Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on No Kings Day Protests and Military Expert Barbara Starr on the Crisis in the Middle East

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Jim Acosta Show Episode: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on No Kings Day Protests and Military Expert Barbara Starr on the Crisis in the Middle East
Release Date: June 16, 2025

In this episode of The Jim Acosta Show, host Jim Acosta engages in a comprehensive discussion with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass regarding the recent "No Kings Day" protests and the federal government's response. The episode also features insights from Barbara Starr, a seasoned Pentagon and national security correspondent, on the escalating crisis between Israel and Iran. Below is a detailed summary capturing the key points, discussions, and notable quotes from both segments.

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Part 1: Interview with Mayor Karen Bass

1. Overview of "No Kings Day" Protests
Duration: 00:00 - 02:03

Jim Acosta opens the episode by addressing the widespread "No Kings Day" protests that erupted over the weekend, particularly focusing on Los Angeles. Mayor Karen Bass describes the scale and nature of these protests:

Karen Bass (00:31): "We had 15 different locations just in the city of Los Angeles, and they were all peaceful. The largest one was about 30,000 people in downtown LA."

Despite a few conflicts towards the end, Bass emphasizes the overall peacefulness and effective management by local authorities, resulting in minimal arrests.

2. Federal Presence and Its Implications
Duration: 01:21 - 05:30

Acosta raises concerns about the constant presence of the Marines and National Guard in LA without local or gubernatorial consent. Bass responds critically, highlighting the lack of transparency and the resultant rumors and fear among residents:

Karen Bass (01:57): "Needless to say, that opens the door up for all sorts of rumors and gossip and fear."

She further critiques President Trump's misrepresentation of the National Guard's role, clarifying that their primary mission has been to protect federal buildings rather than engage in crowd control.

3. Critique of ICE Deportation Policies
Duration: 03:31 - 08:04

The conversation shifts to President Trump's aggressive ICE deportation tactics. Bass laments the shift from targeting violent criminals to a numbers-based approach, which she argues fosters random surveillance and undue fear:

Karen Bass (05:30): "Los Angeles is a big laboratory experiment. Let's experiment on LA to see how far the federal government can go."

She underscores the negative impact on the local economy, particularly sectors reliant on immigrant labor, and the emotional toll on families, especially highlighted by events on Father's Day.

4. Local Response and Economic Impact
Duration: 06:09 - 10:31

Bass draws parallels between the current climate and the COVID-19 pandemic, noting a significant decline in customer presence in local businesses due to fear instilled by federal actions:

Karen Bass (06:09): "The restaurant owners literally became very emotional and said, people won't come and people aren't even doing orders."

She emphasizes that the portrayal of LA as chaotic is inaccurate, with protests occupying merely a fraction of the city's vast area, thereby maintaining that federal intervention is unwarranted and harmful.

5. Treatment of Journalists and Police Conduct
Duration: 14:16 - 15:56

Acosta inquires about the LAPD's handling of protests, especially concerning the treatment of journalists. Bass acknowledges instances requiring review but generally supports the department's actions:

Karen Bass (14:53): "I certainly think, for the most part, yes, the LAPD is acting appropriately."

She points out the importance of reviewing incidents through available video evidence and stresses that violent protesters undermine the cause of immigrant rights by provoking unnecessary federal involvement.

6. Call for Federal Withdrawal and Community Stability
Duration: 13:25 - 17:26

Bass implores President Trump to withdraw federal troops from LA, asserting the city's capability to maintain order independently:

Karen Bass (13:25): "Please remove the troops. Please remove the troops. Don't do that to our young men and women and don't do this to our city."

She highlights the community's resilience and the minimal area affected by protests, reinforcing LA's openness and readiness to welcome visitors and support economic activities.

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Part 2: Insights from Barbara Starr on the Israel-Iran Crisis

1. Current Tensions and Leadership Challenges
Duration: 19:24 - 21:22

Barbara Starr provides an overview of the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, focusing on recent missile exchanges and the implications for US leadership:

Barbara Starr (20:15): "The key question is President Trump... will he be able to?"

She discusses Netanyahu's aggressive stance against Iran's nuclear program and the complexities it introduces for President Trump, who has pledged to avoid entanglement in Middle Eastern conflicts.

2. US Military Involvement and Strategic Decisions
Duration: 21:22 - 26:51

Starr delves into the potential US military options in supporting Israel, examining the feasibility and risks associated with actions like bombing Iran's Fordow nuclear facility:

Barbara Starr (25:39): "If you have not seen the video of what took place on Iranian state TV... we're getting very close to things really spiraling in the Middle East."

She questions the intelligence assessments that spurred Netanyahu's aggressive maneuvers and the possible need for the US to intervene, highlighting the strategic dilemmas faced by military leaders.

