August 12, 2025 • 8 mins
Larry and Jon break down if President Trump helps Zohran Mamdani win, it could help the Republicans in the midterms. Donald Trump may come out with Federal Marijuana laws. How will the meeting go this Friday with Vladimir Putin and Trump?
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, Donald Trump does have New York on his mind.
Washington first, but then he said new York. Let's talk
to John Decker, wo or White House and Washington correspondent
and host of the new podcast The White House Briefing
Room with John Decker, which can be found on the
iHeartRadio app. John's with Us every Tuesday and Thursday at
(00:21):
this time. Good morning, John, Hey Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good to be with you today. I hope you're having
a good day so far. Busy day yesterday, the President
having a press conference in the briefing room. The top
item on his agenda what you just mentioned, that federal
takeover of Washington, d C. The DOJ, the Department of
Justice now controls the Metropolitan Police Department. And we will see,
(00:44):
we are told within a number of days on the
streets of Washington, d C. National Guard helping to augment
the police force to keep the city safe.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I know, and some people are so freaked out about
that we've done that here in New York. They've sent
the Nation Guard into the subways just as a show
of force and to back up the police. But they,
as I understand, they're not going to be taking be
front and center in law enforcement. They're not going to
be the lead.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
They're not going to be the lead. That's the reason
why I use the word augment. The lead will be
the Metropolitan Police Force thirty five hundred strong. But you know,
the President believes that crime has gotten so bad that
this is necessary in the nation's capital. He also believes
that homelessness has gotten so bad in the nation's capital.
And I agree with him on the homelessness front. The
(01:36):
homeless problem in Washington, DC has gotten worse. I think
it's gotten maybe slightly better since the President took office,
but there are still these tent encampments around the city,
just blocks from the White House, and I think the
President sees that. You know, I was with him on
Saturday as we moticated from the White House out to
(01:57):
his golf course in northern Virginia, and I know we
passed by a number of those tent encampments, and that
probably really likely precipitated the announcement that he made yesterday
in the briefing room.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And a young member of the DOGE team was severely
beaten on the streets of Washington, and he made the
announcement shortly that he said he was thinking about doing this,
at least not the official announcement that he was thinking
about doing that right after that. I'm sure that must
have affected him.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Well, it did, and it does. That all being said,
the numbers belie the President's concern in the sense that, yes,
crime is bad in Washington, d C. But it's actually
down from where it was last year at this very time,
it's down below pre pandemic levels when you're talking about
(02:45):
violent crime here in Washington, D C. But you know,
I guess the President feels, you know, one crime is
too many, two crimes is too many. So that's the
reason why the President making that announcement yesterday. And he
had a large number of his cabinet with him in
the briefing room and he made that announcement. The Attorney General,
Pam Bondi was there. Cash Patel, the FBI director, was there.
(03:08):
The Pentagon head Pete Hegseth was there as well. So,
and let's not forget Judge Janine Piro is also there.
She's the new US Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, you mentioned the crime rate. It's down from horrible
to very bad. They are still fourth in the country
in the homicide rate. So that shows you how bad
it was. That they are still pretty terrible. And from
what I understand, John, the figures that they gave out
were adult crimes and not juvenile crimes. And as you
know from being in big cities, juvenile crimes are rampant.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So I just well, they are rampant. Yeah, And you know,
we hear these high profile cases of carjackings, and the
carjackings typically are being done by teenagers. It's not adults.
And as was mentioned in the briefing investudated by Janine Piro,
it's nearly impossible to prosecute these individuals as adults even
(04:05):
though they're committing adult level crimes.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
What got our attention is that kind of out of
nowhere in this announcement he said we'll be looking at
New York next. That was a little bit shocking to
everyone here.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I can understand that. You know that there is
a pretext for taking the action that the president did
in Washington, d C. It's the DC Home Rule Charter.
