White House says Pres. Trump will decide when Iran has reached 'unconditional surrender'; February jobs report worse than expected

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Welcome to Washington today on C-SPAN radio for Friday, March 6, 2026.

President Donald Trump says he will accept only unconditional surrender from Iran,

and their report to Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to target US military positions

in the Middle East will get White House reaction.

The jobs report from the Labor Department shows the US lost 92,000 jobs in February

and the unemployment rate went up from 4.3% to 4.4%.

We'll talk about the jobs report and the effect of the war with Iran on the economy,

with Courtney Brown Axios senior economics reporter.

Former President Barack Obama Joe Biden and Bill Clinton pay tribute to the late Reverend Jesse Jackson

at his funeral in Chicago.

Plus Gavin Newsom, Democrat from California, tells C-SPAN about a late-night phone call

he had with President Trump, and the 2026 Paralympics open in Italy

with some European countries boycotting,

because athletes from Russia and Belarus are being allowed to compete.

CBS News has an article titled What to Know on the 7th Day of the US-Israeli War with Iran,

with these bullet points.

Israel heavily bombed Iran's capital Tehran and Lebanon again overnight announcing a new phase

in the joint war launched almost a week ago with the US.

President Trump appeared to rule out negotiations with Iran calling for its unconditional surrender

in a social media post.

Mr. Trump has said he wants to be involved in picking Iran's next leader,

and Russia is providing intelligence on US positions to Iran,

three sources including a senior US official with direct knowledge confirmed to CBS News on Friday.

The White House press secretary Caroline Levitt spoke to reporters in the White House driveway

and got a lot of questions about the war in Iran.

I won't get ahead of the president on broadcasting any timelines.

What I will tell you is what President Trump has already laid out,

which is that the achievable objectives of Operation Epic Fury,

we expect to last about four to six weeks,

and we are well on our way to achieving those objectives.

Annihilating Iran's navy, we know that we've sunk more than 30 Iranian vessels and ships.

Their navy has now been deemed combat ineffective,

taking out the ballistic missile threat that Iran posed to the United States

and our troops in bases in the region.

We have done a tremendous job.

The United States military has done a tremendous job at achieving that objective thus far.

Just six days in, the retaliatory ballistic missile strikes from Iran are now down 90 percent.

Of course, ensuring Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon as well,

and significantly weakening their proxies in the region,

which we know are responsible for the deaths of Americans.

And we've seen Hezbollah in the Houthis hardly putting up a fight over the course of the last six days.

Ultimately, the president has made it very clear.

He wants to take out the threat of Iran to the United States in Operation Epic Fury as well on its way to doing that.

As for the future of Iran as the president has pointed to,

of course, it's in the best interest of the United States of America for Iran to no longer be led

by a radical terrorist regime that chants death to America

and is lying to the United States in the world about their secret ambitions to possess a nuclear bomb.

President Trump does not want to see that.

He wants to take an interest in pursuing

a who-the-next leader of the Iranian country is going to be,

and that has yet to be seen, and the president is discussing it and deliberating it.

Kristen.

But this president, you just said on Fox that it doesn't really matter if Washington is using Iran,

and he can reach the military asset.

Why doesn't it matter if U.S. military is being provided by Russia

and is not just President Putin as well?

What I meant, Kristen, and thank you for giving me a chance to make it very clear,

is that it clearly is not making a difference with respect to the military operations in Iran,

because we are completely decimating them.

As I said earlier, we've taken out nearly 30 of their ships.

There may be has been deemed combat ineffective, 90 percent reduction in ballistic missile retaliatory strikes

against the United States and our Gulf Arab and partners in the region.

So, of course, we are achieving the military objectives of this operation,

and that is going to continue because the United States military

is the best and most lethal fighting force in the world.

Sure, go ahead, Benny.

Can you confirm if U.S. has taken full control over the airspace in Iran,

like it's been reported these past couple of days, and Trump said within hours,

within days, we can farm anything along the way.

Yes, we are well on our way to doing so.

Caroline, has the president's faith in Russia to cut a peace deal with Ukraine,

been shaken by the knowledge that Russia is apparently supplying intelligence to Iran in this conqueror?

I think the president would say that peace is still an achievable objective

with respect to the Russia-Ukraine war.

You saw a special envoy, Whitcoff, put out a tweet yesterday announcing a new prisoner exchange

between both Russia and Ukraine.

So, it's something this administration still wants to see,

and something I know the president will continue to work on.

I'll let the president speak on that directly.

What does the president mean when he calls for unconditional surrender?

Is he saying that the regime has to fully relinquish control?

What the president means is that when he, as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces,

determines that Iran no longer poses a threat to the United States of America,

and the goals of Operation Epic Fury has been fully realized,

then Iran will essentially be in a place of unconditional surrender,

whether they say it themselves or not.

Frankly, they don't have a lot of people to say that for them,

because the United States and the state of Israel have completely wiped out

more than 50 leaders of the former terrorist regime,

including the Supreme Leader himself.

