Trump Delays Iran Strikes as DHS Shutdown Disrupts Travel and Senate Advances Mullin Nomination

C-SPAN and Washington today are made possible with support from Optimum.

It's crunch time at work and you need to bring wings to your workday.

Visit redbull.com slash getting it done and answer a couple questions about your workstile

to get a Spotify customized playlist tuned to your productivity.

Plus, score a can of Red Bull on us while you go from to do to done.

And remember, Red Bull gives you wings.

These are limited.

Terms apply.

Visit the website for more information.

Welcome to Washington today from Monday, March 23rd, 2026.

I'm Gary Serkoff.

Thank you for joining us.

President Trump says he is postponing strikes on Iran's energy sites after talks this

weekend between the two sides telling reporters there are several points of agreement.

Iran's foreign ministry, however, says that there has been no dialogue with the U.S.

here at home.

The Homeland Security Department's shutdown has gotten even more painful for Americans

with massive security lines at major airports over the weekend as the TSA has faced rising

callouts from officers who have gone without pay for almost a month and the deployment of

ICE agents to some airports to try and fill in the gaps.

We'll also update you on that fiddle crash between a regional jet and a fire truck last

night at New York's The Guardia Airport.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, there are few signs of progress to fully reopen Homeland

Security and the Senate moves forward on the confirmation of Oklahoma Republican Senator

Mark Wayne Mullen to be the new head of the department.

We'll tell you all about it coming up.

We begin in Memphis where the president held a roundtable on the National Guard deployment

there before it got underway.

He gave an update on the situation in Iran.

Before getting to our important discussion this morning, let me provide a brief update on

Operation Epic Fury which is a very good name as it turns out.

That was the name they showed me twenty names, sir.

What name would you like?

I didn't like any of them and then I get toward the end, I said you got to be kidding.

What?

Operation Epic Fury.

I love that name and it's very appropriate for what's taken place, you know, in Iran

because we knocked out there, maybe.

We knocked out the reinforce, we knocked out their anti-aircraft, we knocked out everything

and we did it with Fury, actually, as I announced earlier, based on preliminary conversations

between the United States and Iran over the past two days, I directed the Department of

War to temporarily postpone planned strikes against major energy and electricity targets

in Iran that have very, very big new, actually, and very expensive billions of dollars, of course,

to build in one missile, one of our powerful ones and it comes down to the ground like

it was made out of dust.

But to determine whether a broader agreement can be reached, we've had very good discussions,

very, very good discussions and you have to understand, I know my whole life has been

a negotiation but with Iran we've been negotiating for a long time and this time they mean business

and it's only because of the great job that our military did is the reason they mean

business, they want to settle and we're going to get it done.

So hopefully this will be possible but no matter what we'll ensure that Iran never obtains

a nuclear weapon, they can't have a nuclear weapon, they would have had one if we allowed

the Obama deal to stand, those Iran nuclear deal they called it, they would have had one

Marsha III by day what, Martha, we would have nuclear weapons up there when would you

say two years ago, three years ago, four years ago, we would have been in a position that

nobody wants to be in, we won't allow ourselves to be in that position.

As we said, Iranian officials say no talks with the US have happened since the start of

the war.

The President was asked about that this morning.

The Iran Foreign Ministry says you're not telling the truth when it comes to productive

conversations, Daniel.

Well, they're going to have to get themselves a better public relations people.

We have that very, very strong talks, we'll see where they lead.

We have major points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement, perhaps

that hasn't been conveyed, the communication as you know has been blown to pieces, they're

unable to talk to each other.

But we've had very strong talks, Mr. Wichoff and Mr. Kushner had them, they went, I would

say perfectly, I would say that if they carry through with that, it'll end that problem,

that conflict.

And I think it'll end it very, very substantially.

We have very much in mind our partners in the Middle East, we've had great relationships

with a lot of them, as you know, a lot of them were surprisingly hit.

And I was surprised to see it, and so was everyone else, but we have very much in mind

in the discussions.

So the discussions took place yesterday, they went into yesterday evening.

They want very much to make a deal, we'd like to make a deal too.

We're going to get together today by probably phone because it's very hard to find the

country, it's very hard for them to get out, I guess.

But we'll at some point very, very soon meet, we're doing a five-day period, we'll see

how that goes.

And if it goes well, we're going to end up with settling this, otherwise we'll just

keep bombing our little hearts out.

We've got speaking with Mr. President.

