Capitol Report Full Broadcast (June 2)

Good evening. Tonight on the Capitol Report, President Trump tapping Bill Pulte as the acting director for national intelligence. What he brings to the role is accountability coming for weaponized intel. And Secretary Rubio on the hill, and he's not holding anything back. China, Taiwan, Cuba. And a warning, the Iranian regime is in serious trouble. What he's telling lawmakers about America's role ahead. Iran is in a very serious situation, and if it was up to the political class there, they'd probably make a deal tomorrow. And California voters head to the polls in a high-stakes primary that could shake up the governor's race, Los Angeles City Hall, and even pit two Republican congressmen against each other. This is Capitol Report, live from our global headquarters in our nation's capital. Here's Steve Lance. And good evening. President Trump pushing back against media claims that the U.S. and Iran have stopped talking. That's as Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Capitol Hill today, saying the regime is in a very serious situation, declaring they're losing hundreds of millions of dollars each day. We go now live to NTD's White House correspondent, Mari Otsu, standing by at the North Lawn. Mari, good evening. Hey, Steve. Good evening. Yeah, that's right. And today, President Trump is declaring that talks between the U.S. and Iran have been continuously ongoing. That's as he's pushing back against media reports that say that those talks have either stopped or halted in recent days, the president calling those erroneous and false. And that's as Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying on Capitol Hill for the first time since the start of Operation Epic Fury. The secretary of state today saying that the Iranian regime now is willing to talk about certain dimensions of their nuclear program that even a month ago they refused to talk about. Take a look. Now we're begging to get back into a deal that you all crashed in the first place. There's no one begging. The Iranians might be begging because their economy is losing hundreds of millions of dollars a day. Secretary Rubio pushing back against the perception of Iranian strength, saying the regime has hyperinflation, their currency is completely devalued, and they're struggling to make payroll for their government workers. Iran is in a very serious situation. And if it was up to the political class there, and I understand everybody there is sort of radical in some way. But if it was up to the people that actually like go to elections and wear the suits and you see on TV, they'd probably make a deal tomorrow. This coming as the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports is holding strong, with CENTCOM announcing that 122 commercial vessels have now been redirected. And President Trump continues to condemn media coverage of the conflict, saying that even if Iran were to admit defeat, quote, the failing New York Times, the China Street Journal, Wall Street Journal, and all other members of the fake news media will headline that Iran had a masterful and brilliant victory over the United States of America. They have totally lost their way. The White House continuing to cite Iran's fragmented leadership and troubled communication as a sticking point in peace talks. What's complicated them is you ultimately are negotiating with people who then have to negotiate within their own system to see what they're allowed to give and where they're allowed to agree to. What is abundantly clear is that Iran is facing severe internal. This is why you see reporting about there might be a deal in the next few days, because internally it takes time to get responses from them, sometimes upward to five or six days. Meanwhile, President Trump appointing William Pulte to serve as acting director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard, announcing, quote, William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the markets and over $10 trillion at Fannie Mae, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago. Dr. Oz defending the decision to appoint Pulte as he takes to the White House briefing podium. Well, I think Bill is a great guy. I know him socially. I've not worked with him in his current job, but I do trust the president's judgment. He is a very sharp and quick study of people. They're emotional with abilities and their ability to persevere in the face of hardship. So I have confidence in his decision. And Steve, while Pulte's appointment has gotten some criticism from some Republican senators, including Senator Bill Cassidy, Senator John Cornyn and Senator Elisa Murkowski for what they call his lack of national security experience. The White House is expressing complete confidence in Pulte with the vice president, J.D. Vance, saying today that he's a great guy who most importantly recognizes that the intel community must respond to the elected government and leadership rather than the other way around. Steve. And Mari, before I let you go, news coming in today about the White House correspondence dinner that was postponed due to the assassination attempt. What's the latest? Yeah, sure. So as we both know, we were we were there at the last one. And President Trump from the Washington Hilton, after having just survived that assassination attempt, a truth out while he was still in the venue, let the show go on. And today it is with Weijia Jiang, the president of the White House Association, officially rescheduling another dinner for July 24th. President Trump praising the move, saying it cannot allow that he cannot allow, quote, lunatics to change our way of life or scheduling and calling this rescheduling a sign of strength and fortitude. The president is slated to speak headline this next White House correspondence dinner in July. And he's also announcing that the venue will be the Waldorf Astoria, which he says is a ballroom that he himself built. Steve, back to you. Fascinating stuff. Mari Otsu, live from the White House. Thank you, Mari. And a new measure aimed at addressing cyber security threats posed by A.I. President Trump today signing an executive order allowing some A.I. companies to