The White House Press Secretary Caroline Levin taking reporters questions

in the White House driveway.

News Nation writing that President Donald Trump on Friday

will meet with executives from the largest defense contractors

at the White House to discuss accelerating weapons production,

while the U.S. claims to have sufficient weapons stockpiles to meet operational needs

related to the war in Iran, sources tell Reuters the Pentagon is working

to replenish supplies drawn down by strikes in Iran.

That was from News Nation.

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Irovani,

spoke to reporters today at the UN in New York City,

again calling on the UN Security Council to take action against the U.S. and Israel,

saying their attacks on Iran violate the UN Charter.

In the name of Kategon Pasha and the merciful,

I wish to provide a brief update on the deliberate, unprovoked,

an unlawful war of aggression launched by the United States

and the Israeli regime against the sovereignty and territorial integrity

of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Today marks the seventh consecutive day of this large-scale

military aggression which began on 28 February.

The United States and the Israeli regime continue their brutal

and massive attack against Iran and the Iranian people

and habitately and without pause.

These attacks are indiscriminate.

They deribrated targets, civilians, and civilian infrastructure

across my country.

The United States and the Israel have demonstrated that

they recognize no red line in committing their crimes.

Iranian cities are being attacked indiscriminately.

Densely populated residential area and critical civilian infrastructure

are deliberately targeted.

These acts constitute clear war crimes and crime against humanity.

Yesterday, the United States Secretary of War openly admitted

that the United States is using 501,000 and 2,000 pounds

bomb with massive destructive power against Iranian cities.

They are dropping 2,000 pound bomb in densely populated civilian areas.

Their intention is clear to terrorize civilians,

massacre innocent people, and cause maximum destruction and suffering.

Their claims that they have targeted only military objectives

is a lie and baseless, the fact on the ground proved otherwise.

Despite our repeated communication to the Security Council

calling for an immediate halt to this criminal war,

the Council has remained silent.

It has chosen to turn a blind eye to these grave violations,

despite its primary responsibility under the charter of the United Nations

to maintain international peace and security.

The Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeed Irovani,

speaking to reporters at the UN in New York City.

He made a statement. He did not take any reporter's questions.

Back in Washington DC, Fox News writing a group of Democrats,

including that speaker Mike Johnson,

keep the House representatives in Washington

next week in light of the, quote, rapidly evolving situation in Iran.

They wrote to the Chamber's leader on Friday,

the attacks have resulted in heightened threat assessments around the globe,

as well as multiple deaths, including the tragic loss of six U.S. service members.

At this sensitive time, we believe it is the best interest of our constituents

if we remain in session as events continue to develop.

Reporting from Fox News, the House is scheduled to be out next week.

Republicans have a annual member retreat schedule

at President Donald Trump's Durral Gulf Club in Florida.

The Congresswoman Suzy Lee, Democrat from Nevada,

wrote today on X-Americans,

do not want another forever war.

Here's why I voted yes on the war power's resolution in the House.

She was referring to the resolution that failed in a vote on Thursday.

This is part of the video the Congresswoman attached.

Since the attacks began, the actions of this administration

have demonstrated a few things that I find incredibly troublesome.

First and foremost, the reason for beginning the attacks

has shifted several times,

whether it was to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons,

to taking out their missile program,

to regime trend change.

It has been unclear what the ultimate objective has been.

But most importantly,

Americans have made clear that they do not want forever wars.

What this administration has failed to make the case

is what the main objective for victory is.

Hope is not a strategy.

Although the supreme leader of the regime has been killed,

no strategy has been sufficiently demonstrated to me

for how we are going to promote a transition to peace

for the people of Iran,

with the government that will support a democracy.

I supported the war power's resolution to make clear to the American people

that is the members of Congress should have the responsibility

to make the decision given transparency,

given objectives, and given a plan.

That did not happen with this action.

Let me be clear.

The president still retains his constitutional authority

to protect our service members against imminent attack.

And again, I thank our men and women who have conducted these attacks,

who are serving in the region,

who serve our country so valiantly.

Again, my heart goes out to the families of our fallen service members,

and I pray for the safe return of all of those who are serving our country.

Congresswoman Suzy Lee, Democrat from Nevada,

posting that video today.

This is Washington today.

NBC News reporting that oil prices continued soaring Friday,

putting them on track to record their biggest jump since early 2020

as the escalating Iran war threatens global energy supplies.

US crude oil spiked more than 11 percent in mid-day trading

to more than $90 per barrel.

It's highest price since October 2023.

That was reporting from NBC News.

Kevin Hassett, Chair of the White House National Economic Council,

was interviewed today on Bloomberg TV about energy prices and the war.

Tax refunds are a big part of the bull case for the US economy.

I've got the Bloomberg lighting up in front of me right now

with energy prices surging.

How those refunds are going to be spent is key, Kevin,

with energy bills still climate.

What's your assessment of the disruption we're seeing to supply in the Middle East?