A top person, don't forget, we've wiped out the leadership phase one, phase two, and

largely phase three, but we're dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected

and the leader.

You know, it's a little tough, they've wiped out, we've wiped out everybody.

No, not the Supreme Leader, we don't, well nobody's ever, nobody heard of the second

Supreme Leader, the son, nobody, we have not heard from the son, every once in a while

you'll see a statement made, but we have not, we don't know if he's living.

But the people that seem to be running it, and they seem that based on really fact, because

things they've said have taken place, Mr. President, again, Mr. President, I know you

could point, because I don't want him to be killed, okay, I don't want him to be killed.

Mr. President, you could point.

Nobody wants to be that, nobody wants that job right now, you know, nobody's exactly

looking forward to being the head of that particular country, but perhaps we'll be able

to solve that problem.

And as oil prices declined a bit today, the President was asked about the administration's

moves to ease sanctions on Iran's oil exports.

You criticized President Obama for giving Iran $1.7 billion dollars.

I just want to have as much oil in the system as possible, and we don't even know if Iran

gets that money.

Frankly, I think it's very hard for them to get it, but you have ships that are out there

that load it up with oil, rather than keep it there, I would rather see it go to the system.

Any small amount of money that Iran gets, it's not going to have any difference in this

war, but I want to have the system be lubricated.

The President, you know, $1.14 billion, you don't think helps them?

Where's the $1.14 billion?

Because the inflated price, they get $1.14 billion dollars from the...

I don't think they're getting the money.

I could tell you.

And this is all over.

I will tell you who's getting the money.

Now about ICE stations at airports to help with security, here's what the President said.

So ICE has done very well.

I've requested...

Now, you know, I'm a big believer that they should be able to wear masks when they go

in hunt down murderous criminals and others, but for purposes of the airport, I've requested

that they take off the mask.

I don't like it for the airport, and I believe they are willing to do that.

The President asked not at the airport, but they need to do it when they're out in the country.

The people coming into the airport, typically speaking, aren't murderous killers, drug dealers,

et cetera.

There may be a few of them, but there aren't many.

The people that want to come into the country or the people want to leave the country going

to maybe their home country.

So I didn't think it was an appropriate look for an airport.

I think it's a very appropriate look when they're out on the street, trying to find

one of the 11,888 murders that Sleepy Joe Biden led into our country.

You won, monster.

I'm under you, David, $10,000 bonus.

Sorry.

Last year, you gave a $10,000 bonus because you say workers just kept showing up the work

during the shutdown.

Will you do that again?

Well, it could happen.

It's amazing.

It's such people that are really, really loyal and great, and it's not easy for them.

And this is all caused by the Democrats.

It's said, just so you know, all this money was approved.

Everything was approved.

This is done.

The Democrats went in and they want to have radical left lunatics come into our country.

They want to have drug dealers.

They want to have murderers come into our country.

They want to have open borders and we're not letting it happen.

That's what this is all about.

But we see ice arresting illegal migrants.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why the Democrats are going crazy because they've allowed by what they did and

hold up.

We put ice who are a very high level, I mean, they really are a high level group of people

and they love it because they're able to now arrest illegals as they come into the

country.

That's very fertile territory, but that's not why they're there.

They're really there to help.

And at today's event in Memphis, acting ice director Todd Lyons talked about just what

his agents will be doing at airports.

Oh, you know, sir, just have the opportunity to help our other fellow officers at Department

of Homeland Security would do great.

We're going to make sure that your promises kept that we're going to help those lines

move and we're going to make people safe and you know, we should be nervous to go to

the airport because we're going to make sure that every travel in spring break has a safe

journey.

Now, yesterday what house borders are Tom Homan talked to CNN more about ice agents

jobs at airports.

Are ice agents even remotely trained to handle security at airports?

Ice agents receive a high level of training.

And you know, the ice agents are signed up many airports across the country already.

They do a lot of investigation, criminal investigations on small-growing airports, but you know,

there's, I mean, there's got TSA agents covering exits, you know, people to enter through

the exits.

You know, certainly a highly trained ice law enforcement officer can cover an exit,

makes people, people don't go through those exits and enter the airport through the exits.

And that would, that would stop like that, relieves that TSA officer to go to screening

and to reduce those lines.

So wherever we can provide extra security, I don't see an ice agent looking at an X-ray

machine because you're not trained in that.

There are certain parts of security that TSA is doing that we can move them off those jobs

and put them in the specialized jobs to help move those lines.

Okay, that was going to be my next question.