submit their new models to a government review 30 days before public release. The president had planned to sign a previous version of this executive order last month, but postponed the signing. He didn't want to undermine the United States position in its A.I. competition with China. The latest executive order would rely on voluntary cooperation with A.I. companies like Google, Open A.I. and Anthropic. And acting attorney general Todd Blanche is testifying before Congress on the Justice Department's budget. He was asked about the Trump administration's anti-weaponization fund. Here's what he said. The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund. Not moving forward ever. Correct. The anti-weaponization fund stems from a settlement between President Trump and the IRS. It calls for the federal government to pay out nearly $1.8 billion to compensate those who were unfairly targeted by the federal government. The fund was paused by a federal judge and a hearing on its legal basis has now been canceled. And Medicare and Medicaid administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz announcing that 160 additional drugs have been added to TrumpRx.gov. Dr. Oz also adding that the Trump administration is taking action against fraud in the health care system. Entity's Jason Perry has the latest. Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, giving an update on Tuesday saying that the Trump administration is increasing transparency on drug prices by adding 160 more medications to TrumpRx.gov. The website lets people know the lowest price for drugs before they head to the pharmacy. And it now includes over 750 medications, which means four out of five drugs that are picked up by Americans are now on the site. Dr. Oz giving an update on TrumpRx.gov. We're now up to about 12 million unique visitors to the site. Estimated savings are about $500 million. And again, climbing rapidly as more Americans learn about the program. And it is our great hope and belief that the average American, before they make a purchasing decision for a pharmaceutical product, will start using TrumpRx.gov as a standard, as a baseline to take advantage of something that's been given to. Dr. Oz also sharing the administration's efforts against fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. We've been aggressively going after states red and blue. We wrote a letter to Florida. The difference, by the way, was Florida responded by saying, we know we have a problem. We're going to double down. We want a moratorium on all of our durable medical equipment suppliers. And why? Because there are twice as many durable medical equipment suppliers in South Florida than McDonald's. Oz also saying his agency is taking a closer look at personal care service attendants, which are paid by Medicaid, adding, quote, that job is now by twofold the most common job in California. And it's the most common job in New York. A reporter asked Dr. Oz why that should be surprising when the health care industry is growing and those numbers come from two of America's most populous states. The primary difference between paying for a hernia operation and paying someone to be a personal care service is the reason it's concerning to us. If you're having a hernia operation, you have a scar. So I know you got something and you have a doctor who is licensed and you had it done in a facility that's also credentialed and has been inspected. When you get personal care services as an unlicensed person in an unmonitored setting promising they did something, that's a lot of handshakes and, you know, finger crossing and hoping that it worked out OK. Dr. Oz noting that when people get health care benefits they're not supposed to get, it makes prices go up for everyone else. Jason Perry in TV News. And the Trump administration is using a whole of government approach to eradicate fraud in government programs. Now a new bill specifically targeting deportable aliens convicted of fraud in the United States. Joining me now to discuss her new bill is Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. Senator Marsha Blackburn, thanks so much for joining us. Sure. Senator, you've introduced a bill called the Fraud Accountability Act. We saw Dr. Oz today in the briefing room talking about this in depth. Talk to us in plain terms what your bill would do and how would it sort of mesh with what the executive branch is already doing? One of the things that has really come to light after we did DOJ and then President Trump's second term is the amount of fraud that is being committed in different programs. We've seen this across the country, Minnesota, California, New York, Illinois. And what we are doing is drilling down on this. The estimates that we have seen from the Office of Management and Budget and from the GAO is it could be upwards of 500, 600 billion dollars a year. Now my legislation is specific to people that are in the country that are not citizens. And what this would do is to amend the Nationality and Immigration Act and insert a provision that says all fraud will trigger a deportation or a denaturalization event. And this is fraud from dollar one against local, state, federal government and against U.S. citizens. What it also would do is allow any federal court to hear these cases rather than having to wait on getting an immigration judge. These cases would immediately go to federal court. But what we have heard, what I've heard from so many Tennesseans is this fraud issue needs to be under control. And people that come to our country, if they are coming here, if they're defrauding U.S. citizens and defrauding the U.S. taxpayer, they need to be denaturalized. They need to be deported. You know, it's really been eye opening, shocking, quite frankly, just how widespread and pervasive this fraud is. Dr. Oz was actually on our program last week and he gave some really surprising information about how fraud works. I believe we have a clip. All you need to do to pierce this system is to have some Medicare beneficiary numbers. Those are basically credit cards. And we believe there's more than two million that have been stolen. So we've got a lot of numbers out there, credit cards that