Well, our expectation is that we've got our eyes on the horizon,

and we know that sometimes soon we're going to have a much more stable Venezuela

with high stable energy output, a much more stable Iran with high and stable energy output,

which is going to be very good not only for energy markets,

but for risk premium around the world.

Don't forget that this move against Iran is happening because they've promised to destroy us all.

If that's not something that affects risk premium, I don't know what it is.

So I think with an eye on a horizon, then you could see that this is a huge positive

for global economy and global markets.

The question is when will the current near-term disruption end,

and that's something that will be decided by the military,

and of course will be some uncertainty about when they decide to move in part

because the uncertainty protects the lives of American soldiers.

Kevin, in the meantime, we expect that it will be resolved quite soon.

As you see, we're starting to see a hit to production.

Because we can't move the oil, we're breaching storage capacity

and select producers right now.

You saw some of that with Iraq earlier this week.

The general reporting moments ago, we've seen the same thing in Q8,

and UAE and Saudi Arabia might follow.

That's obviously a bigger, more acute issue for the Asian refiners right now,

which is why the Treasury Secretary came out and issued a waiver

for the Indians to buy from Russia, the Russian crew,

for sure, in tankers right now.

But Kevin, I wonder what else the White House has got in store?

Not just to tell people to wait, because in the future it will be better,

but what are the remedies that you can produce right now?

Oh, sure. The sanction waiver that Secretary Paso came out with

is just one of many, many tools that we have ready.

We've got a whole flow chart of tools to use, depending on this or that,

and we're ready to move them as food is we have to,

but we're also very optimistic that we're going to be able to get this

near-term problem resolved relatively quickly.

Kevin has a chair of the White House National Economic Council

interviewed on Bloomberg TV.

Reuters writing the U.S. will provide re-insurance for losses

up to $20 billion in the Gulf region to help provide confidence

for oil and gas shippers during the war on Iran,

the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation set on Friday.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the DFC

to provide political risk insurance and financial guarantees

for maritime trade in the Gulf after oil and liquefied natural gas.

Tanker transit had ground to a halt in the strait of Hormuz.

Waterway off Iran were ordinarily 20% of global oil moves daily.

That was from Reuters.

From CNN, hiring at U.S. businesses unexpectedly plunged last month

as employers shed an estimated 92,000 jobs,

according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate edged higher to 4.4% from 4.3%.

Economists were expecting job growth to slow somewhat

after a surprisingly strong January in part due to a major labor strike

by health care workers and a deep cold snap that hit many U.S. states.

The consensus estimates were for a net gain of 60,000 jobs

and the unemployment rate to hold steady facts that estimates show.

That was from the CNN.

The Labor Secretary, Laurie Chavez-Deremer,

was interviewed on Fox Business Channel today on the jobs report.

92,000 jobs out in February.

The fewer jobs in health care, fewer jobs for information services

because of AI, the weather-heard things, government employment down.

If you add it all up, it doesn't look good for the Trump economy.

I couldn't agree with you.

I think we have to address the fact that this is not a good report

in its raw numbers.

But we have to also talk about why this possibly has happened.

This snapshot in time.

It was mentioned the weather.

We saw health care numbers go down.

We saw a record strike in California.

Over 30,000 jobs lost there.

But that has been resolved.

So we're hoping to see those numbers tick back up next month.

But overall, we've gained 60,000 new jobs over the last two months.

So this is important for us to recognize.

What the message is here, what the noise is, and how focused the labor department is

in making sure that we can bring back those jobs in construction, manufacturing.

We're seeing the confidence go up.

We've seen the investments that the president has made.

I've said it over and over again.

The president and I talk.

We visit on this often.

It's important to him.

We're laser focused to make sure that we have that skilled workforce.

And it's just going to take some time.

So we're recognizing what happened this month.

And we're going to stay laser focused to bring those jobs numbers up.

But when you think about it, look at the real wages.

That's exciting for us that we've seen real wages go up as well.

Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez-Deremer on Fox Business Channel today.

And on Wall Street, the Dow down 453 nested down 361 S&P down 90.

Joining us now with more on the February jobs report in the state of the economy,

Courtney Brown Senior Economics Reporter with Axios.

Thanks for joining us.

You're right that the February report was surprising. Why?

Surprisingly bad.

And that is the case because the economy lost jobs.

And almost every economist on Wall Street expected the economy would add somewhere around 50,000 jobs.

In February. And remember, January was a blockbuster month for jobs growth.

So the tone had been that maybe the labor market had been in a slump in 2025.

But maybe there are signs that we're starting to emerge from this slump.

But when the numbers hit at 830 this morning, it became clear that no, we're probably still in this slump.

Trump administration officials say there are port as an outlier.

They point to cold weather. There was a major labor strike. Any validity to that.

They're not wrong. There are one-off factors that might have depressed the February jobs number.

But the economists I spoke to today and reading through their notes to clients.

They say the opposite. They say no January was the outlier.