So what you're saying is when you move ice into airports, they are going to be just around

the exits and the ex-teriors.

They're not going to be helping people get through the lines and screening people's

bags.

Those discussions are going on now, I'm not expert at TSA, so I was trying to talk

into the TSA administrator and the ice director, find out where we can fit in.

We have a plan by the end of today, where we're sending what airports we're starting

with and where we're sending them, but that's a discussion we're having right now.

I ended this discussion to do this show and I'll be back having those discussions when

I finish.

So it's a work in progress, but we will be at airports tomorrow helping TSA move those

lines along.

White House boarders are Tom Homan talking to CNN yesterday, ABC News is reporting that

ice agents are being deployed to 14 airports, including O'Hare in Chicago, Hartzfield Jackson

in Atlanta, hobby and intercontinental in Houston, Denver International, Phoenix Sky Harbor,

JFK and LaGuardia in New York City and Newark Liberty.

That's where New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker was today.

And so what's happening today in America that should outrage everybody?

He's taking this very same agency that has been bursting into our schools, into our churches,

into our hospitals, into our courts and even into the homes of Americans.

He's taking that agency that is recklessly out of control and bringing them to our airports

under the lie that somehow this is going to help deal with the long lines that he created

in the first place.

This is an outrage.

We should not have an agency that America doesn't trust an agency that literally has seen

violence against Americans, an agency that is tearing away American families, tearing apart

American families and arresting and detaining Americans and violating due process rights

and civil rights.

Fox 5N1.com reported that agents were seen in Terminal 5 at JFK as massive crowds lined

up to get through security.

They report the agents appeared to be armed and were in police vests identifying them

as ICE, Department of Homeland Security Federal Agent, or enforcement and removal operations.

And as you heard Senator Booker, this is happening because parts of the Homeland Security

Department are shut down and there are a few signs, lawmakers are close to an agreement

to fully open DHS back up.

According to Politico, the White House turned down a Monday morning meeting with bipartisan

group of senators who have been negotiating an end to the shutdown.

Politico reports there have been some positive headway, particularly on body-worn cameras,

sensitive locations, officer IDs, and training standards, and conversations have been continuing

on masks, warrants, and use of forced standards.

Now all of this was on the mind of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer this afternoon.

Through the weekend and for weeks now, Democrats have engaged Republicans in good faith to pay

our TSA workers to fund DHS while also enacting common-sense safeguards to rein in ICE.

Both sides talked all weekend long.

We had some constructive conversations, but there's considerably more work to be done

and Democrats are ready to keep negotiating.

That believed TSA staff should be paid now, now.

We tried to move forward this weekend to pay these workers, but Republicans have blocked

pay for TSA workers in a roll call vote, where they all voted no on Saturday, and additionally,

they have blocked pay for TSA workers seven times when Democrats tried to bring it up.

It's preposterous, because the chaos at our airports is simply unacceptable.

Still Democrats are going to keep working in good faith.

Donald Trump, meanwhile, is trying to sabotage negotiations, demanding that talks stop entirely

until Congress passes the save act, a bill that has nothing, nothing to do with paying

TSA workers, and nothing to do with ending the shutdown.

That's right.

Donald Trump is now saying, we'll pay TSA only after Congress passes voter suppression.

What a ridiculous thing to do.

What a callous thing to do.

He doesn't give a damn about the American people.

He cares about his own election.

He thinks this save act, which isn't going to pass, will change how the election comes

out, and he uses millions and millions of Americans as hostages.

How can our Republican friends, on the other side of the aisle, go along with this?

It stinks on its face.

You don't need any deeper explanation.

This morning, unfortunately, Trump doubled down in Memphis, saying exactly, explicitly

as possible, he won't pay TSA workers, and he won't end this shutdown until the save

act has passed.

Let's make it very clear.

Donald Trump is the one standing in the way of paychecks for TSA workers with the ridiculous

attempt to pass the save act.

The save act, which would destroy a lot of what we know about democracy.

The save act, which would disenfranchise 20 million American citizens in all likelihood

from voting in the next election.

The save act, which is designed to do, as Kirstie Nome said, to allow people to vote who

we like how they vote, as opposed to others.

Well, Donald Trump, your latest temper tantrum is not going to work.

The save act does not have the votes to pass this chamber, and Democrats will fight it

every step of the way.

Senator Democratic leader Chuck Schumer on the floor this afternoon, and you heard him mention

the president saying in today's event in Memphis that he wants to tie DHS funding to

passing the save act.

