'We'll negotiate with bombs': Trump directs new strikes on Iran

[0:00] Tonight, the U.S. launched another round of attacks on Iran. [0:04] In a statement, the military said these were, quote, self-defense strikes in response to [0:08] Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression. And yet, earlier today, Trump said that he was [0:16] going to hit Iran hard because the country is taking too long to make a peace deal. [0:21] That comes after the U.S. launched strikes on Iran just yesterday in response to the [0:26] downing of an American helicopter near the street of Hormuz. Meanwhile, on Wall Street, [0:31] the Dow lost more than 900 points, 9-0-0. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 also lost more than one [0:39] and a half percent for the day, in part because of Trump's comments. And speaking of the economy, [0:45] today, Trump was asked about the new inflation report that shows inflation [0:49] is now the worst it's been in three years. Listen to what he had to say. [0:53] Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number, which came out this [0:58] morning? Could that be a hit? [0:59] No, I love it. [1:00] The numbers were great. [1:02] You know what? I really love that. [1:03] I love the inflation. [1:04] You know why? Because as soon as this war is over, you know, I can say it now. Something [1:10] you didn't know. Do you know we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil? Nobody knows [1:16] it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran until right now. [1:21] That sound he hears, keyboards clacking as the ads are being made for Democrats. [1:24] Just to make sure you heard that, let's reiterate it. That was Donald Trump, your president, [1:29] saying he loves the inflation. And as far as his new announcement that we've taken millions of [1:36] barrels of oil out of Iran secretly without Iran's knowledge, Trump's Energy Secretary, [1:41] Chris Wright, was asked about it. In a congressional hearing, he said he was not aware of it. [1:47] With that, let's bring in our nightcap. David Rode, MS Now, senior national security reporter. [1:52] Michael Schnell, congressional reporter for MS Now. Sabrina Siddiqui, national politics reporter [1:58] for The Wall Street Journal. Joel Payne, Democratic strategist and chief communications officer [2:03] for MoveOn. He was a senior aide for Hillary for America and press secretary for former Senator Harry [2:09] Reid. And Andrea Flores, former DHS official and White House advisor. David, I want to start with [2:16] you. What do we know about these new targets of these American strikes? [2:19] It's not clear yet. They seem to be focused more on southern Iran. I guess the most important thing [2:26] is that there's no indication that President Trump has started having U.S. forces attack [2:31] power plants and bridges. That was a threat that we all heard nearly two months ago when the ceasefire [2:38] was announced, that that was going to be the sort of punishing blow that was going to force capitulation [2:43] by the Iranians. But we are in a new dynamic. The, you know, the, the President Trump had a call [2:50] earlier tonight with a Fox News reporter. And he said that if, you know, he, there were the bombings [2:56] tonight. But he said, if Iran does not capitulate and sign this, this current draft agreement with [3:01] the terms the Americans want, there will be more bombing tomorrow night. So we could be back in a [3:09] full-blown war very soon if we aren't already. In war, you make a decision, but then your enemy [3:16] has a choice and also has a say. How has Iran responded here? They fired back. And this is what [3:23] we've seen throughout this war, that Iran doesn't back down. So tonight they fired missiles at Kuwait, [3:30] definitely, and I believe Bahrain as well. And they've done this repeatedly. So the, my view of [3:37] what's happened. The President told the Fox News reporter that 59 Tomahawk missiles were fired. [3:42] There were also some jets, American jets that dropped bombs on Iran. My guess is, I don't think [3:48] tonight's strikes are enough to force the Iranian regime to capitulate. They've, you know, they were [3:53] hit harder by the U.S. earlier in this war. So we could have more American bombing on Thursday night. [3:59] And the, the flaw in the American strategy could be this belief from the beginning that airstrikes [4:06] alone are enough to get the Iranian regime to capitulate. It's very clear at this point that [4:11] the United States is not going to launch a ground invasion of Iran. I'm not saying they should, [4:17] but the, the fatal error possibly in this war could be, again, this belief that airstrikes alone [4:22] will cause the Iranians to capitulate. I don't think they will after tonight's strikes. [4:28] Andre, let's bring you in here. One of the things that I've heard from White House officials, [4:32] you've probably heard the same thing, Sabrina, is that the reason that Trump does these kinds of [4:37] things is to get folks back to the table faster. But, and I talked to some of our allies in the [4:43] region, some people who are experts on this, they say, actually, it just hardens both sides from [4:47] actually coming back to the table. Your thoughts? I mean, I don't think there's any strategy really [4:52] behind what he's doing because, you know, we all- He's not playing 40 chess? No, he's not. And he [4:57] thought that he could kind of be in and out of this conflict quickly. It's become a bigger distraction, [5:01] having more impact than he wanted it to. And I don't see any sort of sophisticated negotiation [5:06] happening. And I, I just think that he's playing with fire and that more Americans are either going [5:11] to lose their lives in the conflict or everyone this summer will feel the impacts economically of [5:16] this conflict. And he betrays his base because he was never supposed to do this. And he also is [5:21] betraying, you know, Americans in every way that he was going to lower the cost of living. It's so [5:25] unnecessary and embarrassing for the country. Sabrina, this is the man who, uh, [5:30] co-wrote the art of the deal. Um, and