Hour 2: Changes at CNN

Changes at CNN.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, thanks for being here this morning. In the

(00:02):
Big Three, today, Donald Trump treated House Republicans to a
retreat at Durrell Golf Club in Miami. The Trump Durraw
Golf Club in Miami and reminded them they are all
a part of something bigger than themselves.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Together, we're forging a new political majority, the Chattering and
replacing Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal Coalition, which dominated American politics
for over one hundred years.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
We have White House Correspondent John Decker coming up in
just a couple of minutes. Borders are Tom Holman personally
went out on ice raids in Chicago and he said,
although Democrats are fighting him tooth and nail, he has
the support of the American people.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
As far as the local community. Nothing but cheers walking
to the airport, cheers walking through the streets. We stopped
at a police station to take a nature break and
go around road so long, and every uniform that building
walked up shook our hands and thanks us for being
there and helping them make their communities more safe.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
And where is Mayor Adams? Suddenly he's disappeared. He's got
an election coming up, He's been out and about every
single day, but apparently he cleared his schedule for a
week because of a mystery illness. This comes as federal
prosecutors are scheduled to file additional criminal charges against the mayor.

Speaker 4 (01:22):
Even Rachels can see what's going on. And I have
an attorney, Alex Spiro is handling that I've said over
and over against I've done nothing wrong, but the attorneys
do that I.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Have to run the city. That was Mayor Adams two
weeks ago, after the Fed said more charges would be
filed in January. We'll take a look at your calendar.
This is the last week of January. So he has
a mystery illness at the same time that more charges
against him may be filed. Stay tuned. Now let's get

(01:58):
right to John Decker uor White House and Washington correspondent,
And John, first of all, good morning to you, Good morning,
Good morning John. I can't imagine what it was like
in the Washington Press corps right now. It seems like
I know they're going to reimagine the briefing room, whatever
that means. And availability appears to be NonStop. Is that

(02:22):
the case?

Speaker 5 (02:24):
It is the case? We haven't had a White House
Press briefing yet conducted by the new White House Press Secretary,
Caroline Leavitt. But we're hearing directly from the president, so
that's even better. He's speaking to the press corps practically
every day and answering our questions, and that's a good thing.
That's a return to what I experienced during Donald Trump's

(02:47):
first term in the White House went again. He spoke
every day from various places, taking my questions, for instance,
from the Oval Office, the Roosevelt Room, the Cabinet room,
on Air Force one, on the tarmac, I mean, wherever.
Trump is taking those questions, and much different than what
we experienced over the course of the past four years.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
You look at this schedule he's keeping right now, and
I know Steve Banning calls had shock and on. I
think that's a good term. He's just kind of flooding
the media and the country with news stories, so you
don't even know which ones to pick anymore. How long
can this last?

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Is he?

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I know he's bragging about all he's gotten done, but
he can't keep this up.

Speaker 5 (03:28):
Kenny, Well, keep in mind, during Donald Trump's first term
in the White House, I believe he had a goal
and that goal was to be the number one story
in the A Bloc on every newscast on every day,
and he pretty much kept to that in his first term,
and he's keeping to it in his second term. Just

(03:48):
a week or so in the first one hundred days
is going to be busy, busy with executive actions taken
by President Trump by his administration, and I anticipate being
very big for the next few months. And as it
relates to legislation, meeting yesterday with House Republicans down at
his club at the Durell Club in Miami to go

(04:11):
over what the legislative agenda is going to be for
the first year of his final term in office and
what the strategy is for moving that legislation forward.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
For a while there, all we were talking about were
his cabinet nominees. We've gone through confirmation hearings and votes.
Now several of them are in office. I know many
of them are speaking, but all of that is overshadowed
by Donald Trump. It's hard to keep track at who
got in, who still has to be confirmed, what hearings

(04:43):
are coming up. Maybe you can fill us in on
all of that, because it's hard to keep track of well.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
As you know. Late Friday night, that's when Pete Heigsath
got in was confirmed as the next Defense Secretary thanks
to a tie breaking vote from Vice President Vance. The
next day, Christin Nome confirmed by the Senate to be
the next Homeland Security Secretary. She's already on the job.
This week, three big confirmation hearings will take place, one

(05:14):
Cash Fattel to be the new FBI director, Tulsey Gabbert
to be the new Director of National Intelligence, and Robert F.
Kennedy Junior to be the next Secretary of Homeland Security.
Each of those individuals may have a rough go at it,
but as we saw JD. Vance is at the ready
ready to break any ties. If indeed, Republicans are not

(05:35):
unified on any of these nominees.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
It seems odd to me that they left them till
the end, and because they can set the schedule they
get to decide. Is it because they fear they don't
have the votes and there was more work to do,
or did they not want to step on Donald Trump
and have something else get more attention than he did.

