American fighter jet is shot down over Iran, one crewmember still missing; March jobs report stronger than expected

0:00C-SPAN and Washington today are made possible with support from Optimum. Welcome to Washington Today on C-SPAN Radio for Friday, April 3, 2026, reports of American fighter jet shot down over Iran to pilots ejecting one safely rescued by U.S. forces, the search for the other ongoing by the U.S. and Iran, which is offering a bounty for civilians who help capture the American. Donald Trump proposing a federal budget for next year that includes a 42 percent increase in defense spending to $1.5 trillion. Strong jobs report for March, Labor Department says the U.S. created 178,000 jobs, the unemployment rate ticked lower to 4.3%. But are there warning signs due to the war with Iran? We'll talk about it with MarketWatch economics editor Greg Rob. NASA gives a status report on the Artemis II mission to the Moon. The Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch talks about taking over his acting attorney general

1:00Wayne Pambondi leaves, plus a debate for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, America 250 chair Rosy Rios on the latest events to celebrate the nation's semi-Quincentennial, and on this good Friday, before Easter Sunday, White House Presectory Caroline Levit talks about the importance of her faith and that of others who work in the White House, that and more ahead on Washington Today. Washington Post writing the two U.S. military aircraft were shot down in separate incidents Friday while conducting combat operations against Iran, setting off a frantic search and rescue effort that remains ongoing for one missing crew member, U.S. officials said. The F-15E fighter jet and the A-10 attack plane both were hit by incoming fire, U.S. officials said. One of the two crew members aboard the F-15, which crashed inside Iran, was rescued. Though the condition was not immediately clear, the officials said. The A-10 pilot navigated the damaged plane to coerce the airspace before ejecting and was subsequently rescued. They added that was from the Washington Post. As this was unfolding, Congressman August Fluger, Republican from Texas, Lieutenant Colonel

2:05in the U.S. Air Force, was interviewed by Fox News. Iran does have a very active surface to air defense system that they still have many missiles, and as our operational goals have stated that we are destroying those capabilities. But, so I'm not sure that it's unusual. I just think that our forces so good, our fighter pilots are so good that the best in the world, the bomber pilots are the best in the world, and so are our recovery forces. They vary best in the world, and we never leave an American behind, so what you're seeing today is the ethos of making sure we bring that pilot home. As you kind of go back, and nobody knows more about this training that these pilots undergo than you do, sir, and I'm just wondering if you go over the communication systems and the equipment and the survival equipment, does it give you confidence that this missing weapon system officer is fine?

3:07Is okay? Well, we're obviously praying for this individual. The training is superb. Every mission that is briefed, you talk about personal recovery, you talk about combat search and rescue, the forces are ready, we never launch a mission without having those forces on standby. I know these commanders that are there that are in charge of making sure that we do things with the utmost training in mind, that we take a calculated risk, but that we never want to launch this mission, and these recovery forces never want to be activated, but they are ready to go, and so the training is obviously there, and every individual that goes into battle has that training, so we're pulling for them. This is an American warrior, and the Americans and joint recovery forces are also on the way to get them, so I have faith that they're going to get this person. Congressman August Fluger, Republican from Texas today on Fox News.

4:09Newsmax reporting that the United Nations Security Council has postponed a vote scheduled for Friday on authorizing the use of defensive force to protect shipping in the street of Hormuz from Iranian attacks, according to the official program. The 15 member body was set to vote Friday morning on a draft resolution brought by by rain, but by Thursday night, the schedule shift at the reason given was that the United Nations observes good Friday as a public holiday, according to diplomatic sources, despite this fact being known when the vote was first announced. The draft resolution has been molded in a bid to rally several countries that have appeared skeptical, including Russia, China, and France, revised wording no longer explicitly invokes Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which allows the Security Council to authorize armed force to restore peace. That was from Newsmax. From the New York Times, with the United States at war with Iran and embroiled in conflicts around the world, the White House asked Congress on Friday to approve about $1.5 trillion for defense in the 2027 fiscal year. If enacted, that amount would set military spending at its highest level in modern history.

