August 26, 2025 • 6 mins
Larry and Jon share their thoughts on what they believe will be the next move, given the lingering issue of the Epstein files in Washington, D.C. The Russia-Ukraine war seems to be on a pause until Putin and Zelensky can have a formal meeting together, including President Trump.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now let's get right to John Decker, wor 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 is with us every
Tuesday and Thursday at this time.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning, John, Hey, good morning to you, Larry. Hope
you're doing well, having a good week so far.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, what's up today?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's up today is a cabinet meeting. This happens in
the Trump administration in the second term about once every month.
So the President at eleven am today summoning all of
his cabinet members agency heads to meet with him in
the Cabinet Room at the White House, and we'll likely
hear from the President during that period of time on
how he thinks things are going over the course of
(00:44):
the past month, as far as trade is concerned, the economy,
and also the ongoing war in Ukraine. So all of
that will be discussed just a little bit later this morning.
And as you mentioned in that news brief, the president
last night firing We're announcing he's removing a Fed governor
that is likely going to be challenged in the federal court.
(01:07):
So that particular personnel move I don't think has had
its final say as far as the President is concerned.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, it's somebody from the Federal Reserve that was put
in there by the Biden administration, and I guess has
close ties to the chairman. He is saying, it's again,
it seems to be over and over again, it's mortgage fraud.
It seems like the Justice Department is going after mortgage fraud,
especially for Adam Schiff and Letitia James and now this
(01:35):
Federal Reserve governor. So you said this is going to
be challenging the courts almost immediately.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, absolutely. The person that we're talking about has hired
a well known criminal defense lawyer here in Washington, d
c Abbey Lull. He's represented a number of high profile individuals.
John Edwards, for instance, had Abby Loll as his criminal
defense lawyer. And the Fed governor that we're talking about,
Lisa Cook, says that she has done nothing wrong. And
(02:05):
I think that, you know, like all people accused of crimes,
these are just allegations. She should have due process. You
should go through that process. I don't think anybody should
be fired anywhere just based upon an allegation and that's
what the President did last night, based upon a criminal
referral made by the head of the Federal Housing Authority.
(02:26):
That's Bill Poulti Junior. He's a Trump appointee. He is
the one who has accused Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Hey, John, I know you were in Alaska for the
summit between Putin and Trump, and I know you were
in the Oval Office right afterwards. There was a seemed
to be a whole lot of movement, and now it
seems like there's nothing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I agree with you, Larry, a lot of optimism, especially
last week at this time, which was in the aftermath
of the President meeting with President Zelenski in the Oval Office,
meeting with those European leaders in the East Room at
the White House. The President, I think rightly so is
talking about momentum in terms of a potential meeting between
(03:11):
Putin and Zelenski, and now that momentum has flittered away.
I don't think there's any momentum at all, and I
don't think there's any likelihood in the near term of
a meeting between Putin and Zelenski, just an initial stage meeting.
And even the President had suggested you may recall what
(03:31):
he called a trilat the meeting, involving himself as the mediator.
That too, I don't think is going to happen anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And something happened when Vladimir Putin got back to Russia
that I had never seen happen before. There were people
publicly speaking out against what he did in Alaska, saying no, no, no,
that none of this is going to happen. It can happen.
You know. People can go on YouTube right now and
see some of the people from the government speaking out
(03:59):
against That was a first. So I can't believe that
he did this on his own, and it's really hard
to believe that people spoke out against him. Does it
show a kind of a crack in his armor?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I don't think so. You know, I'll give you a
perfect example of what we're talking about, Larry, and what
you're referring to. The Foreign Minister of Russia. His name
is Sergei Lavrov. He's gone out and done a number
of high profile interviews. You did an interview and meet
the press over the weekend. He does not speak you
out on a limb. He doesn't freelance. He speaks knowing
(04:38):
full well what the position of the Russian government is,
and what he indicated in that interview that he did
on Meet the Press and in other public press interviews
is that Russia at this stage has no intention of
having any type of meeting with a representative from Ukraine
at very high levels, certainly not at the head of
(04:58):
state level, and he would not be saying that without
having the approval of President Putin. So that's just one
example in terms of what the public view is in
terms of next steps, next steps as it relates to
the war in Ukraine, and we know that Russia continues
to attack those civilian areas of Ukraine on a daily
(05:20):
basis with missile strikes and with drone strikes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Hey, John, so you cover the White House, do you
spend time in the city in Washington, d C. And
have you seen a difference.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, well, you know, I noticed a difference in terms
of the presence of that federal law enforcement. And I
noticed a difference in terms of members of the National Guard.
You know, I was coming back to Union Station last night.
I saw those members of the National Guard here and
there as well. But I have to tell you the
(05:51):
President speaks about no one for the past four years
going out to dinner. I don't know who he's talking to.
I got to dinner regularly. A city like all cities,
like all major cities. There are areas of New York City, Larry,
you would not go to. There are areas of Washington,
d C. I would never go to, you know, after dark.
(06:11):
But you know, we had we had a period of
time in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. So that
is during President Biden's time in office where we had
very public carjackings happening in broad daylight. And you know,
that makes you know, for a very scary environment when
you're going downtown and you know, like I do going
to the White House every day, So that certainly existed
(06:32):
during the time that President Biden was in office.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Thanks so much, John Decker, w lar White House, corresponding
to We'll be back with us on Thursday at seven
o five.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Appreciate it, John, Thanks Larry, absolutely
Now let's get right to John Decker, wor 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 is with us every
Tuesday and Thursday at this time.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good morning, John, Hey, good morning to you, Larry. Hope
you're doing well, having a good week so far.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yeah, what's up today?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
What's up today is a cabinet meeting. This happens in
the Trump administration in the second term about once every month.