I don't know what the pretext would be as it
relates to New York City, how the president would have
the authority to do what he's doing here in Washington,
D C. The President is doing what he is doing
(04:40):
lawfully here in Washington, d C. Even the Mayor of
DC acknowledged that now the augmentation that I mentioned of
those National Guard troops, it can only be in place
and the control of the Metropolitan Police Department can only
be in place for thirty days. So we'll see what
happens after that thirty day period expired.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Another thing that's gotten the attention of people in New
York and is being used right now in the New
York mayoral race is the fact that Donald Trump talks
about Zorin mam Donni a lot. And there was, of
course that New York Times article next week saying that
he made phone calls to Eric Adams and Cuomo, who's
running against him. There is a theory now out there
(05:22):
that he would like Zorin mam Donnie to win, and
that's why he's imposing himself, because he can run against
Zurien mam Donni in the midterms and make him the
poster boy of the Democratic Party. What do you think
of that, John Well.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
I think there may be something to that. The president
always needs a foil, and we saw on the first
term one of his foils was Nancy Pelosi, and he
tried to use that, you know, not too great success, actually,
because Republicans lost control of both the House and the
Senate in his first term during the midterm elections. But
certainly the person who is the front runner for the
(05:59):
mayoral race in New York City would be a great
foil for Republicans, and certainly that's what the President may
have in mind in terms of trying to insert himself
in some way in that mayoral race.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
What did the President have to say about a federal
marijuana law.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The President said that the Department of Justice will be
coming out within the next few weeks with a decision
in terms of whether to essentially decriminalize marijuana in the
United States, and that is something that the federal government
certainly has the authority to do, the President saying he
sees the good sides the bad sides in terms of
doing just that, but no decision has been made in
(06:38):
terms of the DOJ's decision regarding marijuana.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I thought he was fascinating talking about the Friday summit
in Alaska to try to end the Ukraine War. He
seemed like he was saying, well, listen, I'm going to listen,
and if I don't hear what I like, I'm going
to walk away. It's almost like he's downplaying the talks
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I agree. I agree, certainly setting the bar pretty low
ahead of these talks. The President heading out on Friday early.
Friday morning. It's a day trip for the President, so
leaving from the White House, flying all the way to Anchorage, Alaska,
and then flying back. I'm heading out a day early.
I'm going to be an Anchorage and hopefully we can
(07:24):
speak while i'm there, Larry. But the President, certainly, as
you point out, it seems to me downplaying what will
be accomplished there. The President spoke Larry of two goals.
One goal is getting Russia to agree to a ceasefire.
That is something that he would like to see occur immediately,
as he put it. The other goal is trying to
extract some territorial concessions from Russia. And that's going to
(07:48):
be a difficult thing to do when you're talking about
Vladimir Putin. But we'll see, we'll see what happens on
Friday of this week.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
John Deaker, W L R. White House Correspondent, he'll be
back with us on Thursday at seven o five, right
before that summit. John, thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Thank you by Buck
Well, Donald Trump does have New York on his mind.
Washington first, but then he said new York. Let's talk
to John Decker, wo or White House and Washington correspondent
and host of the new podcast The White House Briefing
Room with John Decker, which can be found on the
iHeartRadio app. John's with Us every Tuesday and Thursday at
(00:21):
this time. Good morning, John, Hey Larry.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good to be with you today. I hope you're having
a good day so far. Busy day yesterday, the President
having a press conference in the briefing room. The top
item on his agenda what you just mentioned, that federal
takeover of Washington, d C. The DOJ, the Department of
Justice now controls the Metropolitan Police Department. And we will see,
(00:44):
we are told within a number of days on the
streets of Washington, d C. National Guard helping to augment
the police force to keep the city safe.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
I know, and some people are so freaked out about
that we've done that here in New York. They've sent
the Nation Guard into the subways just as a show
of force and to back up the police. But they,
as I understand, they're not going to be taking be
front and center in law enforcement. They're not going to
be the lead.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
They're not going to be the lead. That's the reason
why I use the word augment. The lead will be
the Metropolitan Police Force thirty five hundred strong. But you know,
the President believes that crime has gotten so bad that
this is necessary in the nation's capital. He also believes
that homelessness has gotten so bad in the nation's capital.
And I agree with him on the homelessness front. The
(01:36):
homeless problem in Washington, DC has gotten worse. I think
it's gotten maybe slightly better since the President took office,
but there are still these tent encampments around the city,
just blocks from the White House, and I think the
President sees that. You know, I was with him on
Saturday as we moticated from the White House out to
(01:57):
his golf course in northern Virginia, and I know we
passed by a number of those tent encampments, and that
probably really likely precipitated the announcement that he made yesterday
in the briefing room.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
And a young member of the DOGE team was severely
beaten on the streets of Washington, and he made the
announcement shortly that he said he was thinking about doing this,
at least not the official announcement that he was thinking
about doing that right after that. I'm sure that must
have affected him.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Well, it did, and it does. That all being said,
the numbers belie the President's concern in the sense that, yes,
crime is bad in Washington, d C. But it's actually
down from where it was last year at this very time,
it's down below pre pandemic levels when you're talking about
(02:45):
violent crime here in Washington, D C. But you know,
I guess the President feels, you know, one crime is
too many, two crimes is too many. So that's the
reason why the President making that announcement yesterday. And he
had a large number of his cabinet with him in
the briefing room and he made that announcement. The Attorney General,
Pam Bondi was there. Cash Patel, the FBI director, was there.