5:14The request which arrived as part of President Trump's new budget would amount to a roughly 40 percent increase from what the United States spent on the Pentagon this fiscal year. The administration coupled the proposal with a call for $73 billion in cuts spread across many domestic agencies, including the elimination of key federal health, housing and education programs, some of which served minority groups and the poor, reporting from the New York Times. Kevin Hassett, chair of the White House Council of the Economic Advisers, was asked about this on Fox News. The budget proposal from the White House came out about 60 minutes ago. Just give me a top line headline. What does it say about this White House and what its priorities are? Well, I guess that because of all the stuff we've done, like cutting government employment, that we're being very fiscally responsible, but we also have an increasing eye on the importance of national defense and the potential budgetary costs of that. So it's fiscally responsible and an increasing spending on defense because of all the things that we're seeing in the world. Kevin Hassett is a White House economic adviser today on Fox News at Senator Lindsey Graham,

6:19Republican from South Carolina, posting on ex-President Trump's budget is truly historic when it comes to defense spending. It is the most robust increase in defense spending in many years, and it is more than justified by the threats we face throughout the world when it comes to our national security, President Trump and his team are second to none. Senator Patty Murray, Democrat from Washington State, ranking member on the Appropriations Committee, said in the statement, President Trump wants to slash medical research to fund costly foreign wars. It doesn't get more backward than that. And the only responsible thing to do with a budget, this morally bankrupt is to toss it in the trash. Congressman Jim McGovern, Democrat from Connecticut, posted this video about the cost of the war with Iran and alternative ways to spend the money. It's been over a month since Trump's reckless and illegal war on Iran began, and we have spent close to $38 billion on this war. Think about what that would mean if we spent it here in the United States. How many hospitals? How many schools? How many roads and bridges can we build with $38 billion?

7:22I mean, his priorities are all f'd up. We ought to be focused in on making life better for people here in this country, rather than fighting this stupid war in Iran. Congressman Jim McGovern, Democrat from Connecticut, posting that video today. More from the New York Times article on the White House budget framework released today with a proposed $1.5 trillion for defense. In the days before releasing his plan, the president and his aide's frame opposed increase for defense in urgent terms, citing a need to restock munitions and other supplies as the war with Iran continued. At one point, Mr. Trump indicated at a private lunch that military spending needed to be a national priority, even at the expense of federal safety net programs and other government aid. He said it's not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all of these individual things, they can do it on a state basis. He added that the focus had to be military protection that was from the New York Times.

8:23Now to today's jobs report from the Labor Department, CNN writing, the U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in March, a signal that businesses were moving forward with hiring plans before the war with Iran escalated. The unemployment rate eased to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent, according to new data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, that was from CNN. Kevin Hassett, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, was asked about this as well. This was in a Bloomberg TV interview. A blowout jobs number, how much momentum is in this economy? Yeah, you mentioned the word momentum, and that was exactly when we were talking about today's number last night with the president. Momentum was really the key theme of the briefing that Pierre, the CEH, and I discussed with the president. The fact is that there's so much momentum because of all the positive policies, the deregulation, the low tax rates, and you're seeing all the positive stories about no tax on tips and no tax on overtime. I, by the way, was at a restaurant yesterday and I asked all the waiters how much money

9:24they made on the no tax on tips, and the range was from $3,000 to $10,000, and they were also happy. So that's like a positive momentum creating thing that I think, if you have your eye on the horizon, as America's corporations do, absolutely explains why job markets are booming. And so I think that if you keep your eye on the horizon, if you understand the long run growth, the golden age is coming because of our policies, then this jobs number makes complete sense. The final thing I want to say is I want to tip my cap to my former colleague in the truck flight house in the first term, Anna Wong, who's now the chief economist for you guys. I always read everything she's writes, but at the beginning of the week, she said almost exactly this is what's going to happen. And she was the only person in the universe that did it. I commend her because she's got a great model and she got the number almost exactly right. And finally, in her report, she said, if you really want to wonder about momentum, you could also look at the three month moving average because we had like that big blip down in the previous month. And she said, with her really optimistic outlook, it was going to go up to $61,000 average

10:28per month and it's actually closer to $68,000 now, and so it really is a very, very positive day. Kevin Hassett, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors on Bloomberg Television. With more on the March jobs report, joining us now is Greg Robb, economics editor with MarketWatch. Thanks for being with us again. Your article at marketwatch.com begins, although the addition of a healthy 178,000 jobs in March was stirring, and then employment rate ticked down to 4.3%, economists were muted in their celebrations as the impact of the war in Iran on the labor market is still unknown. What are they saying about this impact? I think you, the best way to start is to say, you know, the economy has like, we measured in quarters, January through March, April through June. The war started sort of at the end at the beginning of March. Most economists think that the big impact is going to be in the second quarter of April

11:30through June quarter, so this data was March data, so it's sort of backward looking, and economists are really worried about that April June period, you know, there's a lot of people talking about risk of a recession, a negative GDP growth in that quarter because of gasoline prices being higher and uncertainty about the outlook. So that's why people aren't celebrating, they want to see more reports. The White House putting out a fact sheet, as you would expect on the day like this, and they have a quote from White House spokesman Kush Desai, Americans can rest assured after the short-term disruptions of Operation Epic Fury are behind us, America's economic resurgence is set to only accelerate, are they being overly optimistic? Well, they're being optimistic, I think the, there are some economists and many economists who agree with that, the economy, based on this numbers when you look at it, like I was saying earlier, the January through March quarter, the first quarter really looked pretty

