Psaki: Trump can't TACO out of Iran

Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports, and nothing brings us together

quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling

to the innovative technology across Xfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home

to America, sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage,

we're not just watching. We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast,

Proud Partner of Team USA. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and protects us from

government-imposed religion. But across the country, officials are pushing prayer into public

schools and blurring the line between church and state in ways the Constitution doesn't allow.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation exists to hold the government to the law to keep public

institutions neutral on religion. Visit ffrf.us slash New Year or text MSNOW to 511-511. Text MSNOW

to 511-511 to join. Text fees may apply. We have a lot of news to get to tonight. A lot of

news. But tonight, I want to start with the fact that Donald Trump announced he will sign an

executive order to pay TSA workers during the ongoing shutdown. Of course, this comes six weeks

after this shutdown began, which begs the question. One of the questions I should say is to why Trump

didn't do this in the first place. I think a lot of people have waited in outlines for four

hours, six hours, whatever it may be, are asking that question. We're going to talk about that

with New Jersey Governor Mikey Cheryl, whose state has been hit very hard by that shutdown,

both by, in terms of people waiting at the Newark airport and in many, many different ways.

Oh, and tonight, the Treasury announced that Donald Trump is literally going to put his own name

on American currency, not making that up. It's literally what was been reported. A move that is

definitely very tacky, but might also be illegal. So I'm going to talk about that with former White

House ethics lawyer Norm Eisen later on in this hour. But I'm actually going to start the show really

with Trump's War of Choice in Iran, of course, because we are now on day 27 of the conflict.

And gas prices, as of today, have increased by a full dollar per gallon in just the last month.

I'm sure you all have noticed that. Wall Street just had its worst day since the war began.

Iran has categorically rejected Trump's offer to end the war. And even Republicans are

rate with the administration over the lack of answers on Iran and the briefings they've done

on the hill just this week. And amid this ongoing crisis, President of the United States held

the cabinet meeting today where normally you would talk about, say, the war you launched

four weeks ago and the impacts of it. And whatever cabinet member and agency should be doing about it

to bring it to an end, what the strategy is. Well, that wasn't what he was focused on.

He was laser focused on, of course, another very important issue facing the American people,

the quality of our pens. See, this pen right here, this pen is an interesting example,

it's the same thing. So this pen is very inexpensive, but it writes well. I like it. And you know,

you can pens out your signing and you hand it about beautiful pen ball points, but I'm handing out

the kids that don't even know what they're. What is this, mommy? These kids, they're getting a pen for

a thousand dollars. They have no idea what it is. And I had another problem. They didn't write well.

So I take it out and I saw it and there's no ink. That's what I call the guy. I said, I'd like to

use your pen, but I can't have a great thing with a big S on it. I can't do that with the press

use your pen, but I like to pen the best, but I can't use your pen. You say, well, I can make a

nicer. I said, that's nice. And I can even paint the White House on it, Sarah, if you like,

in gold, almost real gold. And by the way, this was not staged. I just saw the pens in there. I

thought that this is an example. Okay, I just want to note that we literally had to edit that

together because he spoke about the pens for so long. It was more than four minutes. That would

have taken up way too much time, but I do love the fact that he discloses there at the end that

none of that was staged. If any of us saw the extended riff on pens as part of his strategically

written prepared remarks, I don't certainly don't think it was. And I promise you, he went on,

as I said, about the pens a whole lot longer than that. And when Trump finally did move on,

he should have a lot less urgency and a lot less passionate about the war he started,

than he did about America's calligraphy crisis, I guess you could call it. In fact, he said that

contrary to all the reporting we're seeing, Aron is actually begging him to make a deal.

And they'll tell you we're not negotiating. We will not negotiate. Of course,

they're negotiating. They've been obliterated. Who wouldn't negotiate? They are begging to make

a deal. I mean, I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm not, I don't,

if I was desperate, he'd be the first to don't be. Let's get that out of there. I'm the opposite

of desperate. I don't care. He's the opposite of desperate, everyone. You heard it there. He

doesn't even care if the US makes a deal with Aron somehow. And remember Trump said a deadline for

Aron to reopen the street of removes by tomorrow, threatening to attack their civilian infrastructure

if they don't. Well, late today, Trump announced that he was extending that deadline by 10 days,

which doesn't feel like something he should have to do if Aron really is so desperate to make a deal.

