Can you tell us how does what's happening overseas with protests maybe affect how Republican voters turn out to the polls this year, or maybe not?

No, I really think that just the people around this table and some others that care about the day-to-day aspect of foreign policy care about what's going on in France, but most of Americans don't, and it's not going to change the message.

Who he's talking to there is the base, and so they are just seeing, like, the chaos.

And remember, The reason that they're protesting, we had a half a million protesters, not we, France did, in regards to a really, really good issue.

I mean, there was a concern about the education, about the ability for kids to go to school, to have good schools, and it's been hijacked, in my mind, I have no idea where they're from, it doesn't matter, but they've been hijacked by thugs that are starting to destroy stores.

Remember that happened here.

I think it was the George Floyd peaceful protests that were happening years ago, and we had people that were brought in that had nothing to do with the protests that were breaking into all the city centers.

Kind of.

Yeah.

I mean, the family was de-banked.

I mean, come on.

This is the start of before two years ago.

And listen, you know I'm pretty, like, even-minded on a lot of this stuff, but I think this started, uh, this never would have happened under Obama.

Mm-hmm

... a little bit of money from MAGA Inc., or there's a little bit of money from somewhere that's now going into Mississippi.

So do I think Mississippi's in play? No.

Just just quick thoughts, Ashley, on on all that has gone on since since that October 7th and what we just saw the other day.

Yeah, you know, it's very interesting, Kurt.

I was actually in Qatar when October 7th happened, like I was in Qatar October 7th.

And I and it was such a interesting dynamic for me because we were there like doing Formula One, something for me with business.

and it was interesting because all the government officials that were with us kind of pulled back and wanted to not take a side one way or the other, but What's shocking to me, whether you're like pro-Israel, not pro-Israel, is the fact that how over the last really year, not three years, I would say year, that there has been kind of this anti-Semitic uproar of people in our country.

I'm not saying Democrats, Republicans, just that people don't like the leader, you know, they don't like Netanyahu.

And what does that mean for the country moving forward? Because as we all grew up politically, I mean, at least I did.

But be that as it may, was the ad a good idea to put her front and center as part of the closing argument? What was the point here?

Just like he claimed that we didn't cover the drug prices deal, and we did.

Yeah, and I'm not sticking up for this, but there's two things I want to say about this.

One, it's going to bring out the base on the Republican side.

It's going to, like, they're like, yeah, we don't like MSNBC, we don't like CNN.

And it's going to bring the base out on the Democrat side the same.

But also...

I don't understand why we continue to fall for this.

All of us have heard more about President Trump talking about more about the structures he wants to build, the ballroom and the arch and this and that and the other, Kennedy Center, instead of no tax on tips, right? I mean, wouldn't you rather he be talking about that?

But

I mean, we what concerns me about these companies that are calling for regulation is I government moves too slow.

I mean, I think that state governments will definitely start taking advantage of this.

And remember in the spring when the president didn't wanted.

preemption over states of any AI regulation, I think that's out the window.

So I think you'll see a lot of activity and we'll see if the federal government can get their act in place going into next year.

At least tech companies want it until they see what's going to be on the table, especially if Democrats are in control.

Ashley, how troubling are these numbers, and is there time for Republicans to turn that around?

Geez.

And so I feel like it's something...

Now, his high school now, which is very different than his middle school, they do teach about it, and they did make sure that there's a history known.

And know that, you know, one of the things that George Bush, the president, always taught us that were staff, 'cause I ended up working in Homeland Security after 9/11.

But one of the things he taught us as staff was that this was a hijacking of the Muslim religion.

This was not the Muslim religion, and he was very adamant to make sure that we understood what the Quran and other s- um, you know, and religion in general stood for, and that what these terrorists did that day was not that.

Uh, and so I think that's something very important that he made sure to differentiate to all of us, and, and not lose sight of that as there were other, you know, Muslims Americans in our country.

Yes.

What do we know right now that we know we know about the moon? What makes it special?

What makes it special is that we have this water-rich environment.

Okay, the water is protected underneath this icy shell.

And there could be, as previously said, twice as much water, liquid water on Europa as there is on Earth.

there's a lot of energy being pumped into the system because Europa, with two of the other big moons of Jupiter, Io and Ganymede, they're locked in this orbital resonance, and this pumps a lot of energy into these satellites.

And with Io, it generates so much energy that Io just happens to be the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

And to a lesser extent, this energy is being pumped into Europa.

And if I read correctly, Clipper will do something like 49 close flybys of the moon itself to take a closer look at it?

Did you ever dream that an organization like DHS, founded to protect Americans, would become this politicized?

Well, no, and Brad, it's nice to see you 25 years later.

You're looking good.

Not a year over, you know, 50.