people can take advantage of. Once you begin to appreciate how much money can be stolen, professionals get involved. These are organized criminal syndicates. Sometimes foreign governments are behind these syndicates. Senator, when most people think of government fraud, they might picture, you know, a few bad actors here and there. But we're talking about hundreds of billions of dollars with possible foreign governments involved. Just how big of a problem do we have on our hands? And this is what we have to quantify. As I said, it can be upwards of 500 billion dollars a year. Think about that and the cost of this. And what you have, some of the cartels have set up what is called fraud dens. And they spend their time every day defrauding not only citizens, but different levels of government, your local state and federal government, rooting this out, prosecuting these individuals. And we know in Minnesota, the arrests and prosecutions have already begun. Beyond the dollar figures, which are staggering that you just laid out, who are the real victims here? And who do you think is actually being hurt when this money is being stolen? Yes. And many times these fraud dens are attacking senior citizens. We've all heard of people that were hit through one of the fraud dens in some way, seniors, who ends up getting scammed and they lose thousands of dollars. And we also know that these fraud dens work against government, where they think they can get inside a system or a program that is being administered, like Medicaid, like Children's Services. And they get in and they establish themselves as a provider. We've all heard a lot about the hospice work in California, in LA, where most of the country's hospice companies are located, but many of those are fraudulent. We've heard about the medical device companies that are fraudulent in nature, they're in South Florida, and they're defrauding individuals. And as Dr. Iles was saying, they get these Medicaid beneficiary and Medicare beneficiary cards, and then they charge them back with all sorts of tests and equipment and services that are never provided. Senator, lastly, I want to get your thoughts switching gears here a bit on the America 250 celebrations happening throughout the nation really for this year's 4th of July. Over the weekend, there were a series of musicians booked to perform at the concert series organized by the White House that dropped out. You represent the great state of Tennessee that has graduated many talented musicians and entertainers. Talk to us about some folks that might be available. And should we ultimately be letting politics get in the way of celebrating our national history? And I am like everybody else, I don't know any of the details around any of that contracting for the Freedom 250. What I do know is this, it is going to be a grand celebration. It is going to celebrate every corner of this great nation. And there are so many talented performers and entertainers who would love to come and be a part of this. This isn't politics. It's about the greatness and goodness of our nation celebrating 250 years and getting ready for 250 more. Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, greatly appreciate you joining us. You got it. In California voters heading to the polls in a high stakes primary, they could shake up the governor's race, the Los Angeles mayor's race, and even pit two Republican members of Congress against each other. NTV's Chris Bobb reports. There's only one candidate who can get into the top two who has the ability to bring the change we need. That's me. We can't have two Democrats in the top two. In California, 61 candidates on Tuesday's ballots are running to replace term limited governor Gavin Newsom. Under California's top two system, the two highest vote getters advance to November regardless of party unless one candidate clears 50% outright. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton has emerged as the leading Republican in the race with endorsements from both President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. Stop taking money from California taxpayers who can barely afford their health care to give free health care to citizens of other countries who shouldn't even be here. That's up to $20 billion a year now that's going to end. Hilton has focused most of his campaign on affordability, health care costs, and criticism of California's Democratic leadership. Meanwhile, leading Democrat Javier Becerra has leaned into organized labor support throughout the campaign, posting on X Today, quote, one of our opponents may have a billion dollars, but we have something stronger. Nurses, teachers, firefighters, union workers, dreamers, and everyday Californians. The billionaire in question is Tom Steyer, who has been using social media to connect with voters. I'm Tom Steyer, and I'm about to ride the D. Steyer has positioned himself as a billionaire against billionaires, promising to increase taxes on the wealthy. Let's make California affordable for Californians, and let's beat the corporation. Governor Gavin Newsom declined to endorse in the gubernatorial primary. From housing to food to basic services, everything is too expensive, and it's getting worse. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass is facing a difficult re-election fight as critics continue to scrutinize the city's response to the Pacific Palisades fires. One of her challengers is reality television personality Spencer Pratt, whose home was destroyed in the fires. We need more business. You've seen all the for lease signs on storefronts throughout the city. We need to bring back business to LA. As mayor, I will clean the streets. I will make customers want to be out and about patronizing local businesses, and I will cut regulations and support commerce in this city. Bass, the current mayor of Los Angeles, has defended her record on rebuilding efforts and city management. I battled red tape and insurers to help families rebuild from fires. Now I haven't always got it right. There's more work to do. Another challenger, council member Nithya Raman, has campaigned from the left as a Democrat and Democratic Socialist of America backed candidate. Why