And what we saw in February is actually pretty consistent with what we've seen in recent months.

That jobs growth is just tepid. The economy is barely creating any jobs.

And in February, in fact, we saw that the economy shed jobs.

The worst jobs bust since last October.

So there is this trend that employers are just sitting on their hands.

And February's data is consistent with that trend.

This report covered the time before the US and Israel launched a war with Iran, which was just last week.

What has been the economic fallout in just this week and what may be on the horizon?

It's a good question. This data is by nature backward looking, right?

So it doesn't include any of the potential uncertainty that or new uncertainty that employers might have since, you know, there has been escalating tension and conflict in the Middle East.

We've seen oil prices surge.

And, you know, what that does to employers, we don't know what we'll get a first look, you know, in the March jobs report.

But I think that right now, what this does is it creates a really complicated backdrop for the Federal Reserve.

We've got weak job market, which would make you think perhaps another rate cut could be on the horizon.

But no, you've got inflation pressures that were already persistent before the war.

Now add this oil price surge that looks to be inflationary.

And, you know, they they feel hesitant to come to the rescue and try to save the job market with another rate cut.

We're talking with Courtney Brown from Axio.

So I was going to ask next about the Federal Reserve.

Has any Fed governors spoken out in the past week adding the what's happening in the Middle East to what they had been considering going into the rate cut?

The tone among federal officials so far on the war is we can see.

Let's wait and see what the effects are to the economic data.

That's how they make all their decisions.

There is, though, an interesting tension that I think is worth paying attention to.

There is a sort of fight really because the Fed world is not that exciting, but there is a debate of sorts between top fed officials.

Is the labor market showing signs of recovery or is it weakening and a top fed official Fed governor Christopher Waller has put himself out there and said no.

This the labor markets really rocky.

We need more rate cuts and the February data seems like he is right.

But of course, we'll have to see what what future months show what has been the public's reaction to the war in Iran.

As engaged by the stock market, it seems that it's been day to day, some days up, some days down, like they're not sure where this is going.

That is the interpretation.

Especially when I talk to investors on Wall Street, they are similar to the Fed, kind of in weight and sea mode.

And there has been this kind of reactionary effect that we really haven't seen in the stock market in recent months.

Remember, it's been all about AI.

So if the stock market was reacting, it was to news from big AI companies from it in video and the like.

But now it's kind of transition that one might expect to reacting to news from the White House.

Does it look like this is going to be a prolonged protracted conflict or is this going to be over soon?

And I think today there is concern that it's going to be a prolonged conflict.

Finally on tariffs, the Supreme Court struck down President Trump's global emergency tariffs a number of weeks ago.

He has since put in place lesser tariffs under a different law, which may be temporary if Congress doesn't agree in six months.

What is the latest on on those emergency tariffs as a court case today?

Well, the fallout from the Supreme Court decision is people have to get their money back for the tariffs that they paid roughly over the last year.

That the Supreme Court said, you know, was illegal, right? Those tariffs were illegal.

And so the court of international trade, a very wonky but important trade court based in Manhattan.

They're trying to figure out and working with the government, how do we get these people their money back? How do we get businesses their money back?

And this is turning out to be very complicated. The judge this week ordered the government to get third immediately start issuing those refunds.

And you know, on Friday today, the government came back and said, we can't do this. It's too complex. It's too sprawling.

We're talking about 165 billion in tariff refunds. We have to issue out to people and we need more time.

And that has been what the Trump administration has been asking for in court more time to get these refunds out.

And finally, the judge today said, OK, build the capabilities you need to get these refunds out. But do it as quickly as you can.

Courtney Brown, the senior economics reporter for Axios, find her stories at axios.com and on Twitter, it's at Courtney underscore Brown. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

This is, she's been radio is Washington today. Politico has an article, the Israeli defense forces on Wednesday said it bombed a compound in Tehran housing Iran's cyber warfare headquarters.

But it's unclear whether the strike will significantly knee cap Iran's cyber attack capabilities.

Iran linked hackers have been hitting back against the US, Israel, and surrounding Gulf nations since the US led military operation on Saturday, which resulted in the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to findings from Israeli cyber firm, checkpoint software, two types of surveillance cameras popular across Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, and other Middle Eastern nations were compromised by Iran.

Iranian linked hackers likely to monitor missile-related damage to those nations that was from Politico.

Potential Iranian cyber attacks on US government agencies came up today at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing with the testimony from the director of the government printing office, Hugh Nathaniel Halpern, and the acting librarian of Congress, Robert Nulin.

The questions came from Congressman Adriano Espaiat, Democrat of New York.

Recent geopolitical tensions and conflicts have underscored the growing risk of cyber attacks targeting US government systems and critical information infrastructures.

Agencies that manage and provide public access to congressional and government information, including GPO and the Library of Congress, playing an essential role in safeguarding the integrity and availability of that information.

As compared to last year, how are the government publishing office and the Library of Congress assessing their cyber security posture and vulnerabilities in the current threat environment?