Brad and I's office were near each other, actually.

Both of them were on the ground floor near the Situation Room.

And one of the things, before I answer your question, that no one remembers is President Bush, his dad, the father, was in our office that day when the second plane hit.

Is that a mistake?

I think so.

And Leland, first of all, good evening and good evening to you, Evan.

I 100% think that AOC is our biggest threat.

I've been saying this for the last six months.

If you look what happened four years ago, eight years ago.

when Biden was running and eventually won the primary, Bernie Sanders was surging.

All right, Ashley, how do Republicans counter him in a way that works, given that for the past however many years they've tried to go after Bernie Sanders and made him the boogeyman and he's only gotten more popular?

It's a different conversation

... and the top, and the top voters are doing just fine, because the stock market is just fine.

It's the bottom voters that are not.

And I know you said Joe Biden didn't lie to people besides maybe his health.

But I mean, I, I knew you knew I had to get that in there.

[laughs]

Yeah.

But if you hear under 30 that you're gonna get everything for free, I'd vote for it, too, you know? But also, it's, like, not the traditional establishment candidates.

It never works.

No, and listen, in this instance with Blanche, actually, he has the power right now because he can pull the nomination and he can make it an acting director and then he can put him back up.

I mean, he has that power.

So why try? Because they were trying to make a point, and listen...

Cornyn would not have done this three months ago.

Tillis was actually more of someone that would stand up to him over the, but Cornyn never would have.

And they have this small amount of power that they want to make sure that they can get done what they feel is right.

Can Trump refocus the midterms back to the idea of chaos and immigration because of this?

How did that experience color how you would see America and democracy going forward?

I really think that even though we have so many different ideas, we have so many people that we get so angry.

Like we right now we're like in the middle of a midterm and everyone's like fighting against each other.

And are the Democrats too socialist and the Republicans too conservative? But at the end of the day, everyone rallies behind America.

And I actually think what's happening right now with FIFA being in our country.

I love it.

I actually think that it's something...

Ashley, what aren't we talking enough about?

Let's see where it takes us.

No, absolutely.

And and listen, I first of all, I can't believe it's been 25 years.

How about that? Now, but so.

The reason that Homeland was created, just the Office of Homeland Security right after 9-11, which is where I was employee number one, and then the department two and a half years later by the Congress, was because we had all these different agencies that weren't speaking to each other.

And then, by the way, they all definitely weren't speaking to the state and local folks.

And so...

Watching

So, so I guess, like, your, your time working there, like, what was, like, kinda the biggest lesson learned? Like, what's the one thing you're just like, "Wow," you know, and that you still carry with you today?

One of the things I loved about the Bush administration was the discipline of...

So, Andy Card was Chief of Staff when I was there, and the president, um, 100% e- empowered Andy to be the Chief of Staff.

And this is something that I look back at now in regards to leadership and, and how I, w- whether it was when I, you know, have employees or, you know, was an employee or whatever it was, that it- the president empowered Andy to be the Chief of Staff, even to the point where you had Karen Hughes and Karl Rove and people that were with Bush forever, Tom Ridge, who they'd been friends, like buddies, um, that he said, the president said, "You don't come in the Oval Office unless Andy Card knows." And that discipline just made sure that there was a process in place for making r- small decisions and really big decisions.

And so you look at some of the chaos of other administrations-

So he was really the filter between-

Staff, the outside world, absolutely.

And also, I mean, so Andy, so my office was across from the chief of staff's office at that time, and, um, he and I were the first ones in every morning, and, and I just think the world of him.

initial inspiration of like, OK, I want to go down this path of speaking about this topic and then turning it into a book? Where did that come from?

So I have a good problem, I consider.

My mom actually thinks it's a bad problem that I always get bored quickly.

And so I, a few years ago, I'm like, I've got this lobbying thing covered.

I've been doing it for a long time.

I still do it.

But I was like, I need to do something that makes me uncomfortable.

at war.

Yeah.

And I have to say that there was a really nice, um...

When the President came in, before this all happened, everyone stood up, obviously, 'cause he's the Commander in Chief and President of the United States, but everyone was clapping.

Even though all the issues with the media and the media with him, it did kind of feel...

And he actually said this during the press conference.

It did feel nice for once.

Yeah.

Because, uh, you know, everyone always says the President's polarizing, but it really brings out the worst in people, not only just the, like, some attempted suic- or assassination, but the, just the anger that people have.

Are we seeing a gap between the everyone knows and public accountability?

Well, I actually think that the Swalwell thing came to a head not as much on the accountability, but because they have to figure out this governor's race in California on the Democrat side.

Obviously right now, if you look at the polls, there's two Republicans that are at the head of the ticket, and so after the primary, those two would move forward.