3. Critique of Military Leadership and Messaging
Duration: 26:51 - 33:31

Starr critiques the current handling of military messaging under Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump, suggesting a disconnect between public displays and on-the-ground military preparedness:

Barbara Starr (30:44): "The Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs... giving the president of the United States and the defense secretary the bad news that they may not want to hear."

She underscores the importance of honest counsel from military leaders, warning against the pitfalls of maintaining a purely supportive stance without addressing strategic realities.

4. Assessment of US Military Parade and Public Perception
Duration: 27:06 - 33:31

The discussion shifts to the recent US military parade celebrating the Army's 250th anniversary. Starr expresses disappointment over the perceived lack of enthusiasm and questions the authenticity of the displayed military might:

Barbara Starr (31:33): "These guys weren't, you know, who knows what you want."

She contrasts the precise discipline seen in regular military operations with the underwhelming performance observed during the parade, reflecting concerns over the military's current morale and public image.

5. Strategic Outlook and Diplomatic Channels
Duration: 33:31 - 34:16

Starr wraps up her segment by emphasizing the need for strategic patience and diplomacy, cautioning against hasty military actions that could exacerbate the crisis:

Barbara Starr (32:01): "But again, I just feel so sad about it because here's the real... they have to find a way out of this crisis."

She highlights the critical role of measured leadership in preventing further escalation in the Middle East.

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Additional Topics: Political Violence and Disinformation in America

1. Minnesota Political Assassination and Disinformation
Duration: 17:26 - 33:58

Jim Acosta addresses the tragic political violence in Minnesota, where a suspect targeted Democratic officials. He criticizes figures like Senator Mike Lee and Donald Trump Jr. for spreading disinformation and politicizing the tragedy:

Jim Acosta (23:58): "Where does this score you points, Mike Lee, with the garbage shit posters, garbage trolls on places like X... Shame on you, Mike Lee. Shame on you, Donald Trump Jr."

Acosta condemns their actions as part of a broader decency and disinformation crisis, emphasizing the inappropriateness of politicizing such violent acts.

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Conclusion

Jim Acosta concludes the episode by reiterating the importance of responsible leadership and the ramifications of current federal and military actions on both local communities and international relations. He underscores the need for truth and decency in political discourse, urging listeners to reflect on the ongoing challenges discussed with Mayor Karen Bass and Barbara Starr.

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Notable Quotes:

• Karen Bass (01:57): "Needless to say, that opens the door up for all sorts of rumors and gossip and fear."
• Karen Bass (05:30): "Los Angeles is a big laboratory experiment. Let's experiment on LA to see how far the federal government can go."
• Barbara Starr (20:15): "The key question is President Trump... will he be able to?"
• Barbara Starr (25:39): "If you have not seen the video of what took place on Iranian state TV... we're getting very close to things really spiraling in the Middle East."
• Jim Acosta (23:58): "Shame on you, Mike Lee. Shame on you, Donald Trump Jr."

This episode provides a critical examination of federal intervention in local affairs, the complexities of international conflicts, and the pervasive issue of disinformation within American politics. Mayor Bass offers a grounded perspective on managing protests and safeguarding community interests, while Barbara Starr sheds light on the precarious balance of military strategy and diplomatic engagement in the Middle East.

Transcript

[Jim Acosta]

Welcome, everybody, to the Jim Acosta Show. It is Monday. It's a Monday after the massive no Kings Day protests over the weekend. As you can see, my big guest today is the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. Mayor, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. I know it's tight in terms of your time, so I'll jump right into it. Your response, I guess, first of all, to those big no Kings rallies that we saw over the weekend. We saw them in la. They were all across the country. Pretty impressive. Your thoughts?

[Karen Bass]

Well, first of all, they were very impressive. We had 15 different locations just in the city of Los Angeles, and they were all peaceful. The largest one was about 30,000 people in downtown LA. Unfortunately, we had some problems toward the end and that, you know, resulted in some conflicts between the protesters and law enforcement, but it was brought under control very quickly. And so the evening ended with only five people being arrested. Five people were arrested and 33 people were given citations, which is like a traffic ticket. So overall, I would have to declare that as a success and just another example of how LA can manage itself and does not need federal intervention to do basic police work in our city.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, and just to cover the basics, I mean, for folks who are not in LA and not immersed in what the local news is saying right now, basically you still have the Marines there, you have the National Guard there. That's a constant state of being. And it's being done without your consent or the governor's consent.

[Karen Bass]

Well, and not only that, without our knowledge as to what they're doing here. So needless to say, that opens the door up for all sorts of rumors and gossip and fear. And because people think they're seeing him here, think they're seeing him there, and we really don't know what is going on, it's just not helpful at all to the city.

[Jim Acosta]

And so your attitude is, your take on all of this is that you could have handled this from the get.

