August 25, 2025 • 14 mins
In this Briefing, Jon Decker breaks down President Trump’s latest moves to tackle rising crime in America’s major cities, including the deployment of the National Guard. Decker also examines the ongoing war in Ukraine, the obstacles facing peace efforts, and the difficult choices confronting the administration at home and abroad. Listen and Subscribe to the White House Briefing Room weekdays on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Monday, August
the twenty fifth. I'm John Decker. President Trump begins this
week with the focus still on crime in the nation's capital.
The President less than two weeks ago ordered a federal
takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, and on Friday in
the Oval Office, he said he's now considering taking a
(00:26):
similar approach to crime in the city of Chicago.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Chicago's a messy of an incompetent mayor grossly incompetent, and
we'll straighten that one out probably next That'll be our
next one after this, and it won't even be tough.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
In foreign news, the President also on Friday indicated that
he will soon make a decision, he says, within the
next two weeks, about what his next move will be
concerning the war in Ukraine. It's been exactly one week
since President Trump's Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski.
Russia has rebuffed any plan for a bilateral meeting between
(01:04):
Zelenski and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Then I'm going to make a decision as to what
we do are and it's going to be a very
important decision, and that's whether or not it's massive sanctions
or massive tariffs about or do we do nothing and
say it's your fight.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'll get to the ongoing war in Ukraine in just
a moment, but first I want to discuss the president's
latest plans for dealing with crime in Washington, d C.
And other major American cities.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
In just the past two weeks, President Trump has deployed
the National Guard as well as federal law enforcement to
crack down on crime in Washington, d C. In fact,
on Friday, the President spoke about the efforts that have
already taken place that he called very successful.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Unsafe, it was horrible, and Mayor Bowser better get her
acts ray or she won't be there very long because
we'll take it over. With the federal government running like
it's supposed.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
To be run. The President on Friday indicated that he
is ready to expand his effort to other major cities
run by Democrats, including Chicago and Baltimore. In fact, in
a truth social post on Sunday, the President appeared to
suggest he would send in troops to Baltimore, that's Maryland's
(02:24):
most populous city, referencing his ongoing feud with California's Governor
Gavin Newsom. He wrote on social media, wes Moore's record
on crime is a very bad one unless he fudges
his figures on crime like many of the other Blue
states are doing. But if wes Moore needs help like
Gavin Newscomb did in LA, that's the President writing that
(02:47):
I will send in the troops, which is being done
in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the crime. And
he said the National Guard has been very effective in
tamping down crime in the nation's capital. Let's listen to
the president right here.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
The National Guard has done such an incredible job working
with the police, and we haven't had to bring in
the regular military, which we're willing to do. We have to,
and after we do this, we'll go to another location
and we'll make it safe. All so, we're going to
make our country very safe. We're going to make our
cities very very safe.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Now, several Democrats have pushed back these are democrats not
in Washington, d c. But rather in other cities, against
the President's characterization of blue state cities as crime ridden
and lawless. The White House has used that description to
justify calling up National Guard troops sending in federal law
(03:41):
enforcement to the streets of Washington, d C. And on Sunday,
a number of well known Democrats, well known because they
either run democratic cities or they've run democratic cities, took
to the airwaves on the Sunday morning shows to push
back on the President's characterizations of these big cities being
(04:03):
crime infested. Now, violent crime in Chicago, in Washington, D C.