That doesn't make a lot of sense. Trump wants the public to think that he's got this on the back

that we've already won. He says that all the time that he's just tying up some loose ends,

finalizing a few words in the final document. But as much as that might sound like public posturing,

Trump could actually believe that he can simply end this war whenever he wants. I mean,

today the Wall Street Journal reports that behind the scenes, he's telling AIDS that he wants the

war wrapped up according to his original timeline, which means within the next two weeks.

Apparently he's just over it. Multiple people familiar with the matter tell the journal that quote,

and discussions with outside political allies his attention has at times shifted to other topics,

including the coming midterm elections. He wants to talk about a war you started when you can talk

about House races, I suppose. I mean, not only that, but Trump told an associate that the war was

distracting from his other priorities, one source told the journal. In other words, Trump seems

increasingly bored by the war. He wants to focus on other things like the midterms, of course, or,

you know, pens. But as everyone but him seems to understand it, it's really just not that simple.

You see, Trump has gotten used to the idea that he can make big disastrous decisions and just

reverse himself when he thinks things are get out of control. When he sees people don't like it

necessarily. I mean, we all watched him do it over and over again with his tariffs threatening

steep duties on imports, watching the markets crash, and then walking it all back. His habit of

reversing his own decisions, as you all know, even has its own acronym, Taco, as in Trump always

chickens out. But the thing is, Trump can't just taco his way out of this war. There are other

stakeholders who get a say when the war will end, and whether he likes it or not, Iran is one of them,

so is Israel. And their leverage has only increased since he started bombing Iran almost four

weeks ago. Trump can't just declare a mission accomplished and walk away. It's not how it works.

And the people around Trump, the ones who are actually carrying out this war, they know that,

which is why every report we get on the administration's thinking indicates that they are preparing for

a longer, much more protracted conflict. I mean, just before we got on the air, the Wall Street

Journal reported that the Pentagon is weighing sending an additional 10,000 troops to the Middle

East. That's according to multiple people familiar with the planning. And today Axiocytes

two US officials to say that the administration is preparing a massive escalation of this war.

They're calling it a final blow, but it seems anything but final. It could include the use of

ground forces. The plans reportedly include the use of ground forces as well as several options

for invading Iranian-controlled territory. There are even preparations for ground operations deep

inside the heart of Iran aimed at securing their enriched uranium, which is incredibly difficult to

do. All of that suggests a much longer and much deeper conflict that could be incredibly costly,

not just in terms of the funding needed, but more importantly in terms of the lives of the American

military. I mean, at the same time Bloomberg cites multiple sources to say that the administration

is also preparing for the possibility of oil reaching as much $200 a barrel, a huge spike that would

have major implications for the US economy. And also to the Washington Post cites three sources to

say the Pentagon is now considering diverting weapons intended for Ukraine and sending them to the

Middle East instead as the conflict there continues to deplete US munitions. Now, on top of all of

that, there are signs that the Iranian regime has actually been emboldened by Trump's actions.

Reuters reports that Iranian hardliners are now ramping up their calls for their country to build

a nuclear bomb. And the Associated Press reports that Iran is now operating the Strait of

Hormuz as a de facto toll booth strengthening their grip on the critical passageway and letting

fees on any ships they want to pass through safely. But none of that, none of that seems to bother

Donald Trump. In fact, Trump now seems perfectly fine with Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz,

which brings me to the so-called mystery present from Iran that Trump has been teasing since Tuesday.

Because today, he finally revealed what it was.

You have eight boats of oil, eight boats, eight big boats of oil. And actually,

they then apologized for something they said and they said, we're going to send two more boats.

And it ended up being ten boats.

That's right, everyone. The extravagant, expensive mystery present, he was so excited about

that Trump got from Iran. Turned out to be that Iran let eight ships or go through the

Strait of Hormuz without blowing them up, or that's reportedly what they committed to.

Now, for context, they're prior to Trump's war, roughly 110 ships sailed through that

street every day without incident. So I'm not sure that either getting through is something to

celebrate that much. I mean, 10 ships, that's a very small percentage of 110 ships per day. Again,

110 per day. 10, just one time. You don't have to be a mathematician. Now, to be clear, Iran

shouldn't be interfering with any maritime traffic. But apparently, Trump thinks it's okay if they

just let a few ships through here and there as they please. And there were moments today when it

actually sounded like he had given up on re-opening the Strait of Hormuz altogether.

