The Final 5: July 10, 2026

$25 the company says designed as a relaxing hands-on hobby for adults looking to unplug and get creative I can smell it now Can you smell what the locates cooking for you? Oh, yeah, it's the final five Right now the final five we are minutes away from the passage of a bill that could mark dramatic change in the American housing market So why doesn't the president want it plus the ceasefire is over in Iran? What's next and how many millionaires are there in Congress? Anyway, we'll get you some answers. That's your final five. Let's do this So welcome into the final five on this Friday night We are live and we start with the affordability crisis in the American housing market if you haven't noticed houses are expensive and in less than 30 minutes a massive bipartisan housing bill aiming to lower the cost of housing and Build more is set to become law in spite of the fact President Trump has not signed it However, the Constitution as we all know from civics classes any bill Congress approves automatically becomes law without the president's signature after 10 days Unless the president vetoes it which he hasn't it passed the Senate 85 to 5 and by the house by 358 to 32 It's an important bill It's a bipartisan bill as you know But it unlocks the supply side to lowering the cost for constructing housing building more housing and our biggest challenge is housing Supply since the end of the global financial crisis So why won't President Trump sign the bill? Well as we've told you before on the final five He wants Congress to pass the SAVE Act which would overhaul the country's election system mandating voter ID and changing the process for voter Registration as well as who is eligible by comparison. The president has called the housing bill quote a yawn No, I think it's so unimportant by compared to by compared to the SAVE America Numbers released in recent days show us home prices hit all-time highs in June with the median sales price reaching almost $441,000 home prices have now increased year-over-year for 36 straight months The president has said affordability is a hoax called it a democratic hoax if that's but to be fair It probably is much harder to notice for certain people like my life is Dude, totally transformed. I don't go to the grocery store anymore People go to the grocery store for me most of my meals like when I cook a meal It's like I love to cook actually Big Baker I like to cook for my kids as a special occasion But I don't have to cook anymore because I've got an army of people who are willing to like cook me my food My life is so weird. I fly around on a 757 no more TSA lines for me and the kids It's so weird, but it can become the sort of thing that if you internalize it you start to be an entitled ass One of the biggest wildcards in the affordability conversation remains the war in Iran that memo of understanding signed a couple of weeks ago has Basically crumbled in recent days as the u.s. In Iran trade live-fire strikes today Iranian diplomats as Tehran will return to the terms of the memo if the u.s. Stops violating its end of the deal This despite President Trump's threats this week to take out Iranian bridges and power plants, which would of course impact thousands of Iranian civilians But maybe they won't really care See these astroturf crowds supporting the regime in Tehran, but I don't believe that propaganda I think the Iranian people are supportive of The United States coming in and helping them to achieve liberty and I think that's the direction we need to go Oh for sure The Iranian people are thanking President Trump as the back-and-forth between Iran and the u.s. Continues militarily There is a severe concern about the humanitarian crisis unfolding on the ground in Iran Let's talk more about this with dr. Majid Sadash for he's up late me tonight here on the final five, sir Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it. Thanks for having me first and foremost as we see this back and forth between The u.s. In Iran and we could take the politics and the diplomacy Out of all of this it is back and forth and I think regardless of how people view this situation. It is it is an obscene Humanitarian tragedy we're seeing playing out on the ground Yes, well said Remember this conflict began on the heels of a significant uprising in Iran Where tens of thousands as many as tens of thousands were executed or killed the streets? Trying to overthrow this regime Unsuccessfully, although So the people of Iran are caught between a rock and a hard place literally between a regime That is trying to prevent another nationwide uprising and of course It's inability or lack of desire to abide by the MOU terms despite the Administration's repeated efforts to try to come to terms with them in large part because the regime sees an actual piece as as an as a tool to maintain the suppression machinery so The people of Iran are caught with unfortunately this dilemma You work of a group called the organization of Iranian American communities and and during the during the outset of the war We saw celebrations on the streets, you know here in DC, Northern, Virginia across the country Because it seemed like there was going to be some sort of political sea change on the ground You were going to have a the regime out of the way and maybe maybe some freedom. Maybe maybe a Real leadership out there. This has been