yet still no deal just before the strikes, Pete Hexeth, [5:36] the secretary of defense said, quote, if we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs, [5:41] but that's exactly what led to the stalemate that we're in right now. What are folks in the White [5:46] House saying about the strategy here? Is there a strategy or is this whatever Trump is feeling at [5:51] that time? Well, what I'm hearing from sources in the White House is so much what you said. [5:55] They're kind of trying to frame this as this coercive tactic to try and draw out some kind [6:02] of concessions from Iran at the negotiating table. But that doesn't change the fact that for weeks now, [6:08] we keep hearing President Trump and others in his, in his administration say, we're getting closer to [6:12] the deal. We're getting closer to the deal. But the same fundamental sticking points remain around [6:17] Iran's nuclear ambitions from Tehran's perspective, that they want the U.S. to release, uh, [6:23] frozen Iranian assets. And the president has said he's not willing to do that until a later stage [6:28] in time. So it comes back to this idea that the president went into this war with shifting [6:34] priorities and objectives, an unclear end game. And, you know, now I think the moves are being driven [6:41] more by the domestic political pressure here at home because this is an unpopular war that is not [6:47] supported by a majority of the American people. It's fracturing his coalition. And it's had this impact [6:51] on gas prices at a time when Republicans are already vulnerable on cost of living in November. [6:57] So I think they're trying to do something, but it's just not clear that there is any coherent [7:01] strategy. So let's get into the politics of this because gas prices are high. They continue. [7:07] They've lowered a little bit, but they're still extremely high. Inflation is now high because of [7:12] this war. Um, Trump is escalating. It appears you heard what David said, it's possible there could be [7:17] more attacks tomorrow. How aggressive do you expect Democrats to be? And I said, you know, [7:22] you should, we should be hearing the ad makers make the ads. How aggressive are Democrats going [7:27] to be on this? I mean, I'm sure there'll be aggressive, but you don't have to be that aggressive [7:30] when people, all they got to do is walk out of their door, walk down the street, try to buy some [7:34] groceries, um, see that it cost them two X what it might've cost them this time last year. Um, go drive [7:40] down the street, try to get the work and see that their gas prices that were a dollar cheaper six [7:45] months ago or a dollar more expensive. Now. I mean, you don't, the Democrats certainly will do [7:50] the work to amplify that, but you don't really have to do that much work. But the thing I would [7:55] add is listen, it's very clear. Donald Trump is pot committed on this strategy and he seems to be [8:01] checked out of any accountability for his actions. The people who should be concerned are the folks who [8:07] should have known the entire time that their political fortunes were completely meaningless [8:12] to Donald Trump. It's Susan Collins. It's John Husted in Ohio. It's Dan Sullivan. It's folks on [8:18] the ballot all up and down all throughout the country who are having, are next to their name, [8:23] who have to understand that Donald Trump does not actually care what his actions do to impact their [8:29] political fortunes. Those folks actually have this terrible choice because they can't say, Hey, [8:35] I'm going to, I'm going to run against Donald Trump. He doesn't allow them to run against them. [8:39] And if he runs with Donald Trump, if you run with Trump and the Trump agenda, you have to take [8:44] accountability for everything. This war, the bad decisions, the bad priorities. It's a, it's a bad [8:49] place to be. I wish I could say I feel bad for him. I don't. I mean, one of the things that I've, [8:53] I've been saying is that Donald Trump cares about the control of the Republican party. It doesn't seem [8:58] that he cares about how much power they end up actually having David. I won't bring you in the [9:03] politics of this, but Trump's comment about getting all of this oil out of Iran, a senior [9:08] military official told the New York times he was referring to a widely reported us program to help [9:14] commercial ships get out of the street. If that's the case, why is he talking about it? Like this is [9:21] if there's some secret mission that Iran didn't know about none of you amazing reporters who cover [9:26] this didn't know about it either. What is he talking about? It's been reported before. Uh, and I, [9:33] I think it was a talking point. The president's trying to spin the situation and, and, and declare [9:38] a success where it doesn't really exist. He talked about millions and millions of barrels of oil. [9:42] Um, one of the accounts that, and this was all a social media post he put out, it talked about [9:47] 200 tankers getting through, and he said it was a part of this, you know, covert effort last month. [9:55] Uh, we don't know when that would be. So we're, that's several weeks though. Um, getting 200 tankers [10:00] through the straight is actually still a failure. There was a hundred, 130 tankers per day, per day [10:06] before this war started. So getting 200 tankers through in several weeks is not easing this [10:12] massive global energy crisis. And just on one level, this is the United States military. We are [10:20] a superpower. And the president of the United States is bragging about how in the dark, you know, [10:26] the American Navy is helping tankers sneak through the Strait of Hormuz and hide from the Iranian Navy [10:32] that they claim is at the bottom of the ocean. It's astonishing. Like no one believed on February [10:38] 27th, before this war started, that that's what would be happening. The American Navy would be trying [10:43] to sneak ships out of the Strait of Hormuz so they wouldn't be seen by the Iranians. So it's amazing [10:49] what's happened. And I, again, I don't, I don't see the Iranians capitulating anytime soon.