Speaker 5 (05:57):
Well, it's different reasons for different nominee. For some like
Tulsi Gabbard and Robert F. Kennedy Junior. They did not
submit the necessary forms required to go through the confirmation
process to provide that to the relevant committees, the senators
who will ultimately pass judgment on their nominations. And so no,

(06:18):
it's just a factor of not having the necessary forms completed,
and now that they are, that's the reason why you
see these confirmation hearings. The dates for them set, and
they're going to be contentious in some cases, and we'll
see whether or not some of them make it through.
Tulsi Gabbard, I think of all of the Trump nominees

(06:40):
to be in the Trump cabinet, I think it's going
to have the roughest go at it in terms of
winning confirmation.

Speaker 1 (06:46):
It just seems odd that three of the most controversial
have yet to go through confirmation hearings. I didn't know
if that was purposeful or you're saying it was just
because they didn't file the right paperwork, But maybe they
did it purpose I don't even get why they would
do that.

Speaker 5 (07:04):
I don't know. I mean, I can't get inside their heads. Yeah, no,
I know that Wednesday, Thursday, Friday of this week, that's
will that's when we'll see those confirmation hearings for those
three individuals take place, and you know, we saw that
Pete Hegseth got through even though of three Republicans ultimately
did not vote for his nomination, including the former majority

(07:26):
leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Yeah, So what's on tap for today is it must
be hard to figure out what's going to be the
next thing that's going to happen, because it seems like
five to ten things happen every day.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
Well, that's true. You know, what we typically get is
a schedule for the president, even with Donald Trump, you know,
on a Sunday, the schedule for the entire week, it's
only a weekend, and we don't have that. We have
a schedule that is on the fly that comes out
the day of. So I can't tell you what's going
to happen tomorrow as it relates to President Trump. He

(08:05):
got back to the White House around nine thirty last
night after a multi day trip you know that started
in Asheville, North Carolina. Went out to Los Angeles to
view the wildfires the damage there, went to Nevada, Las
Vegas in particular, and then tomorrow Lago and to Miami.
Now back at the White House, and we always anticipate

(08:28):
busy days ahead, but I have not yet seen the schedule.
It has not come out for the President for today.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
I know the Lake and Riley Bill passed, But the
first huge piece of legislation is going to be the
Reconciliation bill. Have they figured out when they're going to
start to push that through and how they're going to
present it. Will it be one bill, two bills, multiple bills?
Have you heard anything.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
I think it's likely going to be two separate bills,
simply because of what John Thune says is doable in
the US Senate. Remember, you know, I think it's going
to be easier to a certain extent in the House,
even though the majority is pretty narrow there, simply because
all you need is a simple majority in the Senate.
Procedurally you need sixty senators to move legislation forward. That's

(09:14):
the reason why I think John Tunone says, let's do it,
two separate votes, two separate pieces of legislation, focusing first
on border security and immigration, and then we can focus
on some of the things that Trump and Republicans want
to do as it relates to taxes, including extending those
Trump tax cuts that are due to expire at the

(09:34):
end of this year.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Yeah, so Trump won't get his one big, beautiful bill,
but I guess that they talked him into that this
is the best way to get your agenda through, and
he conceded that that must be the case. So we'll see.
That'll be the biggest story in a long time when
that goes through. And we'll see how much the Democrats
push back, because I've been surprised that they haven't really

(09:56):
pushed back hard on just about anything right now. So
I think they're still trying to if they're still licking
their wounds and still trying to figure out a path
forward for the Democratic Party. But that's just me. John
Decker WR, White House Correspondent in Washington correspondent, Thanks so
much for being here today. Talk to you next week.
A man thought he lost an engagement ring that he

(10:19):
was going to give his girlfriend, but the LA fires hit,
then a miracle happened. That's next, and don't forget. You
can leave us or talk back all morning long. Go
to seven to ten WR on the iHeartRadio app and
click the microphone. Ah, it's a good day. I'm Larry Matti.
Thanks for joining us. It's a good day because Ding
Dong the witch is dead. Now. Look, I don't really