a fight that as you mentioned has been going on for a long long time Yes, it's been really a war the main war that is going on in reality is between the regime and the people of Iran It's a war that dates back more than 45 years This is an illegitimate regime that has been living through the barrel of a gun It has used external Conflicts as a as a as a tool to maintain its grip on power to distract international community from holding it accountable and certainly it's it's Desire to maintain this conflict in a low level if it if it can Cannot be overstated this the peace really is like a noose for this regime That is verbatim What may emerge I'll be the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran told us in Paris a few weeks ago when we Were there for a conference and rally and so this regime sees an actual peace as an impediment to As an impact sees it as an impediment To his existence. So at this point in in the conflict and whether or not we have a a ceasefire or not The president certainly had some words to say about that the other day You mentioned about where that where the the attention should be paid moving forward here We don't know how much longer this is going to last. We don't know how much longer the regime holds on for What's your message to people watching this tonight? I mean what if there's ways that people can help or ways that people can follow along But what's your best advice to them? I think I can say that the summary of it can be kind of seen in a resolution that is That is before Congress House Resolution 166 it has an overwhelming majority of numbers of Congress co-sponsoring it It urges our policy makers Essentially to endorse a regime change But a regime change that occurs by the people of Iran and their organized resistance it endorses the ten-point plan that mrs Maria Maria Mojave introduced decades ago. And so that's the third option I think that MOU is a good faith effort effort on the part of administration We see that this regime is not capable of abiding by it And the reason for that is it needs to keep its security forces on the streets It needs to persecute that will it needs to kill and rape on main main Iranian Residents men and women children and in order to do that needs the Basiji and IRGC on their streets and war Even if at low level is a great execute Excuse for it and I wouldn't let me add one other thing today I saw a picture that was sent to us through social media from Iran of a family member of mine, right? she was shot trying to Participate in the protests in Iran in January for the past six months. She was in her house Attending to the bullet wounds. I saw the picture of her and her bullet wounds She was scared and has never sought medical attention in Iran Because this regime hunts the injured and that is the regime we are dealing with So President Trump put the description of this regime very well just the other day. These are criminal animals barbaric individuals that have been reigning over the Iranian people and persecuting them at will at a rate that I mentioned is Indescribable and shouldn't not should not be acceptable over any part of humanity Europeans and a lot should hold the regime accountable From jeeps out of sport. Thank you very much for joining us and offering your perspective on this tonight We'll be watching this obviously very closely as we've had been throughout the conflict. Thanks again Thank you, and we're back after this If you think politics are just for rich people We have the interview for you tonight My guests and I wrote a piece for notice called millionaires are over Represented in the US Senate by a lot Taylor Giorno back up late with me tonight here on the final five to talk about this I saw this I said we got to talk to Taylor because there are so many people out there to think Politicians are raking in the money and and the reality is you've determined that that may be the case in the US Senate Yeah, so I think that there is a sort of common understanding that there are a lot of rich people In Congress, but there's not really any up-to-date or good data on just how rich members of Congress are which is why notice Basically launched this project. We wanted to understand Members of Congress are elected to represent their constituents at the highest level of government But are they actually representative of their constituents particularly when it comes to wealth? Which is is such a dividing factor, especially today within our society and something that really is a key area of policy You know, we see the president's push on affordability. We just saw the tax bill got passed last summer There are a lot of big questions and questions that impact millions of Americans every single day so what does it mean that a group of most mostly multi millionaires are The ones that are sort of bringing their experiences and perspectives to shape the policy that shapes the world that we live in So if the median senator is worth about what 4.4 million dollars and the average American is not In this time where we are having debates about affordability and we're talking about a lot of things that are much more expensive for Americans How can they actually understand what the average American is dealing with right now? Yeah, well just to give you a number according to the Census Bureau the median American households net worth is about $62,000 so that's about 70 times