Obviously, Democrats don't wanna do that.

I'm sure m- a lot of California don't want that to happen.

So they had to get Swalwell to have accountability.

And by the way, I don't know him, but I've heard for years that this was kind of his-

It seems like there's a lot of, not a lot of transparency when it comes to the system in which people can actually for- make these complaints.

Many of the comments cited are taken out of context or represent personal, informal, jovial, and somewhat spiritual discussions made in the context of barely surviving cancer in a privir- private capacity r- prior to his current role." I, I, I mean-

Eh, the only comment I do want to make is the fact that this is being covered by a, a, a lot of people, I've seen it today, but I think that that just makes the president dig in deeper to support some of these people.

I mean, as you know, we've talked about this before, before Kristi Noem was actually finally let go, but, like, if you're attacking his people, he kind of digs in around them.

So I don't think this guy will go anywhere because of that.

So do you think that that says something? Do you think Trump not having endorsed the incumbent Republican who John Thune wants him to endorse, who everybody thinks actually is the most electable of the two, what, what's your take on it?

Maybe.

I mean, Chuck and I have talked about this a lot.

There's a couple things.

What were you doing that, in that point in your life?

So, um, well, first of all, thank you for having me on, and I totally understand about not wanting to push books.

Everyone has them these days.

But I'll, I'll tell you the reason later why I wrote it.

But 9/11, I was young.

I was 26 years old, and I was working...

Um, I was on the Bush campaign and w- went in day one of the administration and was deputy director of management and administration.

It's a, uh, it's a book about how her life pivoted, how my, my life pivoted, and, and, uh, and now I think my, my life is to, uh, serve to as a witness, and I think that's what you're doing to the, with this, uh, this book of yours, Ashley, is, is witnessing to people about how you can change your life, how you can, uh, you know, uh, be stuck in one place no matter where you are in life.

Ashley?

Well, let's be very clear.

The reason that they agreed to this is because of the fact that there was going to be a House vote today with the entire House, that it was going to be overwhelming.

to vote for them to come to be held in contempt with Congress.

So obviously it went through committee.

Now it was going for the whole House.

And Nancy Pelosi was the point person to try to get Democrats not to vote for it.

Ashley, can I start with you? What was your interpretation of what the president was saying?

Ashley, are we in a similar situation here?

Well, I just think Iraq's a completely different situation because, remember, we were able to tie that to 9-11.

So I think that understanding that maybe you guys did get criticized as reporters for not asking that question, but we were still in the mode at that time of... trusting President Bush, I mean, who's my old boss.

So, I mean, I think that...

It was all tied to an anti-terror posture.

Correct.

And so this is a little bit different.

There was, like, the thinnest of ties Bush could establish to Osama bin Laden, the people who... perpetrated 9-11, the main rationale at the time was weapons of mass destruction.

Exactly, trade and recognizing

Israel.

And I think that he'll continue to play in that region.

I don't think that Ivanka is going to let him ever go back to the White House.

I mean, you saw maybe his comments over the weekend that said if he doesn't come home, she's going to change the locks.

Obviously kidding.

The other person we need to recognize here is Secretary Rubio.

Instead of the fact of lawmakers are having a bipartisan fight, and that's prevented everyone from being paid.

Actually, there's probably no murders in North Korea, too, but am I—

I don't want to be presumptuous, so tell me about this juxtaposition.

Well, you know I've been talking about this, at least from my perspective, living in Washington for the last 25 years.

Yes, I don't want crime, I don't want to raise my son here with crime, but I do think that there, is a message here that the president is trying to convey, which I do think that some of these Democrats are falling into.

He's talking about, yesterday was all about law and order, and okay, so let's talk about Chicago.

We were talking before we started.

There were six murders this weekend, 27 people were injured, and 130,000 Nordstroms were stolen from people breaking into it.

stock performance, it's a downward arrow so

What did you see in how they managed

Trump? Well, a couple things, Adi.

And first of all, good morning, everybody.

I think the first thing is everyone's negotiating to the media right now.

And obviously, we don't exactly know what the tits for tats are behind the scenes.

But of course, Putin's going to come out and say, I want everything.

And Zelensky is going to come out and say, I want everything.

true.

Ashley, can I start with you just because you know about security? What are you looking at here?

Well, there's a couple things.

One, I live in Washington, D.C. for the last 25 years, and obviously there has been a spike in crime.

It is on its way down.

I don't quite understand why people are defending the fact that there is still 1,584 violent crimes from January till now, right now, and raising a family here and a son.

That is 1,584 too many, no matter what.

But what I'm watching is actually the mayor.

And here it's sort of Donald Trump just on a couple of days notice, randomly calling up one of the world's most notorious international war criminals and inviting him to US soil, which is just incredible.