are thousands of animals being euthanized in our city shelters? Because our animal services department went nearly two years without stable leadership. And at the congressional level, two Southern California Republicans are now battling each other after redistricting placed longtime Congressman Ken Calvert and Congresswoman Young Kim in the same heavily Republican district. This is turning California's 40th congressional district into one of the state's most closely watched GOP matchups. Polls close tonight at 8 p.m. Pacific. Chris Bobb, NTD News. And we'll be discussing more on that with our panel later in the show. Stay tuned. In the meantime, you're looking at a live shot of the White House. NBA stars cashing massive checks from China-linked companies while staying silent on the CCP's human rights abuses. Does every endorsement deal help Beijing whitewash the regime's human rights abuses? I'll sit down with Ennis Cantor, Freedom, in studio just after the break. I'm Jonathan Lawson. If you're 50 to 85, please listen closely. The lock I want to talk to you about isn't the one on your door. It's a rate lock for your life insurance that guarantees that once you're insured, your rate can never go up at any time for any reason. Many policies you see don't have one, but you can get a lifetime rate lock from Colonial Penn. This plan was designed for people on a fixed income with coverage options that start at $9.95 a month. That's less than 35 cents a day. Your rate is locked in for life. Coverage can never be canceled and your acceptance is guaranteed. You cannot be turned down because of your health. See for yourself. Call for an information kit and gift. Both are free, no obligation. Call 1-800-624-6556 for your free information and your free gift. That's 1-800-624-6556. 1-800-624-6556. 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I've been fortunate to be Ganjing World teacher's premium channel for the past three years and it's been shaping my curriculum and teaching both in the classroom setting and in our home school. If children can learn to support each other from a very young age and encourage each other and help, it'll only strengthen the future of our society. You can just assure yourself everything on Ganjing Campus, on Ganjing World, it will be safe, it will be clean. Spark many positive changes in our students. Ganjing Campus equips educators worldwide with powerful teachers premium channels and high quality learning resources to help children learn and grow safely online. When you support one teacher, Ganjing World matches your support to help another. Support Ganjing Campus. Scan to learn more. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. The Chinese Communist Party is leveraging any means necessary to influence American institutions, from universities to professional sports. Joining us now in studio to discuss is Ennis Cantor-Freedom, former NBA star and human rights activist. Ennis, really great to have you in studio. Thank you for having me. Ennis, you're bringing attention to your former competitive athlete, Steph Curry. He just signed a massive shoe deal with a Chinese company called Li Ning. Beyond Steph Curry, is it hypocritical for NBA players in the NBA more broadly to cash in these Chinese China-linked deals? Big time. I think a number is growing bigger and bigger every day. Stephen Curry, obviously the most famous one, but I believe right now there are close to 30 NBA players are signing some kind of deal with the Chinese shoe deal. But it actually makes me sad because Stephen Curry, obviously one of the faces of the league, he has millions of followers around the world. And I remember back in 2020, all these NBA players were standing up against all the problems in America. They were lecturing us and everybody in our society about the problems that are happening in America, social justice, and say, we have so many problems that are happening in America. We've got to bring some kind of change. But then I see the hypocrisy. Throughout the years, all these players are now taking hundreds of millions of dollars by these shoe companies that are linked with the slave labor and sweatshops. This is hypocritical, unacceptable. Someone has to call them out. The irony is you're sitting in here with us right now because of what you were putting on your sneakers and your shoes. It's amazing. I don't know if we have the B-roll of it, but if our viewers don't know, you took a stance on human rights. You didn't really say anything, but you put it on your shoes and it caused quite a stir. For athletes, the CCP's crimes can sometimes feel distant when there's a huge payday right in front of them. How does each individual endorsement deal help to whitewash the CCP's crimes against humanity? It was so interesting because NBA was actually pushing us to talk about the social justice problems that are happening in America. Just like literally you said, I started to put in all these messages on my shoes, which were non-political. I said, free Tibet, stand with Hong Kong, stand with Taiwan, free Uyghurs, stop organ harvesting, which was so interesting. Even before the first game started, they told me that you've got to take your shoes off because we're getting so much pressure from the Chinese government. Obviously, they didn't say Chinese government, but they said internationally. Everybody knows it was from China. After the first game, they stopped showing every Boston Celtics game on television. We're talking about team in NBA, the biggest market after probably the Lakers. Literally after five months, I was fired from my job. This is unacceptable. I'm going to stick to my stomach, which these players who are getting millions of dollars to lecture us about the problems that happen in America, but when it comes to China, everybody's silent. It's really hard to believe the NBA encouraging players to take a stance on social justice issues. Here you are taking a stance against genocide. To your point, many NBA players, they loudly criticize the United States, which they're allowed to do, yet stay silent on China. Talk to us about the double standard and how that double standard is encouraged among athletes. You know