Mr. Espaiat, I can start. When I came to GPO about six years ago, I got a very rude awakening about a month into the job when a group of actors associated with Iran defaced one of our FDLP sites.

The good news is they didn't get any farther than the front page, but it was a wake-up call.

So in the meantime, we have been moving all of our public facing systems to more secure platforms.

And, you know, knock on wood, we have had a very, very good track record with that over the last several years.

We maintain a strong cyber security posture, frankly, because of our secure ID work for the Department of State, we have to maintain a very strong cyber posture and a physical security posture.

We test and monitor constantly, and we really work with our team to make sure that they integrate strong security thinking into almost everything we do.

And we're always continuing the system ever been compromised.

As I said, the one that we had a couple of years ago was really they just compromised the front page.

They delivered a pro-aron message, but they never got any farther.

But it was a good wake-up call. It was on old platform, and we moved that system into a newer, more secure platform, and so far we haven't had any difficulties there.

Mr. Nielin?

Cyber security is really our number one priority, and we're grateful to Congress for the support that you've given to ensuring that our data is properly protected from cyber attacks.

Each year we get tens of thousands of attacks on our system, and so obviously we have to be very sure that we have the latest technology to address protecting our and your legislative data.

We work across the legislative branch and across the larger national cyber security community to ensure that we're always up to date.

We want to avoid what happened to the British Library. They had a huge hack, which five years later they still haven't recovered from, and we spend a lot of time examining that to ensure we have safe guards so it doesn't happen to us.

The members of the subcommittee, what are some of the areas that are so sensitive that are within the Library of Congress that could be targets for these actors?

Currently, well, our legislative data for Congress.gov would certainly be a major target. The data that the Congressional Research Service uses would also be a major source of interest.

Acting Librarian of Congress, a Robert Newland testifying before the House legislative branch appropriations subcommittee today.

Sitting beside him, the Director of the Government Printing Office, Hugh Nathaniel Halpern, and asking the questions Congressman Adriano Espiotte Democrat from New York.

The subcommittee chair, David Valadeo, Republican from California, said the Library of Congress is requesting $931.5 million in fiscal year 2027, 3.8% more than the current year,

and the GPO requesting $132 million, same as this year, the subcommittee chair congratulating the GPO on a flat funding request.

New York Times writing with a couple dozen representatives of American mining companies and other firms in tow, the US Interior Secretary Doug Burgham pushed for greater US access to Venezuela's reserves of critical minerals and gold during a visit to the country's capital on Wednesday and Thursday.

Mr. Burgham's visit was the latest meeting between a high ranking US official and Venezuela's new interim government led by Delsey Rodriguez aimed at opening up the South American country's economy to US investors that was from the New York Times.

Secretary Burgham spoke to reporters at the airport in Caracas before taking off on Thursday.

Thanks to President Trump. I just pray leadership his courage, his decisive action on January 3rd created an opportunity for a change in direction for Venezuela.

And Venezuela under the leadership of Delsey Rodriguez and brother Dr. Rodriguez have been moving at Trump's speed.

There's been more positive change for the people of Venezuela in the last two months than perhaps there had been in the last 20 years, and that's a credit to the leadership that's here.

We've just come off a fantastically positive constructed two days of beatings.

We had dozens of companies here from the United States that were interested in investing in Venezuela, coming back to Venezuela.

They were here perhaps 10, 15, 20 years ago.

Some of these companies had operated in Venezuela for over 100 years and they want to come back.

That's a reflection on both the opportunity, the resources, the natural resources of this country, oil and gas, also the natural resources around minerals.

But it's a credit to the people of Venezuela as well.

So we're very excited about our constructive and positive these two days of beatings work.

We continue to move towards normalization of relationships between the United States and Venezuela.

And again, grateful for all of you to be here today and grateful for our host. We had a fantastic beating.

Interior Secretary Doug Bergham, also chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, meeting with reporters in Venezuela on Thursday on the tarmac before flying back to the United States.

More from the New York Times article on his trip, Mr. Bergham's visit coincided with the State Department announcement that the United States and Venezuela were reestablishing diplomatic and consular relations.

White House official also disclosed an American broker deal that was not publicly announced between Venezuela's state mining company and Trophagora, a Singapore-based commodities giant for the sale of up to 1000 kilograms of gold, which is worth well over 100 million dollars.

That was from the New York Times. Washington today continues in a moment.

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Welcome back to Washington today, available as a podcast on the free.

He's been now mobile app and wherever you find your podcasts, a few more headlines from the Wall Street Journal, the Food and Drug Administration's controversial vaccines chief is leaving the agency.

Dr. Veney Prasad, who has led the FDA's vaccines and biotech drugs division will depart at the end of April.

FDA Commissioner Marty McCarrie said Friday, federal health officials are searching for his replacement.

McCarrie said,

and from KITV and Honolulu, former U.S. representative and Hawaii Senate president Colleen Honobusa has died, prompting state leaders to honor her decades of public service.

