Transcript
Deloitte Narrator (0:00)
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Tracy Mumford (0:34)
from the new York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, May 8th. Here's what we're covering.
Simone Romero (0:46)
After these strikes, is the ceasefire with Iran still on?
General Dan Kane / Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (0:50)
Yeah, it is. They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle.
Tracy Mumford (0:58)
President Trump says that the cease fire between the US And Iran is still in effect even after the two countries exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz yesterday.
General Dan Kane / Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (1:06)
If there's no ceasefire, you're not going to have to know. You just going to have to look at one big blow coming out of Iran.
Tracy Mumford (1:12)
The president followed his comments up with the threat of more attacks, saying Iran, quote, better sign their agreement fast. He was referring to a new deal that's on the table. It's a proposal from the US that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz to and end fighting for 30 days while the countries work toward a more comprehensive long term agreement.
General Dan Kane / Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (1:32)
They want to sign it. I will tell you, they want to sign it a lot more than I do.
Tracy Mumford (1:38)
The temporary deal does not address the key points of the conflict, like the future of Iran's nuclear program, which have stalled all the previous negotiations. Recently, President Trump has been making efforts to minimize the ongoing hostilities, calling them a trifle, a skirmish and a mini war. As the conflict has proved to be deeply unpopular with the American public and increasingly expensive. Even some Republicans in Congress have been growing impatient. Yesterday, Representative Tom Barrett of Michigan, who is facing a tough reelection race this year, proposed a bill to wind down the war. Barrett, who is an army veteran, said the president has sole authority to lead troops during wartime, but, quote, I've lost too many friends on the battlefield to allow that to happen without Congress exercising its constitutional role, saying he wanted safeguards and a clear deadline. Meanwhile, there's also been continued fighting in Lebanon despite the ceasefire there. The agreement has curbed the violence somewhat, but Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging daily attacks in the southern part of the country. And this week, Israel launched an airstrike in the suburbs of Beirut. It hit an apartment building in a densely populated area where Hezbollah holds sway. The Israeli military said it was targeting and killed a commander of the Iran backed militia, but the attack risked further destabilizing the already shaky temporary truce. The Trump administration is watching closely as renewed fighting there could complicate any US Agreement with Iran, which has insisted that Israeli strikes in Lebanon end. Now. Two quick updates on the federal government first, infectious disease experts are warning that the US Response to the hantavirus outbreak shows the country is ill prepared to deal with future public health crises. The current outbreak on a cruise ship has left three people dead and at least five sick. Some passengers have scattered around the world, though, requiring them to be monitored elsewhere. There are six in the US and experts say the CDC has been sluggish to respond. The agency has been largely silent, and it took nearly a month after the first death to set up a response team. That timing is what worries experts more than the virus itself, which they note rarely spreads among people. Some former public health officials say the Trump administration's deep staffing cuts at the CDC have hamstrung the agency. And new federal data shows the US Government appears to have reached a worrying new milestone with the country's debt growing larger than its total economic output. Now, that doesn't mean the country is facing an imminent fiscal crisis, but experts say the rising debt will make it more expensive for the country to borrow money in the future. And it does need to borrow money, since tax revenue doesn't fully cover the US Expenses. My colleague Tony Romm says economists have been warning about this milestone for years, but in Washington, the response has been largely muted.