why? Because when you criticize America, it doesn't affect their money or business or pocket. That's why they do not care about it. It's hypocrisy because they want the fans to call them more than an athlete or a freedom fighter or social justice warrior, which is hypocritical. I remember having a conversation with many of my teammates in locker rooms, actually. I was like, listen, man, there are millions of people, millions of innocent people in concentration camps getting tortured and raped every day. Put yourself in their shoes. If your mother, if your sister, if your daughter was in those concentration camps getting tortured every day, would you still take money and business over your morals, values, and principles? Wow. They usually turn around and leave the locker room. That is hypocrisy. Also, these players, we're talking about millionaires, and some of them are billionaire now, players like LeBron James, but what else do you want? What else do you want to happen, to just go out there and stand up for something that's bigger than yourself? It's hypocritical. Call them out. NBA is one of the biggest hypocritical organizations in America. I'm just glad that I'm exposing their hypocrisy. Talk to us about, on a personal level, you risked everything, your career, your livelihood. Where did you personally find the strength along the way to take that stance? Empathy, I think that's the one thing that our world is missing because while we are comfortable living in this country, on the other side of the world, people are losing their loved ones, losing their lives, and losing their homes. Especially when you are fighting against something like the Chinese Communist Party, they're going to censor everything, literally. I see all these activists that talk about that many problems are happening in the Middle East, but they do not say a word about the Uyghurs. Why? Because of censorship, because they're scared of the Chinese Communist Party. I think, for me, this is bigger than myself, bigger than basketball, bigger than NBA, because I have empathy in my heart for all these people who are suffering under the biggest dictatorship in the world. Giving a voice to the voiceless, you should be commended for that. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you so much, sir. For now, we are going to be right back. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back. I was a quarterback at Hardaway High School, college first-round draft pick. On and off the field, we were taught to not show any signs of weakness. During the football season, I would stop eating, but I didn't know I was depressed. I thought that something was wrong with me. For 20-plus years, it was physical, physical, physical. We didn't have any education behind what mental health was. I started to learn it starts here first. If this is together, I'll be better as a father, as a man, and as a husband. Put the importance on your mental health. I'm not scared to talk about it anymore. The first tool is therapy. The second one is positive self-talk, and then journaling, putting your thoughts on paper. We have to redefine what being a strong man is, and heal, love your mind. I am so glad you ladies are here. You each have your own rooms. Thank you. Get settled in. I'll call you for dinner. Adopting teen sisters, it's a lot. Girls, you're gonna be late. You want breakfast? No, thanks. We're good. They're always in their own world. Twice the work, twice the surprises. Just try it. But if you think of it that way, they're also twice as fulfilling. Is it okay to call you mom? Of course you can. You see certain things get reincarnated in your children. My daughter is very much inspired by my wife's artistic pursuits. So my daughter started making necklaces. She makes what we call affirmation fashion. I tell her every day that you're black is beautiful. You're black is beautiful. You're black is beautiful. And if there's anything better than being beautiful, it's being smart. If there's anything better than being smart, it's being kind. And reaffirming that every day is our method of making sure her chin never drops. My dad wasn't around. And I remember riding a bike and falling off and cutting myself. And me never just wanting to get back on it. People ask, how your children learn how to ride a bike? And you did. I didn't teach them. I just created an environment where they taught themselves. And all I had to do was be there. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, spending the day on Capitol Hill defending the administration's America First foreign policy. From China, Taiwan, Cuba, and Iran, lawmakers pressing the Secretary of State on some of the administration's biggest foreign policy challenges. And today's Washington correspondent Jack Bradley reports. We remain the world's sole global superpower. From Senate Foreign Relations to the House Appropriations, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defending the administration's America First foreign policy. Outside the briefing room, a small group of protesters arrested before Rubio even began testifying, much of the day focusing on China and its growing threat to Taiwan. I know from our service here together that you agree that China is the greatest national security threat that we face. And one of the key reasons is their repeated threats to take control of Taiwan by force if necessary. In December, the U.S. approved a record $11 billion arms sale to Taiwan. And it was so big and so noticeable that the Chinese became very aggressive about it and some of the incursions they undertook as a result of it. It was more in one sale than we did in the entirety of the Biden administration. Democrats are pressing Rubio on President Trump's comments about using a potential $14 billion arms package as a bargaining chip. President Trump has said publicly that arms sales to Taipei are a great negotiating chip with China. When the president says it's a great negotiating thing, what he's really saying is it's because China, as you can imagine, always mentions this. We did approve an arms sales, I think $11 billion. There were a six-year period of time under the Obama administration where there were no sales to