen. We're really facing a crisis where we have a president who is willing to strong arm Congress. And sadly, we have mostly spineless senators who are willing to go along with it. And we all lose in the process. This is a blatant and gross misuse of executive pressure and influence to try to pass a bill that stands to disenfranchise millions of Americans. He's afraid of the elections. He's afraid of accountability. And he is using every possible modicum of power, even power he doesn't have to try to thwart the elections in November and the senators have to stand up.

[News Anchor / Host]

It's so amazing, though, all the action is on the far right and then the fringy, further wackier. Right, Right. This is a bill that the right wing Republicans don't want to pass because it's so unpopular. This is a guy who's been sort of barfed out by his own party, Bill Pulte. I want to show you what Senator Chris Murphy thinks of that guy, Bill Pulte serving as the head of the nation's intelligence agencies on the other side of a very short break. We'll all be right back.

[Senator Chris Murphy (quoted)]

The president's goal is to try to use his power in the White House to enrich himself and to destroy his political opponents. That is exactly what Pulte did at the Housing Finance Agency, and that's what he's being put in as DNI to do. I mean, obviously Pulte has zero experience in intelligence or national security. The only thing Pulte is good for is for taking secret information to use it against the president's political opponents. That's, that's the only qualification that Bill Pulte has for this kind of job.

[News Anchor / Host]

Tim, that's now beyond debate. Right. And I guess my question for you is to take your last point. I mean, what, what Trump is reacting to, it appears, is the right wing rejection of the Iran deal, right. You have Pence calling it worse than a mistake. You have right wing columnists basically comparing it to giving money to the Nazis when they were still in control of Germany. You have all of the sort of heat that Trump is, is most likely to see. Right. There are plenty of people on the left and in the center and not aligned with any politics unhappy with him as well. But the stuff he's likely to see is on the right. Why at that moment would Republicans put in place someone who's only there to rifle through people's personal mortgage data as a housing guy and carry out retribution campaigns?

[Commercial Announcer]

Well, they're not going to. So Trump can keep him in there as an acting for whatever it is, 200 some odd days, which is obviously takes us through the midterms and allows him to do a lot of damage. And I think that's what we're headed towards. We really are at an inflection point. There's, I think, a schadenfreude element that we can sit with for a second. Then a concerning element of all this, which is a lot of people are realizing this week, right? At the same time, something you and I, Nicole, realized like a decade ago now, which is that you shouldn't hit your wagon to Donald Trump, that he's a reliable partner that'll throw you overboard. Bibi's learning that this week all of the Republican hawks you mentioned are learning that John Cornyn and Bill, John Cornyn learned it quite recently. Jay Clayton is learning it today, gets nominated for this job and now gets pulled aside. Right. And. And so Trump is losing allies and sycophants. He's a. He's a lame duck. Right? And. And he's. It's more than that. He's actively alienated a bunch of senators by primary against them. Bill Cassidy spoke out today about the terrible Iran deal, among others. And so, you know, that is funny. And we can point and laugh at those people who made a terrible bet on Donald Trump. And they are, like, really embarrassed today and humiliated and should be like, the scary part of this is, what does that mean? I think a cornered Donald Trump is going to try to control more power for himself. And I think that Donald Trump pulling this nomination is like, why do I need the senators to confirm? I'm going to put in the guy I like, let him be in there for 200 days. I'm going to control as much things as I can from inside the White House. And I think that's pretty alarming, and I think that's where things are headed because of, you know, his mistakes and how he's alienated some members of his coalition.

[News Anchor / Host]

Janay, it gets back to making it harder for people to vote. I mean, you look at, you know, what happened in Hungary doesn't have perfect parallels to what's happening here. They sort of did autocracy better and smoother, if that makes any sense. Trump has gone, you know, ramming through all of the guardrails and trying to do what orban did in 10 years and won. But the reaction from the electorate was the same. People rejected it in overwhelming numbers. They took to the streets, they tried to reclaim power. I mean, are you seeing a response in terms of the public's views of Washington and of Trump's stewardship of it?

[Janae Nelson (NAACP Legal Defense Fund President and Director Counsel)]

Absolutely. We don't even have to look at election results. I think they tell us a lot. But I'm looking at the mobilizations that are happening across the country, including one that LDF helped to organize immediately after the Calais decision, which was not only a referendum on the Supreme Court and its heinous decision in that case, but also on the state of play right now when it comes to our elections. And this is not about election security, about election integrity. Our voting system is secure, our election results are valid, and people are fed up with the gamesmanship around their constitutional right to vote, free of discrimination and free of this type of manipulation. So now we're forced to vote on manipulated voting lines in our districts. And then we have Trump on top of that, trying to force a new set of voter suppression laws that stands to disenfranchise up to 70 million people, women who have changed their names if they get married, people who don't have birth certificates, a disproportionate number of black people, younger voters. This is something that is hitting every segment of our population and intends to shrink the electorate in deeply harmful ways. That's why you're seeing actions like Freedom Summer throughout the summer, various places across the south and elsewhere where people are taking to the streets to say we want our democracy back, we want a voice, we want to vote. And we are tired of the efforts to try to take away congressional power, to try to use executive power that is well beyond the bounds of anything that's been established in our Constitution. And we can't rely on the Supreme Court to protect our voting rights. So really up to people to make their voices heard in the streets and at the polls.

[News Anchor / Host]

Yeah. It just feels like a moment where every action now, as Tim said a decade later, a reaction from the people who realize that nobody is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves. Janae, thank you so much for joining us. Tim Miller, thank you so much for joining us today. After the break for us, we'll tell you if Donald Trump's new hand picked Fed chairman did what Jay Powell wouldn't do. We all know by now that Donald Trump, who has botched the economy at every turn, is desperate, desperate for the Fed to cut interest rates. He's made no secret of that. He's attacked former Fed chair Jerome Powell over and over and over again, even tried to have him criminally investigated for not doing that. So the new chair, Kevin Warsh, doesn't look like he's ready to give Trump what he wants just yet either, though, because today the Federal Reserve announced that it is leaving interest rates unchanged and said it may actually raise rates later this year, signaling its concern about persistent inflation, inflation caused in large part by Donald Trump's tariffs and Donald Trump's war with Iran. Remember last week when Trump said he loves the inflation report? That's the inflation that the Fed is now reacting to and having to deal with and that Warsh referenced at the meeting, warning that there is, quote, elevated uncertainty that owes in part to the conflict in the Middle east, end quote. We'll keep you updated both on inflation and Trump's reaction to how his guy at the Fed is doing. After a break. Senator Raphael Warnock is our guest. The next hour of Deadline White House starts after a short break. Don't go anywhere.

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