Trump spins weird Iran fantasy narrative contradicted by reports

Summary

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The Briefing with Jen Psaki

Podcast: MS NOW
Host: Jen Psaki (with Phil as substitute host)
Episode Title: Trump spins weird Iran fantasy narrative contradicted by reports
Date: March 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into three major threads shaping U.S. politics in March 2026:

1. Illinois Democratic Primary Night: Updates and analysis of competitive races that could shape state and national politics—including heated contests influenced by outside money and progressive challengers.
2. Trump’s Iran War Narrative: A thorough fact-check and discussion about President Trump's public justifications for the Iran war, including his dubious claim of a former president’s "endorsement," repeated statements at odds with available intelligence, and growing cracks within his administration’s own ranks.
3. Press Freedom Under Pressure: How the Trump administration’s campaign to demand favorable war coverage is playing out in U.S. media, including threats to broadcast licenses and the implications for democracy and journalism.

The episode features guest insights from data reporter Ali Velshi, Congressman Jim Himes, and journalists Terry Moran and Elise Labitt.

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Illinois Democratic Primary Night: Analysis and Key Races

(Segment begins ~01:01)

Key Points

• Senate Race to Replace Dick Durbin:

  • 49% of the vote in, Juliana Stratton (Lt. Gov) leads at 38.5%, followed by Raja Krishnamoorthy (33%), and Robin Kelly (20%).
  • Key counties, like DuPage, are outstanding (01:54).
  • No major party flips expected; “hotly contested” because the winner will likely serve as senator (03:13).

• Notable Congressional Primaries:

  • District 9 (Evanston/Chicago): Mayor Daniel Biss leads with 30%. Kat Abu Ghazala (progressive, age 26) follows at 24%—on track to be the youngest woman elected to Congress if she wins.
    • “All eyes were on her because she’s 26 years old… At this point, it becomes a little hard at 84% to see how she makes up the 5,000 vote difference. But anything can happen.” – Ali Velshi (02:44)
  • District 8: Melissa Bean (former Rep.) pulls ahead at 58% reporting.
  • Influence of AIPAC money:
    • Heavy AIPAC support for Laura Fine (trailing at 20%); PAC also backed Bushra Amiwalla (5%).
    • “AIPAC ended up running ads that were supportive of Bushra Amiwalla... She told AIPAC, ‘I’m not interested in your money.’…It’s meant to be a distraction and confusion.” – Ali Velshi (04:49)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "There's a lot of APAC money that was spent in that race... reminds me of the New Jersey race with Malinowski." – Phil (04:25)
• “The APAC money has gone to Laura Fine... AIPAC ended up running ads that were supportive of Bushra amiwallah. She’s at 5% right now. So it hasn’t had much of an impact.” – Ali Velshi (04:49)

Additional Update Toward End

• Stratton extends her lead with 68% of votes in. Donna Miller wins District 2; Jesse Jackson Jr.'s comeback bid fails. Melissa Bean remains ahead in District 8 (43:07).

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Trump’s Iran War Narrative vs. Reality

Segment starts ~05:40

Trump’s Claims and Contradictions

• Dubious Presidential Endorsement:

  • Trump claims a former president told him, “I wish I did it” about launching the war in Iran—but refuses to name him.
    • “I can’t tell you that. I don’t want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he’s got no career.” – Donald Trump (06:39)
  • All four living ex-presidents’ spokespeople deny any such conversation.

• Denial of Prior Warnings About Iranian Retaliation:

  • "Nobody expected that. We were shocked." (08:44)
  • Reuters: Trump was warned of likely Iranian retaliation on Gulf allies before the war.

• Uncertainty Over Iranian Mine-Laying:

  • Trump: "We don’t know that they’ve dropped any [mines]. We’re not sure that any have been dropped in.” (10:01)
  • NYT: US officials confirm Iran is actively laying mines (10:20).

Analysis

• Phil: "Every day, Trump seems to say something about this war that is directly contradicted by reporting." (07:19)
• “It’s not just the reporting that is contradicting Trump these days. It’s also his own officials... many of them were sources for all those stories.” (10:20)

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Deep Rifts and Personnel Drama in the Trump Administration

Segment ~11:30 – 16:05

Joe Kent’s Resignation

• Joe Kent, Trump’s National Counterterrorism Center director (and former MAGA candidate), resigns over the war.
  • In public letter: “I cannot in good conscience support this ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat... We started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
  • Trump: “I always thought he was weak on security... It’s a good thing that he’s out.” (12:05)

Gabbard’s Contradictory Position

• Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intelligence), previously anti-war, issues statement: “[Trump] is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat.”
  • “Tulsi thinks Trump alone gets to decide what is and is not an imminent threat, which…contradicts her now former close advisor, Joe Kent." – Phil (13:58)

“Based on Feelings” Decision-Making

• Montage of Trump and officials citing "feelings" as justification for war:
  • “The president had a feeling, again, based on fact, that Iran was going to strike the United States.” (15:36)
  • "When are you going to know when it’s over? When I feel it." – Trump (15:51)

Key Quotes

• “The only thing that matters is how Trump feels at any given moment. And at this point, Trump and his lackeys have no problem admitting this is all about Trump’s big, big feelings.” – Phil (15:14)
• “It has been Trump’s feelings and vibes dictating US Strategy in this conflict.” – Phil (16:05)

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Congressional Insight: Rep. Jim Himes on Intelligence, Russia, and the War

Starts ~18:37

Intelligence & “Imminence”

• Tulsi Gabbard’s statement doesn’t cite intelligence for an imminent threat, only Trump’s judgment.
  • "She didn’t say the intelligence community believes there was an imminent threat or that there was reporting... because there was not an imminent threat to the United States." – Rep. Jim Himes (19:17)
• Joe Kent’s resignation, while from a controversial figure, is unprecedented for its direct criticism from within the Trump circle.