She was in the U.S. House representative from 2011 through 15 and again from 2016 through 19.

Grammy winning artist Jennifer Hudson, performing today at Jesse Jackson's funeral in Chicago.

WTTW in Chicago writing that three former presidents, star singers and thousands more gathered on Chicago's South Side Friday to honor the life and memory of civil rights icon, the Reverend Jesse Jackson Friday ceremony build as a homecoming service at the 10,000 seat house of hope.

Arena served as a celebration of Jackson's life and achievements with singing, dancing and numerous speakers who reflected on the many ways Jackson changed and impacted their lives.

Scores of attendees began lining up outside hours before the celebration began Friday morning inside vendors sold pins with Jackson's 1984 presidential slogan and hoodies with his I am somebody mantra that was from WTTW in Chicago.

The three former presidents who spoke were Barack Obama Joe Biden and Bill Clinton first Barack Obama.

As the powers that be in Washington were rolling back, hard one progress, slashing the social safety net when more and more folks were getting left behind and greed was being trumpeted as a virtue.

See, we've been there before. He stepped forward once again and said, send me.

He ran for the presidency of the United States of America.

He had just graduated from college during that first campaign.

I was living in New York at the time. I was working to pay off my student loans, eating a lot of tuna fish and camel soup.

If I went to a diner, I'd grab some extra crackers, put them on pocket.

And I was inspired by the civil rights movement.

And I had my mind to work for social justice, but even though I was full of good intentions, I was uncertain of how to serve and fighting off self doubt.

I remember how, at the time, plenty of people, including, I'm sorry, plenty of black folks, were dismissing Jesse's chances.

I'm suggesting that he just wants attention. He can only get black votes.

But then I remember one night sitting in my janky apartment, and I got no black white TV with the rabbit ears, and I'm kind of jiggering around.

It's about this big. I know young people can't imagine, but TV is about this big.

And I'm watching the Democratic primary debate between him and Walter Mondale and Gary Hart.

And I remember how, when that debate was over, I turned off that TV, and I thought the same thing that I know a lot of people thought that night, even if they didn't want to admit it,

that in his ideas, in his platform, in his analysis, in his intelligence, in his insight, Jesse hadn't just held his own.

He had owned that stage. He wasn't an intruder. He wasn't a pretender. He belonged on that stage.

And the message he sent to a 22-year-old child of a single mother, with a funny name, an outsider, was that maybe there wasn't any place, any room, where we didn't belong.

And that message, the fairness and dignity of justice and hope.

Now, that's what the Rainbow Coalition was all about. In 1984, and then again in 1988, Jesse didn't just speak to black folks.

He spoke to white folks and Latinos and Asian Americans and the first Americans. He spoke to family farmers and environmentalists.

He spoke to gay rights activists when nobody was talking to gay rights activists and blue collar workers. And he gave them the same message that they mattered, that their voices and their votes counted.

He invited them to believe. He invited us to believe in our own power to change America for the better.

Former President Barack Obama at the funeral of the late Reverend Jesse Jackson today in Chicago. Also there to other former presidents Joe Biden and Bill Clinton, here is Joe Biden.

Above all, Jesse always saw a common ground. Of course, he preached soap because folks, despite all the endured growing up, despite the pain and disappointment he experienced, Jesse was an optimist at his core.

No matter what you say, at his core, he was an optimist. The dollar was born out of religiously, the dollar was born out of how it would arrive and it arrived in people in different ways.

But it mattered a lot. It mattered a lot. He kept the faith with American people.

Every time I move away from, every time I move from scratch, we go up here and spend the summers up there. Every time I leave my grandpa, Bambrose Finnigan's home, he was an all-American football player at Santa Clara when Irish Catholics weren't very much in a bowl of transcription of the minds up there.

As Hillary knows, that state will. Every time I leave the house, he'll, Joey, keep the faith.

And my grandpa, no, Joey, spread it. Well, folks, I had the opportunity to come up in politics at a time with people like Jesse around and Jesse in particular, where he talked about hope. He talked about hope.

He believed in his bones in the promise of America. We're all created equal, the image of God. We hear it all the time. I wonder how many people really believe it.

He believed everybody's earned retreat with equally throughout their lives.

And while we've never fully lived up to the promise, I don't think things would have been the same as Jesse now because Jesse decided that his life was ensuring that we never fully walk away from it either.

Because it's a bad times like that. We're in a tough spot, folks. We got an administration that doesn't share any of the values that we have.

I don't think I'm exaggerating a little bit.

Former president Joe Biden in Chicago at the funeral of the late Reverend Jesse Jackson, also speaking former president Bill Clinton.

We did not always agree, but I'll tell you one thing. He made me a better president when I got it off.

Because he was always pushing on things. And he knew that change came from the outside in and sometimes from the inside out.

So he knew how to keep pushing and nagging and wearing you out.

Right? Look at Governor Fritzker laughing here.

