That's the difference here, I think.

I mean, there is definitely a large portion of anonymous sourcing from these outlets that are based on things that we know not to be true.

For example, their fixation on Natalie Harp, who we have no evidence to support a lot of the malicious gossip we have seen about her, and yet you will see her name feature prominently in a lot of these outlets.

I should say they do break news.

They do break scoops.

They do speak to the White House on a lot of things, which, you know, in my opinion, if the White House doesn't like these outlets, maybe like 12 people close to the situation shouldn't be breaking down what happened to CNN.

But at the same time, you know, there is concerns for me, you know, when you see some of these outlets getting booted from the White House.

Are you covering the summit with Xi Jinping in the next couple of days? That's going to be a busy one.

Would have been enough, but apparently it's not.

No, and in fact, I don't think some of us will ever forget some of the things that were said about Charlie, about his family, but specifically about his death and the way that Democrats in particular failed to condemn the travesty of his assassination.

And look, Laird, this is not the first time high-profile assassination that Democrats have failed to condemn.

When the president had that very, very narrow escape during the Butler assassination attempt, there was a disgusting lack of condemnation from the left.

There were many attempts on the president's life that we've seen over the past several years.

And there's actually more that we haven't been informed about, whether it's on a lower level, whether it was something that the Secret Service thwarted, whether it was something that happened that authorities in DC were able to stem and we weren't able to actually learn of it because it never took place, whether it was a type of attack that one man who'd traveled all the way from California wanted to commit against Scott Besson and more.

But I think another underrated part of this conversation is that a lot of these individuals who are trying to assassinate President Donald Trump, conservatives, high profile cabinet members, these individuals identify as transgender and it's not speculation, it's truth.

They're not even learning about it anymore.

They didn't know I have this." Uh, and then of course, as people already heard, "I just found all of the classified stuff downstairs." So that seems flatly to be, at this point, incorrect, that he didn't have, he didn't take classified information or share it with his ghostwriter.

Oh, absolutely, and I mean, I think after all this time, uh, you know, knowing what we, what we know about the former president, we'd be naive to assume that he actually was fully even aware, uh, you know, of what he was saying at that point.

Of course he was sharing, uh, information he wasn't supposed to.

He routinely said things that he wasn't supposed to say, routinely didn't even know where he was.

I, I mean, this president, we know, was, [laughs] uh, you know, in a very serious state of cognitive decline, which everyone, including his wife, knew and still put him in that position.

And, uh, you know, I, I feel like every couple months we come back to this fact and just drag through it anew the fact that Br- Joe Biden was seriously cognitively declining throughout that entire period, and everyone just pretended that that was not the case.

Uh, so yes, it makes complete sense that, uh, a man in his situation is of course going to be sharing information he's not supposed to, um, and is of course going to misrepresent that later on.

Absolutely.

Are they nervous? Are they frustrated? Are they angry? What's kind of the, the fingertip feel, uh, and s- mood of, of the administration over the latest developments?

Well, I think, Mark, all of it is kind of singed with this overtone of sadness about the de- Uh, that has been, I would say, the overarching, uh, uh, commentary, the overarching subject at the White House, and then on in the movements going forward.

Um, Graham keeps coming up.

It's already as if, you know, he has, uh, been passed for a long time.

People will bring him up, and I even heard on a podcast earlier this morning, "Oh, I wonder what Lindsey Graham would have thought about this." And, you know, he's, he's only been passed for a few days now.

So, um, obviously that is a, a strong overtone in all of these conversations.

Um, but the tone that I'm perceiving from the White House and even from the press corps, uh, is a little more of apprehension as we approach, uh, you know, the ongoing, uh, situation in Iran, what will happen next.

Yeah

It feels like the city's been refreshed somewhat by this second Trump administration.

Absolutely.

I had a guest in town last weekend, and I was driving her around showing her some of the sites in D.C., and I pointed out, you know, the fountain outside of Union Station, and I said, I was in college here, you know, whatever, many years ago.

This was so dirty and ugly, and even in the last... several years, it was not a safe place to be at Union Station.

You know, there were plenty of homeless people.

I had many uncomfortable incidents there.

Now it's beautiful.

What do you think that says about our political culture in America right now?

What's it like to be in Washington, D.C. right now in a city that is safer, where the fountains are working, uh, where there's all sorts of, uh, renovation going on? It feels like the city's been refreshed somewhat by this, uh, second, uh, Trump administration.

Absolutely.

I, I had a guest in town last weekend, and I was driving her around, showing her some of the sights in D.C., and I pointed out, you know, the fountain outside of Union Station, and I said, "I was in college here," you know, whatever, many years ago.