That's the Republican's federal election reform bill, a punch bull news, Andrew Desidero reports

that Senate Republican leader John Thune isn't warm to that idea, saying, quote, he's got

a view about connecting everything to the save act.

And again, I just had the same answer I've had before and been consistent on with respect

to what the likelihood or outlook is of actually executing on that.

And here's what Senator Thune had to say about the save act this afternoon on the Senate

floor.

This president, we've been debating the Save America Act for seven days now.

And what's been made clear in this debate is how out of touch Democrats are with most

Americans.

Poll showed that the common sense policies in the Save America Act have support from the

American people.

But Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated that they don't share the American people's

interest in securing our elections.

And despite Americans' concerns, Democrats continue to embrace transgender ideology that

allows men to compete in women's sports and children, children to undergo irreversible

life-altering gender transition procedures.

Mr. President, at the start of this debate, the Democrat leader had the audacity to say

that the Save America Act is a quote, radical bill, radical, that's what he said.

Well Mr. President, what's radical, I would say, about ensuring that only American citizens

are voting in American elections?

What's radical about asking voters for a photo ID?

And Mr. President, I don't know what world Democrats are living in where keeping biological

men out of women's sports is a radical proposition.

This radical is men lining up alongside women at the starting line in winning medals and

trophies meant for women.

What's radical is telling female athletes that they have to share a locker room with a

biological male.

That's radical, Mr. President, and perhaps what's most radical about Democrats' positions

if they seem to have no problem with gender transition procedures for minors.

Democrats are more than happy to let transgender ideology rain even when there's little to

no evidence to support gender transition procedures for minors and increasing amounts of scientific

evidence about the harms of these procedures for children.

The Democrats ignore the science.

They ignore the fact that multiple European nations that have looked at the science have

rained in gender transition procedures for minors.

They ignore the stories of Americans who underwent irreversible procedures as minors in a

long-lived to regret it.

So Mr. President, the Save America Act is not radical.

Radically common sense, maybe, so common sense, in fact, that only congressional Democrats

could oppose it.

And as we mentioned, the Senate is moving forward today on the confirmation of Oklahoma Republican

Senator Mark Wayne Mullen to be the next Homeland Security Secretary.

Senator Thune also talked about that on the floor this afternoon.

This President, the other nominee that we'll be confirming this week is somebody we all

know well.

Our colleague, Mark Wayne Mullen.

President Trump has nominated Mark Wayne to be the Secretary of Homeland Security.

It's a tough assignment, made all the more challenging right now by Democrats having

shut down DHS for five weeks.

We all know that Mark Wayne isn't afraid of a challenge, far from it.

As a young man, Mark Wayne left college to take over his family plumbing business.

He grew that small enterprise into a large and successful business in the state of Oklahoma.

Just a few weeks after being elected to the House when the Oklahoma delegation was touring

storm damage, Mark Wayne cut away from the other congressmen and climbed through debris

to try to shut off water, shooting through the wreckage.

See a problem?

Take action to solve it.

That's Mark Wayne.

It's a big part of what drew him to public service.

Mr. President, I think all of us are familiar with Mark Wayne Mullen's seemingly unlimited

supply of energy.

His workout class in the House gym is the stuff of legend.

In the halls, you can find him bouncing a little pink ball to get out some of his energy.

And that energy doesn't come from coffee.

Mark Wayne does it all on decaf.

No mispresent Mark Wayne's energy is all him.

What his strength he'll tell you isn't his own.

Mark Wayne's strength comes from his wife and childhood sweetheart Christi and his rock-solid

faith in God, both of which have made him an outstanding public servant.

Most importantly, a loving father to their six children.

Mr. President, hitting up the Department of Homeland Security is a serious job.

And I'm proud to cast a vote for Mark Wayne Mullen knowing with confidence that he is

up to the work and to the task.

I know much how much I've depended on Mark Wayne as a colleague and friend during his three

years here in the United States Senate.

And I'm profoundly sorry to lose him.

But the Senate's lost is the Department of Homeland Security's gain.

I want to thank Mark Wayne for his service here in the Senate and wish him the very best

as he continues to serve our country at DHS.

And I hope whoever gets assigned to his security detail is ready to keep up.

The Senate Republican leader, John Thune, two Democrats have said they planned a vote

for Senator Mullen, Pennsylvania's John Federman, and New Mexico's Martin Heinrich, a vote scheduled

on the Senate floor for 7.45 PM Eastern this evening, and you can of course see the Senate

live on C-SPAN-2 and get full coverage on C-SPAN.org and C-SPAN now.