Taiwan. On Cuba, Rubio made clear that there will be no softening. Virtually every left-wing, radical, violent terrorist group in the western hemisphere has at some point relied on support from Cuba. Cuba continues to host a pretty substantial collection intelligence sites on behalf of the Chinese and the Russians. Rubio describes Cuba as a failed state, largely controlled by the military conglomerate, Gaiza, making meaningful reform highly unlikely. Can they possibly reform, given the people who are currently in charge, both of Gaiza and of their government? And I think the answer is they can't. I really don't believe this system is capable of reform unless new people take over. On Iran, Rubio says that Tehran will not get sanctions relief just for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Any relief, he says, first requires major nuclear concessions. Iran is being sanctioned because they enrich uranium. Throughout the hearings, Rubio stressed one core principle. American foreign aid should advance U.S. interests, not create dependency. For NTV News Washington, I'm Jack Bradley. And on the heels of Rubio's first testimony since the Iran war, new details on nuclear negotiations and clashes with Democrats over the Strait of Hormuz. Tiffany Meyer breaks it all down tonight with foreign policy analyst Harley Lipman. Tune in to Tiffany Meyer tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern. And today Californians will choose which candidates will face off in the race for governor, with the state's open primary presenting a high-stakes race. Joining us now to assess is Lee Neves, a Democratic strategist, and Michelle Backus, a spokesperson for Citizens Alliance. Great to have you both with us. So around four hours from now, polls closing in California for the state's gubernatorial primary. Here are some of the candidates explaining their appeal to voters. Let's have a listen. We know what we need to do to try to construct. We have to reduce the regulations that are keeping developers from being able to pencil out projects. We know that local governments are very afraid of trying to move too quickly. But Javier, your party increased those regulations. If I could leave a word, he's saying his party increased those regulations. Lee, Democrats have been in charge of California for almost a decade. And the state has a severe cost of living crisis, among other things. Do you think voters in California are skeptical of the party's ability to handle those problems? It's California. At the end of the day, the governor is going to be a Democrat. That's just the way California votes. Now, does there need to be significant reform to how we do things, especially when it comes to building homes? There 100% absolutely does need to be. It's not all on the head of state government, though. There's a lot of local governments that are very anti-development, anti-homebuilding, because who are the 10 people that show up at city council to yell at city council anytime there's new development? NIMBYs who don't want their housing values to plummet because there's a new development across the street. So it's a multi-tiered problem that definitely does need a lot of significant reform. And at the end of the day, I think Javier Becerra is going to be your nominee. And hopefully he follows through to eliminate a lot of those regulations. And look, Steve Hilton was correct. There are a lot of Democratic regulations. My own party has put a lot of regulations that have stymied some home building. And hopefully Javier Becerra sees, hey, this is not working. We got to fix it. And you already see some signs of it when it comes to the whole mandatory electric car regulation that Governor Newsom passed with an executive order on his end. Javier Becerra walking that back and saying, hey, we got to do it when it makes sense, when we actually can, and when it's affordable for people, not a set deadline on 2035. Michelle, Steve Hilton, the Republican front-runner, has an extensive background in both business and politics. He's very tuned into Silicon Valley. Do you think that this might improve his reach across voters? And ultimately, do you think a Hilton victory would encourage people to invest more in the state? I think it would encourage people to invest more. You see so many developers. You see so many entrepreneurs moving out of California, voting with their feet, which is extremely unfortunate because California is a beautiful state. But they're fed up. They're fed up with the regulations. They're fed up with the homelessness. They're fed up with the failed leadership in the state. And that's why they're moving to places like Texas or where I'm living right now, which is Florida. We have so many Californians coming here. And you look at the problems. I mean, you look at it. I agree with you, Lee, that politics does start on the local level, and you need to start from there and move forward. But you also have to identify these problems at the local level, at the state level, and also who is getting involved with this. I mean, I've been very big on the Save America Act, and that's something I do think we need to pass, especially looking at elections, because what's going to happen is the people that are contributing the most to this state are going to be the ones that leave because it's just going to become out of control if leadership does not change. I do want to dig in a little bit more here. The governor's primary isn't the only race taking place in the state of California tonight. There's also a high-profile mayoral race in Los Angeles with the incumbent Karen Bass, Mayor Karen Bass, against Spencer Pratt as the two leading candidates. Here's Pratt discussing his platform earlier. I'm a common sense American. That is what I stand for. My party is Angry Angeleno. That's it. I am just a local person that wants our local leadership fixed, our water and power, our sanitation, our police, our fire department. It has nothing to do with any national politics and anything in other countries. Los Angeles, rocked by wildfires, has numerous other issues such as crime, homelessness. Do you think Mayor Bass's track record will hurt her this time around? I think