The amazing thing is we don't need the Hormuz strain. We don't need it. We don't need it at all.

We don't, we have so much oil. Our country is not affected by this.

First, I have anyone who has filled up their gas tank recently, which is most Americans can tell

you that our country absolutely is affected by this. But more importantly, the president now seems

more and more resigned to accept the fallout from this war, even though the American people are

growing more and more frustrated. A new Fox News poll out this week finds a full 59% of Americans

disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president, as worst performance ever in that poll,

and voters in that same poll disapprove of Trump's handling of the war by 28 points.

It's not hard to see why Trump would want to move on from all of this.

But war is not like taco tariffs. You can't just move on. The realities on the ground

won't allow them to just cut and run. I mean, Trump's approach to US military intervention

is as maddening as it is baffling. But luckily, there's one person I know who understands better

than anyone how Trump approaches these kinds of things. Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg

has said some of the best reporting on Trump's military worldview going all the way back to

Trump's first administration. It was Jeffrey Goldberg who broke the story that Trump reportedly

called Americans who died on the battlefield suckers and losers. It was Jeffrey Goldberg who

got a firsthand look at how Trump's second administration carries out war plans when he was

inadvertently added to a group's signal chat with top Trump officials. I can think of no one

better to underhelp us understand the disconnect between Trump's own view of this war

and the reality on the ground joining me now is Jeffrey Goldberg Editor-in-Chief at the Atlantic.

It's great to see you. Thank you for being here. Let me start by just asking you about

what we hear from Trump every day about his desire to end this war, to end it quickly. He says

we've won. He says it's going to end in two weeks. And yet, the military, there's been reporting

that the Pentagon is looking to send 10,000 more troops to the Middle East. You've covered

national security. You've covered wars. You've covered administrations for decades. What should

people take away from that? People should take away is that the thing that he says on a Monday is

unrelated to the thing that he will say on a Tuesday and the thing that he will do on a Wednesday.

It's not there's no there's no linear quality to this. There's no strategy as we know,

which is a problem going to have a war without a strategy and without a goal, without an articulated

set goal for it. There are a number of wars going on there, but let's talk about two wars.

The first war is the sent-com run war, the military run war, plans on plans on plans. They are

from what we can tell 50 to 70% through their target list, degrading, destroying missile capacity,

nuclear capacity, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Those plans have been there and updated

every day for years and they're operating on it. Then there's the war as it exists in his mind,

in the president's mind, the commander in chief's mind. Now, usually in times of war,

there's a lock-up between what's happening inside the commander in chief's head and what's happening

in reality on the ground. There's no such lock-up now as far as we can tell. So when people ask,

what do you think is going to happen tomorrow? It seems, let's use the straight-up

promotion right now. Iran has given us 10 ships. If I steal your car and say, I'm going to give

you two of the tires back, you don't go on television and brag about that. Two of the tires back

for one day. For a day. So he sounds like he's ready to give up something that we had before

this war, which was control of free access to the straight-up promotion, which of course is connected

to our economy because the economy in America is affected by the economy in other countries.

I don't need to try to explain that. We talk about this nearly every day. No, I know, but I mean,

it's like, yeah, yeah, you know, it's like, if prices forget it, I can't, it gets frustrated.

The straight needs to be opened because it's a global oil market. Yeah, and if the US,

the US has since the close of World War II, been the guarantor of free and open shipping lanes,

it has always been the guarantor in modern history of Persian Gulf. We've had wars in the Persian

Gulf in order to keep the Persian Gulf open. So you start a war where I'm just supposed to defeat

the country that legitimately threatens free trade and free movement of oil and gas.

And you can't end up with a war that ends with your enemy in control of something that your

enemy wasn't in control before and can't claim that's a victory. Now, in a reality distortion field,

you can say to the world, we won. But the world won't buy it and reality won't buy it. So,

so in other words, in other words, when he tells about two to three weeks, I think that's because

he's hearing from his military commanders, we have, this is what we've done. This is what we're,

we can do. Let's give us the order. How far do you want us to go? That goes in a kind of orderly way.

But the opposite of orderly is what's going on day to day in his in his statements and in his plans.