Now an update on that fatal crash at LaGuardia, officials said today one runway is now open

after last night's collision, left two pilots dead and dozens injured.

Here's Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy talking to reporters this afternoon.

I want to take a moment and just walk through the facts again of what happened.

There was a C-J-R-900 from Montreal here to LaGuardia, operated by Eric Canard Express

and by Jazz.

We collided with a Port Authority fire truck at approximately 11.45 PM last night.

There were 72 passengers on the plane and for a crew.

Approximately 40 people were sent to the hospital after the crash.

Several have also been released.

As has been reported, the two pilots of the aircraft passed away in the crash last night.

I do want to note that we send our deepest condolences to their families as they're going

through no doubt a grieving process.

There were two individuals in the fire truck.

They two were sent to the hospital after the crash.

Now there's going to be a lot of questions I know about what do we know at this time

and what we are going to do is give you the information that we can.

We all have the respect for the NTSP.

The NTSP goes through a thorough investigation and we are conscious about the information

and the facts that we give you because we want that information to be accurate.

There's some information that we hold back that the NTSP has that we allow them to do

the investigation and it takes months, sometimes up to a year before we get the findings of

that investigation.

But NTSP is on the ground at the airport.

The FAA is on the ground over 10 people from the FAA are here.

As well as Transport Canada is sending a team to LaGuardia as well.

Our two countries work very well together.

There's a well-worn path where we collaborate together when there's aviation crashes in

either of our countries.

The administrator and I were at the crash site earlier today which is easily visible from

the airport and it is incredible to be sad, it's troubling and I just want to let America

know that we are working our hearts off to make sure that when people travel, whether

by rail or car or by air that they travel safely and we put in precautions and policies

to make sure that you are safe when you travel.

When I was at the crash site it was just a reminder that when you're traveling by air you

should wear your seatbelt.

If you see the videos of the air crash, wear your seatbelt when you're on the airplane

also in a car, wear a seatbelt as you see from last night they do save lives.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.

Now New York, New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hocal also talked at today's event, she

talked about the lives lost.

While the facts of what happened last night, 11.45 pm were well known, yes it was an aviation

disaster, the likes of which we have not seen here in over three decades.

It is a deeply human story where two young pilots left their homes expecting to return

to their families and they will not.

And this is what pains everyone here in the state of New York, I've conveyed our condolences

to the Canadian government.

I have walked the halls and gone up to Port Authority personnel and police telling them how

grateful we are that they put their lives out there every single day to make sure our

traveling public is safe.

So to the entire Port Authority and LaGuardia family, I want to know we are very cognizant

of the traumatizing impact this has on you and indeed your own families.

So I want to first convey my gratitude to all of you and sympathies to those who have

had their lives shattered as a result of this and those who have sustained injuries.

It's not what you expect when you get out of an airplane.

And also I want to offer the full cooperation of New York State with the investigation.

I'm grateful also to Secretary Duffy and Administrator Bedford for coming right here on this

day.

It's important to have your presence to know that this will be addressed at the highest

levels and also support from the mayor who represents many of the people who work here

as I do.

And here's New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani.

And I echo the words of the governor and those who spoke before in sending our deepest

condolences to the families and to the many who are mourning their loss.

I'm grateful for the work of dedicated first responders, including the men and women from

the NYPD, the FDNY and NISM who arrived on the scene within minutes, treated injuries

and handled a chaotic scene with incredible professionalism and poise.

I also want to commend those who were thrust into a frightening accident and reacted not

only with composure but by extending a hand to the person next to them.

Others who opened the emergency door and helped one another off the plane, people who

kept one another calm.

And I know that this crash has shaken New Yorkers across the five burrows, whether they are

traveling today or simply watching from home, especially since it's the first fatal crash

at LaGuardia in more than 30 years.

I want New Yorkers to know that the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating

the cause of this accident and that we will not rest until the conclusion of that investigation.

We have been coordinating closely with our partners across government since late last

night and we will continue to do so.

Plain was coming from Montreal as you heard about 40 passengers and crew along with two

people from the fire truck were taken to hospitals with some serious injuries.

According to review of audio recordings by the New York Times, air traffic controllers

may have been distracted at the time of the collision.

The jet was landing and the fire truck had been responding to a separate incident on another

plane.

You're listening to Washington Today.