(10:43):
take joy in people in the media getting fired. I've
known too many. It's devastating. It is devastating when it happens.
But there's a couple people that you have to be
glad about the fact that they're no longer there because
they were hurting the entire industry. They were hurting their station,

(11:05):
and they were hurting media, and they were hurting journalism
because it was all about them. They wanted to be
a big star. And because they wanted to be a
big star, they didn't care about anybody else. They didn't
care about the rules of journalism, they didn't care that
they were biased. They wanted it to be about them.
And that about sums up Jim Acosta. Jim Acosta when

(11:27):
he was a White House correspondent was embarrassing. And I
know that from other White House correspondents who complained about him.
He wouldn't shut up. He constantly grandstanded, He stood up
and thought he was as important as the President of

(11:48):
the United States. It was the Jim Acosta Show. There
were several times they tried to take his microphone. Remember
when he pushed that girl that tried to take his
microphone from the White House, he was just strewed, and
he thought that was going to launch him. He was
going to be a megastar. He was going to be
the next Dan Rather or the next Sam Donaldson. He

(12:12):
was going to be a name that everybody remembers. Well,
we remember them all right for things like this. But
your campaign had an ad showing migrants climbing over walls
and so on. But they weren't actor They're not going
to be doing they weren't actors. Well, no, it's true.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Do you think they were actors. They weren't actors. They
didn't come from Hollywood. These were These were people. This
was an actual you know, it happened a few days ago, and.

Speaker 1 (12:38):
There are hundreds of miles away. Though there are hundreds
and hundreds of miles away, that's not an invasion.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Honestly, I think you should let me run the country.
You run CNN, and if you did it well, your ratings.

Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yeah it was. The ratings were awful. The ratings got worse,
the ratings got worse. They're they're as bad as they've
ever been at CNN right now, So here here's what happened.
He was just pulled from the programming schedule. And apparently
now this is you have to be careful. Now you're
gonna hear spins from everybody. CNN probably won't comment, but

(13:12):
you're gonna hear spins from his agent, and you're gonna
hear spins from the Acosta camp. And what he's saying
right now, what is being leaked out to the media,
and I'm sure it's from his side, is that he
was offered a two hour show. Right now, he has
a one hour show, and he has been offered a
two hour show, but it's at midnight. He used to

(13:36):
be at ten am, and now they wanted them to
go at midnight. And he said, how dare you and
he walked out. He said, I don't want that. Does
that sound like that's what happened to you? I think
they realized. Remember Mark Thompson, the head of CNN, amonished

(13:56):
the staff there, admonished the journalists who were about to
come for the inauguration and said, look, don't go after
Donald Trump. This is a big thing for America. We
don't want to tick off half the audience because of
your bias. Don't bring up his convictions. Don't bring up

(14:17):
anything else except the inauguration. Cover what's in front of you.
And there was sour faces. You would have think somebody
passed gas in the room. The faces on the people there,
they were really upset. So that's where they want to
go with CNN. They want to go back to what
CNN used to be. I used to love CNN, love them.

(14:40):
They were type A journalists. They were perfect. They were
the ones that were in the middle, that would give
you the truth. And then Zucker came in and decided
We're going to be the yin to Fox News is
Yang and he ruined the network and Jim Acosta was

(15:04):
one of the remnants of that. So thank god he's gone.
So we have a bit of a miracle out in
Los Angeles. This is such a nice story. So in
the middle of everything, a gentleman named Brian McShay wanted
to right before the fires hit, he was going to

(15:25):
ask his girlfriend to marry him. They had already got
a house. They were in Alta Dina, which was hit
hard by the fires, and he had the ring and everything,
and then the fires hit, so he went back looking
for the ring. He had to leave it. It was
in the house. It was burned. He went back looking

(15:46):
for the ring, just.

Speaker 6 (15:47):
Looking for a stone.

Speaker 7 (15:48):
Man.

Speaker 6 (15:48):
I really didn't have a lot of hope. But I mean,
you just brush away some rubble and there's a little
ring and you pick that up and it's actually a
washer to something and that happens like fourth time.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah. So we kept looking and he kept looking, and
he kept looking. Now you heard him say, he's looking
for a stone. He figured the ring was gone. I
was thinking about it.

Speaker 6 (16:06):
I was thinking, you know, well maybe the stone should
survive and maybe we'll find the little stone. You know,
I thought the ring was going to completely disintegrate.