Other major cities has actually fallen in recent years. That's
according to FBI statistics. But despite that, the President says
that the next target for a federal policing effort would
be New York City. He said that on Friday, and
(04:23):
that's after the city of Chicago. Also on Sunday morning,
the President wrote on social media that he's considering sending
these National Guard troops to Baltimore. He says the city's
out of control. He says it's crime written. And then,
interestingly enough, Wes Moore, who is the governor of Maryland,
he pointed out in an appearance on CBS that homicides
(04:49):
in Baltimore have actually dropped significantly, and he said that
the President was relying on what he called nineteen eighties
scare tactics. In a letter that More sent to the
President just a few days ago, he invited the President
to join him on what Wesmore called a safety walk
(05:09):
in the state of Maryland in the next month, and
the President answered that invitation with the resounding no. He
said that on Sunday in a social media post, he
said that he would send National Guard troops to Baltimore
to what he described as cleaning up the crime disaster
before setting any foot in the city of Baltimore. So
(05:32):
that clearly isn't going to happen. And this particular issue
of crime in American cities, the White House believes it
is a good issue for the President. They believe that
it is making Democrats like the ones that I mentioned
Wes Moore, JB. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, rom Emmanuel
(05:54):
the former mayor of Chicago. It puts each of them
on the defensive. And they think that the issue of
crime in American cities is a winning issue politically. And
they think it's a winning issue politically as they gear
up for the messages that they will run against Democrats
to try to hold on to both the House and
(06:15):
the Senate in the midterm. Elections now. As for plans
to send the National Guard to cities besides Washington, d C,
because they're already on the ground in Washington, d C,
that has not yet been decided yet. Pentagon put out
a statement on Sunday. In the statement, they wrote, we
(06:36):
won't speculate on further operations. The Department is a planning
organization and is continuously working with other agency partners on
plans to protect federal assets and personnel, So that hasn't
yet been decided yet. At least, the Pentagon hasn't made
any effort to indicate that theyre will soon deploy National
(07:01):
Guard troops on city streets other than in Washington, d C.
But the President is certainly talking about that after the
effort has taken place for the past two weeks in
the nation's capital. The other big issue that the President
continues to confront is, of course, the war in Ukraine.
It was exactly one week ago that the President met
(07:22):
with President Zelenski in the Oval Office, just days after
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. And
since that meeting one week ago, nothing really has happened
in terms of next steps. In terms of Putin having
a meeting with Zelenski, or a ceasefire or anything that
(07:44):
would change the trajectory of the war and the state
of this conflict that has been going on for more
than three and a half years. On Friday, the President
in the Oval Office was asked about where things stand
as far as he's concerned about the war in Ukraine,
what the next steps are. Let's listen to what the
(08:06):
President said in the Oval Office to that question on Friday.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I'm not happy about it, and I'm not happy about
anything happy to do with that war, I said.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I settled seven wars, and actually, if you think about
pre wars and three more so it would be ten.
I thought this would be in the middle of the
pack in terms of difficulty.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Now, I'm not happy about anything about that war. Nothing,
not happy at all. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think over the next two weeks we're going to
find out which way it's going to go, and I
better be very happy.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
The president's response was actually in response to a question
that was asked of him about the latest attack on
not only civilian areas in Ukraine, but an attack that
happened on an American factory that's based in Ukraine, and
the President was asked for his reaction to that. The
President was also asked essentially how long he's going to wait,
(09:05):
And he's talked about this two week time period before
deciding what comes next, what comes next for him, what
comes next for the United States in regards to whether
or not to impose additional sanctions or tariffs or secondary
tariffs on Russia, or whether to just simply walk away
(09:25):
from trying to deal with ending this war entirely. Let's
listen to what the President said on Friday in the
Oval Office.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
How long will you give putin couple of ways, we're
going to figure it out. Do you think you'll happen
to being at some point? Look, it takes two to tanka.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
You understand that I wanted to have a meeting with
those two. I could have been at the meeting, but
a lot of people think that nothing's going to come
out of that meeting.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
You have to be there.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but we're going to see.
In the meantime, people continue to die.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's not clear whether the President has made up his
mind oras leaning in any particular direction about what comes next.
What comes next after this two week time period. And
during this two week time period, of course, Russia can
continue to attack Ukraine, and they are doing just that.
And the President was asked in a different way what
(10:18):
comes next, and the President answering a different way, essentially
waiting to see if indeed Russia changes its tune Russia
says anything different about a possible meeting between Russian President
Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenski. Let's listen to the president
(10:39):
right here.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
We'll see what happens. I think in two weeks we'll
know which way.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I'm going, because I'm going to go one way or
the other, and they'll learn which way I'm going now.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia was on
Meet the Press and he indicated there's no meeting plan
between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine. He said there
needs to be an agenda first before a meeting can
take place. He said the agenda is not ready at all,
and the interview that Lavrov did with NBC's Meet the
(11:11):
Press appears to be the Kremlin's most direct declaration yet
that a summit that the White House has suggested was
imminent is nowhere close to happening. That is obviously disappointing
to the President. Last week, at this time, I think
there was a lot of optimism expressed by the President.