12:34good here. The businesses looked like they had sort of adjusted to the Trump tariffs from last year. The way they did that was they didn't hire too much, but that they sort of came into this year on a more solid footing and sort of had this upbeat sense that maybe the worst was behind them and they could make better plans for the year, but the war has tripped out up. Some people think the economy will have momentum, and if we'll be able to get through here, it depends on the duration of the conflict, they think, but there are some upbeat people. It's interesting the upbeat people about the economy think they're worried about higher insulation. They think that, you know, the economy is going to do well, and then, but that insulation might rise, and the Fed might have to start thinking about moving rate higher, and that's where they, they, part ways with the administration, the administration wouldn't go that far at all. The White House is still firmly in the camp of more rate cuts from the Fed. What does the history of energy price spikes like the one we have seen, and we're not sure

13:39that it's done yet, up a lot in a short period of time, say about what the effect could be? It's called a supply shock, it's a, it's not, it's not demand, it's like something of good that you want it to buy, you can't find, or it's more expensive. The Federal Reserve isn't set up to kind of deal with these, they, they're much better on demand, making people, you know, demand go up or down, but, you know, there's a playbook for supply shocks, it, it'll boost inflation, for sure, because gasoline prices are already over $4 a gallon, so that's pretty much given, but we might not last all that long, it might not spread all across the economy. The Fed tries to look through these things, but one of the kind of nasty periods, things about this period is that inflation has been well above the Fed's target now for going on five years, six years, so there is a little bit of worry about that, but the idea is

14:42that the Fed will kind of like, sit on their hands, see how things go, gas prices will go up, what does that mean for the spending, we don't know, because that'll impact the labor market, so they're going to watch this closely, there's some set of officials thinking about rate hikes, you could make a scenario for Fed cuts, but right now they're sitting on their hands. We're talking with Greg Robb, economics editor with market watch. If the war had not happened, we'd be looking at the March jobs report and thinking it's pretty good, why was it larger than expected? Well, there are a couple of factors, there was some kind of February was very weak, and this is sort of like a snapback, we've had this weird period with, the labor market has been acting in sunny ways over the last year, we've had each month, we've in 11 months in a row, the non-farm payroll numbers, the job numbers have gone up, down, up, down each

15:43month, so that's been the pattern, and then it's been slowing, so people did expect it to rise, it kind of, there was pretty good solid job gains, and a lot of factors manufacturing went up, leisure and hospitality, which these things that had been struggling were a little bit stronger, so that played into the number, and led to the higher job growth, it's the next month. The Trump administration has also been looking forward to the tax provisions from the one big beautiful bill kicking in, have we felt them yet? Well, tax day is April 15th, so we're still, it's still going to be, it's still happening now, and it started, I guess, in February when people started filing their returns, people are going to get more money back, or they overpaid their taxes maybe, or, you know, work with held, but that's one of the worries of economists is this, that was supposed to fuel the economy, you know, a little bit of extra money in people's pockets, but now it looks like that, little bit of extra money in people's pockets is going to go for gasoline, and higher gas

16:48link prices, and people won't have much discretionary income, so that's a worry, but it's a little bit less of, it might have, you know, it's something we're watching, it's we're supposed to be a really big positive, but maybe a little bit more muted. And a final question, it seems that no matter what the jobs report number is, whether there was a lot of jobs created or a little jobs or even a loss, it seems the unemployment rate doesn't move that much, why is that? How much time do I have? So it's interesting, the unemployment rate is really the key metric now for the Fed, because as I was saying earlier, the job numbers have been really moving around a lot, and why are the job numbers been moving around a lot? And one of the things that's happening now is that there's a low fire, low higher economy you're going on right now. Companies are not hiring much, but they're not firing you much,

17:49so things are staying steady. At the same time, the supply of workers to the economy is lower because the, you know, there's an aging population in the country and we don't have a lot of immigration since the Trump administration came into office, so there's a little bit of a lack of supply, so it's just leading to a, you know, this is not your mom and dad's unemployment report, it's not really like this big key indicator showing us the health of the economy, there's so many moving parts now, that it's frustrating, it's frustrating for everyone, you can you can tell in all the responses, people are just sort of, you know, unhappy that and they're talking about where could the numbers be, you know, is somebody cooking the books here, which we don't think that's happening, but it's just this real kind of labor market is really sending confusing signals because of these under these dynamics that are sort of under the surface here. Greg Rob, economics editor with market watch, find his articles