Let me ask you about another aspect of this that feels very discordant in terms of his expectations

or what he says publicly in reality. And that is the different objectives and goals of Israel

and Prime Minister Netanyahu and what the United States may be, even though it's not clear to most

Americans or to any of us what their exact objectives are, but it seems clear they're not in line with

Israel's exactly. They're saying we need week, they need weeks more to fight this war. How do you

think that disconnect or a lack of alignment at this point since this is already a war that's

been underway for four weeks impacts how it ends? My guess and again stipulating that nobody knows

nothing because the future hasn't happened yet. You know more than most. My guess is that Netanyahu,

the Prime Minister of Israel, ends somewhat, this ends in a way that leaves him at least somewhat

dissatisfied. He thought that the President and believes that the President and his states will

execute a war plan that will lead to regime change that will help the Iranian people rise up.

We know that they want to rise up. The vast majority don't like their government and that all of

these things would trigger an uprising that would at least at best, maybe not from the Israeli

perspective, but from the American perspective, and in a democratic Iran, which is a nice hope and a

dream, obviously we all want that. Or the very least estate that is collapsed on itself and

poses no threat externally, including and especially to Israel, but also to Israel's Arab allies

in the Gulf. If I'm sitting in Jerusalem looking at the President's statements, I'm asking myself,

what is he going to do next? If he's looking at midterm, the midterms, if he's looking at his own

polling numbers, if he's looking at the price of gas, he can get bored, he can realize that this is

too tough to go on and he will leave the Israelis not holding the bag exactly with the Israelis and

the Arabs, by the way, because the Arabs are signaling to Trump, hey, this was a war of choice.

Now it's a war of necessity, so don't leave us in the lurch again. I don't think he'll care very

much what they say on that. So at the end of this war, the Israelis and the Arab states of the Gulf

may not have what they were hoping for, which they completely neutralized Iran. They might have

a hard-edged regime that has a less power to project through ballistic missiles and through a

nuclear program, but an angrier, more hard-line power that could harass shipping in the

straight-up or moves just for starters. We don't know because we don't know what Donald Trump's

ultimate goal is because he's listed all of the goals and toggles back and forth among them

without rhyme or reason. And Prime Minister Netanyahu has tried to convince

US presidents I've worked for to do something similar. So this is where we're kind of at.

Right. Let me ask you about, I mean, I just listed some of the reporting you did

on the first Trump administration. I think there was this widespread perception. Maybe you had it

and maybe you don't. You can tell me that Trump was kind of more of a anti-war and anti-interventionist

type of, like that was a little bit of his worldview to the degree he has one. And that was where

a lot of people in the MAGA base felt what they felt they were supporting. And now it's something

different. Do you think there was a misunderstanding of his worldview? He doesn't have a worldview or

how do we get here? I don't think he has a worldview. I mean, there's no coherence to what he's

done in recent months. I can't. It's very hard to articulate this. We've had a lot of conversations

over the years about national security and international geopolitics. The post-war were

two international liberal order. And those conversations make sense because we're starting from a

shared set of facts and we're also starting from basic clear ideological streams that aren't that

different from each other. Some are more hawkish, some are more dubbish. But here we have a guy

who literally, to borrow the expression, he's literally just trying to get through the next 10

minutes. He's just trying to get out of the conversation without being publicly humiliated.

That's my impression of what's going on here. Is it surprising that the pro-peace semi-isolationist

president is invading Venezuela, invading Nigeria, invading Iran, invading possibly Cuba?

It's not surprising at all because nothing is surprising because it doesn't, it doesn't make sense.

There is a bias. I always say this, that the real bias in journalism very often is not left or

right. It's a biased toward coherence. Very smart people have made this observation before.

There's a bias to try to make the world make sense. And with this unique president,

that I don't know anybody who can do that. I would love to find them and have explained all of this

to me, but I don't know who that person is. You're invited to dinner with Jeffrey Goldberg and I,

whoever you may be out there. Yeah, please come. We'll give you a mug, we'll give you a mug,

etc. And Atlantic subscription, all the things. Well, that's worth a lot. That's not just a mug.

Fair, fair. I just want to be sure. One magazine. We take a quick break. I want to talk to you

about Pete Hegseth for a million reasons, including the fact that he texted you or a plan about a

year ago. And he, he hasn't suffered consequences. We're going to talk about that. But I wanted you,

I don't know if you saw this. I wanted you to listen to something he said today, which is kind of in

the vibe of how Pete Hegseth is approaching this war, I guess I should say.