[Karen Bass]

Go, that this there is no question, no question. You know, the President was giving incredible compliments to the National Guard last Saturday night, talking about how the only reason why LA is not burnt down to the ground is because of his intervention with the National Guard. The National Guards weren't even here. They hadn't even arrived. They arrived the next day. And his claims that the National Guard has done all of this, their mission so far is to protect two federal buildings. They're not doing crowd control, and we don't want them to. They're not doing the efforts that actually would lead to peace in the city and they are guarding the federal building. And how you then take credit for the city is standing because of his intervention is just not accurate, not truthful.

[Jim Acosta]

And so when you see Donald Trump just In the last 24 hours or so, put out this truth social, and I call it a truth social. That's what he calls it. It's obviously not the truth, but this is what he posts on social media. He says ICE officers are herewith ordered by notice of this truth to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering single largest mass deportation program in history. I mean, that sounds as though he's going to keep pushing this. He's going to keep doing this. He's going to keep doing this in places like Los Angeles, whether the mayor likes it or not. Your response to that, is there anything you can do at the local level to respond to this or to push back against this?

[Karen Bass]

Well, first of all, let me just say that you remember the original mission, which was violent criminals, drug dealers and gang members. Now it seems as though the mission is numbers. And what that does is it opens the city up for random surveillance and also random detainments. So I don't know how you say that if you go to Home Depot, if you go to a church parking lot, if you go in front of an elementary school, if you go to a park where nannies are taking care of children, that that is going to be equivalent to violent felons. So you notice that they're dropping that rhetoric and now just talking about the numbers. So that creates such a terrible state of fear in our city and it also is a body blow to our economy. We have sectors of our economy that cannot function without immigrant labor. He's backed off a couple of areas. Agriculture, which this is the city of Los Angeles, so we don't have major agricultural farms here. Restaurants and hotels, which ones? McDonald's are only four star restaurants and five star hotels. We don't really know. There's no guidance there. So that creates a sense of confusion and fear in the city. And then I think about yesterday. Yesterday was Father's Day. What about the missing fathers? The families that have not been able to communicate with their relatives that are missing, the relatives that have been detained who don't have access to legal counsel. So this is a dramatic departure from the past. And I feel like, and I have felt like this from the beginning, that Los Angeles is a big laboratory experiment. Let's experiment on LA to see how far the federal government can go. What will the Public tolerate in terms of federal usurping of state and local power.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And I've been saying this on my show, Mayor, for weeks now, that the big lie of the 2024 campaign was that they were just going to go after the criminals and the gang members. You know, they made this point the whole time, you know, throughout the campaign and while he came into office for a second term. And obviously the goal now is just numbers. And I saw you make a comparison the other day. I thought it was interesting. You said that that life in LA right now is a little bit similar to Covid to the pandemic to some extent, because it has just scared people into staying indoors in some of the communities. That's kind of terrifying when you think about it. I don't know how you can function like a city.

[Karen Bass]

Well, yesterday I was in the historic Latino community, Mexican American community at Mariachi Plaza. It was Father's Day. It was completely empty. I went to four restaurants. Three out of the four had no customers there. I made the COVID comparison because the restaurant owners made the COVID comparison. And I asked them how they were surviving. They literally became very emotional and said, people won't come and people aren't even doing orders. So, you know, this just. Just created a sense of fear. And by the way, just so you know, the protests that the parent that the president describes as over the entire city and the whole city would have burnt down. Los Angeles is 500 square miles. The protests occupy maybe 2 square miles. So to characterize our city as being out of control and needing the heavy hand of the federal government is a lie to say that, you know, people are committing some kind of crime. Do you know that there are people who have been detained who are showing up for their annual immigration appointment? They are documented, they have papers, they're being compliant with what the federal government asked them to do, and they're being detained. So what do you think that's going to do to thousands of other immigrants who say, well, I'm not going for my appointment, Then what happens? They fall out of status.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And it drives the system into, you know, into a ditch. I would assume from a. From a court standpoint, I would have to think that that takes place. And do you know if. Do you have numbers in terms of how many arrests, ICE arrests, ICE detainments have taken place that did involve criminals or gang members? It seems as though they are targeting families and abuelas and mixed status families and so on?

[Karen Bass]

Well, let me just tell you, we don't have the Numbers as to how many people were detained, period. We hear there's several hundred, but no. So we don't know. And when the secretary was here, she did a slideshow that showed, I think it was four criminal immigrants. Okay, what about the hundreds? I mean, I don't think there's a big dispute around people who are major criminals. The big dispute is going to a bakery, going to, you know, see women in the park, who are, who are taking care of other people's children, to see construction workers. We have a city to rebuild or a neighborhood, a major neighborhood, the Pacific Palisades. How are we going to get it built if there's no immigrant labor? Because they say that about 40% of the construction industry is Latino. I think that's a total underestimation. I would suggest double that.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and you mentioned the Homeland Security secretary. I have to get your response to what took place late last week with Senator Alex Padilla. I thought that was absolutely horrible, the way he was treated. And you being the mayor of Los Angeles, I wonder if you had any information as to how that went down, what happened there. Just an awful thing to see for the whole country, the whole world to see.