18:51at marketwatch.com and on x it's at g rob 2000. Thank you very much. Thanks for having me on, I really appreciate it. And on Wall Street today, the Dow down 61, Nasdaq up 38, SMP up seven. This is C-SPAN Radio's Washington today. So see the press reporting from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Artemis 2 astronauts have captured our blue planets brilliant beauty as they zoom ever closer to the moon. Nasdaq released the crew's first downlinked images Friday, one and a half days into the first astronaut moonshot, a more than half a century that was from AP. Nasdaq did hold a status update news conference at Cape Canaveral. Here is Lakisha Hawkins, NASA's acting exploration systems associate administrator. Since yesterday's trans lunar injection burn to send the crew around the moon, the mission continues to perform well overall and the crew is in great spirits.

19:54Currently the crew is more than 100,000 miles from the earth and about 150,000 miles to go away from the moon. You know, Victor said that we call amazing things that humans do moonshots for a reason. And indeed, this is literally and symbolically our moonshot that we are in the middle of. You know, it's great to get some very clear video and images of the crew yesterday and the crew configured their cameras aboard integrity and we have some of the latest images to share with you. If you could call up the first image. This first one we got to the ground shows the unique vantage point of the crew as they look back at the earth. It shows a backlit earth revealing auroras as a crew heads towards the moon. It was taken by a Reed Weisman out of an Orion window and it features two auroras top right and left and bottom left and zodiacal light which is at

21:01the bottom right. It's visible as the earth eclipses to sun. You know, it's great to think that with the exception of our four friends, all of us are represented in this image. You could call up the next image please. This one shows earth as you can see the terminator line and Reed also took this photo after Transluner injection burned yesterday. What an amazing shot that he shared what this year. So we continue to learn all about our spacecraft as we operated in deep space with crew for the first time and it's important to remind ourselves of that as we learn a little bit more day by day. LaKisha Hawkins is NASA's acting exploration systems associate administrator opening today's news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. We covered that news conference via video as well and you can find that video with those images at our website cspan.org.

22:02While many of the questions from reporters at news conference were technical, temperature and humidity in the cabin, concerns about solar storms, trajectory corrections, one reporter asked about the mission of the mission. You'll hear answers from LaKisha Hawkins, also Judd Freeling. He'll be first lead Artemis to a sent flight director followed by Howard Hugh NASA Orion program manager. You know, there were millions of Americans, I'm like people in this room who were just catching up with the fact that there's a moonshot going on this week. Who knew? So I want to just sort of scoot ahead to Mondays, Milestone, the lunar flyby. Why does it matter? What do you hope to get out of it? So it matters because you know, the whole point is to go back to the moon. The whole point of this mission is a campaign to get back to the moon and the being able to see with human eyes that lunar surface is a huge milestone, right? And that just articulates

23:03the point that we're going back to the moon, we're going to stay there, right? And so this is the first step towards that. We'll obviously build upon that. We'll get eyes on the moon, kind of map it out and then continue to go back and enforce. Yeah, I think maybe I'll go next. I think for us, I'll just touch or follow on what Judd said, which is the building blocks. You know, we're building a transportation system. And to have a reliable and robust transportation system, you need to test flight the transportation system. And I think that's really important. We've demonstrated on Artemis one with uncrewed capability. We've added a very important aspect of it, which is the crude capability and that crude capability enables us to really understand how when we have people in the cabin, how the systems operate and adjustments we need to make. You hear a lot of these kinds of things that over the loop, you know, minor adjustments we need to do, certainly engineering expertise and the design we put in has a certain understanding. But until you put people

24:05in the mix and you operate it and really understand what you need to do to operate in this kind of environment, you don't get that until you're in that environment. So I think that's really important. Yeah, part of what we're doing is the technical aspects and what we're learning from taking ourselves around the moon. The other part obviously is what you talked about, which is capturing the imagination of people, right? And we have far more engagement than we had hoped to have and we hope that it will increase as we continue to take further and further steps into this mission. Well, Keisha Hawkins, also Howard Hugh and Judd Freeling from NASA, news conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida by the day and a half into the Artemis to mission. And NASA has created the Artemis real-time orbit website arrow to allow the public to track the 10-day mission as it says in real time. It's at nasa.gov slash track Artemis.