Speaker 1 (16:14):
So Stephanie Rayner is his girlfriend. He found the ring
and it wasn't melted. It was in its hole, and
he got down on his knees in the rubble as
close as he could get to the rubble, and asked
her to marry him.

Speaker 8 (16:29):
Oh my god, Oh that's really sweet.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Wow is that wonderful? Miracles? And she said no, I
don't say that. No, Jesus ruin the story. No, not
only that they have decided together they're going to rebuild
in Altadena and live there.

Speaker 6 (16:50):
We're really hoping that Los Angeles can support Altadino in
his rebuilt efforts for the next couple of years and
that we're able to return because this community is just
so special.

Speaker 1 (17:00):
What a guy. I mean, there's the kind of guy
you want to marry. Right now, let's get the news
with Kristin Sheese filling in for Jacquelyn Carl Kristen. It's
not by the way, it's seven point thirty.

Speaker 9 (17:13):
Well, good morning. Folks in the Bronx not happy about
a migrant shelter coming to their borough.

Speaker 10 (17:18):
Bronx residents turned out to a community board meeting Monday
night to complain about the shelter, set to open by
the end of February. This will be at a warehouse
on Bruckner Boulevard and Mott Haven and it'll have the
capacity to hold up to twenty two hundred migrant men.

Speaker 11 (17:31):
I am concerned for the community at large, the school,
the church is the seniors.

Speaker 8 (17:35):
I mean, we have to lock ourselves up by four o'clark.
It's not fair that we get this shelter.

Speaker 10 (17:40):
Bronxboro President Vanessa Gibson expressed her displeasure that residents were
left in the dark about this plan until after it
was finalized. I'm Scatt Pringle wr News.

Speaker 9 (17:49):
Immigration advocates reminding migrants of their rights regardless of their
status as ICE raids increase around the country. They include
refusing to open doors without a war. President Trump has
signed a number of executive orders related to the military.
They include an order that reinstates those who are discharged
for refusing the COVID vaccine and another that bans those

(18:11):
who identify as transgender from serving in the armed forces.
And Starbucks is making changes that you could say, may
give it more of an independent coffee house feel. These
are actually pre COVID policies. They're bringing back the condiment
bar so you can add your own sweetener and milks
to drinks. Huh, I don't even remember that, but oh.

Speaker 11 (18:34):
Yeah, it used to be just had to be stainless
steel kind of containers that you could, you know, add
your milk and they had all different types of milk.

Speaker 8 (18:41):
All right, that's cool, and they took that away. Yeah,
well it's about time. I think we're well past COVID.

Speaker 9 (18:46):
Well, you could argue, but they're also bringing back ceramic
mugs for patrons choosing to hang out, and free refills
if you use those mugs.

Speaker 11 (18:58):
Yeah, so that deal, right, So if you go to
the you know, the store, and you order something to stay,
they'll give you either a glass cup if it's a
tea or your nice something ice or a mug and
you can refill as long as you're there.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
I'm going to Starbucks. I had a lot of coffee.

Speaker 11 (19:16):
I mean, just think about it. So now you could
go hang out with your friends, you know, for forty
five minutes or whatever.

Speaker 1 (19:21):
You don't want to hang out the problem. You don't
have to go on the red.

Speaker 11 (19:25):
You can hang out with yourself and just keep getting refilled.

Speaker 8 (19:28):
Oh it's nice.

Speaker 9 (19:28):
It's more inviting, you know, it's less of a corporate
just got to get my coffee and go and more
all right, like relaxed atmosphere.

Speaker 11 (19:35):
And they also were getting rid of most recently when
you ordered something that your order would come up on
the sticker and they would stick it on the the
you know, the plastic cup that you're getting. Now they
use their sharpies again and they write your name.

Speaker 8 (19:48):
I was just going to go there. Yep, they're bringing
back that.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
So the secret is you sneak out with your mug
with your name written on it. Right, and then you
go back another day and say, can I get a refill?

Speaker 8 (20:01):
Well, the ref use you can only use at the
real mugs.

Speaker 9 (20:05):
Yes, refills. Okay, you can also bring your own from home.

Speaker 11 (20:08):
You can't use some classic ones. You have to use
their mugs.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Okay, you're going to steal their mugs. You don't steal it,
You're bringing.