The folks here in the room, these cameras, they have a choice. You're either informing the American

people of the truth or, or you're not. Because I hear it from my people every day.

Behind every headline you write, there's a helicopter crew in the air. And behind every news banner,

you write, there's a battalion on the move. And behind every fake news story, there's an F-35

pilot executing a dangerous mission. My message to the media is get it right.

Okay, let's say about that. We're going to take a break. I'll get your thoughts when we come back.

Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports. And nothing brings us together

quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the

innovative technology across Xfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America,

sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching,

we're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA.

The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and protects us from government-imposed

religion. But across the country, officials are pushing prayer into public schools and blurring

the line between church and state in ways the Constitution doesn't allow. The Freedom from Religion

Foundation exists to hold the government to the law to keep public institutions neutral on religion.

Visit ffrf.us slash New Year or text MSNow to 511-511. Text MSNow to 511-511 to join. Text fees may apply.

You do it all. So why not get all the electrolytes?

Hydrate better than water with new Gatorade lower sugar. Now with no artificial flavors,

sweeteners or colors, and 75% less sugar than regular Gatorade. New to the fridge,

all the Gatorade electrolytes you love. Gatorade lower sugar. Is it in you? Now available nationwide.

We are back with the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg. Okay, so you a year ago were

texted war plans on a signal chat, which you wrote about. We talked about it. You also wrote a

recent piece about how it was really interesting piece about how Hexat hasn't had any consequences.

We all know that. But that in the military, anyone, any basic small infraction, there are consequences

for. So it kind of stands out for that reason. But I was curious as to whether you thought, and I

just played the clip before the break, he's been more emboldened because of no consequences.

Is he behaving the way he's behaving because there were no consequences? He's pretty consistent in

his behavior, right? There's that kind of preemptive bellicosity to everything. He says he has

kind of one tone. And it's a lot right. It's light on information. It's a lot of intimidation.

I mean, he's trying unsuccessfully to intimidate the press. I mean, I would remind looking at that

clip, I would remind the secretary that a lot of the reporters he's talking about successfully

and to the benefit of the American people embedded with American forces over the last 20 years.

We've had reporters go ashore a D-date together with the troops. I mean, this is a long

tradition in our democracy to have a media a press that closely watches the military,

praises when the military should be praised, criticizes when it should be criticized. And he's

talking as if the press is the enemy of the people. You know the Pentagon press corps as well as

I do. They're smart and nerdy. They're nerdy and they want to have serious conversations about

national security priorities. And that's what you're not getting from the secretary of defense.

And we don't hear from the acting national security advisor Marco Rubio very much as I'm sure you've

noticed. I don't even know what he said about this. No, I mean, he's very careful because I think

Marco Rubio is the smart one in the pairing here in a lot of ways. He's very careful not to

thump his chest and say sorts of things that will get you into trouble later. But no, I mean,

Pete Hague-Seth isn't powered. Obviously, audience of one Donald Trump likes him and likes his

performance and he used the word performance very advisedly. And you know, if you go back a year,

it is true that he did something in the signal gate, the so-called signal gate controversy,

that would have gotten any other military leader or civilian in the Pentagon,

court-martialed, indicted, disciplined, fired, you know, and the military are armed forces,

which are the best in the world, run on order, discipline, responsibility, and character.

And so when you do something that a private in the army would be punished for doing,

you've got to take some responsibility. That's the only thing that I hear people argue about

today on this front, which is like, it was a bad morale moment when this happened because

Hague-Seth lashed out rather than saying, yep, I made a mistake. When I make a mistake,

I take responsibility for it and I learn from the mistake. Jeffrey Goldberg, I feel like Pete Hague-Seth

is going to be around for a while. That's my guess. Until he gets another TV show. So,

I think like, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Okay, coming up tonight, guests, prices are skyrocketing, and as I think, all of you are experiencing

TSA lines, or as long as they've ever been, and Donald Trump is desperately trying to solve the

problems that he created. That's what we've seen this movie before. New Jersey Governor Mikey

Cheryl is standing by, and she joins me next to talk about all of that.

We've been the trusted experts since 1960, because nobody knows tires better than we do,

and with over 90 tire brands, we have an abundance of options in stock for your vehicle.