less than the median member of the Senate and You know, so a lot of these richer members of the Senate we reached out to and we asked them basically this exact question How do you feel like your wealth informs the policymaking that you that you do? And frankly, we did not hear back from a lot of them But some members of Congress come in and they're already millionaires or and some of them have made their their wealth throughout their life So for example, Senator Rick Scott He is a Republican from Florida and he is probably he is absolutely according to our data One of the richest members of Congress more than five hundred million dollars as a median net worth and when we reached out to him to Ask him this question, you know, you've got hundreds of millions of dollars. You've got three airplanes according to your financial disclosures How does it impact your policymaking? He really impressed upon us and walked through us through growing up in public housing To the journey to starting a health care company to Becoming basically a multimillionaire before he even got to the governor's mission in Florida and the Senate So a lot of a lot of these members if they're willing to talk about it will point to you know I haven't always been this way but I think that how it impacts their policymaking perspectives is an Outstanding question that a lot of constituents will have and might be top of mind heading into the election And this is a bipartisan thing we should point out because looking around here Virginia Senator Mark Warner was extremely wealthy when he ran for for governor of a long time ago That's no secret. They don't really make you know, he's not quiet about that But when you look at people like Elizabeth Warren somebody who was who is railed against millionaires and over time she herself You know has certainly become one She actually came into Congress as a millionaire She had a net worth of around median net worth around eight million dollars when she came in and it's about a little over 11 Million now and her assets overall haven't changed too terribly much in terms of the composition But interestingly enough on her financial disclosure She is of course a prolific author She has royalty agreements disclosed on there for nine bucks including four since she came into office Which writing a book is one of the few forms of outside employment that members of Congress can have generally who's the richest senator? By far it is Senator Jim Justice the Republican from West Virginia. He has agriculture coal and hospitality Empire Pretty much all of which he transferred over to his children once he became a senator in 2024 But at least on paper, he is the richest member of the Senate by far He commutes daily to Washington on his private jet with his faithful sidekick baby dog We all are very familiar with last thing I want to ask you here is is as you went through all of this I'm just curious. Did anything surprise you with the numbers? You came across because financial disclosures are by and large public data But but still there's got to be some things that stuck out to you that were that were a bit curious or maybe surprising There are there's a wealth of fun interesting facts Hidden in these financial disclosures whether it is about the richer members of Congress, you know, Senator Richard Blumenthal His wife and her family owned part of the Empire State Building. Oh senator Pete Ricketts and his family They own part of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. There's a lot of interesting ownership within Among senators, I encourage people check this out. We'll push the link out from notice Taylor. It's good to see you again Yeah, great to see you. Thanks for having me on Modified us back after this Welcome back. President Trump continues his push for Republicans to pass the Save America bill Which calls for a series of changes to voter laws plus he's calling for new restrictions on transgender Americans Let's talk about it all with Tyler hack of the Christopher Street project. They're up late with me tonight here on the final five Tyler Welcome back. Good to see you again. Thanks for having me Jim. This debate continues Let's first talk about what the president is called Republicans are calling the Save America Act It really has to do with with changes to voter registration There's been a lot of talk about how this might impact people who have different names by virtue of marriage But there isn't a lot of talk about the effects that this could potentially have on on transgender Americans Yeah, I mean at the core of this bill 150 million Americans don't have access to a passport of the folks who make $50,000 a year or less only a fifth of them have access to a passport and those folks would all be disenfranchised if they don't have access to a birth certificate Which has the name that they currently go by and over 70 million people have changed their name Their name is different now than what it is on their birth certificate and for trans people that's introduced introduces a whole nother hurdle because people so often try to change their government documents and now as we're seeing in states like Kansas are like unable to and are getting Their drivers licenses mailed back to them and it's just it's really hard as it is To get access to accurate identification and now that's needed to vote That's I'm glad you mentioned Kansas. We have