25:06Washington today continues in a moment. Welcome back to Washington today, available as a podcast on the free. She's been now mobile app and wherever you find your podcasts. A few more headlines from Fox News, Cuba's government released more than 2000 prisoners as the island faces mounting economic pressure linked to U.S. sanctions and worsening fuel shortages. Cuban Embassy in Washington said authorities granted pardon to 2010 inmates on provisions of the country's constitution citing factors such as good behavior time already served and health conditions. And from CNN, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Lito was taken to a hospital after becoming ill last month at a federal society dinner in Philadelphia, according to people with knowledge of the March 20th incident, which had not been previously reported. The justice was evaluated and administered fluids for dehydration. He returned to his home in Virginia that night with a security team. In the two weeks since the incident, Alito has attended oral arguments and appeared healthy during the usual give and take with lawyers at the

26:10lectern. That was from CNN. Samuel Lito is 76 years old. Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom reports that after firing U.S. Attorney General Pambondi and former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Cristinaum reports say present Donald Trump could be contemplating more cabinet changes. In a move reminiscent of his first administration, the president is allegedly considering replacing Secretary of Labor Laurie Chavez-Deremer, who has been embroiled in a wrongdoing scandal or Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik for his job performance. Another report indicated director of National Intelligence, Chelsea Gabbard, could be on the chopping block, though the White House denied the allegation that was from the independent. President Trump says that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will be come acting Attorney General when Pambondi leaves. Todd Blanche was on Fox News Thursday night. The first question was about whether Pambondi alerted Congressman Eric Swalwell, Democrat from California. The FBI was preparing to release files related to his past association with suspected Chinese intelligence operative. She didn't give Swalwell a heads up on the

27:14Fangfang files, did she? I would not believe that for a second. Absolutely positively not. Okay. The president reportedly, probably obviously frustrated that the case is against Tish and Schiff and Brennan and Comey not really going anywhere. Are you the guy that's going to be able to get that done? Look, I think the president is frustrated. Everybody is frustrated because what we saw happen for the past four years is unforgivable and can never happen again. And so certainly, I don't mind the frustration. I appreciate the frustration because we do have to make sure that what happened for four years never happens again. And we don't talk about investigations, but I can tell you that the Department of Justice is working hard every day. It was working hard yesterday and we're going to keep on working hard tomorrow. And I'm honored that President Trump has asked me to step in as acting and also much appreciative for what Pam Bondi did for the past year. I mean, you get the anger. I mean, what Biden and Obama did to this president? You understand,

28:18there's a lot of anger about that, right? Not only do I understand, I lived it, Jesse. You don't forget, I was on your show the night two years ago with the night the president Trump was found guilty in Manhattan in the middle of the law fair. So I do not need to, any kind, I had a firsthand accounting of what happened. And so yes, I understand it, the American people understand it. And I know that the American people expect that it will never happen again. And we take that seriously. Yeah, you fought that case hard. You absolutely did. Now, the Epstein files, you degree not handled well? And I don't, first of all, I have never heard President Trump say that the attorney general was anything that happened to her had anything to do with the Epstein files. And so look, the Epstein files has been a saga that's lasted for the entire for the past year. And what happened when the president signed the Transparency Act is that a problem of justice has now released all the files, with respect to the Epstein saga. And the attorney general, Bondi and I appeared in front of Congress voluntarily a couple weeks ago to answer any questions they had. We have made every single Congressman's Senator available to come

29:23and see any document redacted, unredacted that they want. And so I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this justice department, it should not be a part of anything going forward. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Fox News Thursday night, he will become the acting Attorney General when Attorney General Pam Bondi leaves. She says in about a month, Congressman Eric Swalwell was on MSNOW Thursday night and asked about the allegation that he was tipped off to a coming FBI document released designed to embarrass him and hurt his California gubernatorial campaign. As I'm sure you saw, Shelby Talcott from Semaphore was on with me earlier today. And she's been reporting that part of the reason Bondi was fired is that Trump suspects that Bondi leaked some information to you about an effort by the administration to release files from a 10-year-old closed investigation into your relationship with an alleged Chinese spy. Did Bondi or anyone in her orbit leak information to you, Congressman?

30:27No. The Attorney General did not tip us off. No one in her orbit tipped us off. It was FBI agents who tipped off the Washington Post because they saw this effort by Cash Patel and Donald Trump to try and interfere in a California governor's race that I have been leading. And so, what this shows, though, and what is quite concerning is that Donald Trump is seeing ghosts. He's certainly gunning for us. And he wants an Attorney General who's willing to break the law and weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. That is what has to be intolerable, not just for Pambondi. And I don't know the reasons why she was let go, but it has to be intolerable for anybody who sits in that chair and carries out what we hope to be the rule of law and a system of justice. Congressman Eric Swalwell, Democrat from California, interviewed on MSNOW Thursday night. Two senators, Republican Tom Tillis of North Carolina,