Speaker 8 (20:14):
It back, all right. I don't give people any idea.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
You think I'm kidding. Thanks a lot, Kristen Marx, the
New York City Council Minority leader, Joe BURRELLI is leaving.
Ask him where he's going next, and that's coming up next.
The Fire Aid Benefit Concert, to raise money for rebuilding
communities devastated by the wildfires in southern California, is happening Thursday.

(20:45):
Both the Inuet Dome and the Kia Forum in LA
will host the one night only event, bringing together some
of the top names in music and entertainment, including performances
by Earthwind and Fire, Green Day, Jelly Roll, Joni Mitchell,
Lady Gaga, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rod Stewart, Sting,
Stevie Nicks, Stevie Wonder, and much more here at broadcasts

(21:09):
nationwide Thursday on the free iHeartRadio app. For donations and
concert information, visit fireaid la dot org. Hey, good morning.
Things are about to change in a big way for
the city council. Joe Burrelli, the minority leader as we
talked about yesterday, has decided to move on and Joe

(21:33):
Burrelli joins us. Now. I'm excited to talk to you, Joe,
for a couple of reasons, because you've always been great
when you talk to us on the show, and you've
always been very honest. But there's probably some things you've
been holding back and now you can unleash. We will
give you the forum. Go ahead, blast the city council.
We'd love it.

Speaker 7 (21:55):
Look, I mean, you know what the reality is. The
reality is that it's easy to fight and make noise
and throw grenades and throw bombs. It's actually the hard part.
The hard part is actually cooperating with the people that
you disagree with and finding commonality. And that's kind of
the unkept secret, is that people are rarely the characters

(22:18):
they play on TV or the characters they portray in
their public life. That goes for people on the left,
on the right, and everywhere in between. You know, Are
there some crazy, crazy people in the city Council. There
sure are, But there's a lot of decent people who
just want to do the work of public service and
improve their communities just a little bit.

Speaker 1 (22:40):
Well, that was really disappointing, Joe. We who are really
hoping that now that you're moving on, you could tell
us exactly what was going on and.

Speaker 7 (22:51):
Why I'm gonna be a lobbyist. I'm in the friends.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, tell us exactly what you're doing next.

Speaker 7 (23:02):
So I'm going to join with a lobbying firm called
chart Well Strategy Group, which is based in DC, but
I will be opening and running their New York office,
So I'll be doing some federal clients, state clients, some
city clients, and everything in between. So I can't lobby
the city council. I have a two year ban on
the city council. So if people want me to twist arms,

(23:23):
spread rumors, whisper and ears anyone but the city council,
you can call me.

Speaker 5 (23:28):
You know.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
I guess I'm a little bit confused at what you
said in the beginning, and it was very nice what
you said about the commonality and people aren't always what
they seem in a room than they are in public.
I get all that, and I understand all that, but
you would think if you had enough of them in
city council, we wouldn't have a sanctuary city, we wouldn't

(23:49):
have some of the rules we have that make absolutely
no sense. So it is really hard to believe that
you have that many people there that have common says
and can work together.

Speaker 7 (24:02):
Look, Larry, they're afraid. They are afraid of the left
wing of their party. And that's why, you know, for
a while now, I've been supportive of open primaries, basically
non partisans.

Speaker 1 (24:15):
Oh, I think we lost them. When you check the phone,
I'll go, yeah, check them out. I'll keep blasting the
city council while you you try to get him on.
Maybe he'll be angry when he comes back, and he'll
he'll really blast them. Look, I can't imagine being somebody
with common sense or being a normal person on the

(24:37):
city council. I wish we had more of them, And
so it is surprising to hear and Joe Burrelli's back. Continue.
You go ahead and say what you were saying. It's
more important than what I was just about to say.

Speaker 7 (24:50):
Oh, I apologize, Larry. I was stuck in the tunnel. Okay,
what I was saying, but what I was basically saying,
well was, you know, people are afraid of their the
left wing of that Democratic Party. And unfortunately, until we
have non partis an elections, which is the case in
every single municipality, just about every single large city in
America except for us in Philadelphia, which by the way,

(25:13):
didn't very well run, I think you'll still see politicians
that are afraid of those angry mobs that we see,
you know every summer when Columbia lets out people you know,
chanting in the streets and marching in the streets. They're
afraid of them.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
So you're saying that there are people in city council
right now that you know of and you can name,
there are people in city council that are so afraid
of their party and maybe being voted out of office
they can't do what's the right thing to do that
they know is the right thing to do.