(03:08):
The Pentagon head Pete Hegseth was there as well. So,
and let's not forget Judge Janine Piro is also there.
She's the new US Attorney for the District of Columbia.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Yeah, you mentioned the crime rate. It's down from horrible
to very bad. They are still fourth in the country
in the homicide rate. So that shows you how bad
it was. That they are still pretty terrible. And from
what I understand, John, the figures that they gave out
were adult crimes and not juvenile crimes. And as you
know from being in big cities, juvenile crimes are rampant.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
So I just well, they are rampant. Yeah, And you know,
we hear these high profile cases of carjackings, and the
carjackings typically are being done by teenagers. It's not adults.
And as was mentioned in the briefing investudated by Janine Piro,
it's nearly impossible to prosecute these individuals as adults even
(04:05):
though they're committing adult level crimes.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
What got our attention is that kind of out of
nowhere in this announcement he said we'll be looking at
New York next. That was a little bit shocking to
everyone here.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Well, I can understand that. You know that there is
a pretext for taking the action that the president did
in Washington, d C. It's the DC Home Rule Charter.
I don't know what the pretext would be as it
relates to New York City, how the president would have
the authority to do what he's doing here in Washington,
D C. The President is doing what he is doing
(04:40):
lawfully here in Washington, d C. Even the Mayor of
DC acknowledged that now the augmentation that I mentioned of
those National Guard troops, it can only be in place
and the control of the Metropolitan Police Department can only
be in place for thirty days. So we'll see what
happens after that thirty day period expired.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Another thing that's gotten the attention of people in New
York and is being used right now in the New
York mayoral race is the fact that Donald Trump talks
about Zorin mam Donni a lot. And there was, of
course that New York Times article next week saying that
he made phone calls to Eric Adams and Cuomo, who's
running against him. There is a theory now out there
(05:22):
that he would like Zorin mam Donnie to win, and
that's why he's imposing himself, because he can run against
Zurien mam Donni in the midterms and make him the
poster boy of the Democratic Party. What do you think
of that, John Well.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
I think there may be something to that. The president
always needs a foil, and we saw on the first
term one of his foils was Nancy Pelosi, and he
tried to use that, you know, not too great success, actually,
because Republicans lost control of both the House and the
Senate in his first term during the midterm elections. But
certainly the person who is the front runner for the
(05:59):
mayoral race in New York City would be a great
foil for Republicans, and certainly that's what the President may
have in mind in terms of trying to insert himself
in some way in that mayoral race.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
What did the President have to say about a federal
marijuana law.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
The President said that the Department of Justice will be
coming out within the next few weeks with a decision
in terms of whether to essentially decriminalize marijuana in the
United States, and that is something that the federal government
certainly has the authority to do, the President saying he
sees the good sides the bad sides in terms of
doing just that, but no decision has been made in
(06:38):
terms of the DOJ's decision regarding marijuana.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
I thought he was fascinating talking about the Friday summit
in Alaska to try to end the Ukraine War. He
seemed like he was saying, well, listen, I'm going to listen,
and if I don't hear what I like, I'm going
to walk away. It's almost like he's downplaying the talks
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
I agree. I agree, certainly setting the bar pretty low
ahead of these talks. The President heading out on Friday early.
Friday morning. It's a day trip for the President, so
leaving from the White House, flying all the way to Anchorage, Alaska,
and then flying back. I'm heading out a day early.
I'm going to be an Anchorage and hopefully we can
(07:24):
speak while i'm there, Larry. But the President, certainly, as
you point out, it seems to me downplaying what will
be accomplished there. The President spoke Larry of two goals.
One goal is getting Russia to agree to a ceasefire.
That is something that he would like to see occur immediately,
as he put it. The other goal is trying to
extract some territorial concessions from Russia. And that's going to
(07:48):
be a difficult thing to do when you're talking about
Vladimir Putin. But we'll see, we'll see what happens on
Friday of this week.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
John Deaker, W L R. White House Correspondent, he'll be
back with us on Thursday at seven o five, right
before that summit. John, thanks a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Thank you by Buck
Popular Podcasts
New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!