I mean, it was really, it was like having a dog to the bone, you know.

He was, I said one time when he was working on something in Africa, because I made him a special envoy perhaps in front of him.

I said, you know, we might ought to put Jesse on the list.

And one of my, he said, only members of Congress are on that list. I know, but I said, I think we need to put him on anyway.

And they said, so I had another guy who said, what the list is, he said, it's a list of people that'll dog you to death until you do what they want you to do.

So we just call it the just say let yes, let's put it on the just say let's say say you so much time.

And you can go on and do something else with your day.

For President Bill Clinton at the funeral of the late Reverend Jesse Jackson in Chicago.

Other speakers today included for Vice President Kamala Harris, Illinois Governor JP Pritzker, NBA Hall of Famer, Isaiah Thomas,

Reverend Al Sharpton, many members of Congress, many religious leaders and family members of Jesse Jackson.

We covered it all and you can find the video at cspan.org.

Casey, you are the NPR station in Kansas City, Missouri reporting that the exhibit Freedom Playing National Tour documents that forge the nation makes its first stop at the National World War I Museum in Memorial in Kansas City beginning Friday March 6th.

The tour is the first time in history that nine documents from our nation's founding will travel together to eight cities in celebration of America's 250th anniversary.

The free exhibit will display the original William Stone engraving of the Declaration of Independence, a draft of the Bill of Rights, the oath of allegiance signed by George Washington and six other documents.

That was from the NPR station in Kansas City.

Freedom Playing is a Boeing 737 owned by Boeing, which is partnering with the National Archives.

The plane took off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Monday and the send-off ceremony included Ambassador Monica Crowley, Chief of Protocol of the United States.

The archives are home to over 13 billion pieces of paper and 700,000 artifacts.

There's literally something extraordinary in there for everyone.

But now the documents that forged a nation are going on tour and I can promise you this is going to be bigger than Taylor Swift.

This initiative is all about bringing our history to life, capturing the national mood of celebration and sending America's big birthday party from the nation's capital to the very heart of America.

This traveling exhibition will offer viewers an extraordinary and tangible reminder of our Founder's original American spirit and a renewed sense of civic pride as we journey through the semi-Quincentenial celebration.

Our movement to unite and energize Americans around our nation's proud history has no greater champion than President Donald J. Trump.

This year's momentous celebration of the American dream and American exceptionalism will be thanks to his visionary leadership and his persistence in activating a national and truly global celebration

of America's 250th birthday.

Monica Crowley, Chief of Protocol of the United States, Monday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport at the start of the Freedom Plane Tour.

Today was the first stop of the originals of the National Archives American founding documents at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri.

The public can visit there until March 22nd, other stops between now and August are in order, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, Miami, Dearborn, Michigan, and Seattle.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is going around the country on a book tour. His new memoir is titled Young Man in a Hurry, a memoir of discovery.

He's been interviewed him this week for our program, Q&A, which will be airing Sunday, March 8th at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern runs an hour.

Here's a few minutes of it. Governor Newsom talking about his relationship with President Trump.

When's the last time you talked to him?

Well, ironically, and interestingly, you can't make this up in Switzerland, at the World Economic Service.

I was walking in to watch his speech, and I hear a voice, and I'm literally walking.

I'm like, oh, you got to be kidding. And it was Trump.

And he's like, hey, Gavin. And he goes, we, you know, in front of everyone, we used to go, what the hell happened?

We used to get along. The whole thing. The whole stick was back. He's like, this is great. You're going to be great.

And then he goes out and says something nice about me. And of course, I go out, and I was ready to bear.

Like, what the hell's going on with Greenland? This is madness. He wasn't too pleased with that.

But that's the nature of our relationship. But of course, what really marked the last substantive conversation was the night before he federalized the guard,

where we had a 17-minute conversation that basically went like this.

Hey, Gavin, yeah, thanks. There's one 30 in the morning. Marla, he goes, hey, I thought I was talking about LA in some of the issues.

And he goes, hey, what do you think of Newsom? What do you think of the nickname Newsom?

And he's like, he goes, pretty original, right? I said, no, it's not original.

I literally written in the book in high school. I said, there's a guy in like eighth grade that did this, not an 80-year-old.

They call me, and then he goes, what do you think of Maga? Okay, Maga. I'm like, and I said, Mr. Smith, are we seriously having this conversation?

He goes, Maga's pretty good. I said, that wasn't, and I told him was. I'm original. I said, Reagan used it, Meg Whitman ran for governor.

Then he cuts me out. It goes, how many hats do you think I sold? I'm like, it is 130 in the morning.

It's 10.30, but I got to get to bed. And he saw the hat, and then he's like, then he says, hey, what do you think of the debate with Kamala?

I'm like, okay, I said, she crushed you. She goes, no, she didn't. Then he goes, it was four against one.

I said, there were only two moderators because of the cameraman, the cameraman.

This is the stick. This is the conversation. The next morning, I wake up, or that afternoon.