she's been a horrible mayor. I know that's shocking coming from a Democrat. People in LA are frustrated. They are frustrated with the fact that she was out of the country and took her sweet time coming back when the wildfires started. They are frustrated with how things have processed after the wildfires, getting the insurance approval, getting the approval to build homes, you name it. She has failed as a mayor. And look, I'll give Spencer Pratt all the credit in the world. He has tapped into a vein of anger and discontent that people in LA have by the fact that they have been failed by their mayor and by their government. Democrats should be mad at themselves that they don't have their own Spencer Pratt running, that they decided to go ahead and put up Mayor Karen Bass again. And I'll give you the perfect example of what happens when you do that. My hometown is Stockton, California. In 2012, Stockton was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. We're gonna be the largest city in America to go bankrupt, record number of murders, you name it. We were bad news. And there was a mayor running for reelection. And instead of saying, hey, you're not getting the job done, people are mad, you need to step aside. We need to get someone else to run in your place. The powers that be said, no, we're gonna shove this old mayor down your throat for another term. And she got beat by the political equivalent of a wet paper bag. And that is what may very well happen again here. I would not be surprised if Karen Bass doesn't get out of the primary. I would not be surprised if you see Spencer Pratt make it out and you see her challenger on the far left make it out to set up that fight for the general election. Michelle, Spencer Pratt really went viral with that campaign video showing him in a trailer mobile home that he was living in because his house, he was one of the people affected by those wildfires. Do you think his decision as well to keep national politics out of the campaign will appeal and get some of those Democratic votes? Yeah, I do. His campaign ad is wrong. I think a lot of political consults can take a page from that book. But you look at it, you see so many people. I mean, Brandon Johnson was just over with the Pope. You see Gavin Newsom over in China all the time. Focus on your own state. Focus on your own district. And that's exactly what Spencer Pratt is doing. You look at Karen Bass. I mean, her homelessness program, I believe it was $322 million spent on it for a population of roughly 43,000 homeless people in California. They only were able to house roughly 1,500 people off of $322 million. You can do the math on how much money was wasted in just that instance. It's just one example of the failed leadership with Karen Bass. And Californians, LA people are sick of it. They've seen it firsthand. They're living with it. They're dealing with it. Many of us have friends there that have to have private security because of the crime and homelessness in the area. A lot of people are angry. They're fed up. Spencer Pratt is one of them, and he's relating to the common citizen. So I think he's going to make it through tonight. I do, however, think Karen Bass is going to be the one competing with We'll keep a close eye on that. In the meantime, President Trump today tapping Bill Pulte to be the next acting director of the Office for National Intelligence. Analysts across the board saying he's a man of action, but he's also getting some negative attention and reaction. Lee, Pulte has used his place in the administration to investigate allegations of mortgage fraud. Do you expect him to bring accountability and reform to the Department of Justice? Lots of mortgage fraud happening in national security, I take it. Look, he's a man of action if I were to home build. Pulte Homes, very, very famous brand name when it comes to home building. First of all, apparently the DNI, Director of National Intelligence, is now a part-time job because he's still going to be doing his other job in It's very clear his one qualification is 100% blind loyalty to President Trump. Which, hey, if that's what President Trump thinks qualifies you to be the Director of National Intelligence, just come out and say it. This guy's 100% blind loyal to me, that's why he's here. But don't give us this, well, he's really gonna shake up things when it comes to intelligence, when he has zero experience when it comes to intelligence. Tulsi Gabbard, for all the policy differences I may have had with her, she was on the Intelligence Committee in Congress. She was in the military. She had experience, I will give her that. Here, President Trump put someone part-time in this very important position whose only qualification is 100% loyalty to the President. Michelle, Vice President J.D. Vance commented on X today saying Pulte, quote, recognizes that the bureaucracy of the intel community must respond to the elected leadership rather than the other way around. Is this a well-needed and welcome shift? I mean, Bill is a great candidate, in my opinion. He's accomplished a lot. And when we talk about experience, there have been many people that have been put in positions that did not have the experience on paper and still did phenomenally well. I think this is going to be another great example of that. We talked about the blind loyalty to Trump, but if you look at it in the first administration, there were a lot of people that didn't have loyalty to Trump. And that's when things went haywire and kind of went off the rails. Bill has always been loyal to Trump, always followed the America First Patriot agenda, which I think is extremely important to the American citizens right now who put Trump in office back in 2024. And look, I think for everyone's sake, we need to be rooting for people that go into these positions, Democrat, Republican. We all collectively need to ensure that our country succeeds. We should want to see that happen. Lee, ultimately, do you think that much of President Trump's selection process is really meant to work around bureaucratic sluggishness and institutional inertia? You had said something not too long ago, what J.D. Vance said, the intelligence