Russia’s Role and Geopolitical Consequences

• Growing evidence that Russia is providing advanced military support to Iran and benefiting:
  • “Who’s the big winner here? Russia is the big winner here for three reasons...” – Rep. Himes (22:48)
  • 1. Revenge for US support to Ukraine
  • 2. Financial gain via sanctioned oil exports
  • 3. Distraction from Ukraine—increased US focus on Middle East benefits Russian goals

Internal Dissent and Administration Dysfunction

• J.D. Vance, Trump’s VP, hedges on direct support for the war (24:39 – 24:51).
  • “That’s J.D. Vance hedging his bets... He’s keeping that lane open politically speaking.” – Himes (27:06)
• Trump and his team struggle to answer basic questions about the war’s progress, strategic aims, and embassy attacks, often passing questions among each other (17:22 – 17:35, 27:35).

Homeland Security Risks & Personnel Gaps

• Key intelligence and counter-terror experts have been fired or left their posts, weakening US homeland defenses.
  • “This just got very real... because we don’t control all the levers anymore." – Rep. Himes (30:07)
  • "The very best people have been let go."

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White House War on the Press and Democratic Accountability

(Segment ~33:32)

Administration’s Offensive on Media

• Broadcast License Threats:

  • Trump’s FCC chair, Brendan Carr, threatens to strip licenses from networks deemed unfavorable—linked to a Mar-a-Lago Trump meeting.
    • “Trump and Carr are actually trying to send…They want the press to positively spin the news about the war.” – Phil (33:32)
    • “They want the press to make it sound good for Trump. That is patriotic in their view.” – Phil (34:15)
  • Notable: FCC has no power to unilaterally revoke licenses over “unpatriotic” coverage.

• Conservative Media Chorus:

  • Clips: “We kind of just won the war.” (Ali Velshi, 35:08); “Did you see it? They gave us pretty much everything we want.” (Rep. Himes, 35:11)
  • Expectation that “every network needs to get on board with that.” – Unidentified Official (35:27)

Journalists' Perspective

• "We're supposed to cover the war accurately, okay? And accurately means on the facts and with the American people. They need the information... straight." – Terry Moran (36:45)
• “What we are hearing from Trump and Brendan Carr is watch out if we don’t like your coverage of the war. We are coming down on you…because they want to keep Americans in the dark.” – Terry Moran (37:09)
• “The frustration [from the administration] is that we're not focusing on the successes… focusing on the critical nature. And look, that is something that the press does.” – Elise Labitt (38:07)

The Deterioration of Gov’t–Media Relations

• “The toxic relationship between the president…and now the administration and the press is making it harder to cover the war responsibly.” – Elise Labitt (39:34)
• “You’ve got to fess up… if you are caught in some information that’s not accurate. But that’s like a continuous lying cycle.” – Phil (39:34)
• Trump touts "reshaping the media," listing journalists like Terry Moran as 'accomplishments.'

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Final Illinois Primary Updates

(43:07)

• Senate: Stratton leads convincingly as more votes roll in.
• Congressional races:
  • Donna Miller wins District 2; Jesse Jackson Jr. loses comeback bid.
  • Melissa Bean leads in District 8; race remains close with votes still coming in.

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Notable Quotes (w/ Timestamps)

• On Trump’s “endorsement” claim about Iran war:

  • “I can’t tell you that. I don’t want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he’s got no career.” – Donald Trump (06:39)

• On personnel chaos:

  • “I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. It's a good thing that he's out.” – Donald Trump, on Joe Kent (12:05)

• On “imminent threat” justification:

  • “She is the senior most intelligence official and she didn’t say that the intelligence community believes that there was an imminent threat... because there was not an imminent threat to the United States.” – Rep. Jim Himes (19:17)

• On the press:

  • “We're supposed to cover the war accurately, okay? And accurately means on the facts...” – Terry Moran (36:45)
  • “The toxic relationship between the president in particular and now the administration and the press is making it harder to cover the war responsibly.” – Elise Labitt (39:34)

• On administration decision-making:

  • "The only thing that matters is how Trump feels at any given moment." – Phil (15:14)

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Key Timestamps At a Glance

• 01:01 – 04:49: Primary night coverage, Illinois races, AIPAC influence
• 05:40 – 16:05: Trump's Iran war claims, fact-checks, resignations, “vibes-based” justifications
• 18:25 – 31:46: Congressman Himes on intelligence, Russia, Team Trump splits, security fallout
• 33:32 – 42:15: Suppression of press, journalists' panel, press freedoms under fire
• 43:07 – 44:28: Closing election updates with Ali Velshi

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Takeaways

• The 2026 Illinois primaries reveal intra-party tensions, outside influence, and generational divides among Democrats.
• Trump's public claims about the Iran war are systematically contradicted by public reporting and, increasingly, his own former officials.
• The Trump administration is exerting explicit pressure on the press to support its war narrative, threatening core democratic norms.
• The U.S. intelligence apparatus is hamstrung by partisan appointments and resignations; Russia gains strategic advantage as U.S. focus shifts.
• Journalists stress the importance—and growing difficulty—of providing the public with accurate war coverage in the face of state pressure.

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For anyone seeking a raw, inside-the-room guide to the Illinois primaries, the mechanisms behind Trump's Iran war, and the current threats to press freedom in wartime America, this episode is must-listen political radio.

Transcript

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[Phil (Host)]

Okay, so we have clearly a ton to get to tonight. As I just noticed noted with Chris, it's primary night in the state of Illinois. There are multiple Democratic candidates who are vying to succeed retiring senator Dick Durbin. That race is continuing. It hasn't been called yet. There are lots of really interesting, hotly contested congressional primaries. We're keeping an eye on that. As I said to Chris may tell us something about where Democratic voters are right now, including what excites them, what moves them. So we're gonna talk about a lot tonight, but I wanna start this show by just getting right to msnow chief data reporter who's at the big board, Ali Velshi, all vested up. This is a new vest. I don't know this vest, but we have lots of primary nights to go.