[Karen Bass]

Well, no, I did talk to the senator right afterwards, as soon as I learned about it. But I think what is not reported so much is the fact that the FBI escorted him in the building. And so how could he have been some rogue individual if he's brought in the building and brought in the room by the FBI? So I think that that was. That was an excuse. It was sad. I also said that, you know, I served with the secretary for a number of years in Congress, and I said that I didn't recognize her anymore. That's not the person that I served with. And I'm not sure who she is or who she's becoming. But it is just so sad to see all of this unnecessary attention to our city, the way our city is being lied about and the fear. So it's a body blow to our economy because of the workforce. It's a body blow to the economy because of tourism. We don't want people to think that the whole city is in massive civil unrest. And some people have asked me, does it compare to 1992 when Rodney King, the Rodney King verdict came out? It is 100% different.

[Jim Acosta]

So tourists should continue to come. Businesses, business travelers should continue to come. I mean, it seems to me. I mean, that's. I'm. I sort of answering my own question. I have to assume the answer is yes.

[Karen Bass]

Two square miles out of 500.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Karen Bass]

Yes, LA open LA is welcoming. LA wants you to come here.

[Jim Acosta]

And I do want to ask you because of the no Kings protests and you were a community organizer in your early days in your career. And to me, when I saw what happened with Senator Padilla, it made me think that the Latino community in this country almost has a moment here where it needs to respond and that perhaps we need to see more activism, more community organizing on the part of the Latino community because I mean, their civil rights are just being violated right and left. You're seeing American citizens being swept up and asked, well, where were you born? Or where are your papers? And little kids who are U.S. citizens being deported with their mixed status families and, you know, and a United States Senator getting roughed up probably because he's Hispanic and maybe because they didn't treat him with the same deference. I mean, they never would have taken down a Senator Lindsey Graham in that fashion. And I just, you know, I said on my show the other day, maybe the We Need a Million Latino March in Washington D.C. or something along those lines. Your thoughts on that because you have experience in this area. Would that help?

[Karen Bass]

Well, I think what you're seeing in LA, though, for the most part, 90% of what you're seeing is a well organized, well established immigrant rights community here from a variety of different countries from Central America. Many of the organizations started with the influx of Central Americans during the Civil War. And they've been institutions in our city for decades. They are well organized. And so I think that they have a handle on that, which is why, I mean, the no Kings March was going to happen anyway. We know that. However, I have no doubt in the world that it didn't double or triple in size because of this. And then I think prior to the no Kings March, you saw other organizations that were protesting specifically about the ICE raids. You know, I don't understand how this is serving the country and certainly not serving our city or our state is to have this be so random and for it. Basically, we kind of are operating on rumor because we don't really know what they're going to do from one minute to the next. I'm glad he backed up a little bit on restaurant and hotels, but like I said, which restaurants, which hotels? Does it apply to a Jack in the box or does it have to be a five star restaurant?

[Jim Acosta]

What about those Trump properties? You know, I can't imagine that. Has anybody taken a look at that? I guess is one of my questions. But do you have a Message for the president. What. What would you say to him? I guess you haven't spoken with him throughout any of this, I would imagine. Not very much.

[Karen Bass]

No, No, I haven't. I do have a request and to speak to him, but what I would say is, is that LA is peaceful. Please remove the troops. Please remove the troops. Don't do that to our young men and women and don't do this to our city. We're fine. No one was arrested last night. I don't know if there's protests going on today or tonight, but we certainly anticipate them being small. And please understand that you are terrorizing a community. And it's just so sad to go in the community and have people embrace me and cry over. They just don't know how they're gonna get through this. And it's retraw, retraumatizing people, because people who were here during the first Trump administration, we had kids not going to school, parents not going to work. And that same thing is happening now, but in a much bigger way now.

[Jim Acosta]

And if you're trying to do immigration enforcement, how does that help the situation if. If people are going and living in the shadows? I mean, that. That's a big part of it. And, Mayor, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't ask you, as a. As a reporter and as a journalist, your assessment of how the police department is conducting its operations. Are they using necessary restraint? And how about the treatment of journalists? We've seen some journalists say we've been mistreated. They got a little rough with us. We've seen reporters hit with rubber bullets. I think in one case, maybe your thoughts on that? Is the LAPD behaving appropriately out there? Acting appropriately?