This was so dirty and ugly, and even in the last several years, it was not a safe place to be at Union Station.

You know, there were plenty of homeless people.

I had many uncomfortable incidents there.

Now it's beautiful.

What do you think that says, uh, about our, uh, political culture in America right now?

She was gonna be gone anyway." What, what's going on there with Tulsi Gabbard?

Yeah, it's an interesting question because for a- about a month before, um, Tulsi Gabbard announced that she was resigning from her position, uh, there were rumors that she was going to resign, that she was going to be fired.

A lot of those were led by Laura Loomer, who, uh, has been very, very vocal in her dislike of Tulsi Gabbard.

So all weekend she's been tweeting about her suggesting thatUm, you know, she, you know, was using her husband's illness as, uh, a coverup for resigning.

Now, I, I haven't seen anything that would make me believe that, um, this is not a genuine resignation given Tulsi's husband's, uh, diagnosis.

Uh, you know, they go everywhere together.

I, I was interviewing her at the National Archives about a year ago, uh, and he was with us every step of the way, interested, watching.

That's where you get, where, that's where you get dropped off, yeah.

Like, what's a typical offering, uh, of an Air Force One meal?

Oh, I mean, I've had steak on Air Force One.

I've had tacos on Air Force One.

I ...

It really depends on the day.

Uh, the menu is always there when you get on.

They'll show you a, what, what's for dinner.

Like, for those of us who have not been on Air Force One, what do you think is the thing that would shock people the most about traveling on with the president or just the plane itself?

Yeah.

So diving into the news cycle myself rather than just waiting for it to happen and being like, "Oh, look what happened today." And so I took a leap of faith.

I applied to The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Uh, and, you know, being a journalist, starting at the very bottom, I took a little bit of a pay cut.

I didn't know what I was doing.

I very much was like, "God, please help this to work out," because I wasn't totally sure how it would go.

Uh, and it was not easy at first.

Yeah.

Yeah

...

the board, we're just-- we're hearing a lot of efforts.

We're sending out, you know, J.D. Vance to the Midwest to speak to Americans and talk about the dangers of Democrats and how the Trump administration is helping Americans.

Um, meanwhile, we have this war going on.

We have, uh, the president, uh, you know, messaging al- very strongly on the war and on the economy, but we've been told for months that he's going to kind of pivot and focus on the economy and kind of lay back on the war a little bit, and that's not really happening.

And obviously why, given the circumstances and the ongoing nature of this conflict.

Uh, why don't you flesh that out for us and tell us how, uh, how they're looking out for potential dangers that previous administrations sort of overlooked, if not strangely embraced?

But then so pick it up from there.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So they're looking at this specific photo from The New York Times.

And that photo shows a bunch of nuns and they're, you know, dressed head to toe in their habits and their veils.

and they've got these big Trump scarves around their necks.

Now, you know, not everyone might think that's appropriate for a nun, but what is definitely inappropriate is how these two prosecutors, J.P. Cooney and Molly Gaston, go on to talk about the nuns.

Is there anyone else, based on some of the communications you obtained from Senator Grassley, were there others involved or others who knew about the scheme that these two had going on? Because to me, there needs to be some accountability for somebody who may still be hanging around the Justice Department and part of this.

But then, so pick it up from there.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

So they're looking at this specific photo from The New York Times, and that photo shows a bunch of nuns, and they're, you know, dressed head to toe in their habits and their veils, and they've got these big Trump scarves around their necks.

Now, I know not everyone might think that's appropriate for a nun, but what is definitely inappropriate is how these two prosecutors, JP Cooney and Molly Gaston, go on to talk about the nuns.

Uh, JP Cooney is joking with her, uh, with Molly Gaston, and she tells him, "I would like to prosecute these nuns." And he says, "[audio cuts out] you, although I'd love to basically prosecute any of them in a head habit." Uh, and you know-

Is there anyone else, um, based on some of the communications you obtained, um, from Senator Grassley, were there others involved or others who knew about the, the scheme that these two had going on? 'Cause to me, there's, there needs to be some accountability for somebody who may still be, uh, hanging around the Justice Department and part of this.

Absolutely.

What is the dynamic like with you and your friendlies and then some of the not ones?

So there's so much going on here, and I think something that's important for people to remember is people like Stephen Miller, even Janie Vance, they still prefer the antagonism of left-wing media.

They're really good at that.

Interesting.

And Donald Trump loves to get into it with, like, new media.

So they're a friendly administration.

They know conservative media is interested in telling the truth about what they're doing, but they're not necessarily going to pick us over legacy media, as we saw by this Vanity Fair profile that came out yesterday.

