00:00Vice President J.D. Vance and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are headed to Pakistan,
00:05hoping to meet with Iranian officials with the aim of ending the now 53-day war.
00:09Complicating things? Iran. The regime says it's refusing to attend this latest round of talks,
00:15which would come tomorrow at the earliest. However, host nation Pakistan says Iran's
00:21threat is just that, a threat, nothing more than bluster. So if talks do happen,
00:26they'll be cutting it mighty close. President Trump told the Post the ceasefire deadline is
00:308 p.m. Eastern tomorrow. He also says it's highly unlikely that the ceasefire would be extended
00:35and expects fighting to resume if no deal is agreed to in time. The president also confirmed that he
00:41won't settle for a deal that he doesn't like, despite voices on both sides of the aisle in
00:46Washington pushing him to end the conflict. Here's how he put it, quote, how bad is it that when you
00:52are in the middle of negotiations and you have got the Iranians in a perfect position,
00:56including being militarily defeated, and you have Democrats and some Republicans asking to settle it
01:02now. Now, critics of the incursion point out that the War Powers Act forces the president to get
01:08congressional approval for any conflict lasting more than 60 days. Reminder, we're a little over 50 at
01:14this point. The White House calls that law unconstitutional, but the clock is ticking toward a
01:19decision one way or the other. I've got new details about the possible motive in the murder
01:24of eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana early Sunday. Shamar Elkins, who massacred seven of his
01:30children as well as another child, a cousin, was set to battle his estranged wife in divorce court on
01:35Monday, as in yesterday. The New York Times reported that he called his mother and stepfather on Easter to
01:41tell them his wife of two years had filed for divorce, that he wanted to end his life, and was
01:45drowning in,
01:46quote, dark thoughts. His weekend rampage not only killed eight innocent children, seven of them his,
01:52he also injured his wife as well as a woman believed to be his girlfriend. Despite the coronet,
01:57remarkably, one child escaped. The Post's deputy managing editor, Michael Zenni, told me just what
02:02happened. So we are still trying to find, figure out all of the exact details of what happened during
02:09this horrific massacre. But it does seem that two of the kids tried to escape out of a window with
02:18the
02:18help of one of the adults in the home. One of the kids jumped off the roof and actually broke
02:25his leg.
02:26He is, we believe right now, the sole child who has survived this horrible, horrible shooting.
02:34There was another child who was trying to escape and was actually gunned down and killed. The reporting
02:43on this has been absolutely devastating. This is one of those stories, like Uvalde, like Sandy Hook,
02:49that's going to stay with everybody who's working it. But factually, some of the things that we've
02:55learned, one, the father had a previous gun charge. And so was, it looks like he was likely
03:07barred from owning a firearm. It's, we still don't know how he got the gun or, or what, what that,
03:14what came about with that. The other, the other thing is, it seems pretty clear that there was some
03:18sort of ongoing mental break, possibly connected to a divorce. So he was actually due in court the day
03:29after the shooting, related to the divorce of his estranged wife, who is the mother of at least five of
03:39the
03:40kids who were killed. This is the other thing is, he told a step, a stepfather and relatives that he
03:52had demons
03:54and some demons you don't come back from. This is all sort of indicating from what we can tell someone
04:01who is
04:02increasingly, increasingly troubled. That still does not really explain though why this all happened at
04:11this time. And we're going to continue to look for those answers. Kevin Warsh, President Trump's choice
04:16to succeed Jerome Powell as the head of the Federal Reserve, is on Capitol Hill today to begin his
04:21confirmation hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. He's expected to face some pointed questions
04:25about his commitment to keeping the Fed independent and not simply doing what President Trump wants.
04:31The Federal Reserve has always operated as its own entity, in theory at least. And President Trump
04:36made his displeasure with that practice very well known when it came to Powell, who was a Trump
04:42appointee for his refusal to buck that trend. Specifically, Powell would not lower interest rates as the
04:49president wanted and repeatedly suggested would be best for the economy. And Warsh will surely be asked
04:55about his plan for interest rates. President Trump wants them slashed and Warsh seems to support that plan.
05:01According to his prepared remarks released Monday, Warsh is expected to say, quote,
05:06I do not believe the operational independence of monetary policy is particularly threatened when
05:12elected officials, presidents, senators, or members of the House state their views on interest rates.
05:17Central bankers must be strong enough to listen to a diversity of views from all corners.
05:22Those remarks don't exactly roll off the tongue, but he's basically saying he has no problem with Trump
05:26or anyone else emphatically demanding what they want in regards to the country's piggy bank.
05:31What's interesting, though, is that cutting rates in this economy would be a pivot for Warsh.
05:36He's a longtime inflation hawk and typically lowering rates increases inflation and vice versa.
05:42Now, as for whether or not he'll ultimately be confirmed,
05:45well, keep an eye on outgoing Republican Senator Tom Tillis from North Carolina.
05:49He's vowed to block Warsh's nomination until the DOJ drops their investigation into Jerome Powell
05:54regarding his congressional testimony about the multi-billion dollar renovation to the Federal
05:59Reserve Building. That would likely deadlock the committee vote at 12 to 12. There's a workaround,
06:05but it might require Democratic votes, and we all know how well Congress plays together.
06:10So all of this to say, his confirmation is not a slam dunk.
06:14For more on these stories and everything else you could possibly want to know,
06:18check out the New York Post in print or online. And don't forget, like and subscribe to the New
06:22York Postcast wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. I promise you'll be glad you did.
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