(11:32):
I heard it when I was in the Oval Office
with the President with President Zelenski. I heard it when
I was in the East Room when the President met
with those European leaders. But as we heard in these
previous soundbites, the President says it often, and it's true,
it takes two to tango. So even if Zelenski wants
to come to the negotiating table, wants to have a
(11:53):
cease fire, wants to meet with Putin, it won't happen
unless Putin wants to do that. And Putin has shown
no desire whatsoever at this stage to one to meet
with Zelensky, to want to end the fighting, to want
to change the direction of this war. Now, it's also
important to remember that during that same Sunday morning program
(12:16):
on Meet the Press, Vice President JD. Vance was asked
about the situation in Russia and he pushed back against
this idea that Russia is stringing President Trump belong. He
said that the Russians have already made significant concessions those
are his words, including recognizing that Ukraine would have territorial
integrity after the war. And he also said in that
(12:39):
same interview that Russia would not be able to install
what he called a puppet regime in Kiev and that
there would be security guarantees for Ukraine. But we've heard
something different coming from the Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov.
When he speaks of security guarantees, Lavrov says Russia must
(12:59):
have a place at the table concerning that idea. Otherwise
that particular issue is not going to go very far.
That issue is not going to be resolved, and Russia
says that it must be resolved before Putin will meet
with President Zelenski. Lastly, I want to talk about the
(13:21):
week ahead for the President. It's a busy Monday for
the President. He's going to be having a bilateral meeting
with the President of South Korea, also having a working
lunch with South Korea's president. Tuesday's going to be a
busy day at the White House with a cabinet meeting.
They happen generally once a month, so Tuesday's cabinet meeting
will be an opportunity for the President to talk about
(13:44):
how he believes his second term is going on domestic policy.
On foreign policy, will certainly hear from the President and
likely some of his cabinet members as well as for
the rest of the week, it's, let's face it, we're
coming up on Labor Day. The President cident is going
to cut his week a little short, take a long
weekend given that it's Labor Day, to leave the White
(14:06):
House Friday, travel to Dedminster, come back late Monday afternoon
on Labor Day. So that's what this week looks like
as it relates to the President's schedule. So that's it
for the White House Briefing Room for this Monday, August
to twenty fifth. I'm John Decker. Have a good one.
Welcome to the White House Briefing Room for Monday, August
the twenty fifth. I'm John Decker. President Trump begins this
week with the focus still on crime in the nation's capital.
The President less than two weeks ago ordered a federal
takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, and on Friday in
the Oval Office, he said he's now considering taking a
(00:26):
similar approach to crime in the city of Chicago.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Chicago's a messy of an incompetent mayor grossly incompetent, and
we'll straighten that one out probably next That'll be our
next one after this, and it won't even be tough.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
In foreign news, the President also on Friday indicated that
he will soon make a decision, he says, within the
next two weeks, about what his next move will be
concerning the war in Ukraine. It's been exactly one week
since President Trump's Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenski.
Russia has rebuffed any plan for a bilateral meeting between
(01:04):
Zelenski and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Then I'm going to make a decision as to what
we do are and it's going to be a very
important decision, and that's whether or not it's massive sanctions
or massive tariffs about or do we do nothing and
say it's your fight.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
I'll get to the ongoing war in Ukraine in just
a moment, but first I want to discuss the president's
latest plans for dealing with crime in Washington, d C.
