Jon Decker, WOR White House Correspondent Interview

Let's get an update on the mood in Washington DC regarding Interest Rates in the USA. Jerome Powell yesterday is leaving the rates unchanged for now. Jon has the inside scoop on how Trump and his administration are responding. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's get to John Decker at the White House. He
is the White House corresponded to us also the Washington
correspondent with Woor and John, I can imagine what it's
like at the White House these days. Everybody is on
edge waiting for an answer on whether we are going
to get involved and whether we're going to give a

(00:20):
bomber and we're going to give the bunker buster bombs
to Israel. What is the latest in all of.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
That, Well, the latest this President Trump asked twice yesterday
what his intentions are in terms of potentially taking military
action involving the US military in an attack on nuclear
sites in Iran, and the President both times being very cryptic,
saying that he has not decided either way. He's noncommittal

(00:50):
at this point. He essentially said, you'll know, like the
rest of the world will know, when I make a decision.
And that's the reason why the way you described it
is accurate. You are on fins and needles waiting to
see if indeed President Trump becomes a wartime president by
essentially ordering one of those or many of those bunker

(01:11):
busting bombs on those Iranian nuclear sites. That's the capability
that the US has Israel does not have that capability
it is.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
It must be really taxing on him because he's I've
been talking about it all morning. He's always been allergic
to war. I think he prides himself in never starting
a war. I think he prides himself that no troops
were killed in Afghanistan in his last year in office.
Remember you remember John when he turned a plane around

(01:42):
in the air that was gonna bomb Iran during his
first term in office. I don't believe he wants to
do something. I don't believe he wants to get involved.
Is there a way out of this at this point?

Speaker 2 (01:56):
Well, he's conflicted, and what is really Prime Minister Benjamin
Nettanyov who has said is that the actions taken by
Israel are actions that will last another two to three weeks.
That's a relatively short amount of time, and that gives
the time sometime to the President in terms of making
a decision as to whether or not to get involved militarily.

(02:16):
If Israel's taking care of the problem, then there's no
reason for the US to get involved in I agree
with your assessment of the president. He is reluctant to
use military force. Now he's ordered military action before. Solemani's
a perfect example of that. But this is entirely different.
This is an attack not on an individual. This would
be an attack on a nation. And you know what

(02:40):
the Ayatola, the Supreme leader of Iran, has threatened, and
that is an attack on Iran would lead to retaliation.
It would lead to a reprisal by Iran, perhaps on
US troops that are on basis in the Middle East,
in the region. So that's something that the president and
his national security team have to contemplate.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Yeah, Solmania, and even more recently he ordered strikes on
the Huthies who were causing havoc around the Iranian area
and in Israel. So yeah, strategic strikes. But war, I
think is what he's been trying to avoid because I
think he would like to go out of office in
his second term saying that he's one of the few
presidents in history that never started a war, and that's

(03:24):
why it's taxing. He did bring up the possibility the
other day, and you may have been there, that there's
going to be continued talks and that the Iranians would
come to the White House. What's the latest on.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
That, Well, it's just that and Iranian officials have been
asked about that idea that they are noncommittal on that
as of yet. But you know, look, you don't necessarily
need to come to the White House to negotiate a
settlement of this. You know, US officials have been meeting
with Iranian officials leading up to the Israeli attacks on

(04:00):
Iran in a third country, you know, so you can
do that without having a meeting at the White House.
That would be something. I think the President likes that idea,
but it's just an idea, and the President has many
ideas that come into his head on any given day
as it relates to what to do, what to do
about the problem posed by Iran's nuclear ambitions, by its

(04:22):
ambitions for having a nuclear program.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
There is a real split in the Republican Party, even
among conservatives. There's a real split as to whether we
should get involved at all. Have you seen that play
out in Washington among Republican politicians.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
Well? Absolutely, I think Ted Cruz is a perfect example
of that. He's a national security hawk. He's, you know,
one of those individuals that represented the way that the
Republican Party felt about taking military action to protect America's
national security. Now, the parties mixed. You have people certainly
like Ted Cruz of those traditional establishment Republicans, but then

(05:01):
you have isolationists within the Republican Party, people like Rand
Paul that do not want to see the US involved
in this war at all. And there are people certainly
that are represented in that wing as well. You know,
Tucker Carlson, not a member of Congress, but certainly one
of those prominent voices in the Republican Party is one

(05:22):
of those individuals that is urging the president not to
get involved in this war.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, Steve Bannon, I mean, some of the people that
help start the mag of movement are against it, and
I'm sure that is one of the reasons he's so
conflicted on this, not only because I don't think he
wants to start a war or be involved in a war,
but also because it might hurt him politically. There's going
to be some people, I don't know if you've seen
the memes. There are memes right now online with the

(05:51):
face of George W. Bush and his hair saying we
didn't know when we elected him he was going to
be George W. Bush. So there's a lot of backlash
in the Publican Party about this decision, and do you
believe that would weigh on him as well?

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Well, the President, you know, doesn't believe it does weigh
on him. You know, he was asked a similar question
to the one you just asked me, Larry yesterday, and
he said he's got full support and he's right. You know,
his base is very supportive of the decisions, the actions
that the President takes. Now, you mentioned some individuals like
Steve Bannon, and I mentioned Tucker Carlson. At the end

(06:30):
of the day, are they going to you know, urge
for the removal of Donald Trump if indeed he takes
some sort of military action against Irun? Of course not.
They're going to be overall supportive of the President, his policies,
his foreign policies, his domestic policies. It would be disappointing
obviously to those individuals, but the President has to do

(06:51):
what he has to do. You know, he can't be
concerned about these voices within the Republican Party urging the
US to sit this out. He has to be concerned
with protecting America and American interests, and that may indeed
involve having to take some sort of military action against
your own well.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
How oft to wait and see. Thank you so much.
That was great. John Deckler at the White House, Wor
correspondent