Watch America's Book Club, C-SPAN's bold original series Sunday, March 29th with our

guest Beverly Gage, a professor of American history at Yale, her book G-Man, Jay Edgar

Hoover and The Making of the American Century, received numerous literary awards and prizes,

including the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, the Bancroft Prize in American History, the

National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography.

Her most recent book is This Land Is Your Land, a road trip through US History.

She joins our host, renowned author and civic leader David Rubenstein.

Now, when biographers spend five years, ten years, fifteen years or so with a person,

they often fall in love with them because they spend so much time with them.

Did you fall in love with Jay Edgar Hoover or do you come away saying, Jesus is not as

good as I thought or wished he was?

I did not fall in love with Jay Edgar Hoover, I'm safe to say, nor did I think that I would.

To me, I was just fascinated by him the whole time.

I thought that he was important and I thought that he was really an interesting, complicated

character.

I really know him as a villain and I did find that he was much more complicated than that

one-dimensional portrait.

Watch America's Book Club with Beverly Gage Sunday, March 29th, at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Eastern and Pacific, only on C-SPAN.

America leads the world in medicine development.

It matters.

We get new medicines first, nearly three years faster, five million Americans go to work

because we make medicines here at home and not relying on other countries keeps us safe.

But China is racing to overtake us.

Will we let them or will we choose to stay ahead?

When America leads, America cures.

Let's tell Washington to keep us in the lead.

Learn how at AmericaCures.com, paid for by Pharma.

Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card.

Record your team with every tap and earn up to 5% cash back with Venmo stash, a new rewards

program from Venmo.

No monthly fee, no minimum balance, just school pride and spending power.

Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo.com slash college card.

The Venmo master card is issued by the bank court bank NA, select schools available, Venmo

stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms, max $100 cash back per

month.

Spring break isn't what it used to be.

It's better.

This spring, stay three nights and get a $50 best western gift card.

Life's a trip.

Make the most of it at bestwestern.

Visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions.

Spring styles are at Nordstrom Rack stores now and there are up to 60% off stock up and

save on Ragnbonne made well.

Vince, all scenes and more of your favorites.

How did I let no rack as a deedus?

Why do we rack for the hottest still?

There's so many good brands.

Join the Nordy Club to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first and more.

Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free.

Great brands, great prices.

That's why you rack.

Welcome back to Washington today from the Washington Post to the Supreme Court on Monday.

A feared likely to embrace a conservative challenge to tallying mail-in ballots that arrive

after election day, a move that could upand election procedures in states across the

country as voters prepare to cast ballots in the midterm elections.

A majority of justices seemed ready to side with arguments by Republicans and libertarians

who told the court that federal election law pre-empts Mississippi from counting ballots

that arrive up to five days after polls close as long as they are postmarked by election

day.

Most states require mail-in ballots to arrive by election day, but Mississippi is one of

14 states that allow grace periods of days or weeks.

The post goes on to write conservative Justice Samuel Alito told Mississippi's solicitor

general that allowing officials to receive ballots that arrive after election day raises

a host of policy questions, including how do you consider a ballot officially submitted,

how long after election day can a ballot be received, does it have to be postmarked to

count?

Republican National Committee, the Mississippi State Republican Party, the Libertarian

Party, a state voter and a county election commissioner first filed the lawsuit against

the state in 2024, they argued that it was illegal to count mail-in ballots that arrived

after polls closed, because federal law sets a particular day for the election, attorneys

for the state argued that doing a way with mail-in ballot so close to the midterm elections

could cause chaos, they also maintain that federal law simply requires voters to fill out

and mail their ballots by election day, not deliver them to election officials by the

date.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce their decision by June or July, that of course

is just months before voters head to the polls for the midterms, that all from the Washington

Post today, you can see today's Supreme Court oral argument at cspan.org and the cspan

now mobile app.

From cnbc.com, oil prices tumbled Monday after President Trump said the US and Iran have

had productive talks about ending the war and that he ordered a five-day halt on strikes

against key energy infrastructure in the country.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, that's the global oil benchmark, fell more than

9% to just under $100 a barrel, that's down from nearly $120 at one point last week.

Oil prices and the Trump administration's energy priorities were the topic at an energy

industry conference in Houston today, here's energy secretary Chris Wright.

I mean markets do what markets do, prices went up to send signals to everyone that can

produce more, please produce more, prices have not risen high enough yet to drive meaningful

demand destruction, but Americans and energy entrepreneurs around the world are ingenious.