[Karen Bass]

I certainly think, for the most part, yes, the LAPD is acting appropriately. However, there have been numerous incidents that we absolutely need to review. You know, the one thing about Los Angeles, like many big cities, everything's on videotape. So you don't just rely on the body camera. There's multiple views. And we will do an after action report, and each of those episodes will be reviewed. The other thing that needs to be reviewed, though, are the injuries to the officers, which is often not talked about. And so know that a number of officers had to go to the hospital. There were reports of concussions and the behavior of the people who were protesting. Now, I believe very strongly that anybody that was involved in violence, anybody that was involved in vandalism, really do not care about immigrants, because they would understand that if they were really concerned about the rights of immigrants. They would not do things that would just invite more involvement from the federal government. How is that helping the cause of the people who are so fearful of their own government right now?

[Jim Acosta]

Well, and you make a good point about how the protesters behave out there and how they operate out there, because it seems to me that what Donald Trump has done in LA and what he's trying to do in other places is lay a trap. He's trying to set out a mousetrap. He puts the bait in the mousetrap to see if somebody will spring the mousetrap. And he wants an overheated response from protesters. And if you don't give it to him, then you deprive him of the oxygen that he needs on FOX and all these other places. It seems to me, I don't know.

[Karen Bass]

I think that is exactly right. And that has been my cry. Don't take the bait. This is obvious here. I think that in a number of the protests, the concern is the protesters going on the freeway. And there were so many people here on Saturday that if they had gotten near the freeway, they would have overwhelmed the California Highway Patrol and taken over the freeways. And I'm sure, you know, Los Angeles, we can't function without our freeways. Oh, yeah, we don't have, we certainly have mass transit, but not in a ubiquitous manner.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, no, you have to have those freeways operating. There's no question about it, folks. Stay off the freeways and you can have your voices be heard in all sorts of different places in la. As, as the mayor was just saying, it is a big sprawling place. But Mayor Karen Bass, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it. Best of luck to you in these, in these next days ahead.

[Karen Bass]

Thank you very much. Appreciate being on.

[Jim Acosta]

All right, thank you, Mayor. And this was her first substack. We should also mention, by the way, as well. We're just. Thanks for your time. Good to see you. All right, that's the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. We appreciate her time very much. And just goes to show you here on the Jim Acosta show here on Substack, you know, from time to time and on YouTube, the show plays on YouTube as well. Place on Apple podcasts, wherever you get your podcasts. We are getting some newsmakers on here. And you heard the mayor of Los Angeles say that she still is waiting to hear from Donald Trump. And if you're the president of the United States, to not speak to the mayor of the second largest city in America in terms of population about the current situation right now. It just seems to me, I mean, this just goes without saying, you're obviously not doing your job as president of the United States. The other thing we have to dive into on this show today, and it's very important what's happening right now, I'm gonna go to Barbara Starr, longtime veteran Pentagon correspondent, national security correspondent in Washington. Barbara, we have to talk about the situation between Israel and Iran. And I don't, you know, you and I were talking foreign policy the other day, national security the other day. But this just goes to show you how critical it is who you have in the Oval Office, who you have as president of the United States. Donald Trump said during the campaign, I'm going to end the wars around the world. And here you have Iran and Israel trading missiles, going back and forth, firing these missiles back and forth. I'm sure you saw this, Barbara, where right on Iranian state television. An Israeli strike hit in the middle of an Iranian state TV program. And the lady doing the newscast was nearly blown to bits that you could see. The place was just blown up. What are you seeing right now when you watch all of this?

[Barbara Starr]

Well, I think for many Americans, the question now is going to be what comes next? What will President Trump decide to do and what will the Pentagon do? I think a common thread here right now is for both Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth, all due respect to the offices that they hold, but both of these officials are going to need an incredible amount of mental discipline and intellectual discipline to deal with these circumstances. They're getting more complicated by the minute. I don't know if you saw, Jim, a short time ago, the Pentagon, with Hegseth's name, put out a very brief statement acknowledging finally that he has sent assets to the region for defense. That was under his Twitter account. So we're talking about the aircraft carrier Nimitz.

[Jim Acosta]

Right.

[Barbara Starr]

The Nimitz aircraft on board. We're talking about tanker refueling aircraft. These are the typical moves. This will give the president options if they have to evacuate Americans out of the area if, heaven forbid, there's an attack against US Assets. But that is a part of the battlefield right now. I think that incredibly looming question is Iran's nuclear program, what the Israelis are going to go after in that nuclear program and the next steps the Iranians take. They're causing tremendous damage inside Israel. So what are their next steps going to be?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, and apparently Netanyahu said earlier today this, according to NBC News, that he is not interested in a ceasefire at this point. He does not rule out killing the Ayatollah there in Iran. And this, I guess, forgive me for asking the obvious question, and perhaps maybe not the most intelligent question, but are Israel and Iran at war, which you consider this to be? Right now?