So the President at eleven am today summoning all of
his cabinet members agency heads to meet with him in
the Cabinet Room at the White House, and we'll likely
hear from the President during that period of time on
how he thinks things are going over the course of
(00:44):
the past month, as far as trade is concerned, the economy,
and also the ongoing war in Ukraine. So all of
that will be discussed just a little bit later this morning.
And as you mentioned in that news brief, the president
last night firing We're announcing he's removing a Fed governor
that is likely going to be challenged in the federal court.
(01:07):
So that particular personnel move I don't think has had
its final say as far as the President is concerned.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Right, it's somebody from the Federal Reserve that was put
in there by the Biden administration, and I guess has
close ties to the chairman. He is saying, it's again,
it seems to be over and over again, it's mortgage fraud.
It seems like the Justice Department is going after mortgage fraud,
especially for Adam Schiff and Letitia James and now this
(01:35):
Federal Reserve governor. So you said this is going to
be challenging the courts almost immediately.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Well, absolutely. The person that we're talking about has hired
a well known criminal defense lawyer here in Washington, d
c Abbey Lull. He's represented a number of high profile individuals.
John Edwards, for instance, had Abby Loll as his criminal
defense lawyer. And the Fed governor that we're talking about,
Lisa Cook, says that she has done nothing wrong. And
(02:05):
I think that, you know, like all people accused of crimes,
these are just allegations. She should have due process. You
should go through that process. I don't think anybody should
be fired anywhere just based upon an allegation and that's
what the President did last night, based upon a criminal
referral made by the head of the Federal Housing Authority.
(02:26):
That's Bill Poulti Junior. He's a Trump appointee. He is
the one who has accused Lisa Cook of mortgage fraud.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Hey, John, I know you were in Alaska for the
summit between Putin and Trump, and I know you were
in the Oval Office right afterwards. There was a seemed
to be a whole lot of movement, and now it
seems like there's nothing.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
I agree with you, Larry, a lot of optimism, especially
last week at this time, which was in the aftermath
of the President meeting with President Zelenski in the Oval Office,
meeting with those European leaders in the East Room at
the White House. The President, I think rightly so is
talking about momentum in terms of a potential meeting between
(03:11):
Putin and Zelenski, and now that momentum has flittered away.
I don't think there's any momentum at all, and I
don't think there's any likelihood in the near term of
a meeting between Putin and Zelenski, just an initial stage meeting.
And even the President had suggested you may recall what
(03:31):
he called a trilat the meeting, involving himself as the mediator.
That too, I don't think is going to happen anytime soon.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And something happened when Vladimir Putin got back to Russia
that I had never seen happen before. There were people
publicly speaking out against what he did in Alaska, saying no, no, no,
that none of this is going to happen. It can happen.
You know. People can go on YouTube right now and
see some of the people from the government speaking out
(03:59):
against That was a first. So I can't believe that
he did this on his own, and it's really hard
to believe that people spoke out against him. Does it
show a kind of a crack in his armor?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
I don't think so. You know, I'll give you a
perfect example of what we're talking about, Larry, and what
you're referring to. The Foreign Minister of Russia. His name
is Sergei Lavrov. He's gone out and done a number
of high profile interviews. You did an interview and meet
the press over the weekend. He does not speak you
out on a limb. He doesn't freelance. He speaks knowing
(04:38):
full well what the position of the Russian government is,
and what he indicated in that interview that he did
on Meet the Press and in other public press interviews
is that Russia at this stage has no intention of
having any type of meeting with a representative from Ukraine
at very high levels, certainly not at the head of
(04:58):
state level, and he would not be saying that without
having the approval of President Putin. So that's just one
example in terms of what the public view is in
terms of next steps, next steps as it relates to
the war in Ukraine, and we know that Russia continues
to attack those civilian areas of Ukraine on a daily
(05:20):
basis with missile strikes and with drone strikes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Hey, John, so you cover the White House, do you
spend time in the city in Washington, d C. And
have you seen a difference.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Yeah, well, you know, I noticed a difference in terms
of the presence of that federal law enforcement. And I
noticed a difference in terms of members of the National Guard.
You know, I was coming back to Union Station last night.
I saw those members of the National Guard here and
there as well. But I have to tell you the
(05:51):
President speaks about no one for the past four years
going out to dinner. I don't know who he's talking to.
I got to dinner regularly. A city like all cities,
like all major cities. There are areas of New York City, Larry,
you would not go to. There are areas of Washington,
d C. I would never go to, you know, after dark.
(06:11):
But you know, we had we had a period of
time in the immediate aftermath of the pandemic. So that
is during President Biden's time in office where we had
very public carjackings happening in broad daylight. And you know,
that makes you know, for a very scary environment when
you're going downtown and you know, like I do going
to the White House every day, So that certainly existed
(06:32):
during the time that President Biden was in office.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Thanks so much, John Decker, w lar White House, corresponding
to We'll be back with us on Thursday at seven
o five.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Appreciate it, John, Thanks Larry, absolutely
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