31:29and Democrat Jean Chihine of New Hampshire, were asked Thursday night on CNN about how they plan to approach the president's nomination for Attorney General to replace Pambondi, whoever that may be. The senators were on a trip to South Korea at the time. Senator Tillis, do you think the president made the right decision to fire Pambondi today? I'm not really sure. We saw the reports coming in late yesterday and overnight. I'm not really sure what the basis for it was. We'll be seeing potentially another nominee coming before the Judiciary Committee. A little bit too early for me to understand the rationale behind it. I had a good relationship with General Pambondi. I hear some of the reports may be a frustration from the president on pursuing certain cases. You know my position. I have a problem with some of the cases they have pursued, like what I think is the bogus case against chair Powell. So if it's founded and that sort of frustration, I'd have to respectfully disagree with the president if there are other facts related to other matters that I haven't seen reported. I'll reserve judgment.

32:31And Senator Tillis, if there is a new nominee, I mean there's word he might put, someone who's already Senate confirmed. But if it is a new nominee, you do have your vow that you're not voting for people if that investigation into chair Powell continues. Is that something that you'd want to hear from the new nominee that they would drop that investigation? Well, well there's two pieces. One is the investigation of Jerome Powell. There will not be another fed chair confirmed until that's disposed of or until for the first time since the allegations were made public. They could actually prove there's even a centilla of criminal activity. We have seven Republican members of the banking committee saying there wasn't. Now, separate matter, for me the threshold for somebody following Pambondi ends the moment I hear they said one thing that excuse the events of January the 6th. I've been very clear on that. So I hope whoever they have in mind to follow General Bondi was very clear-eyed on my position on January the 6th. That's why I didn't

33:33support two other nominees who were coming through Judiciary Committee and I won't support any nominee who thought that any element of January 6th was excused. And Senator Shaheen, I mean, obviously Senator Tillis is right. Part of that reporting that we heard from sources was the president was frustrated with the Attorney General for not going after enough of his political opponents. I mean, arguably she did go after several of the people he wanted prosecuted. They tried to indict several of them. What's your view of her ouster? Well, first of all, I agree with Tom on his two points around Jerome Powell and January 6th. I think it's very important that we acknowledge what happened on January 6th and that we not prosecute anybody for political reasons. And I think I disagree with the president in saying that he's dismissing Pambondi because she's not prosecuting his opponents. But I think one of the things that has gotten her into trouble and I didn't vote for has been how she's handled the Epstein files because that has been a real issue of

34:38public concern. And frankly, she said she had all the files. She was going to release them and she released them in pieces with major names and issues redacted from them and no real commitment to go after the people who were responsible for sexually assaulting dozens, probably hundreds of girls. And that's the public is just not going to accept that. Senator Jean Shaheen, Democrat from New Hampshire, joined by Senator Tom Tillis, Republican from North Carolina on CNN Thursday night during their trip to South Korea. The House and Senator still on a two week holiday recess. News Nation writing that President Donald Trump is reportedly considering environmental protection agency administrator Lee Zeldin, also his former New York congressman to take Pambondi's place at the Justice Department. The president mentioned Zeldin as a possible option earlier this week to people familiar

35:40with the matter told News Nation. The removal of Attorney General Pambondi this week is discussed on this week's episode of Sea Span's Seas Fire with guest Mick Mulvaney, who's a former Trump White House Chief of Staff first term. And Steve Rashadi, former counselor to President Joe Biden, the host is Dasha Burns. I think that has not been as prevalent so far in this term is the amount of your fired that happened in the first administration. But we're learning this week that might be changing. Pambondi, the Attorney General, is out of her role. How do those conversations happen behind the scenes, Mick? How does President Trump in particular decide who's out, who's in, how he wants to make those decisions? A couple of things. The extra stability this time doesn't surprise me because Trump has had four years to get ready for this. And I think in 2016, when he won, he was sort of taken at least a little bit by surprise, if not a lot. I'd never met the president again before I got the job. I don't think he'd ever met Tom Price, who was

36:43a Health and Human Services Secretary. So there's a bunch of people in that first cabinet that he didn't really have a relationship with. And that's different now. I mean, he's known Russ for eight years. Russ voted at OMB. He's known other folks, you know, from the rules on television for several years. So I think that the more stability should probably not be surprising. How does this conversation happen? Look, the dirty little secrets, Trump really doesn't like firing people. I fired most of everybody. My first day of the job, I fired Jim Mattis. Jim had announced that he was going to leave, I think in December of 18, he announced he's going to leave the end of March or something like that. And Trump didn't like that very much. I wouldn't like it either. And so as soon as he gave me the job, he goes, do me a favor, call Mattis and fire him. And I did. Trump doesn't like to fire people. So it's despite his personality and that apprentice your fire television show, it's just not fun to fire people. And a lot of times it falls to the chief of staff to do it. Steve, how much of an impact does a change or changes at the cabinet level have on an administration? I think it can be dramatic. I mean, it depends on the personalities involved