[Ali Velshi]

Thank you for noticing, my friend.

[Phil (Host)]

Tell us. The last time I checked, it was pretty tight in the Senate race. I know things are probably moving around, but tell us where things stand right now across the board.

[Ali Velshi]

Well, look, first of all, this is just really interesting. The Senate numbers, we've only got 49% in. It's awfully close right now. But Julianna Stratton. Stratton, the lieutenant governor is in the lead now with 38 and a half percent. Roger Krishnamurthy, the five time congressman has got 33% of the vote. And Robin Kelly, who is also a member of Congress, supported by the Congressional Black caucus, has got 20% of the vote. It's sort of roughly in the order we were thinking it would be. I will tell you there are some key counties that haven't reported yet, including DuPage county, which is expected to be a place that Rajakrishnamoorthy is gonna do very well, as well as the two counties, the three counties around Peoria, no vote from there yet, 49% of the vote in. So we're keeping a close eye on that. But the point you make is very valid that in all of these races, including the congressional races, there are five open seats. No one is largely expecting any of those to flip. These are the Democratic Senate seat and it's Democratic House seats. But what happens within them is particularly interesting. There are many interesting races here because if you win this, you're likely to become. So it's hotly contested in Chicago, Illinois 9, which is Evanston. Chicago has a lot of districts around it, so they all sort of hang on to a little bit of a Chicago suburb and then spread out into some rural area. District 9 is the one we're watching the most closely. Of the five of the four contested races, 84% of the vote is in. Daniel Biss, who is the mayor of Evanston, is winning right now. He's got 30% of the vote. This is not like a Southern primary where you have to get 50%. It's first past the post. Kat Abu Ghazala, the progressive activist, is in with 24% of the vote. All eyes were on her because she's 26 years old. If she were to get elected, she'd be the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. At this point, it becomes a little hard at 84% to see how she makes up the 5000 vote difference. But anything can happen. So we're watching that very closely. A number of these races are not yet determined. Illinois 8, 58% of the vote right now. Melissa Bean, former member of Congress, is now in the lead. That was expected to happen in District 7. I think there are 11 or 12 candidates right now. LaShawn Ford is in the lead with two thirds of the vote in. But again, this is a little bit closer, 23% to 19%. So these are interesting races all around. And to your point, no one's expecting any surprises. There aren't gonna be people who are going to lose to Republicans in November, likely in these seats. But these are names that you will become familiar with because in many cases, whoever wins tonight will be the next senator for Illinois. And one of these House members from Illinois.

[Phil (Host)]

It's super interesting. I also, there are a number of people who are former members who are running in. Mel Sabine is one of them. That's an interesting thing to Watch people who want to come back, they think maybe they're going to be in the majority. That's part of what I've heard from a lot of Democrats. And that Illinois District 9 is super interesting because there's a lot of APAC money that was spent in that race. And it reminds me of the New Jersey race with Malinowski. So it's an interesting one to watch

[Ali Velshi]

what ended up being an own goal. So the APAC money has gone to Laura Fine. This is interesting. So the APEC money has largely gone to Laura fine. She's in third place with 20%. But AIPAC ended up running ads that were supportive of Bushra amiwallah. She's at 5% right now. So it hasn't had much of an impact. But she told aipac, I'm not interested in your money. Just stop, Stop supporting me. This is the flip side of PAC money. Right? They're supporting her and she doesn't actually want their money. But it's meant to sort of be a bit of a distraction and a confusion. And if it does come down to 5,000 votes, and I don't think that's really true, but look at the difference between Kat Abu Ghazali and Daniel Biss. It's 4830 votes. So APAC money in this race is definitely something to watch.

[Phil (Host)]

All interesting. Ali Velshi, there's still lots of report on here. We're going to be coming back to you throughout the night. Thanks for being there. Thanks for being vested up. We always appreciate it.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

My pleasure.

[Phil (Host)]

Okay, I want to turn while Ali is continuing to focus on this, I'm just going to turn to Donald Trump's latest attempt to sell his disastrous war of choice in Iran. Because despite the fact that, that this war is incredibly unpopular with the American people, I mean, incredibly unpopular, despite the fact that it is driving up gas prices. I'm sure you all see that when you go fill up your cars. Despite the fact that it's fracturing Trump's own political party. And we're gonna talk about that, too. Donald Trump is now claiming that his war got, well, a surprise endorsement from a former president.

[Donald Trump]

Look, for 47 years, no president was willing to do what I'm doing and they should have done it a long time ago. It would have been a lot easier. There's no president that wanted to do it, and yet every president knew. I've spoken to a certain president who I like, actually a past president, former president. He said, I wish I did it. I wish I Did, but they didn't do it. I'm doing it. Yeah.

[Peter Doocy]

Which president?

[Terry Moran]

Which president?

[Donald Trump]

I can't tell you that. I don't want to embarrass him. It would be very bad for his career, even though he's got no career.

[Phil (Host)]

Okay. Lot packed in there. Trump says a former president wishes he would have started this war with Iran. The former president is so jealous. He wishes he could have been as powerful and bold as Donald Trump wishes he could have been the one to plunge the United States into an open ended conflict with a country of 93 million people without feeling really the responsibility at all to think through any of the consequences as Trump has not thought through. Of course, Trump can't say which president it is because that would, quote, embarrass him. Though apparently he likes this person. There you go. But look, here's the thing. There are only four former US Presidents still living on this earth. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. That's it. Those four. There they are now. Msnot reached out to spokespeople for Presidents Clinton, Obama and Biden, all of whom confirmed that they have not had any recent conversations with Donald Trump about Iran. And the Wall Street Journal has confirmed through a spokesperson that President Bush also did not have a conversation with trump about Iran. 1, 2, 3, 4. There you go. None of them had a conversation with Donald Trump. So why is Donald Trump claiming that a former president told him he was super jealous of Trump's war? Is the current president lying? I mean, entirely possible. Is he confused? Is he both lying and confused? I mean, my money, my gut is really on option C, as in both. But honestly, we don't know. What we do know is that this whole weird lying about a conversation with a former president episode is part of a pattern. This is not a one off. Every day, Trump seems to say something about this war that is directly contradicted by reporting. I mean, for instance, just yesterday, Donald Trump repeatedly claimed that prior to the start of the war, nobody in his administration knew that Iran might respond by attacking U.S. allied Gulf nations. In fact, they were shocked.