In true social, he said, he read Newsom, the riot act. Look what? This conversation ended like, this was great. Call me anytime.

Read me the riot act, and then federalize as a guard. You're just dealing with something different.

And all of us have to, mom, dummy is going to learn. Everybody, you know, it's just, it's hard.

You can't work with them. You can only work for them. And everybody ultimately learns that lesson. Everybody.

And it's a difficult one. European allies have learned that lesson. They know allies.

Cardi certainly has learned that lesson. Everybody. You know, and the Republican parties learn that lesson.

And I had the privilege of having a little more experience with them the most.

Again, I'm not looking to put a, you know, spoken the wheel and his wheel to trip them up. I, you know, a crowbar.

I want to work together, but it's very difficult at this moment.

Governor Gavin Newsom, Democrat of California, part of an hour-long C-SPAN interview that will be airing this Sunday,

8 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern for C-SPAN's program Q&A.

Governor Newsom talking about his memoir, Young Man in a Hurry.

From Reuters, Nasdaq will mark the full operational launch of its Texas exchange on Thursday following US regulatory approval of its listing rules.

The exchange operator had announced the Texas exchange last year to deepen its presence in a state that is fast emerging as a major financial hub rivaling New York.

The launch gives US public companies a Texas-based exchange option allowing issuers to benefit from the state's business-friendly environment due to a favorable tax climate, lower cost of living, and reduced energy costs. That was from Reuters.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, was at the Nasdaq closing bell ceremony held at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas on Thursday, which happened to be the 190th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo.

After the Battle of the Alamo, Texas went on to become our own country.

Then a United States member and now the Premier economy in the country, one of the Premier economies in the entire world.

Earlier this week on the Texas capital grounds, I received the Governor's Cup.

The Governor's Cup goes to the governor of the state that ranks number one in America for the most new economic development projects and the most new jobs created.

Texas has added more new jobs than any state in the country over the past year since the time of COVID and since I was first elected to be Governor of Texas.

Texas also ranks number one for economic development.

We rank number one for the most business headquarter relocations to any state in America.

Number one is the best business climate in the United States.

Texas now ranks number one for having more employees working in the financial sector than any other state in the entire country.

And Texas ranks number one for capital investment.

Number one for capitalism itself and hence is only right that Texas ranked number one for the capital markets that drive capitalism and the entire economic system.

We are so proud that NASDAQ is a part of that process. We are proud that NASDAQ does business and has a location in the great set of Texas ensuring that Texas is the pathway forward for finance, for capitalism and Texas will lead the way in protecting capitalism and all that it can achieve in the United States of America.

Thank you all. God bless you all and God bless the great state of Texas.

Governor Greg Abbott, Republican of Texas, in front of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas on Thursday for the launch of NASDAQ Texas, which some are calling Yall Street.

France 24, riding the Milan Cortina Winter Paralympic start on Friday with an opening ceremony clouded by a boycott by several countries in protest of Russian athletes competing under their national flag for the first time since 2014.

Despite Russia's ongoing war with Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee, IPC, has allowed six Russian athletes and four from their allies, Belarus, to represent their countries accompanied by their national flag rather than competing as neutrals.

Ukraine's team will not take part in the ceremony in Verona in protest and they'll be joined by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

That's reporting from France 24. The IPC president Andrew Parsons spoke to CBC in Canada about the Paralympics and politics.

What we try to do with the Paralympic movement is to not let politics influence that and it's hard these days that to be a sport organization and when society and different governments they ask us to basically to be the organizations that will be the moral components of the world.

We are bounded by integrity, by fairness, but all the values that we stand for but we cannot follow political size one or the other.

We have to remain neutral, remain focused on sport and that's what we try to achieve here.

Again, we are talking about a decision made by the General Assembly, 91 members voted one way and then we have half of the world complaining about the decision.

It would have been the other way around if the decision was different and both of them pushing the organization, pushing the movement to go one way to the other and forgetting about the main characters of these games, the athletes and that they should be the focus and they should be on the spotlight and not politicians and not even sport organizational leaders.

Andrew Parsons is president of the International Paralympic Committee, interviewed by CBC today, the games open in Italy.

USA Today writing over 600 para athletes will compete across six sports and 79 medal events since the first official para Olympic Games in 1960 when 400 athletes from 23 countries competed, the games have grown into the world's largest showcase for athletes with disabilities.

USA Today team USA is 68 athletes and four guides for visually impaired competitors and the head of the US presidential delegation is Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins.

Thanks for listening to Washington today. Before we go, we're reminded tonight another C-SPAN ceasefire at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern, our guests are Ambassador David Satterfield, former US Special Middle East envoy in the Biden administration and former US Ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey.

And Michael Rubin, former Iran and Iraq adviser to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the George W. Bush administration, discussion about US Israel combat operations against Iran and the geopolitical fallout ceasefire on C-SPAN tonight 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern, also available as a podcast.

Have a good night and weekend.

Thanks for watching.