Speaker 7 (25:47):
Oh yeah, I would. I would actually say a majority.
I would say a majority of the Democratic members are.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
You must be in the tunnel one.

Speaker 7 (25:59):
Oh boy, I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
That's okay, we just lost you for a second. You're back, I.

Speaker 7 (26:04):
Got out and I pulled over, So now we're good.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Okay, Well, thanks for doing that. Well, that's embarrassing. They
should be ashamed of themselves because they're hurting people. There's
crime happening right now in the city. There's people that
were killed, there's people that were raped in the City
of New York because of what they did, and they're
too afraid to do what's right.

Speaker 7 (26:26):
Well, Larry, let me posit it a different way. If
you're only voting on if you're only allowing leftist Democrats
to vote in an election, they are actually representing the
will of the electorate. That's why it's so important to
have these non parties and elections, because it'll open up
the ballot for the majority of New Yorkers, not just

(26:46):
the majority of the Democratic Party, to actually weigh in
on the races that matter. So I'm going to resign
at the end of the week, and at the end
of the week we will have at the three months, rather,
we will have a special election to replace me. That
special election will be non partisan and it will be
you know, anyone can vote in it. We're trying to

(27:07):
replicate that for all the other races.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Citywide and you think that some of the people you're
talking about will be voted out of office because of
this new electoral procedure, Well, not them.

Speaker 7 (27:19):
I mean, if we pass it on the ballot this year,
it would be in play for the next city races,
which will be you know, city wide races could be
in twenty twenty nine special elections, and different elections will
happen you know, in between then. But if we do
it this year and people vote in the referenda that
would be required, it would be in place for the
next mayoral elections. This is a long term solution to

(27:42):
the leftward lurch and the leftward dominance of the Democratic
Party in this city. So this is not a short
term strategy, but it is the one that I believe
would actually save New York and put us on the
best track to go forward.

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Yeah, we need some help now, and the only help
we're getting right now is from Tom Homan, who's coming
into town with ice and and cleaning up the streets
despite despite what the city council has done. Who do
you want to replace you?

Speaker 7 (28:08):
Well, I'm supporting Frank Morano. Some people might know him.
He is a radio host in the New York community.
Sure he does a big night. Yep. He is a
longtime friend, a longtime concilieri of mine. He was the
witness at my legal wedding, by the way, I got
married at you know, at city hall kind of wedding.
We did a destination wedding in Mexico. So with my
legal wedding, he was a witness. And he's a sharp guy.

(28:30):
He's an intellectual guy. He's a cerebral person, and he's
going to do a great job. He's got the Republican
Party support, the Conservatives Party support, which almost guarantees he
wins us that one.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Well, I didn't even realize that he was the guy.
Do you go to his party in Atlantic City every year?

Speaker 7 (28:46):
I avoid it like the plague, Larry I av It's
a source of contention for he and I. He and I.
I'll go to his house on a Sunday morning and
beat him in ping pong and have a cup of coffee.
But you're not getting me to go down the Atlantic City.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
I haven't gone yet either, and he brow beats me
every single year. I'm a big fan of Frank and
that's what a wonderful choice that would be. And so well,
we'll be able to talk to him. I hope we
get to talk to you again in your lobbying efforts.

Speaker 12 (29:16):
Oh you sure will.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
I would appreciate it all right, Thanks so much, Joe
BURRELLI Minorti leader for the time being, not too much
longer of the New York City Council from Staten Island.
Thousands of Palestinians returned to Northern Gaza and the fate
of eight hostages have been discovered. We speak with ABC
correspondent Jordana Miller in Jerusalem. Next. Well, thousands of Palestinians

(29:40):
are returning to Northern Gaza and more hostages are set
to be released. Let's check in with Jordana Miller, ABC
News correspondent, who is in Jerusalem. Jordana, let's start with
the hostages, because we learned I guess something that everybody feared.
They're not all alive.

