00:00just weeks after it had been reached in June. And so I don't really see a great end game
00:02immediately. You know, the two sides remain far apart. President Trump really has talked about
00:07how he can't trust what they say. They tell him one thing behind closed doors and then say
00:10something different publicly. Trump really needs to get something, some sort of announcement
00:13politically before the midterms. Gas prices remain above normal, high as a result of the
00:17inaction of commerce on the street of Hormuz. We're going to begin today with the headlines,
00:22and that starts with the war in Iran. And talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remaining stalled,
00:27Tehran pushing back over U.S. claims that it controls the straits, saying the U.S. must,
00:33quote, stop indulging in delusions. President Donald Trump suggesting that he will make the
00:39strait a U.S. territory. Congressional lawmakers, they are demanding more information about
00:44conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is deployed in the Middle East. Admiral Brad Cooper
00:51visited the ship this weekend as it prepares to return home following nearly nine months at sea.
00:57Democrats are raising questions about supply shortages, water contamination,
01:01and deteriorating mental health. And news broke this week that President Donald Trump was secretly
01:07moved off of Air Force One last month. This was because of a credible threat on his life. This is
01:15from
01:15the country of Iran. And when he was leaving Turkey in July, the president boarded Air Force One,
01:21but was escorted off the plane and into a catering truck, which took him to a smaller military
01:26plane. Other top officials and members of the press remained on the original Air Force One.
01:32For more on that and the rest of this week's news, I want to welcome Joey Garrison back in. He
01:37is the
01:37USA Today White House correspondent. And thank you. This is our first time chatting, so I appreciate
01:41your time with us. I know you're a professional here. Thank you for joining us. So first off,
01:46let's talk about this threat to the president's life and how credible was this?
01:49Well, it was a very serious threat. I mean, to secretly move the president off Air Force One
01:57is an extraordinary move. And it's one that they didn't announce afterwards or tell reporters.
02:03These sorts of things have happened with past presidents where they go through some unorthodox
02:10procedure to, for example, Joe Biden, when he went into Ukraine during the war, he wrote a train in
02:18there and there was just one pool reporter with him. And the press was alerted on the front end. But
02:25this situation, they were not. And in fact, the press, as well as some White House officials,
02:32were on what was essentially a decoy Air Force One that flew to Great Britain, as well as this other
02:39plane that President Trump was on. What do you say to people looking at this? And they question,
02:45is this another battle between the press corps and the White House? Or is this an actual transparency
02:50issue? Well, I do think that in the WHCA has talked to the White House about this, and that's the
02:59White
02:59House Correspondents Association. And I do think that there are reporters who are definitely upset that
03:08they were essentially allowed to be kind of the guinea pigs on this and were allowed to be put in
03:16this
03:16situation. Of course, we don't really know how close there was to Iran pulling off some sort of attack
03:25on Air Force One. But nevertheless, yeah, I mean, I think there was definitely not a communication
03:29between the White House and the WHCA that I think the WHCA would have preferred.
03:36Okay. Well, we know that that's going to continue. So we look forward to more reporting from
03:40your organization on that and you as well. Let's move on to the USS Lincoln, right? We're learning
03:46the new aircraft carrier is headed out to the Middle East to replace the USS Lincoln, which is
03:50a nearly nine-month deployment. Tell me more about the concerns there and your thoughts to the
03:54president's reaction. He was asked about those concerns. Right. Well, there's a couple of military
03:58publications that did reports in the past week where detailed conditions on the USS Lincoln that
04:07are very serious in which there have even been a couple cases of attempted suicides by sailors or
04:12others on the ship. Essentially, they've been deployed there because of the war in Iran
04:18for way longer than they were anticipated. They were supposed to be done with in May. Here they
04:23are months later. And that's a job where it's not, you know, this is a 24-7 type of deal
04:30for them.
04:31And I think it comes with it a lot of stress. Now there is a new ship going over there.
04:37We'll see
04:37if that will alleviate some of the concerns. Of course, that doesn't alleviate the deployment
04:42concern. And yeah, President Trump really dismissed concerns of families and others when he was asked
04:50about it this past Friday. He said, no, there aren't concerns. He pointed to the fact that this
04:56new ship was going there and asked whether, you know, the deployment has gone too long. He kind of
05:01snapped back, no, it's not been long enough. So I think it's safe to say that among President Trump
05:07and Secretary Hegseth, you know, they don't really like this topic. And I think they think some of the
05:14reports are a little exaggerated and maybe misleading. All right. And then, well, the reason the ship is
05:21there, you mentioned in the Middle East is because of the war with Iran, correct? We're just reporting
05:26that the 60 day negotiating period is coming to end. What in your eyes, you know, happens next? And where
05:31are things going from what you're seeing? Well, I think they'll probably kick it off to, I mean, there really
05:36hasn't been
05:37substantive negotiations to a level that came close to a deal ever since that memorandum of understanding
05:43between Iran and the U.S. quickly blew up after just weeks after it had been reached in June. And
05:51so I
05:52don't really see a great endgame immediately. You know, the two sides remain far apart. President Trump
06:02really has talked about how he can't trust what they say. They tell him one thing behind closed doors
06:08and then say something different publicly. Trump really needs to get something, some sort of
06:14announcement though, but politically before the midterms, gas prices remain above normal high as
06:20a result of the inaction of commerce on the Tristan Street of Hormuz.
06:50pp.