[Barbara Starr]

I consider it to be combat. You know, not ground combat. As far as we know, though, apparently the Israelis had some ground forces very surreptitiously inside Iran. But, yeah, at the very beginning. But, you know, make no mistake, and that's the key question for President Trump. He has promised to stay out of wars in the Middle east, but will he be able to? Because the key question, what was the intelligence that led Netanyahu to do this about Iran's nuclear program? He talked about an imminent threat. By all accounts, there was intelligence showing that Iran was very close to being able to enrich the nuclear fuel within days, maybe weeks, but maybe days to be able to make a nuclear bomb. That site where the concern is, is called Fordow, and it is buried deep underground. The Israeli aircraft will have a lot of trouble trying to destroy that facility deep underground. So we now come to the real bottom line. Is Netanyahu going to call Trump up and say, I need your help. I need your US Heavy bombers, your US Pilots to go after this site in. The president has said he won't let Iran get a nuclear weapon. But sending US Manned bomber aircraft into Iran, very difficult business, very treacherous business. Maybe some cruise missiles can get to it. Who knows? But is the door really shut to diplomacy, or is this about to heat up to a whole new level?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, well, and Barbara, I mean, you raise a lot of interesting points there. I mean, one is, I did see the reporting that it is going to be very difficult for the Israelis to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. And this has been a debate that has been raging in Washington, I guess, I don't know, for the better part of a decade now. Barbara, you and I covered that Iran.

[Barbara Starr]

Netanyahu knew this going in.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, the Iran nuclear deal talks that were going on during the Obama administration and the Israelis have long said that the Iranians were on the verge of this or on the verge of that. I remember the famous speech that Netanyahu gave where he had the cartoon drawing that showed the bomb and the red was getting all the way up to the bomb and it looked like they were about to be able to get to a weaponized nuclear weapon. And you just have to wonder why the United States, if the Iranians were that close, did not participate in the Israeli operations when this got going as a Matter of fact, the United States made a point of saying the Israelis are doing this on their own. I don't know. Correct me if I have any of that wrong. And your thoughts on that?

[Barbara Starr]

No, I think it's a very valid question. I think a lot of people are skeptical, if not curious. I mean, the intelligence community, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard just a couple of weeks ago told Congress that Iran's nuclear program was suspended. So did she get something wrong? Or suddenly did the intelligence services across Europe, indeed, who watch this very carefully, the U.S. the Middle east suddenly realized the Iranians had made these steps forward. And that becomes an interesting question because we have all been through years of the intelligence not being right about weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Nobody wants to go down that road again. So that's like I come back full circle. This is going to require massive intellectual curiosity on the part of the White House, the part of the President and the part of the Defense secretary. They are going to really have to make sure they have this nailed down before they make any moves. And even these so called defensive moves, having these U.S. assets in the region to be able to protect U.S. interests in the region. Well, you know, one man's defense is another man's offense. That may be a distinction with very little difference these days.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, yeah, that's true. And I mean, to me, I mean, my observation has always been of the presidency, that one of the chief jobs of being the President of the United States is to provide good counsel to the state of Israel. And presidents have long butted heads, also embraced Israeli leaders over the years. I mean, it has been sort of a relationship where the president of the United States has had to have his, you know, his hands in the situation there. You know, very, very important to be hands on with, with diplomacy. And I just wonder is, is, is Bibi Netanyahu even listening to Donald Trump at this point? They've had a prickly relationship at times.

[Barbara Starr]

I think most people believe, but who knows, that Netanyahu is doing what he can to get the US into this conflict one way or the other, making it clear that he's going to need US Help if the Iranian nuclear program is going to be destroyed. And, you know, I think most sensible US Military senior commanders will tell you it's one thing to get into a war, it's something else entirely to get out of it.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Barbara Starr]

You know, one, if you're going to go in, you know, there is no other lesson learned since the Pottery Barn Rule as Colin Pound battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. You can get in, but can you get out?

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. Barbara, what was your sense of what we saw over the weekend? I mean, we all salute the, the US army and we're happy to see them celebrate their 250th anniversary. But, you know, Donald Trump wanted this Kim Jong un like military parade. And I suppose to some extent he got it, but to some extent he did not get it. He did not get the hundreds of thousands of adoring crowds that I think he probably imagined in his mind. And it just seems kind of underwhelming, I think, to a lot of viewers out there. There were a lot of folks who were looking at the video of the tank squeaking by you squeaking wheels kind of going by the commander in chief. And he could barely keep himself awake at times. The visuals were not if he was trying to project military strength and American military might, I'm not sure that was the image that was beamed around the world over the weekend.