[Donald Trump]

They weren't supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. So they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, uae, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.

[Ali Velshi]

You said they hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, uae, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that. We were shocked. Are you surprised that nobody briefed you

[Peter Doocy]

ahead of time that that might be their retaliation?

[Donald Trump]

Nobody? Nobody? No, no, no, no. The greatest experts. Nobody thought they were going to hit. They were, I wouldn't say friendly countries. They were like neutral. They lived with them for years.

[Phil (Host)]

There's Peter Doozy again asking really good questions. Look, but here's, here's what Trump said. Nobody knew, nobody thought they were going to hit those countries. Peter asked him if he was, if he was angry. He wasn't briefed on it. And right on cue, here was the headline, of course, from Reuters last night. Here's what it said, quote, trump was warned of likely Iranian retaliation on Gulf allies. Sources say they absolutely did know that Iran would attack those Gulf countries. It would have been a natural part of any briefing. But Trump claims they were all shocked. Another example. I have more. I have more. Here was Donald Trump yesterday talking about the possibility that Iran has placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

[Donald Trump]

We hit, to the best of our knowledge, all of their mine laying ships. Now, they can put them on other types of ships, I guess, and drop them in, but we don't know that any have even been dropped in. We're not sure that any have been. We don't know that they have dropped any. And, you know, we don't know if they even set any minds. They may have no mindset.

[Phil (Host)]

He says that the US Government does not know if Iran is laying minds in the Strait of Hormuz. He says there may be no mindset, none whatsoever. It's a mystery. It's a mystery to Trump, of course. It's really not a mystery at all. I mean, here's the headline from the New York Times. U.S. officials say Iran is laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. US Officials. Now, according to the Times, we do know the answer to this question, and that's according to U.S. officials. And the answer is yes, Iran is absolutely laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. And it's not just the reporting that is contradicting Trump these days. It's also his own officials. I mean, the very people he installed in this government, many of them were sources for all those stories. Now, when Trump took office, he made two big alarming personnel decisions at the Office of National Intelligence. He made Tulsi Gabbard his Director of National Intelligence. And he made this guy, Joe Kent, the director of America's National Counterterrorism Center. And Joe Kent was not some kind of career bureaucrat with a long history of intelligence work or really a person with a history of any intelligence work whatsoever. He was a twice failed MAGA congressional candidate who had a history of associating with far right figures and peddling debunked January 6th conspiracies. He was a loyal member of what you might call the Tucker Carlson wing of the MAGA movement. So loyal that he reportedly ordered an analyst to write an intelligence assessment about the relationship between Venezuela and Trent Aragua to better align with the whims of the President. Well, today that guy, Joe Kentucky, officially resigned from the Trump administration, citing the president's war in Iran as the reason for his departure. Trump was then asked about Kent's resignation in the Oval Office, and this is what he said.

[Donald Trump]

I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. It's a good thing that he's out.

[Phil (Host)]

I always thought he was weak on security. It's a good thing he was out, says the guy who appointed Joe Kent to a top national security post last year. Look, the most striking thing to me about Joe Kent's resignation is not that he was unqualified for the job. We knew that. And that applies across many people Trump has appointed, but that this is yet another real sign of the enormous cracks within Trump's party over the Iran war. It's also a sign that Trump isn't telling the truth about the reason for this war. I mean, in his public resignation letter, Kent wrote this. I cannot in good conscience support this ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. And yes, that directly contradicts what Trump himself has been saying about why he plunged the US into this war in the first place. The idea that Iran posed an imminent threat to the US Is key. It's been key to Trump's legal basis for starting this war in the first place. But formerly maga, Joe Kent, for all his faults and he has many, was still somehow a top intelligence official with access to high level intelligence. And he says there was no imminent threat from Iran. Now, after Kent announced his resignation, his boss, Tulsi Gabbard quickly issued a statement in what looked like quite an effort to save face with Donald Trump. She wrote, quote, as our commander in chief, Trump is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat. It's worth remembering here that that Tulsi Gabbard was also supposed to be part of the anti war wing of Trump's MAGA coalition. Remember that? I mean, in fact, back in 2020, when Gabbard still called herself a Democrat, she criticized the Trump administration strike on Iranian General Soleimani. Simple. Specifically on the grounds that Iran posed no imminent threat to America. At the time, she wrote on Twitter, the attack was imminent, but we didn't know when and we didn't know where. Well, if you don't know when and if you don't know where, that is not imminent. And then signed it with the hashtag NowWarWithIran. That was not that long ago. Tulsi Gabbard. So 2020, Tulsi thought that President Trump did not do enough to spell out the imminent threat from Iran. But 2026, Tulsi thinks Trump alone gets to decide what is and is not an imminent threat, which I would note contradicts what her now former close advisor, Joe Kent said in his own resignation statement today. I mean, for Tulsi, it's just like another one in a line of embarrassing reversals. And we don't know why she put the statement out today or what exactly prompted her complete about face. I suspect it has a whole lot to do with keeping Trump happy the day that her, one of her closest advisors resigned and called him out publicly so that she can keep her job. It's also the perfect encapsulation of the Trump administration's approach to this war, because Trump is essentially waging a war based on pure vibes. It doesn't matter what the intelligence says or what senior officials tell the president. The only thing that matters is how Trump feels at any given moment. And at this point, Trump and his lackeys have no problem admitting this is all about Trump's big, big feelings.

[Donald Trump]

They were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that.