37:45in the kind of individuals their experience in the government is, particularly their past experience attached to the agencies. But it can change the direction. It can change the entire, you know, texture of a conversation between a White House, a dialogue between the White House and its departments. So it can be disruptive. You know, there are different presidents who have had quite a bit of turning inside their cabinet or inside their White House. We did not in the Biden administration. I think Marty Walsh was the only cabinet person who left during our time in office. And we had a handful of folks who moved in and out of the White House and the senior staff. That wasn't unusual again. I hear a two of time in the White House sometimes is a part of this week's episode of Seas Band Seas Fire. The host Dasha Burns joined by Mick Mulvaney, former Trump White House chief of staff and former South Carolina Republican Congressman and

38:46Steve Rashetti, former counselor to President Joe Biden and chair of the Biden 2020 presidential campaign. They also talk about the Iran War, the continued partial Homeland Security Department, shut down another top issues facing the country. Seas Band Seas Fire heirs tonight, Friday night, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Eastern and Pacific also available as a podcast. Wisconsin Examiner writing that was constant Supreme Court candidates, Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor tried to tag each other with accusations of partisanship during the sole debate in the campaign Thursday evening. After the initially scheduled debate last week was canceled because Taylor was hospitalized with a kidney stone and another delay Thursday due to severe weather in the Milwaukee area. The debate moderated by WISN's Matt Smith and Jerome Jordan was held at WISN studio in Milwaukee just five days before polls open April 7th. The candidates are vying for an open seat on the court being vacated by conservative justice Rebecca Bradley. That was from the Wisconsin Examiner. Here's

39:48part of the debate. Questions about elections and voting. This week President Trump signed an executive order or targeting federal elections. The order in part would require proof of citizenship by creating a state citizenship list and limit mail-in voting. Democrats have already filed a lawsuit looking to block that. It comes though as Congress debates the Save Act, which would also require nationwide voter ID. The president has also said he wants a ban on mail-in voting, all of which could end up before the courts. Judge Lazar in a press release referring to the Save Act, you've promised to uphold Wisconsin's voter ID law and said federal gridlock continues to stall common sense election integrity measures. Do you support every provision in the Save Act including a possible ban on mail-in voting? No, no, I don't. What I was talking about and what I stand for is the fact that in Wisconsin the citizens of this state voted to have a voter ID requirement when you vote and that's what I would uphold. What I look at and some of the and I actually believe that early voting is responsible and important and necessary and vital and I think

40:52that mail-in voting the same. So I don't stand for all the things that they're throwing in now or talking about now federally. I think it's important that we tell people in the state of Wisconsin that our elections are safe, they're secure and that their votes count and that's the key important thing that we need to address in this state. Judge Taylor, you've previously called Wisconsin's voter ID law one of the most extreme in the country saying its true intention is suppressing our ability to vote. Last April more than 60 percent of Wisconsin voters approved and shrining the state's voter ID law into the state constitution. How did you vote on that? When I was in the legislature? On the constitutional amendment last April. Oh well how would I do in the in the ballot box is nobody's business but I can say that it is the law of the land and I will implement the law of the land. I'm glad to hear my opponent say that every vote should count because she has been endorsed in the past by people who led the charge in trying to overturn our 2020 election

41:57and that is very alarming. She will not say whether the Trump v Biden lawsuit that was filed in 2020 in an attempt to overturn our election which was defeated by our state Supreme Court by one vote. My opponent will not say whether that was the right decision. I am committed to making sure that all citizens who are eligible to vote can cast a ballot. I am very concerned by what I hear from the federal government. We have the ability as a state. It's our authority to administer our elections and it seems to me that the federal government is trying to infringe on the independence of the state of Wisconsin and that is very concerning. Any response to that? Yes. I would say that I'm not people who may have endorsed me in the past. I'm not responsible for all of their thoughts, their ideas. That's absolutely absurd and that's not a way to look at things and my endorsements this year as I've told you have been very limited. I put only

43:00the people recently the law enforcement endorsements and my judicial endorsements on my website. That's who I've been endorsed by. Those are the endorsements I've sought this time. With respect to elections I agree. I revoke should count and I am 100% for that and I also believe that we have to uphold the voter ID law that the citizens of the state passed overwhelmingly and I also would note that when my my opponent was in the legislature she did her best to dismantle those protections for our safe and fair elections and that is not acceptable. That's not true. That is absolutely not true. I did everything in my power as a legislator to make sure that people had the ability to vote. It's interesting my opponent will not answer the question about whether she thinks the Trump V Biden case was correctly decided. That was a lawsuit brought by President Trump to overturn our 2020 election. There was no allegation by the way in that suit of vote of fraud. It was all