not talked a lot about what happened there But I think it's important to talk about it briefly a couple of a couple of weeks ago People who identify as transgender in in the state of Kansas were basically told we are no longer offering drivers licenses with that with that marker and Basically your driver's license is no longer valid, right exactly and there was no warning time They just got a letter saying your driver's license is invalid It's not like they gave people a month to go back to the DMV and apply for a new driver's license These people like couldn't get to work had to take off work had to get a ride Like these are unnecessary hurdles and really the cruelty is the point and so as we go back to the discussion We've been seeing play out in Washington as things stand right now This bill does not appear to have the votes to pass You got to have 60 votes Republicans cannot get the Democratic support that they need to get it across the finish line But they've continued to to debate a lot of the merits of the bill but as we've seen and and I don't think this is really a Controversial thing to point out there have been a lot of movements on the point of this administration to to To mitigate a lot of the a lot of the rights that had been extended towards trans Americans over the last couple of years Yeah, absolutely. I mean they're introducing now amendments to the Save America Act called Save American Sports Save American Children essentially trying to force schools To adopt certain policies about sports even for kids as young as like four or five years old and stopping school districts and parents from making their own policies and Banning what in many cases is life-saving health care and this really has nothing to do with voting restrictions I mean they like this bill as it as it currently stands already has very little to do with Safeguarding American voting, but it's really a voter suppression bill But it just adds a whole nother level and they're throwing whatever they want in it at this point Let me ask you this and I think when you hear The the nomenclature they're using when it's save this save that My question is do you perceive that as them saying? Transgender Americans are threats like we have to save America from from people who are living what they believe to be their authentic lives Yes, and they are saying we need to see Children who don't know their identities and we can't trust children to make their own Conclusions about their identities and you know, these bands go up to people who are 18 years old I started my gender affirming care at 18 years old and I had a pretty good idea of who I was and and What I needed at that time and they're saying No, you don't but and we need to save you from yourself When you when you when we look again at the discussion here as well as you mentioned There's a lot of this and look it's common practice in in Washington When you have a bill that you add different amendments on that don't have anything to do with the initial intent of it all But but you know, there are people who say look if you need to get it if you need to get a new birth Certificate, you know, here's here that here's the address of the Bureau of Vital statistics or whatever. I mean it has different names in all sorts of states here I mean there are avenues to get that out there I would just say Senator Murkowski of Alaska had a speech on the floor where she pointed out on a map that you would need to go What would take 20 hours in her state of Alaska on a ferry or pay multiple? $100 to take a flight to get from one point to another and that's not even the furthest distance that people have to travel So this bill it, you know, it seems like you could just go around the corner around the block But in many cases, it's not that And in a place like you're that's a good point because in DC I mean, obviously we know where we can go and and you know, my native state I know where I can go I was able to go downtown to the courthouse when I had to get a copy of mine But it's not that easy as evidence by what the senator made that the point the senator made there Tyler is from the Christopher Street project. It's good to see you again. Thanks for coming in tonight We appreciate you our pleasure and the final five is back right after this All right Let's close it down tonight with a one name that has been in the headlines for some time and their reports out tonight that The tensions between the White House and FBI director Kash Patel could be facing ahead according to MS Now there are reports that the White House has summoned Patel back to Washington He was actually on his way to Chicago for a country music festival where his girlfriend was set to perform Alexis Wilkins He apparently at least according to this report is on the way back to DC for what we don't know There have been reports out this week about his travel expenses perhaps raising some red flags at the White House Patel for his part has denied the report saying that the The reports from MS now are simply fake news However, the speculation about his future in the administration remains swirling about we'll keep you posted if anything develops with Kash Patel As we get into next week's editions of the final five. We'll be back here on Monday Hope you have a great weekend. Everybody the morning cruise here at 7 a.m. And again, we're back Monday. That's your final five go to bed