And other major American cities.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
In just the past two weeks, President Trump has deployed
the National Guard as well as federal law enforcement to
crack down on crime in Washington, d C. In fact,
on Friday, the President spoke about the efforts that have
already taken place that he called very successful.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Unsafe, it was horrible, and Mayor Bowser better get her
acts ray or she won't be there very long because
we'll take it over. With the federal government running like
it's supposed.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
To be run. The President on Friday indicated that he
is ready to expand his effort to other major cities
run by Democrats, including Chicago and Baltimore. In fact, in
a truth social post on Sunday, the President appeared to
suggest he would send in troops to Baltimore, that's Maryland's
(02:24):
most populous city, referencing his ongoing feud with California's Governor
Gavin Newsom. He wrote on social media, wes Moore's record
on crime is a very bad one unless he fudges
his figures on crime like many of the other Blue
states are doing. But if wes Moore needs help like
Gavin Newscomb did in LA, that's the President writing that
(02:47):
I will send in the troops, which is being done
in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the crime. And
he said the National Guard has been very effective in
tamping down crime in the nation's capital. Let's listen to
the president right here.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
The National Guard has done such an incredible job working
with the police, and we haven't had to bring in
the regular military, which we're willing to do. We have to,
and after we do this, we'll go to another location
and we'll make it safe. All so, we're going to
make our country very safe. We're going to make our
cities very very safe.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Now, several Democrats have pushed back these are democrats not
in Washington, d c. But rather in other cities, against
the President's characterization of blue state cities as crime ridden
and lawless. The White House has used that description to
justify calling up National Guard troops sending in federal law
(03:41):
enforcement to the streets of Washington, d C. And on Sunday,
a number of well known Democrats, well known because they
either run democratic cities or they've run democratic cities, took
to the airwaves on the Sunday morning shows to push
back on the President's characterizations of these big cities being
(04:03):
crime infested. Now, violent crime in Chicago, in Washington, D C.
Other major cities has actually fallen in recent years. That's
according to FBI statistics. But despite that, the President says
that the next target for a federal policing effort would
be New York City. He said that on Friday, and
(04:23):
that's after the city of Chicago. Also on Sunday morning,
the President wrote on social media that he's considering sending
these National Guard troops to Baltimore. He says the city's
out of control. He says it's crime written. And then,
interestingly enough, Wes Moore, who is the governor of Maryland,
he pointed out in an appearance on CBS that homicides
(04:49):
in Baltimore have actually dropped significantly, and he said that
the President was relying on what he called nineteen eighties
scare tactics. In a letter that More sent to the
President just a few days ago, he invited the President
to join him on what Wesmore called a safety walk
(05:09):
in the state of Maryland in the next month, and
the President answered that invitation with the resounding no. He
said that on Sunday in a social media post, he
said that he would send National Guard troops to Baltimore
to what he described as cleaning up the crime disaster
before setting any foot in the city of Baltimore. So
(05:32):
that clearly isn't going to happen. And this particular issue
of crime in American cities, the White House believes it
is a good issue for the President. They believe that
it is making Democrats like the ones that I mentioned
Wes Moore, JB. Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, rom Emmanuel
(05:54):
the former mayor of Chicago. It puts each of them
on the defensive. And they think that the issue of
crime in American cities is a winning issue politically. And
they think it's a winning issue politically as they gear
up for the messages that they will run against Democrats
to try to hold on to both the House and
(06:15):
the Senate in the midterm. Elections now. As for plans
to send the National Guard to cities besides Washington, d C,
because they're already on the ground in Washington, d C,
that has not yet been decided yet. Pentagon put out
a statement on Sunday. In the statement, they wrote, we
(06:36):
won't speculate on further operations. The Department is a planning
organization and is continuously working with other agency partners on
plans to protect federal assets and personnel, So that hasn't
yet been decided yet. At least, the Pentagon hasn't made
any effort to indicate that theyre will soon deploy National
(07:01):
Guard troops on city streets other than in Washington, d C.
But the President is certainly talking about that after the
effort has taken place for the past two weeks in
the nation's capital. The other big issue that the President
continues to confront is, of course, the war in Ukraine.
It was exactly one week ago that the President met
(07:22):
with President Zelenski in the Oval Office, just days after
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska. And
since that meeting one week ago, nothing really has happened
in terms of next steps. In terms of Putin having
a meeting with Zelenski, or a ceasefire or anything that
(07:44):
would change the trajectory of the war and the state
of this conflict that has been going on for more
than three and a half years. On Friday, the President
in the Oval Office was asked about where things stand
as far as he's concerned about the war in Ukraine,
what the next steps are. Let's listen to what the
(08:06):
President said in the Oval Office to that question on Friday.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I'm not happy about it, and I'm not happy about
anything happy to do with that war, I said.
Speaker 4 (08:15):
I settled seven wars, and actually, if you think about
pre wars and three more so it would be ten.