Speaker 12 (30:03):
That's right. We now know that of the thirty three
hostages that are set to be released in this first
phase of the seafire, that is over the next now
four weeks, there are going to be eight bodies returned
to Israel. It's worth noting this is not a surprise
for Jerusalem. This was the Israeli intelligence assessment, and it

(30:28):
was confirmed by a list that Hamas handed over to
the Israelis over the weekend. That does mean that of
the total number of hostages living and dead, thirty three
twenty five are coming out alive. And that's, you know,
that is a higher number than I think most of

(30:48):
the Israeli public was anticipating. And remember this is only
you know, this is about a third of you know,
the nine d hostages that are that are still in captivity,
and there's about another twenty five that Israel believes are

(31:09):
not living. So it still leaves open the possibility of
another you know, thirty or so a hostage is to
be alive in Phase two and phase three, even though
there we're going to get even more bodies than the
eight we'll see in a few weeks.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
Phase two and phase three, is that still being negotiated
or is that set now?

Speaker 12 (31:31):
So? According to the US Booker, Gaza ceasefire talks on
phase two of this deal are supposed to begin on
day sixteen. Today is day ten. But we do know
that the mediators, both the US Katari's, Egyptians and even
some here on the Israeli side, are pushing already for

(31:53):
talks to begin on phase two and how to get
to phase two. There's a number of challenges is to
phase two? I would say the thornius issue is Hamas
relinquishing control over the Gaza Strip. That is, Hamas saying
that they will take a back seat to whoever comes

(32:15):
in to govern the Gaza Strip and that they won't
be part of any kind of military a strong military
presence in the Gaza Strip. You know, this is hard
to imagine, but Hamas is really in a bad place
today after this war, so they may have no choice.

(32:38):
But that's a key thorny issue. Another one is, you know,
the full withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip.
How will that play out in stages? Will the Israeli
stay for a while in the periphery to maintain a
kind of right to go in if there's security issues?

(32:59):
You know, there's a there's a lot, a lot that
has to be hammered out. That's why the sides want
to try to you know, many people are urging the
sides to get going now with the talks.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
I know the United Nations United Nations said that over
two hudred thousand people are moving back into the north
of Gaza to where their homes I guess used to
be because the video that we've seen it seems like
everything is gone. What is the condition, where are those
people going to go, how are the areas going to

(33:29):
be rebuilt? And who's going to pay for that?

Speaker 12 (33:33):
Right, that's a great question. About two hundred thousand, as
you said, that's the un estimate of the Palestinians that were,
you know, really just flooding back into northern Gaza where
there is really vast destruction. They'll be looking to set
up tents. Really they will be provided by international donors.

(33:57):
There's a few people in northern who were going to
be able to really go back to a functioning home.
Most are damaged, many are severely damaged, and there's a
lot of infrastructure, whether that's you know, water lines, power lines, sanitation,
so you know, it's it's not going to be any

(34:19):
kind of comfortable existence in northern Gaza for a very
long time. But there is a kind of emotional relief
for a lot of these Palestinians. Remember they were driven
out of the north at the beginning of the war,
and they're coming back. They want to see what's left
of their homes, what they can take from under the rubble.
They want to reunite with family and in some cases,

(34:42):
you know, grieve their loved ones, their family members that
were lost in the war properly, because you know, who
had time to do that during you know, this unrelenting
war was you know, it was a kind of hell
for Goszins.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Yeah, no, I understand. Now, who's going to pay for
this if it gets rebuilt? Will it get rebuilt?

Speaker 9 (35:04):
Well?

Speaker 12 (35:04):
Well, first of all, Phase two and Phase three talks
they're supposed to focus on, you know who who's putting
the bill for reconstruction. And you know it's clear that
Saudi Arabia and the United Air Emirates bahering the Gulf
States will play a central role. The UN probably will
as well. I don't you know, it's hard to you know,

(35:26):
it's hard to figure out exactly what President Trump's going
to decide to do if he's going to take part in,
you know, investing American dollars in rebuilding Gaza. You know,
he seems to believe there's great promise there and there
is I think his notion that the Palestinians are going
to move to another country or other countries are going

(35:49):
to take them in? Is you know a pipe dream?
If you will, No matter how many times he says it,
I'm not I'm not sure if the Egyptians are Jordanians
or anybody else is going to take them and the
Palestinians they see Gaza their home.

Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah, Jordana Miller, I know this all has to be
worked out, and what a massive project it's going to
be if they do try to rebuild it the way
it was. But we'll continue talking to you about it.
Thanks for your time, Okay, talk soon, all right, see
you later, Bye bye. ABC News correspondent in Jerusalem, Jordana Miller.
President Trump is going to sign new executive orders, including

(36:27):
an iron dome for America. Karen Travers, ABC News White
House correspondent has the details that's coming up after the
eight o'clock News