So things are being done, we've done some pragmatic solutions to take floating barrels that

are waiting to unload in China and help them move into ports in other nations in Asia to go

into refineries, but these are mitigants of a situation that's temporary.

You obviously, as you said, got the IEA framework to release the strategic stocks,

as you look around the world, how fast are they flowing into the market?

United States oil from our stocks started flowing last Friday afternoon.

I saw in the press on it, they can't do it for three weeks, it's never been done before.

Oil started to flow at a US stocks last Friday afternoon, Japan has also moved quickly,

some nations will move more slowly, some nations don't even have oil and gas stocks,

but this is what the IEA was created for, right?

It was used four years ago to lower gasoline prices to help election results.

That's not what strategic petroleum reserve stocks are for, this is what they're for.

And the volume that comes out of this strategic stocks, the SPR, what's the level of flow?

The rate of flow? It's going to be between a million and a million and a half barrels a day

out of US stocks, and we'll get possibly close to three million barrels total.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaking on an energy industry conference in Houston today,

CNN.com reports that even with the price declines,

crude prices remain more than a third higher than they were before the US's rail attacks

on Iran three weeks ago.

In London, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced questions from senior members of parliament

today, the Prime Minister told them he welcomes the talks between US and Iran,

but says it would be, quote, false comfort to assume the war will have a, quote, quick and early end.

The Prime Minister also faced questions about the UK's defense spending in war readiness,

specifically from conservative MP Bernard Jenkins, who brought up Iran's drone attack

on a UK military base in Cyprus.

But now we are facing an urgency. Why were we so unready to defend Cyprus?

Well, we've got a lot of defensive capability in Cyprus, as you know,

including the air capability there, and I've been constantly talking to the Cypriots about this.

I was on the phone yet again to the President on Saturday at some great length.

His assessment, same as my assessment, is that our two military teams are working as closely

as they've ever worked now, and we are absolutely determined to do everything we need to do to defend

Cyprus, and that's what I discussed with him at some length, not for the first time in recent weeks

on Saturday morning. We couldn't even stop 150 kilometres per hour mile for Marlar drone

from getting through to hitting a sovereign base in Cyprus. That means we were unprepared,

and the very fact that you immediately wanted to defend a destroyer meant you had failed to

anticipate the need to defend Cyprus with a destroyer. But this max of a lack of war-fighting

mentality that reaches right across the government, which is what we address in this paper

about war-fighting readiness, where we are not at, and the Chiefs of Staff are saying,

we need to be ready for war. So when are we going to be prepared and prepared for what?

We are finalising the investment plan. That sits with the Strategic Defence Review.

This max of the fact that for years there was under-investment by the last government,

and the stripping out and following out of our armed forces, there had 18 months to be ready to

defend Wallis, who was to defend Cyprus. I'm not taking a party with a political party,

but I agree with 40 years of under-investment, with 18 months of Labour government.

But take this example. We're picking up the under-investment of your government.

The whole concept of war-fighting has changed in the last 12 months.

I understand that. I was in Ukraine very recently, and the Ukrainian armed forces

are mystified and want to offer help, as they are offering help to the Gulf states,

to the NATO frontline states and NATOJF, about how to prepare for drone warfare.

This is being held up by the lack of the Defence Industrial Plan.

I spoke to President Slensky in last week. I speak to him very, very regularly. He was in

last week for some time. I spoke exactly about this to him. I've been to see for myself

on a number of occasions and keep their capability. We are putting in backfill to that,

working with him on industrial capabilities to produce drones with them.

And I discussed this very issue with him last week. He did not, just for the record,

he did not say that anything that they want to do is being held up by anything the UK is doing

on the contrary. He sees us as their foremost ally, and I'm very pleased

that we've been able to achieve that, actually, on a cross-party basis.

How many Defence reviews do you think took us during the Second World War?

Well, I don't know if it took my head, but I know the answer is none.

Because when you are at war, you get on with it. You don't wait around for a plan.

Conservative MP Bernard Jankin questioning British Prime Minister Kier Starmer

at the House of Commons Liaison Committee, that committee is composed

of the chairs of all the House of Commons standing committees. You can see all of today's

meeting at C-SPAN.org and the C-SPAN.com mobile app.

Finally, news over the weekend of the passing of Robert Mueller at the age of 81.

The New York Times wrote a button-down, lock-jawed rock rib exemplar

of a vanishing cast, the Liberal Republican. Mr. Mueller became the FBI director just a week

before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He went on to oppose the most significant

structural and cultural changes in the history of the FBI, seeking to transform the Bureau into a

21st century intelligence service that could protect both national security and civil liberties.