[Unidentified Official]

I think the president, prior to that phone call, had a good feeling that the Iranian regime was going to strike the United States ass.

[Donald Trump]

We took a little excursion because we felt we had to do that to get rid of some evil.

[Unidentified Official]

The president had a feeling, again, based on fact, that Iran was going to strike the United States.

[Donald Trump]

But I felt it was something we

[Unidentified Official]

had to do because he felt as though Iran was going to strike the United States.

[Terry Moran]

The president feels we have the inalienable

[Congressman Jim Himes]

right to stop you.

[Donald Trump]

When are you going to know when it's over? When I feel it. They should be very thankful that this group of people feels the way we do.

[Ali Velshi]

The president felt that he had to strike first to prevent those mass casualties.

[Phil (Host)]

Donald Trump has a feeling. He's had a lot of feelings. And the only cure for those feelings seems to be more war. From day one, it has been Trump's feelings and vibes dictating US Strategy in this conflict. And all the experts have seemingly been sidelined in favor of Trump's feelings. Who knew he had so many feelings? He doesn't about so many other issues Now. Trump calls this war a little excursion and says it will take only four to five weeks. But just yesterday, Axios reported that sources both in the administration and in allied countries believe the war could last until September. That's another six months. Trump says he got everything under control in the Strait of Hormuz and that oil prices will come tumbling down once the war is over. But today, notice reports that most of the State Department experts in charge of dealing with a Middle east gas crisis were fired during the Trump administration's Doge Burrs last year. And that is all. While gas Prices have surged 27% on average across the country since Trump decided to strike Iran, it's also clear Trump and his cabinet have no idea what is happening day to day in this war. I mean, just watch what happened when Trump was asked about an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad earlier today. Mr. President, how do you respond to the increasing attacks by the Iraqi military groups against the US Embassy and consulate in Kurza related group?

[Donald Trump]

You want to answer that? Do you want to?

[Phil (Host)]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Well, Marco, obviously the Secretary of State has control over the embassy. Look, there have been a lot of militia attacks against our base or our embassy in Iran.

[Phil (Host)]

So Trump has asked about US Embassy attacks in Iraq and he dodges the question by kicking it to JD Vance, who then tries to kick the question to Marco Rubio before saying, there have been a lot of attacks against our embassy in Iran. Now, I would just note in the US embassy in Iran has been closed for over 40 years. There's no active US embassy in Iran. And it shouldn't overall, though, have been difficult for a single person in that room to answer a question about attacks on a US Embassy. But it was punting from one person to the other. It's not particularly surprising either. I mean, for the last 17 days, the same group of people have been either lying, evading, or guessing about what is happening in the war they started. And now even some of their own loyalists are headed for the exits. So where does that leave us? Well, here was another telling moment from the President of the United States today.

[J.D. Vance]

The Iranian regime has told Sky News

[Phil (Host)]

if you put boots on the ground

[Ali Velshi]

in Iraq, it will be another Vietnam. Are you afraid of that?

[Donald Trump]

No, I'm not afraid of. I'm really not afraid of anything that

[Phil (Host)]

makes one of us. Joining me now is Congressman Jim Himes. He's the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. It's great to see you. What a time. But I'm so grateful to be talking with you here. Let me start by asking you about this statement that Tulsi Gabbard put out today. Because in that statement she said in part, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion. Now, I have been a part of a lot of carefully written statements that seems to suggest that she's saying that the President can decide whether there is an imminent threat. She didn't present intelligence there. She didn't say the intelligence community supports that. But what did you make of that statement?

[Congressman Jim Himes]

That's exactly right. I think you sort of settled on the key phrase there. She is the senior most intelligence official and she didn't say that the intelligence community believes that there was an imminent threat or that there was reporting or that there was evidence or anything to suggest that there was an imminent threat to the United States. And I can tell you why that is, because there was not an imminent threat to the United States. You don't need to see a lot of the intelligence the way I do to know that that is the case. Because look, Iran is a vile, evil regime with bad intent. But if you look at the Iran of today, after the June war in which they suffered massive losses to their nuclear program, to their anti aircraft stuff, you know, they, relatively speaking, remember relatively speaking, were much less of a threat to the United States two weeks ago than they were three years ago. So there is no argument for imminent. And Tulsi is doing what Tulsi does, which is trying to back up this president rather than backing up Joe Kent, who was her employee at the National

[Phil (Host)]

Counterterrorism center, whose statement just before that as a part of his resignation directly contradicted essentially what she said. Now, you don't have to. I mean, I just said Joe Kent has a history of being a conspiracy theorist and pushing all sorts of conspiracies about January 6th and other things, doesn't have an intelligence background. But why do you think what has struck you about his resignation? I mean, why does it matter?

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Well, a couple things struck me. Number one, and Joe Kent is an imperfect vehicle for this. I crossed swords with Joe Kent more than once in the year or so in which he was in his position. He was never particularly given to being factual, which you sort of hope your intelligence community does. But here's a guy who did something fairly unique, which is he actually acted on his own principles. And what makes that particularly interesting? Look, we live in a world today where, you know, you just have to watch a cabinet meeting to know that, you know, all the most senior people running this country are primarily dedicated to supporting whatever it is that Donald Trump wants or what Donald Trump feels or believes. So to see somebody in that orbit to say, hey, I disagree with the president, and not only that I'm going to put some blame on him is pretty unusual. You know, that said, what he articulated, historians will tell us what happened between Prime Minister Netanyahu and the president and what exactly was going on there. But to be as direct and brutal as Joe Kent was in saying that this was all engineered by Israel. Again, the historians will tell us what happened in those meetings. But that of course, plays into some anti Semitic tropes, which I would suggest at a time when lots of synagogues are being attacked, when anti Semitism is on the rise, is deserving of a little more consideration than Joe Kent gave it.