I think he would hear that, though, and go, what? And now you're looking at him, oh, by the way.

Uh, what was that experience like as you went around Minneapolis with him? What have you found the situation in Minneapolis to be like? And is it still somewhat stunning to you that the Democrat opposition to Trump 2.0 is a bunch of white women screaming at ICE agents for arresting predators?

Uh, on your last point, yes, it is astonishing, and I think I was really looking forward to this trip to Minneapolis because we've seen for weeks now, obviously, this protesting, rioting, violence, uh, you know, the, the breaking into of an FBI car and handling their weapons, all these horrific slogans and chants and threats to ICE.

Uh, we've had reporters on the ground there, my colleague Jenny, my colleague Brecca.

Uh, and so when the vice president's office asked me if I wanted to come with him on the trip, I said, "Absolutely." Um, and the vice president, I, I believe he timed the trip with some announcements from the DOJ.

We went to Ohio first, Toledo, yesterday morning, and while we were there, he announced that Pam Bondi had just called him and told him that they were filing charges against, uh, several of the protesters involved in storming that church, uh, over the weekend.

And so right as we got to Minneapolis, we were finding out that, uh, a judge had blocked the DOJ from actually filing these charges against Don Lemon, and so that was all kind of going down as we arrived.

And then just have to note, it is freezing there.

So what do you think the protest movement here, or the direct action lunatics, whatever we should call them, what are they gonna do next?

Mm

... how the border literally has been closed the entire year, the amount of, uh, deportations that are taking place.

I know there's people that want there to be more, but a lot took place this year.

Uh, if you look at the ICE enforcement activities, his foreign policy, and he'll tell you himself, and he's told me and others many times, he's ended eight wars across the world, maybe nine, and maybe more.

Uh, he's strong-armed and shown the world how he means what he says when it comes to people like Nicolás Maduro.

Uh, he's, he's shown us all over the world that, i- when he threatens, he means what he says, and Rubio has emphasized this, but now the rest of the world understands this as well.

And then if you think about...

Am I being too rosy?

Why? Why do they feel that way? What is it the GOP isn't doing or Democrats are doing?

Well, I think many people are correctly assessing that the GOP is very divided right now.

Uh, there is massive contention, argument, uh, hatred, all of these different things, um, that are just boiling within the Republican Party right now, many of them tied, actually, to the death of Charlie Kirk and how people are, are handling his death, how they are communicating with one another, and, um, how they are looking at the country and, uh, assessing what needs to be done.

And so, I think when you look at the, the state of the Republican Party right now, uh, there are lawmakers who are not super interested in the midterms, they're not super interested in, uh, in securing victory for Republicans.

There's also lawmakers who are out there doing their own thing.

You know, you have people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who, uh, are resigning from office.

You have murmurs that other people are resigning from office as well.

Mm-hmm.

movies mary margaret what's your sense on what's happening at netflix

well first of all i'd just like to say that my mother is so vindicated she's been telling me my entire life that netflix that disney that all of these groups We're infiltrating our content with ideology.

And when I was a kid, I was like, she's crazy, there's no way.

And then I started reporting and I was blown away by the massive amount of ideology in shows, in everything.

Even when you boil it down to simple things like the way Disney portrays fathers, for example.

It's everywhere.

But when it comes to gender ideology, I completely agree with you, Jack.

And this is something that, quite frankly, it seems like the FBI just isn't quite prepared to actually dig into yet, is it?

So have you heard this in real life, or w- have you ever experienced, you know, President Trump putting on the tunes? [laughs]

Absolutely.

I mean, I think anyone who covers the White House has heard it at this point.

Sometimes you'll hear it, you know, like, from the position that that video was taken in, which is, you know, you come down Pebble Beach, and you're right outside the briefing room.

Like, yeah, you'll hear it there.

Uh, but then there's other times when we'll go out to the new, um, patio area where the Rose Garden is, used to be, and the tunes will be playing there.

I think a good example of this is, um, when I went to the, the s- the, uh, honoring of Charlie Kirk for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Mm.

What do you think of Pope Leo thus far?

(laughs) Um, I'm, I'm hoping to see more that, uh, can give me a more solid opinion of him.

I was very excited about him at first, and, um, some of the recent comments that we've been hearing from him, I'm not...

Uh, I'm a little perplexed by, uh, you know, we have a long history of Popes commenting on American politics and especially with Pope Francis, I think he jumped in at inopportune moments, I would say, and didn't really weigh in on a lot of the, uh, issues that many of us, and I'm sure you, Hugh, had with, um, former President Joe Biden and his, uh, affinity for abortion and different issues that very much contradicted Catholic teaching.