bureaucracy should be held accountable to elected officials. I don't want our intelligence bureaucracy to be politicized at all. Our intelligence infrastructure should not be beholden to elected officials. Our intelligence infrastructure needs to focus on going out and finding the bad guys and making sure they don't hurt America, not making sure the person who's in office is happy with the job you're doing. So that's my biggest problem here. And look, I understand when a president comes into office, he wants the bureaucracy to work his way to work in the way he wants it to work. And that's fine in a lot of other areas when it comes to healthcare, you name it, where there are legitimate policy differences. When it comes to intelligence gathering, there should be zero policy differences. The one goal of intelligence gathering, go find the bad guys, make sure they don't do bad things. Michelle, a lot of prominent conservatives across social media expressing optimism, saying that Pulte may have been chosen because he will declassify a large number of files and continue to hold the previous administration accountable. Do you think he'll continue with the legacy that Tulsi Gabbard left behind? I do. I truly do. And I think the optimism is well deserved because conservatives want to see the country succeed. Bill, I know him personally and he's a great, in my opinion, he's great at what he does. He fights for America. He loves the country. And to be honest with you, I think that's the number one thing that you can ask for right there is someone that actually is going to go to work every day and defend the country. I know that he was close with Tulsi and understood that dynamic. And I truly do at this point wish him the best of luck. And I truly think he's a great person that has the capability to succeed. Lee Neves, Michelle Backus, appreciate you both. And right now you're looking at a live shot of the United States Capitol where senators probing Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen. What he's saying two days after mass arrest made during ICE protests in New Jersey. Whispered across generations, a hidden secret unveils the essence of longevity and vitality, a timeless legend regarding energy and wonder. Rooted in ancient health wisdom, we proudly introduce Puritang Black Ginseng, a 100% natural organic energy drink made from premium six-year-old Korean ginseng. It takes 2,260 days and nights from seed to growth, undergoing a meticulous nine-step process of steaming and drying. Black ginseng reaches its full potency, enriched with ginsenicide RG3 and enhanced absorption efficiency. No sugar, no caffeine, no artificial ingredients. 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You can provide hot meals, safe shelter, medical care and love to more than 2,000 young people who sleep at a Covenant House every night. For over 50 years, Covenant House has been helping youth in crisis. It was pretty tough, but Covenant House really helped me and really helped mold me into the woman I am today. Call or go online right now to safeplacetosleep.org with your gift of just $19 a month. With your monthly donation, you'll receive this soft, comforting blanket as a reminder of the warmth and safety your gift will provide a young person tonight. I have no words to express how Covenant House changed my life. They gave me the love that I needed. They just really genuinely just wanted to help me succeed and I'm succeeding. Your $19 monthly gift is urgently needed to reach other young people who are facing unimaginable situations. Call or go online to safeplacetosleep.org. Your support makes the work of Covenant House possible. Thank you for caring. And welcome back to the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. Just days after dozens of arrests were made outside of the ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen on Capitol Hill today addressing the protests during a budget hearing. Entity correspondent Jason Blair reports. We're not picking and choosing which laws we enforce. We're simply enforcing the law. Secretary Mark Wayne Mullen in the Senate two days after mass arrests happened outside of the Delaney Hall ICE facility in New Jersey. The situation we've seen unfolding at the facility goes well beyond peaceful protest. It's devolved into violence and riots including against law enforcement personnel working to keep Americans safe. The calculated measures that the rioters are taking to try to provoke a response from the professional men and women is just beyond the pale in my in my opinion. What happened with the protesters? The state officials were going out and saying that they were peaceful protesters and ICE was agitating them. That all changed when the governor finally allowed the state police to do their jobs. When they came in they quickly realized these aren't peaceful protesters. These are rioters. Secretary Mullen was asked by Senator Chris Murphy about three letters sent to the Trump administration he says were signed by detainees alleging poor conditions at the Delaney Hall facility. These letters allege that there has been spoiled food, delayed medical treatment, sewage backups, undue pressure to sign deportation paperwork. Since the history of that facility being open not one single health violation has been written. In fact just recently the state of New Jersey's health inspectors went in they didn't find one single violation. Secretary Mullen also stated that after multiple government shutdowns the DHS lost about eight percent of its workforce and a current big priority is getting staffing levels back up to normal. Reporting in Washington DC Jason Blair, NTD News. Beijing appears to be increasing its ability to launch nuclear strikes against the United States. What satellite images reveal about a mysterious complex taking shape in a desert in China's remote Xinjiang region. Find out more tonight on China in Focus with Tiffany Meyer at 8 p.m eastern. That is all we have for you tonight on the Capitol Report. Stay connected to the stories that matter and visit us at ntd.com and download the NTD mobile app. From the nation's capital I'm Steve Lance. Have a great evening. See you back here tomorrow.