I thought this would be in the middle of the
pack in terms of difficulty.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Now, I'm not happy about anything about that war. Nothing,
not happy at all. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
I think over the next two weeks we're going to
find out which way it's going to go, and I
better be very happy.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
The president's response was actually in response to a question
that was asked of him about the latest attack on
not only civilian areas in Ukraine, but an attack that
happened on an American factory that's based in Ukraine, and
the President was asked for his reaction to that. The
President was also asked essentially how long he's going to wait,
(09:05):
And he's talked about this two week time period before
deciding what comes next, what comes next for him, what
comes next for the United States in regards to whether
or not to impose additional sanctions or tariffs or secondary
tariffs on Russia, or whether to just simply walk away
(09:25):
from trying to deal with ending this war entirely. Let's
listen to what the President said on Friday in the
Oval Office.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
How long will you give putin couple of ways, we're
going to figure it out. Do you think you'll happen
to being at some point? Look, it takes two to tanka.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
You understand that I wanted to have a meeting with
those two. I could have been at the meeting, but
a lot of people think that nothing's going to come
out of that meeting.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
You have to be there.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Maybe that's true, maybe it's not, but we're going to see.
In the meantime, people continue to die.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It's not clear whether the President has made up his
mind oras leaning in any particular direction about what comes next.
What comes next after this two week time period. And
during this two week time period, of course, Russia can
continue to attack Ukraine, and they are doing just that.
And the President was asked in a different way what
(10:18):
comes next, and the President answering a different way, essentially
waiting to see if indeed Russia changes its tune Russia
says anything different about a possible meeting between Russian President
Putin and Ukrainian President Zelenski. Let's listen to the president
(10:39):
right here.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
We'll see what happens. I think in two weeks we'll
know which way.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
I'm going, because I'm going to go one way or
the other, and they'll learn which way I'm going now.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
On Sunday, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia was on
Meet the Press and he indicated there's no meeting plan
between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine. He said there
needs to be an agenda first before a meeting can
take place. He said the agenda is not ready at all,
and the interview that Lavrov did with NBC's Meet the
(11:11):
Press appears to be the Kremlin's most direct declaration yet
that a summit that the White House has suggested was
imminent is nowhere close to happening. That is obviously disappointing
to the President. Last week, at this time, I think
there was a lot of optimism expressed by the President.
(11:32):
I heard it when I was in the Oval Office
with the President with President Zelenski. I heard it when
I was in the East Room when the President met
with those European leaders. But as we heard in these
previous soundbites, the President says it often, and it's true,
it takes two to tango. So even if Zelenski wants
to come to the negotiating table, wants to have a
(11:53):
cease fire, wants to meet with Putin, it won't happen
unless Putin wants to do that. And Putin has shown
no desire whatsoever at this stage to one to meet
with Zelensky, to want to end the fighting, to want
to change the direction of this war. Now, it's also
important to remember that during that same Sunday morning program
(12:16):
on Meet the Press, Vice President JD. Vance was asked
about the situation in Russia and he pushed back against
this idea that Russia is stringing President Trump belong. He
said that the Russians have already made significant concessions those
are his words, including recognizing that Ukraine would have territorial
integrity after the war. And he also said in that
(12:39):
same interview that Russia would not be able to install
what he called a puppet regime in Kiev and that
there would be security guarantees for Ukraine. But we've heard
something different coming from the Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergei Lavrov.
When he speaks of security guarantees, Lavrov says Russia must
(12:59):
have a place at the table concerning that idea. Otherwise
that particular issue is not going to go very far.
That issue is not going to be resolved, and Russia
says that it must be resolved before Putin will meet
with President Zelenski. Lastly, I want to talk about the
(13:21):
week ahead for the President. It's a busy Monday for
the President. He's going to be having a bilateral meeting
with the President of South Korea, also having a working
lunch with South Korea's president. Tuesday's going to be a
busy day at the White House with a cabinet meeting.
They happen generally once a month, so Tuesday's cabinet meeting
will be an opportunity for the President to talk about
(13:44):
how he believes his second term is going on domestic policy.
On foreign policy, will certainly hear from the President and
likely some of his cabinet members as well as for
the rest of the week, it's, let's face it, we're
coming up on Labor Day. The President cident is going
to cut his week a little short, take a long
weekend given that it's Labor Day, to leave the White
(14:06):
House Friday, travel to Dedminster, come back late Monday afternoon
on Labor Day. So that's what this week looks like
as it relates to the President's schedule. So that's it
for the White House Briefing Room for this Monday, August
to twenty fifth. I'm John Decker. Have a good one.
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