So, um, Pope Leo, I know he's kind of waded in a little bit, and I, I think his recent comments showed that he realized maybe he shouldn't be, and he said he's not gonna weigh in on American politics as much.

Uh, so I'm-

they hate to see that they're getting pushed aside by the bright young people.

Well, I will say I, I do get elbows in the ribs and I was not expecting that, and I, I mean literally elbows in the ribs.

What was it and what happened?

You know, I'm someone that loves to talk to students.

I know Virginia does as well.

Uh, we have lots to share from our reporting, and we had been asked to be on this panel and talk to students about faith and how it intersects with journalism.

I'm Catholic, Virginia's Christian, and we have lots to share on this.

We're on the ground all the time.

We've heard- worked hard for years.

Mary Margaret, are you trying to say that the Bible was against a couple dudes getting married?

First, what were you there to participate in?

Hey, Jon.

So, yes.

I had been asked to be on a faith panel at this event, so as a Catholic, as a reporter, someone who has covered the culture issues, I would have been talking about these issues that I've covered so closely, abortion, m- marriage, gender, family.

All these different life issues.

Let's face it, Jon, a lot of the reporters who are giving us our news right now are not currently people of faith and they're very religiously illiterate, so we could have been offering a really interesting perspective here and unfortunately, we won't be.

Did the organizers give you a journalistic rationale for pulling you out of the event?

(laughs) Well, at first they said that they had objections to our reporting and they tried to say we had accuracy issues.

Yeah

... 'cause she's such a good, um, she's been s- covering Israel since October 7th and done such a impressive job.

She shared a really funny video, and it's on her timeline if anyone wants to see it, of this Israeli woman, I believe she was Israeli, and she's driving a moped or something around Israel, and she's basically saying, "We thought that Trump was a horrible, horrible person." She's joking about it, and she's saying, "But you saved us.

Like, you, you solved all our problems." And she's joking, and she's like, "Okay, if you don't want me to like abortion, I won't like abortion.

If you don't want me to like the gender stuff, I won't like the gender stuff.

Like, you saved us.

This is...

And Charlie Kirk's assassin seemed very motivated by trans ideology too.

... comes to the White House briefing room, or do you just walk in and you have no idea? What is that like?

So I, I am lucky to be able to be around the vice president fairly often recently.

I was actually, uh, this was a really sad occasion, but I traveled with him and Usha to Minneapolis after the Annunciation Church shooting, um, and they visited with the families of the victims, and that was just, like, a really incredible experience to be able to be there.

So sad, um, but to see them comforting these families in that way.

So I have a lot of respect for the vice president and, um, we didn't have a heads-up when he was coming to the press briefing, but the way you can sometimes know is because if you watch the press briefing, you'll see the podium has a little identifier on it.

Yeah.

Like, it is online.

It is through video.

... comes to the White House briefing room? Or do you just walk in and you have no idea? What is that like?

So, I...I am lucky to be able to be around the vice president fairly often recently.

I was actually, uh, this was a really sad occasion, but I traveled with him and Usha to Minneapolis after the Annunciation Church shooting.

Uh, they visited with the families of the victims, and that was just, like, a really incredible experience to be able to be there, just so sad, um, but to see them comforting these families in that way.

So, I have a lot of respect for the vice president and, um, we didn't have a heads up when he was coming to the press briefing, but the way you can sometimes know is because if you watch the press briefing, you'll see the podium has a little identifier on it.

Yeah.

This man was motivated, and he said this in court documents, because everyone in the world was saying, all these leftist Democrats, Chuck Schumer was saying, "If Roe v.

Wade is overturned, women will die all over the country." And so, this guy saw online, he saw all these radical leftist groups posting the justices' addresses and he thought, "Great.

What are the details on that? How long were they in the air?

Yeah, so we titled this video "How to Win a War in 37 Hours" because that's how long it took.

It was a 37-hour mission.

Uh, and these, these guys were up there for a really long time and, uh, one of the coolest things about our video, I think, is the way our production team made these graphics to show you just how much gasoline is involved in flying these planes.

Uh, so while they're up there, they're flying so far that they need to refuel six times on this mission.

And when I first heard that, I thought that, you know, "Oh, they gotta refuel six times." It didn't seem like that big of a deal to me until Brent and I, my boss, got in the simulator and we realized just how hard this is.

Because what that means is you're flying this massive, very, very, very expensive plane that's got two massive bombs on it, and your wings of your plane are full of fuel because they can hold a ton of fuel and that's, that's a really cool, uh, mechanism they have.

Yeah.