Buy and drive today at discounttire.com. Let's get you taking care of.

Few things are as uplifting as the greatest moments in sports, and nothing brings us together

quite like Team USA at the Olympic Winter Games. From NBC Universal's iconic storytelling to the

innovative technology across Xfinity and Peacock, Comcast brings the Olympic Games home to America,

sharing every moment with millions. When Team USA steps onto the world stage, we're not just watching.

We're cheering together. This winter, we're all on the same team. Comcast, proud partner of Team USA.

The first amendment guarantees freedom of religion and protects us from government-imposed

religion. But across the country, officials are pushing prayer into public schools and blurring

the line between church and state in ways the Constitution doesn't allow. The Freedom from

Religion Foundation exists to hold the government to the law to keep public institutions neutral on

religion. Visit ffrf.us slash New Year or text MSNow to 511-511. Text MSNow to 511-511 to join.

As we mentioned at the top of the hour, tonight President Trump announced that he's going to

sign an executive order directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to pay TSA agents and end the chaos

at our nation's airports. Now very clearly, he's trying to take credit for solving the problem here.

That's to state the obvious. But remember, this is a problem he himself created and has perpetuated

for weeks. Democrats have repeatedly offered to pass a stand-alone bill funding the TSA,

even Republicans, like Senators John Kennedy and Ted Cruz got on board with that plan. But Trump

refused. He could have signed this executive order at any point over the past month,

or he could have agreed to the deal Democrats were offering him. But he chose not to. He

created this mess and now is trying to take all of the credit for fixing it. If you don't believe

me, here was Republican Senator John Kennedy saying it as clear as can be earlier this week.

We could have had TSA paid by the end of the week, but the president said no deal.

Now to make matters worse, because Trump waited so long on this, just funding TSA doesn't mean

the agency is now suddenly fixed. I mean, earlier this week, the head of TSA told Congress that

nearly 500 TSA agents have quit since the start of the partial shutdown. She added that it takes

four to six months to train new TSA officers. So even though Trump has now all of a sudden

decided that he wants to fund the TSA, a lot of damage has already been done. That will be,

it won't be that easy to reverse. He's always been a ball of chaos. He's always makes

messes that take a long time to clean up. But in just the past few weeks, he has created crises

after crises that Americans aren't just reading about in the news, but are experiencing first-hand.

I mean, for example, anywhere in the country, if you turn on any local TV news broadcast tonight,

I bet you will see stories like this one.

Her Galan on average.

The average price for a gallon of regular gas in California is now $5.82. Everywhere. Today,

oil prices rose yet again. After Donald Trump removed his deadline for a run to reopen the

straight-of-her-mose from this Friday to April 6th. And of course, that timeline really means nothing.

And so we've just been talking about. But even if Trump does end up negotiating

and end to the war and reopening somehow, the straight-of-her-mose next month,

and I don't know how that will happen, experts say that gas prices here at home

are likely to remain high for a very long time. One economist telling the New York Times that even

if the war were to end soon, he thinks it would still take another six to eight weeks for oil

production shipments to normalize. That's going to have a real impact on Americans' pocketbooks.

And because Trump owns this crisis so completely, could also have a real impact on American politics.

Take a listen to this young voter that MSNOW interviewed at a gas station in New Jersey last weekend.

My car here typically is only $35 a film. Now it's in the $45-50 range and it's a little ridiculous.

Have you ever voted for a Democrat? I have not yet. No. Do you think you will now?

I'd say I'd be more open to it. He'd be more open to it. There's something there.

Joining me now is New Jersey Governor Mikey Sheryl. Governor Sheryl. Thank you so much for being

with us tonight. I really appreciate it. I just want to start. There's just been new reporting

this evening about Donald Trump saying he is intends to sign an executive order to pay the TSA.

I think I wanted to ask you about it because I think a lot of people who see that headline may think

this is solved. I'm going to go to the airport tomorrow and the lines will be short. Do you know

anything more about it or how it would work in terms of paying TSA agents and how people should

anticipate if he does sign it soon? How long it will take to get things back to normal?

As usual, this is completely ridiculous. There's no plan. He makes some tweet. God only knows how

the Republicans are going to respond to this. But certainly if he could have done this, he should have

done it already. The idea that he's putting these ICE agents in the airports from what we've heard

they're just milling around. They don't know what to do. You just put out the information that it

takes months to train TSA agents. So just putting this sort of untrained militia in the middle of an

airport just gets in the way of everyone. We're still hearing despite all these ICE agents.