And his counterterrorism agents were the first to blow the whistle on abuses at the secret prisons

that the CIA had established after 9-11 to detain and interrogate and, in some cases, torture terrorism

suspects. The Times goes on to write, but he may best be remembered for what he did after

he left the FBI when he was summoned to investigate a sitting president. The Justice Department

named Mr. Mueller Special Counsel on May 17, 2017. Eight days after President Trump

dismissed the FBI director James Comey, who was investigating the interactions between the

Trump campaign and a Russian covert operation to help him win the White House, not all from the

New York Times. Robert Mueller's passing and the president's reaction to it over the weekend

was the topic of conversation between ABC News as Jonathan Karl and former New Jersey Republican

governor Chris Christie yesterday on this week. Here is what Donald Trump posted just minutes

after the death was announced. Robert Mueller just died. Good. I'm glad he's dead. You can no

longer hurt innocent people. Governor Christie, you knew Robert Mueller for many years. What do you

make of that? Well, look, first of all, it's reprehensible for anyone to say that about someone

who had the life of service that Robert Mueller had. Even more reprehensible for somebody who is

the commander in chief of the military to say that about a veteran who was a decorated veteran

in Vietnam War. And by the way, who didn't get drafted, volunteered as you noted earlier in the

while many others were doing everything they could to stay out of. Yeah, of course. I don't know

who you're talking about, but yeah. So, you know, the fact is, I knew Bob very well. We worked together

for seven years when I was U.S. Attorney. And by the way, we had some epic fights. I mean, that's

how I'm an unadulterated Bob Mueller fan, but there were a lot of things we disagreed on.

But the one thing I could tell you about him is that when his country called him to service,

he never said no. And he never put conditions on it. And even times when the Russian investigation

went on, when he was brought into play there, he wasn't up to it. I mean, we saw that at the end,

but he couldn't say no when his country called him and asked him to serve. And this is something

with it to say what the president said about Bob Mueller just shows you how completely self-consumed

the president is. Because that's what it comes from. It comes from his own sense that the only

thing that matters in the world is him. He's the genius the way he did it. And by the way, the child

does job. And former Republican governor Chris Christie on ABC News this week. Yesterday,

Robert Mueller was born in New York City and grew up near Philadelphia. After college, he served

in Vietnam earning several awards and accommodations, including a Purple Heart. And from one of his

155 appearances in the C-SPAN video library, Yuri is in 2003 speaking to a group of high school

students about his service. I got out of college and it was during the Vietnam War. And during my

last year at college at Princeton, we had an individual who was a head of me who had graduated,

I played sports with as a terrific guy and he'd gone to the Marine Corps. And during our senior

year at college, he was killed in Vietnam. And he became an example for me and a number of others

as to the type of service I one should undertake in order to pay back some of the gifts that had been

given to us. And so there were a number of myself and a number of my friends in some sense honoring his

memory joined the Marine Corps. And I went in for three years, did a year in Vietnam. And came

out of that experience, I believe in first of all, you know, it's very lucky. And that every day

after that is a gift. That experience also gave me and I'd recommended to anybody and everybody,

I have recommended to my daughters and either one picked up on it, but I'd recommend thinking

about the military. What we learned in the Marine Corps was amongst other things was leadership.

And some ruddably simple things for leadership that would stand one and good stead throughout

your life. And I asked somebody to do anything that you're not willing to do and have done

yourself. You always have your, support your troops and have them eat first. Some basic leadership,

rudimentary leadership advice that is inculcated in you whether it be the Marine Corps, the Army,

the Coast Guard, any of the services. After that, I went to law school, I went down to Virginia for

law school and learned how to think. I think in ways that I had not learned how to think before

logically learned how to write. And if there's anything I would say that is most important to

success in this world besides the leadership skills you can pick up and some other items that

I'll mention later, it's writing. Being able to write and express your thoughts has been

critical to me throughout my career and to the extent that you can improve on that one should.

From 2003, former FBI director and special counsel Robert Muller, you can see more of that event

at cspan.org and the cspan now mobile app. That's also where you can find this program as a podcast

and it's on YouTube just search Washington today. And if you want more on the stories that are

shaping Washington every day, get our daily email word for word. Just go to cspan.org slash connect

to subscribe. I'm Gary Starrickoff. Thanks a lot for listening today to Washington today.