[Barbara Starr]

And that becomes very sad, as you say, for the troops. How sad that perhaps the crowds didn't show up. Great to see them out there. Great to see them waving to the little kids who were waving back, back to them. Everybody's, everybody's, you know, totally in favor of that. So all, all of that is good. But, you know, there was, I think on many networks and many websites that split screen while they were making a valiant attempt to march through the streets of Washington, other troops were out on the streets of Los Angeles. Your previous, you know, Mayor Bass, right, You know, she, she's making the point we don't need US Military help on the streets. And President Trump on his social media has already suggested that, in fact, that more, shall we say, democratic blue cities, you know, like Chicago, New York will find US Troops on their streets and that will be, I think, the ultimate tragedy. The parade had its moment. It goes, you know, into the dusty pages of army history.

[Jim Acosta]

Right.

[Barbara Starr]

And that, that, that in itself may be a bit sad.

[Jim Acosta]

I wonder if the generals were a bit squeamish. Did you pick up on any of that?

[Barbara Starr]

Yeah, I was talking to some people about this today. There were many military people that were very squeamish. But what kind of struck me is now we see some of these generals, some of these military units, you know, being totally MAGA for lack. There are four stars out there who are not going to challenge President Trump because of fear of getting fired for not supporting him. But the whole point of being a four star general in this country is to speak truth to power and give a president of the United States your best military advice. If I was the secretary of defense, if I was Pete Hegseth, I was. Number one item on my list would be to have that person in my office to tell me, okay, what are my other options? What should I be worried about? What could go wrong? What should I be thinking about that I'm not thinking about? What should I tell the president that could go wrong with the plan he has in mind throughout time? That's what you see four stars doing. That's what you see a chairman of the Joint Chiefs doing. Giving the president of the United States and the defense secretary the bad news that they may not want to hear, but that they have to.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah. And my, my grandfather, my mom's side is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, was in the United States Army. I'm very proud of that. I didn't, I didn't know him. He died when my mom was very young. But I'm very proud of that being part of my family's history. So it is wonderful to see the country salute the 250th anniversary of the U.S. army. But it just felt, you know, to me, and maybe this is just my point of view, but it just felt like they were being used as props. And I know you and I have talked about this, but that, to me, came across in what we saw on Saturday. It almost seemed as though there were moments where you could pick up on it from the soldiers themselves, maybe the faces of the crowd down there on the Mall. I mean, it just felt like it was coming through the TV screen.

[Barbara Starr]

Yeah. There's a lot of talk on social media, believe it or not, about were these army troops marching in the highly synchronized fashion that they're called upon to do? And as one person said to me, actually, this afternoon, you go to Fort Bragg, you will see troops marching up and down the roads of the base, and they will be in utter precision. These guys weren't, you know, who knows what you want.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, yeah.

[Barbara Starr]

Make it. Make a. Make of that what you will. There's plenty of US Military units that can march, highly precise, and some who just can't quite make it because they don't do it often enough. But again, I just feel so sad about it because here's the real. Again, I think the bottom line is the Pentagon has been trying to deliver the messaging that Donald Trump wants about the U.S. military. And so far, a few months into the administration, they've been able to deliver that messaging. Those images that Trump wants to see without very much of a price to pay for it. But now, between the immigration issue, troops on the streets of the country and what's going on in the Middle East, Pete Hegseth may have to maybe who am I to tell him? But he may have to buckle down and get beyond the message point because we know when you have continuing ongoing military operations, which is what the both of these are ongoing, they're very tough. You have to be on top of everything every day, all day long. You have to be ready to pivot, move troops, make other suggestions to the president. The time for messaging may be passing him.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, there's no question about it. I mean, this goes not only for Pete Hegseth, but for Marco Rubio. I mean, at some point, you can't just be there as the cheerleader, you know, as sort of a MAGA loyalist. You have to do the job of being a cabinet secretary. That's why you were putting these positions. But. Or that's why you're supposed to be putting these positions. I suppose Trump put them in these positions for different reasons. But Barbara, great to see you as always. Thank you.

[Barbara Starr]

Thanks for having me.