Houston still has taken about three hours to get through this security line. It's really striking

to me everywhere I turn, things that were not the concern. We have a lot of concerns and

New Jersey, but things that you just took for granted taking a flight somewhere, being able to

get through an airport line and security without too much drama and then get on your flight and not

worry that there might not be air traffic controllers focused on your flight or that you might get

into a crash on the tarmac or God forbid in the air. Again and again, we're just seeing routine

basic things that Americans should expect to function, not functioning under the Trump administration.

It's why I'm fighting so hard to chart a different path forward here in New Jersey.

It is. That is such a definition of what happens. He creates a problem. I mean, then tries to

solve it sometimes. Doesn't know how to solve it. It's a real pattern and you're really seeing the

impact in your state. I wanted to ask you. You mentioned ICE at airports. I think it's

scaring a lot of people. We've showed a lot of footage of ICE agents sort of milling about looking

at people, getting coffee. It's hard to understand what's actually happening there. It's not reducing

the lines, but when you went for governor, you talked a lot about energy prices. We'll talk about

that. You didn't focus a ton on ICE, but your tenure as governor has. I mean, you took a number of

actions just yesterday. Tell us about why. What prompted you to take those actions? I'd also

love to hear more about whether you think the politics around the issue have just shifted.

What I learned over the last year is it's important to constantly connect with the people you're

serving. To hear day in and day out about what's going on in their lives and how as governor,

as somebody elected to serve them, I can make their opportunity better, make their lives more

secure, protect their kids. That's what I committed to doing. Driving down costs in this affordability

crisis, giving a better future to our kids, and holding government accountable for the ways in

which it can do all of these things. I got to work right away. That's why, as we charted out the

state of emergency on utility costs, I froze rate hikes in the middle of my inaugural address,

as I was continuing to work to make government more accountable and put an online dashboard up.

So people could see where their money was going in this budget and focus the budget on taking care

of our kids and their mental health and online safety. I was hearing again and again about how

concerned people were about their safety. The interactions they'd had on the streets here in New

Jersey with ICE agents, the masked people that were carrying weapons that refused to identify

themselves or give any update on what they were doing. We were reaching out to DHS to say,

what is the plan here? Why are they in certain spaces? We were seeing dangerous interactions where

kids dispersed and ran away as they were going through pickup on the bus in the mornings,

and principals madly trying to find out where these kids were who were supposed to be in school.

So again and again, seeing dangerous situations with no accountability. So I moved. I said,

look, I have pledged to keep our streets and our kids safe, and that's what I'm going to do.

And I'll tell you, I can't weigh in on nationally or where people should go in any given moment.

I can tell you in New Jersey, if you are fighting for the people that you serve, if you're willing

to stand up to anyone, including the president of the United States as I am, then you're going to do

quite well. Let me ask you about energy prices. I mean, because you ran on this issue, you just

mentioned it. It was something you talked about relentlessly, even before Trump started a war

in Iran four weeks ago. And I was wondering, given that you ran on the issue, but also your

background in national security, when your constituents ask you, when are our gas prices going to come

down? What do you tell them in this moment? You know, I have constituents who ask me about gas

prices and affordability. I have a lot of constituents and we have national guard deployed right now

in the Middle East who want to know what the plan is. And then, you know, we just have people who

were committed to. They said, I thought this president was going to end the forever wars. That's

what he said, Mikey, how do you think this is going to be different? And I have to tell them,

this war makes no sense. I served on the House Armed Services Committee. I was in the United

States Navy for almost 10 years as a helicopter pilot. I was there as we were fighting the global war

on terror. And I can tell you, you can't simply remove a regime with no plan as we did. And that's how

we got into the last 20-year war. We saw what happened in Vietnam as we had no good ground strategy.

And now again, what we've basically come to, what Trump has accomplished here is he has taken out

the Ayatollah, replaced him with his more hardline, more anti-American son. He's actually lifted

sanctions so that Iranians can sell their oil. You could see a world where they make money off that

just to buy weapons to fire against Americans. And he has no strategy inside for lowering gas prices

across the country during an affordability crisis. It's striking how every time he gets engaged

working people's lives get worse. No question about it. I think people are living and experiencing

and just summarize so well. It's it's troops. It's people who have children who might serve. It's

people paying more at the gas tank. It's all of the things you mentioned, Governor Mikey Sheryl.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

Absolutely. Okay. Coming up at a time when the American people are hurting, which we were just

talking about. Donald Trump is using your money in the most corrupt ways possible.