[Phil (Host)]

I should note he has some intelligence background because he did serve in the military. But I'm talking about as a person who served in the intelligence community in the US Government, who rose up through the system, which is not what he did. Let me ask you about another intel story, and that is about we learned more today from the Wall Street Journal reporting that Russia is sharing even more intel with Iran than previously thought. I mean, this reporting has been around for about two weeks and it's sort of been growing as reporters are doing their jobs, including satellite imagery and improved drone technology. The Journal says that Russia reports, I should say that Russia is trying to keep its closest Middle Eastern partner in the fight and prolong a war that is benefiting Russia militarily and economically. I mean, you spend a lot of time thinking about the intertwinings of all of these countries. What concerns you the most about this?

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Well, that's easy. Who's the big winner here? Russia is the big winner here for three reasons. Perhaps least important, Russia has an opportunity to get even with us. Russia, no surprise. Russia knows that the Ukrainians have gotten an awful lot of help from the United States. So the opportunity to actually kill Americans. This takes us back to the Cold War thing where, you know, that was what the Soviet Union did anyway. Number one, it's an opportunity for revenge. Number two, holy smokes, sanctions on their export of oil to India have been lifted. Millions of dollars are going to go to Russia and those millions of dollars are going to be turned in attacks on Ukraine at the very moment that President Trump is saying, Ukraine, please help us with your, you know, unique knowledge of how to defend against Iranian drones. And then number three, and this is pretty important, how much are we talking about the Ukraine war now? Russia loves the fact that our attention and our military and our dollars and our people are going into yet another conflict in the Middle East. And we have taken our attention off what is truly our fight. What is truly our fight, which is the fight against a brutal invasion of Ukraine. So this is nothing but Christmas morning for the Russians.

[Phil (Host)]

I mean, the role in global politics is that when crisis is elsewhere, the people who are the authoritarian dictators like Putin and Xi are just sitting back and watching it all happen. You've been so generous with your time. You're gonna stay with me for another block. I'm very grateful for that. We have to take a break. I'm understanding. I did want to get your take on something. I'm gonna play this before we go to break because J.D. vance. I've been fascinated with J.D. vance's role or of a role here. And I just wanted to play something he said when he was asked about the war. I guess it was on Friday.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

What did you advise the president initially

[Phil (Host)]

as he considered his actions in Iran?

[J.D. Vance]

I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not going to show up here and in front of God and everybody else tell you exactly what I said in that classified room, partially because I don't want to go to prison.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Are you completely on board with the

[Peter Doocy]

current war in Iran?

[J.D. Vance]

I know what you're trying to do, Phil. You're trying to drive a wedge between members of the administration, between me and the president.

[Phil (Host)]

There's a lot to unpack there. We gotta take a quick break. We'll talk about it when we come back.

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[Phil (Host)]

Back with me now as promised, is Congressman Jim Himes, ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Okay, before the break, we played a bite of J.D. vance, obviously the vice President of the United States. From over the weekend he has been very, very quiet. There have been reports, background reports saying that he opposed the war. That doesn't it's not surprising given his background. But he wants it to be fast and quick. I can't remember the exact terminology. What do you make of his answer on you're trying to drive a wedge between me and the President? He could have just said yes, I support the President. Could have said something else.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Yeah, well, I mean that's J.D. vance hedging his bets, right? I mean, you know, we could talk about the syndrome where people get into Donald Trump's orbit and they get power in Donald Trump's orbit and all of a sudden now everything they used no longer matters. Okay, but he's hedging his bets, right. Cuz it's sort of a story out there who's the successor who gets anointed. And you know, Marco Rubio, one of the golden boys, is in favor right now. And you know, J.D. vance is keeping that lane open politically speaking.

[Phil (Host)]

Seems like he's hoping Trump won't notice. He's not fully with him and also the MAGA base won't notice. He's working in an administration that is conducting a war in Iran. I think people will notice. But I guess we will see in the last talk I played video of Trump earlier today kind of passing a hot potato on this question of Iran's attacks on US Embassies to JD Vance and then he tried to pass it to Marco Rubio. I wonder what you thought about that and what you thought about their entire way of how they have answered questions or handled very legitimate questions from reporters over the last several weeks.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Yeah, well one thing is very clear here, which is and there are people who support this war and who I think are optimistic, I think probably unrealistically so, that maybe the regime collapses, maybe the people rise up. Maybe this ends well. There's not a lot of historical reason to believe that this is gonna end well, but there are people who believe that one thing is super clear, which is that lots of things weren't thought through. If you thought this through, you might have filled the Strategic Petroleum Reserve up, topped it off. You might have actually had a plan for the tens of thousands of Americans who were in the region. You might have thought about the Straits of Horm moves. Right. It goes without saying that war in the Middle east is one of the most complicated problems you can contemplate. I mean, it just goes in all sorts of directions. And this is not a president who is known for doing anything other than thinking fairly linearly about one thing at a time. You can't run a war in the Middle East. You can't plan or decide to execute a war in the Middle east if you're not thinking about 70 different things at once. So there's 69 things that get asked. And Donald Trump says, well, Marco ought to handle that, or JD Vance. There's one question that he'll answer, which is, how is this gonna end? And he's gonna tell you it's gonna end quickly and it's gonna end well. That's his role. The rest of the stuff he's gotta leave to others.

[Phil (Host)]

And he's at a point where he can't exactly end it. I know the worldwide threats briefing hearing was postponed today because of weather, because we had sort of bizarre tornado warnings down here yesterday. It's gonna be on Thursday. There'll be lots of questions asked. But with Joe Kent's resignation, again, an imperfect vehicle, as you said. Obviously, Kristi Noem was more than imperfect in that job. That's putting it very diplomatically. But there now isn't going to be a person in those roles. A lot of these agencies have been gutted or people have been redirected to other roles throughout the federal government, including immigration enforcement. You think a lot about not just threats around the world, but threats here in the homeland. How do you think about the moment we're sitting in, especially after the attacks we had last week? What should people at home be thinking about?

