00:00I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says,
00:07sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.
00:12That was the president's reply when asked about the state of the ceasefire with Iran after he
00:17rejected its response to the U.S. peace plan. He went on to say Iranian negotiators agreed to
00:22give up 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium just days ago, only to cut that promise from their
00:27latest proposal. OK, so still no peace agreement, especially with respect to Iran's nuclear program
00:33and the Strait of Hormuz, a key pressure point in the conflict remains closed, which is keeping the
00:38price of oil and gas high. The president was also asked about whether he would consider suspending
00:42the federal gas tax in light of the mounting pressure on American consumers. Now, he said he
00:47would at least temporarily and then phase it back when the war ends and oil prices, in his words,
00:53drop like a rock. While the president said he'll suspend the $18.4 a gallon tax, actually doing
00:58so will likely require a congressional vote. Senator Josh Hawley announced that he would introduce such
01:03a measure this week. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly do not
01:09like each other and do not hide it. And now their long-running feud has taken a new turn. The
01:15senator
01:15was asked on CBS's Face the Nation about the United States' weapon stockpile given the ongoing
01:20conflict with Iran. Here's what he said. And the numbers are, I think it's fair to say it's shocking,
01:26the how deep we have gone into these magazines, because this president got our country into this
01:33without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline. You may have seen me ask the Secretary
01:39of Defense this question about how long it's going to take to replenish. We're talking about years.
01:44Well, Secretary Hegseth did not like that response. He posted a rebuttal that reads, quote,
01:50quote, Captain Mark Kelly strikes again. Now he's blabbing on TV falsely and dumbly about a
01:56classified Pentagon briefing he received. Did he violate his oath again? Department of War
02:01legal counsel will review. And of course, that was not the end of it. Kelly hit back, posting this,
02:07quote, we had this conversation in a public hearing a week ago, and you said it would take
02:13years to replenish some of the stockpiles. That's not classified. It's a quote from you.
02:18This is like the political equivalent of dramatically tossing a martini in someone's
02:25face. Now, this latest skirmish in the war between the two men comes amid a dispute over whether Hegseth
02:31can dock Kelly's rank and pay after the senator took part in a video with five of his Democratic
02:36colleagues last fall urging service members to refuse illegal orders. At the time, President Trump
02:42called the video seditious behavior, and an FBI investigation followed. But a D.C. grand jury failed
02:47to indict any of the six on unspecified charges. President Trump leaves for his big China summit
02:54today, and he's bringing along quite the entourage. Elon Musk, Tim Cook, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink are
03:00just a few of the boldface names joining the president for his much-anticipated meeting with
03:04President Xi Jinping. A big goal for the trip is to fix the U.S.-China trade imbalance by convincing
03:10China to invest more heavily in the U.S. by placing large orders for things like planes, soybeans,
03:15and other goods. Another key point of the discussion between the world leaders is A.I. To that end,
03:21there are some notable CEOs missing from the travel list. NVIDIA's chief won't be there,
03:27and Cisco boss Chuck Robbins was invited but is skipping the trip due to his company's quarterly
03:32earnings release, which as excuses go, is a pretty good one. Another huge talking point for the trip is
03:38Taiwan. Now, Trump was asked about that on Monday, comparing it to Russia and Ukraine,
03:43and suggested that China would never attack Taiwan while he's president.
03:47If you have the right president, I don't think it'll happen. I think we'll be fine. I have a
03:50very good relationship with President Xi, so I don't want that to happen. Very far away,
03:57very, very far away. We're just at 9,500 miles. We're 9,500 miles. He's 67 miles. It's a little
04:08bit
04:08of a difference. For more on these stories and everything else you could possibly want to know,
04:14check out the New York Post in print or online. And don't forget, like and subscribe to the New
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