And tonight we learn he is literally going to put his name on that money. He can't make it up

sometimes from a Obama ethics arc, from Eisen is standing by, and he's going to join me next.

Today Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez-Masso said the Trump administration was diverting $1

billion of taxpayer money from the State Department to Donald Trump's Board of Peace. You know,

the seemingly unaccountable slush fund he created that he'll still control once he leaves office.

The Senator proposed a bill that would instead use that money for a program aimed at reducing

energy costs for working families. But I think Trump would prefer that money. Your money that is

stays in his slush fund instead. Here's another headline about your tax dollars. Justice Department

settles lawsuit from Trump ally Michael Flynn for $1.2 million. An alternate version could possibly

read. Trump's Justice Department gives Trump's buddy Michael Flynn $1.2 million of your money

because he committed crimes because that's what happened. Look, obviously this administration will

stop at nothing to use your money in the most corrupt ways possible. And it wasn't also incredibly

on the nose if it wasn't already. So incredibly on the nose, brace yourselves for this one.

Because today we learn Trump's signature is literally going to appear on future paper currency.

The first time in history for a sitting president joining me now is the former ethics

are for President Obama, Norm Eisen. Norm, it's always great to see you. When I saw this story,

I was like, I wonder what norm thinks and here you are. So what's your reaction to Trump's

latest attempt to slap his name onto something? And this time it is literally money.

Well, Jen, he's been grabbing cash as fast as he can in every direction with his net worth

exploding. So it's appropriate that we're going to see his signature. The first time we've had

anything like this in over 160 years since before the end of the Civil War, it's a throwback

and a reminder that this is the most corrupt administration in American history with Trump

and his cronies in and outside of the government taking money out of the taxpayers' pockets

as fast as they can. There are so many corruption stories and we try to talk about it a lot

on this show and it should be infuriating. I mean, there's the Trump corruption where he's

trying to put his name on institutions and currency and there's the Trump corruption where he and

his family appear to be making a whole lot of money while he sits in the Oval Office.

And today's son-in-law Jared Kushner said that he was still just, quote,

volunteering for the administration while his investment firm rakes in billions from countries

in the Middle East. Do you think that's just a way for, I just want to ask you about the Jared

Kushner piece? Because is that just to avoid ethics scrutiny so he doesn't have to do a financial

disclosure? What is that all about? Give us your take on that.

Well, we filed a legal complaint about the Jared Kushner situation at my organization,

the Democracy Defenders Fund, because of the serious questions that it raises with this

responsibility that he has as Trump's peace envoy in the Middle East while Kushner

is raising billions of dollars from those same countries in the Gulf sitting on the board,

Trump's board of peace while at the same time running his affinity partners seeking an extra

five billion from the Gulf region. It raises questions, Jen. Under the anti-neptism laws,

the president is not supposed to prefer family members in this way.

Jared Kushner is representing the government, the constitution says, you can't take or

and cash or benefits, emoluments. It's the only ethics rule that was so important.

The founders and framers of our country put it in the constitution. And of course, conflicts

of interest. How in a time of war, the aftermath in Gaza, the war in Iran, you have a senior American

representative like Mr. Kushner raising money in the region at the same time as we have these

incredibly complicated conflicts. It is a mess and a scandal of the kind that we really haven't

seen in modern American history. Thank you, Norm, for being the always ethics are we needed in this

moment. Thank you again for being here. That does it for me tonight. You can catch the show Tuesday

through Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern on MSNOW. And don't forget to follow the show on Blue Sky,

Instagram, and TikTok. Hi, I'm Ron Reagan, an unabashed atheist, and I'm alarmed as you may be

by the intrusions of religion into our secular government. That's why I'm asking you to join the

Freedom from Religion Foundation, the nation's largest and most effective association of atheists

and agnostics, working to keep state and church separate. Please join the Freedom from Religion

Foundation today. Join us go to ffrf.us slash new year or text MSNOW to 511-511 and become a member

today. Text MSNOW to 511-511. Text fees may apply.