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Yeah. And this will, I think, be the subject of our worldwide threats open hearing, which is the one time a year where Americans actually get to see the committees do oversight of the chiefs of the intelligence community. So I think there's a couple of things that are really important. This just got very real. Right. And I don't want to in any way underplay the risks associated with the mission that the president ordered in Venezuela. You know, extracting the president of a foreign country is a very complicated mission, but this just got very real because we don't control all the levers anymore. And one of the levers that we don't control is Iran's ability to inspire or to mobilize terrorists. And just in the last couple of weeks, we have seen inspired terrorism inspired, presumably by, you know, anger at the decisions that have been taken with respect to this war. And this comes on top of the fact that we've seen very, very good, very capable people fired who were experts in terrorism, who were experts on Iran, and they were fired because they just happened to have been assigned to investigate the former president, President Trump's hoarding of classified information at Mar a Lago. So you would hope that in this moment, where the homeland is at risk in a way that it hasn't been in a very long time at the sharp end of terrorism, that we would have the very best people. Well, some of those very best people have been let go. There's issues about Tulsi Gabbard showing up in election sites in Georgia. Tulsi Gabbard apparently having Puerto Rican voting machines. All of these things are going to be subject of the hearing that we have because we're going to ask those questions and we're going to demand answers.

[Phil (Host)]

That's so much. It is a must watch. I will be watching all of it. Congressman Himes, thank you for being here.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Very much.

[Phil (Host)]

Appreciate it. Okay, up next, Donald Trump is applying new pressure on the media to basically serve as cheerleaders for his war with Iran. And we're going to show you some new evidence that some in the media heard that message loud and clear. Terry Moran and Elise Lavid are two of the most fearless journalists I have come across during my time in government. And they both join me next.

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for our kids, all eight of them,

[Phil (Host)]

should something happen to us.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

Are you my dad now?

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[Phil (Host)]

This weekend, Donald Trump took a page out of the Pete Hegseth playbook I'm going to call it, and decided that the issue that deserved his attention the most was not the war in Iran itself, but how the press was covering that war. And one unhinged post to the press after another. And there were a lot. Trump hatched up an alternative universe, one where the press was intentionally misleading the public about the facts on the ground in the Middle east to make him look bad. Now, without missing a beat, Trump's FCC chair, Brendan Carr, transformed that conspiracy into a very specific threat, threatening to take away the broadcast licenses from outlets that didn't operate in what he deemed to be the public interest. Now, how does he deem that? We've been through this journey before. Now CNN's Brian Stelter is reporting that Carr didn't come up with that threat totally on his own. Of course he didn't. A club goer told Stelter that the same day that Carr made that threat, he was at Mar A Lago meeting with Trump. I wonder what they talked about. Everyone. Do you? I don't really. Stelzer even saw Carr on the same flight back home from Florida. So there we are. Now, given the fact that the press is not intentionally misleading the public and publishing fully fabricated news about Iran to make Trump look bad, the message Trump and Carr are actually trying to send here is pretty clear. Right? They want the press to positively spin the news about the war. Whatever happens in Iran, they want the press to make it sound good for Trump. That is patriotic in their view. And while most of the media ignored that message because it's their job to hold officials to account and governments to account, some conservative outlets seem to have heard it loud and clear.

[Ali Velshi]

You know, I think we kind of just won the war.

[Congressman Jim Himes]

There's a real possibility of did you see it? They gave us pretty much everything we want.

[Phil (Host)]

The president has said enough with this coverage from other networks that are not telling you the truth, that are so negative about what's going on.

[Unidentified Official]

This is a pro America fight, and

[Phil (Host)]

every network needs to get on board with that. Now, I should say that Brendan Carr and the FCC cannot actually strip networks of their licenses just because they don't like what the networks are saying. But that was also true when Brendan Carr was threatening networks because he didn't like what late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel was saying. And he still managed to at least temporarily bully networks into taking Kimmel off the air. Now, the differences now are the stakes. This isn't a comedy show Trump is trying to silence. It's a war. So the stakes are much higher. Joining me now is Terry Moran, former senior national correspondent at ABC News, and Elise labitt, global affairs journalist and a host of Cosmopolitics on Subsequents, who I should mention used to grill me relentlessly when I was the spokesperson at the State Department. There she is. You just saw me and she was.

[Elise Labitt]

Every time I.

[Phil (Host)]

Come on. I know you seem to grade it. Terry, let me start with you, because some of the clips I just showed I find to be a little bit chilling. I mean, this is not. I was the spokesperson in the State Department for a couple of years in the White House. It is not the job of the press to cover a war or cover military action positively. That is not a sign of patriotism. But what do you make of this whole episode with Brendan Carr?

[Terry Moran]

Well, we're supposed to cover the war accurately, okay? And accurately means on the facts and with the American people. They need the information from their government. They need it straight. And, you know, a great American radical once said that war is the health of the state. Power flows into government offices during the emergencies of wartime. And this crowd is just the kind of people who will take advantage of that.

[Ali Velshi]

Right.

[Terry Moran]

What we are hearing from Trump and Brendan Carr is watch out if we don't like your coverage of the war. We are coming down on you. We bring the hammer down on you because they want to keep Americans in the dark. And this at a moment when the First Amendment, when freedom of the press is more important than ever during wartime.

[Phil (Host)]

Elise, one of the things that struck me is, I mean, the American military, best in the world, second to none. They are doing what they are ordered to do. Right. Pete Hegseth gave a press conference on Friday, which I found to be cuckoo bananas, where he talked about the Ellisons in, like, the first 10 minutes before

[Elise Labitt]

he talked about, thank God CNN is gonna have a new owner that'll be more friendly.

[Phil (Host)]

Well, no, I was wondering what you thought about that. And just as somebody who has sat in a State Department briefing room for years, it's not the military who are doing their job, but you have the secretary of defense out there and Marco Rubio maybe to a lesser extent, kind of repeating and parroting what Trump wants them to do.