[Jim Acosta]

All right. Always. Always a pleasure. All right, thanks. I think we did this two weeks in a row with Barbara Starr. I think it's wonderful. And I had to get Barbara's expertise on the Israel and Iran situation. The other thing I want to mention very quickly is I did not mention Minnesota, but I just want to point out, because I want to make sure that this is on the record on this program, the Elect. This is according to the New York Times. This is what was said at the press conference earlier today. The elected officials targeted by the suspect in the Minnesota political assassination were all Democrats, according to the acting U.S. attorney in Minnesota, the suspect. This is according to the New York Times. The suspect in the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker in the shooting of a second possess written papers that mention dozens of potential targets, some in neighboring states, including politicians, civic leaders, abortion rights advocates and Planned Parenthood centers, according to law enforcement officials. I'm not going to say the suspect's name. I don't want to give him any of that. But officials believe he is the gunman who impersonated a police officer and fatally shot State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark and wounded State Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife Yvette early Saturday morning. Just a disgraceful act of political violence in this country. And I bring this up because there was a lot of social media garbage over the Weekend, there was a lot of garbage being spewed by people on the far right that somehow this suspect in this case, this alleged gunman in this case was somehow a Democrat or somehow democratic leaning. Don Jr. The son of the President of the United States, in an interview with News Nation, tried to pin this political assassination in Minnesota on Democrats. Don Jr. Said, quote, the guy that committed those atrocities this weekend is a Democrat. I mean, I, I have to say, and I, I, you know, I, I typically have a rule that you don't go after the families, you don't talk about the families of presidents of the United States. And I try to stay clear of the kids as much as I can, even when they're adults. But Donald Trump Jr. I have to ask the question, have you no shame? Have you no shame? Donald Trump, Jr. My God, what are you doing spewing this kind of nonsense, this kind of disinformation, this kind of gaslighting? I guess the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree when it comes to gaslighting. But again, this is what the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota told reporters that officials had recovered hundreds of pages of the suspect's writing across multiple notebooks that were full of plans, lists of names, surveillance efforts, and the home addresses and family members relationships with these elected officials. The elected, this is, this is the New York Times. The elected officials he targeted were all Democrats, comma, Mr. Thompson said. The other thing we have to point out is that Senator Mike Lee of Utah, Republican, posted a pair. This again, according to the New York Times. We all saw it on social media, posted a pair of politically charged messages mocking the attack. Quote, this is what happens when Marxists don't get their way. Mr. Lee wrote on Sunday on his personal X account. An hour later, in a second post showing the suspect, Lee wrote, quote, nightmare on Wall street in a reference to the Democratic governor of the state, Tim Walls. I mean, I just have to say to Senator Lee, you are a United States senator. You are a United States senator. How sick and twisted is your mind when you are a United States senator and you're on social media making hay, making political hay, having fun with the political assassination of state lawmakers. I just don't get it. And this is where I think we have a decency crisis in America. We have a decency, we have a disinformation crisis in America. There's no question about that. Because you have people who probably like Mike Lee and like Donald Trump who are immersed in disinformation 24, 7. They're just immersed in disinformation 24 7. But on top of that, there has to be a defect in the individual person when you cannot exhibit the decency that is necessary to pay respects and offer your condolences. When there is a political assassination in the United States of America, that is no time to be making political hay. That is no time to be taking these kinds of tragedies and turning them into punchlines for your own personal gain. Where does this score you points, Mike Lee, with the garbage shit posters, garbage trolls on places like X, which are predominantly, probably in many cases, bots. That's what you're performing for, Mike Lee, for a bunch of bots and trolls and shit posters. That's why you put that message up on X. My God, shame on you. Shame on you, Mike Lee. And shame on you, Donald Trump Jr. Not that you have any shame. If you have an ounce of shame, you should feel some sense of shame this evening. These people were human beings. And according to the authorities, and I know this may not fit in with your narrative, Don Jr. And this may not fit in your narrative, Mike Lee, but according to the authorities, all of the people targeted on these lists, all of the people targeted in these documents were Democrats. So what does that tell you? My God, grow up, be a man. Show some decency. Show some respect. My thanks to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. I appreciate her time coming on this program and also to the wonderful Barbara Starr. Wanted to get to her to talk to her about the situation with Iran and Israel, a situation where, I mean, if you have not seen the video of what took place on Iranian state tv, where the, this person is on Iranian state TV doing whatever they call the news and that dictatorship and then the bomb hits. We're getting very close to things really spiraling in the Middle East. And this is when you have to have sound, steady leadership in the Oval Office. And I'm afraid we did not have that on display over the weekend. We saw a president of the United States in need of some kind of show of force to soothe whatever is broken inside of him. It says a lot about where we are as a country right now. And I think there are moments when all you have left is prayer. And I, I, I do have to say I am praying for some kind of breakthrough in the Middle east where we do not see this thing spiral out of control. And you just have to hope that the people in power here in Washington, which I do not have a lot of faith in, can find a way out of this crisis, because it is very much a crisis right now. But again, my thanks to the mayor of Los Angeles, my thanks to Barbara Starr. Thanks to all of you for watching, and thanks to all of you for watching our live coverage over the weekend of the no Kings rallies across the country with my friend Don Jr. Don Jr. My friend Don Lemon and my friend Joy Reid. It was great to be on with both of them. And belated, happy Father's Day to everybody. Thanks, everybody, for watching. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Have a good evening, everybody. Take care. Good night.