[Elise Labitt]

Well, I mean, when we used to cover conflict or we would cover just any administration and their foreign policy, you would have, you know, the briefer, you would have a daily briefing. You would go there. It was this conversation with the press and therefore the American people as we were kind of a conduit to what's going on, what the thinking was. And you know, when I watched that press conference, I saw that Secretary Hegseth was there in a more political message. I was listening to General Kaine when he was talking about what the targets were, what the briefing were. And as you said, the military is by and large meeting the targets that it has. There's a lot more of a discussion to be had. But I think what we're seeing is the frustration that we're not focusing on the successes. And there are some. We're focusing on the critical nature. And look, that is something that the press does. But I do think I used to teach media and foreign policy and how administrations would deal with and a president would deal with the press and the national security apparatus during wartime. And I will say that administrations that open up that conversation with the press generally get better coverage. And I think it's unfortunate that this kind of toxic relationship between the president in particular and now the administration and the press is making it harder to cover the war responsibly.

[Phil (Host)]

I mean, there's no question we were just talking during the break. I mean, I screwed up plenty of times. Anybody who's a spokesperson screws up. But if you are caught in some information that's not accurate, you gotta fess up. But that's like a continuous lying cycle.

[Elise Labitt]

But think of all the conversations that you and I had off camera, like maybe both of us a little bit were performing for the camera. I was at cnn. I was on tv. And you were a spokesperson. But there was that but constant pressure testing of the argument. And I think, and I'd like to hope that the press as a and of course, the State Department press corps was the best press corps that there is. And you know, the Pentagon press corps is doing a really good job now, the ones that are not in the briefing room every day. But I think we made better arguments for you. And we were helping you discuss that to the American people. And I think that's what really may be one of the reasons why the press coverage is negative and the approval ratings are low is because that conversation with the American people is not taking place.

[Phil (Host)]

Well, no relationship is gonna reopen the Strait of Hormuz. There are certain things that I think or bring back the men and women who lost their lives. Terry, did you see. I don't know if you saw this. Over the weekend, Trump posted an infographic on social media titled Trump is Reshaping the Media. And one of his accomplishments it listed was, quote, terry Moran at abc. What did you think of that? And more seriously, before I let you go, what do you think is the. For journalists out there, how should they be covering this administration? I think it's challenging. There are not a lot of people you can believe who are front and center spokespeople.

[Terry Moran]

Well, on that, I think I'm in very good company, actually. John Dickerson and a lot of other people. So. Because what that demonstrates is this is an administration that will bring the hammer down, that wants to silence or. Or suppress coverage that they don't like, and they want to use the power of the government to do it. That's censorship, or attempted censorship, whatever you want to call it. How do you get good information? There are people on the ground. There are people who have connections on the ground. Desiree Adib at ABC News, who is connected with Iran. Farnas Faseehi at the New York Times. Dominic Waghorn is on the ground for Sky News. My old colleague Martha Raddatz knows around very, very well cholesterol ore. Do you want to get as close as you can, not for propaganda, but for a sense of what the conversation is. Because at the end of the day, it can be antagonistic in order to get the truth. So once a reporter feels like a source in government is talking to them, then the relationship gets better. Because patriots, whether they're in government or out of government, are thinking of the citizens who need this information.

[Phil (Host)]

Lisa Lavid and Terry Moran, I could keep talking to you, but we gotta. You know how this goes. We gotta go to a commercial break.

[Elise Labitt]

I have to grill you another time.

[Phil (Host)]

That's right. We have to take a quick break. Thank you both so much. Election results are continuing to pour in for Illinois. Ali Velshi has been tracking all of it for us. Vested up as he always is, he's going to tell us where things stand when we come back. Okay. Results are really starting to come in from Illinois from when we started the show with Ellie Velshi. There are some very interesting primaries again that might teach us some very interesting lessons about the Democratic Party right now, at least to me. So let's get right back to msnow chief data reporter Ali Velshi at the big board. Ali, we talked at the beginning of the show. I know lots of results are coming in. So what's the latest?

[Ali Velshi]

Yeah, so you're really right that once you get deeper into the big surprise is that it's not going to be a surprise. Democrats are going to win. They're going to probably win in November. For people who are not in Illinois, it may not matter much once you dig into it and you see what's actually happening. It's a really interesting story across Illinois, the Senate race to replace Dick Durbin, very interesting. Right now, 68% of the vote in. Juliana Stratton, the lieutenant governor is still in the lead. She's maintaining a healthy 50,000 point lead, 50,000 vote lead. All of these counties in black though have not come in. We've got zero results from them. Raja Krishnamoorthy was expected to output perform in some of these more rural places. Some of this in western Illinois is not very highly populated. But we're gonna have to wait to see. It is gonna be hard for him to make up this difference. So he's coming in from behind right now in the Democratic primaries. We do have a call in District 2. Donna Miller has been called as the candidate there with 76% of the vote. Jesse Jackson Jr. Trying to make a comeback, former congressman. It did not work out for him so he's not gonna make it there. And we are still watching Illinois 8.78percent of the vote in. Melissa Bean, former member of Congress is in the lead right now with 32% of the vote. But you can see there's a lot of other vote out here. It's only 12, 22% to come in, but it's being split a lot of ways. So this one's gonna be interesting to watch. Maybe by the next time I'm on we'll have a call on that. But for the moment, this is where things stand in Illinois.

[Phil (Host)]

Ali Velshi, those are some of the people we'll be seeing next year. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. We have to sneak in a very quick break, but Lawrence and Senator Chris Van Holland standing by. We're going to keep watching these races. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back. That does it for me tonight. You can catch the show Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern on Ms. Now. And don't forget to follow the show on Blue sky, Instagram and TikTok.

[Peter Doocy]

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[Terry Moran]

Hey, sorry about your pet, but I just wire stuff.

[Peter Doocy]

Nibbles would have loved you like a brother.

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