44:02on these procedures. That was only defeated by our state Supreme Court. By one vote our election hung in the balance by one vote. My opponent will not say whether that was correctly decided or whether our election should have been overturned. And I will say our election was valid that that Joe Biden did win and that that's the state of the law in our country and I support that 100%. I think we should be looking forward. I don't think we should be looking back. I agree 100% of who won that election and how it was won. Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Maria Lazar and Chris Taylor debating Thursday night in Milwaukee. The election is next Tuesday, April 7th. The winner will serve a term of 10 years. It's officially a nonpartisan race. More from the Wisconsin Examiner article after a string of high stakes races for the court because the ideological swing of the body was up for grabs. This year's race has strong less attention and less money. This year the race will

45:05decide if the court's liberal wing will gain a five to two majority or if the split will remain four to three. That was from the Wisconsin Examiner. It's just 92 days until America liked off fireworks for 250th anniversary on the 4th of July. And Rosy Rios chair of the US semi-quinn centennial commission, which is charged with leading the celebrations all year long, Gabe C. spent an update this morning on some of the newest events. Tell us about America's block party and what cities are going to be participating. Absolutely. So we announced America's block party, which is the first time our country is going to experience a synchronized connective celebration of what's happening all around the country. We the night before we are going to be in Times Square, the first ever ball drop outside of New Year's Eve. And then the next day we will anchor America's block party at the LA Colosseum. C. Deshining C. And this is our way of kind of bridging to the Olympics in 2028. In addition,

46:06we've announced partnerships with other cities around the country. For example, Milwaukee Summer Fest. That is the world's largest music festival. It is the official America 250 block party for Wisconsin. And we are targeting all 56 parts of our country to make this the again, the first time we could ever feel like we're doing something together on this celebration. This very special milestone for the semi-quinn centennial. And what will be happening in Washington, D.C. on the 4th of July? Many things. So as always, the traditional 4th of July parade, that starts at 11.45. Of course, the Capitol 4 fireworks display will happen at night. In addition, we are our visitor center just opened at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are having an open house. We're working with other parts of the community to also kind of open their doors on July 4th and make sure that everyone feels welcome. In addition, Freedom 250 is hosting the Great American State Fair on the Mall, where again, all parts of

47:06our country will be represented. But we want to make sure this is about the whole country. And again, we are working very much hand in hand with all 56 parts of our state and territory commissions to make sure that people feel like this is their commemoration and celebration. So tell us about America's field trip and what the objectives are. One of my favorite. America's field trip is a national student competition of a grade 3 through 12. We get to answer the question, what does America mean to me? And in exchange, these kids get to choose from a series of backstage experiences, most of which have never been offered before to the public. So for many of these kids, it's their first time on a plane, first time out of their state, first time on a family vacation. What I think is fabulous is first of all, we just finished our third round, thousands and thousands of submissions from all across the country, every state and territory has been represented. And those filters will take place this summer. So I plan to participate. I'm going to go on the sleepover at the American History Museum. We're excited about that among others. But this is really a great way for these kids to not just think about their future, but maybe feel their future for the very first time.

48:08There's also America's startup and America's soundtrack. So tell us about those two. Yes, America's startup. This is a college competition to spot like the next generation of entrepreneurs and change makers. We just finished the first round of submissions. We received so many. It's actually overwhelming. This is the pilot program and the weekend, the first weekend in May. We're literally taping the finalist. Our goal is to identify 10 winners who each will receive $25,000 of non-delutive grant funding. And we're doing it again in the fall. We're going to go even bigger. America's soundtrack. This is our multi-volume playlist of anthems and songs representing the American spirit. It's being led by executive producer Emilio Stefan. We've already released several tracks including a song that Gloria and Emilio Stefan wrote called America, called America. We also released American Promise, an original composition by Karen LaFract. It's a symphonic composition. And the Mormon tab and aqua choir singing, the battle hymn of the Republic. Along with, we're going to issue a remastered version of

49:12celebration by Kuom again. So where can we hear America's soundtrack? Where do we get access to? It's on YouTube. You can find it on YouTube. Again, as these sound tracks are released, there will be many, many more throughout the year. And we think this is a great way again to kind of bring folks together through music, through song, again representing the American spirit. And if people want to, you know, attend any of these things or participate in some way, do they have to buy tickets? Do they have to sign up in some way? Our goal is to make our programming free and accessible as much as possible. You can find out more information on america250.org. We have a master calendar and interactive map. Again, we are anchoring America's block party at the LA Colosseum with many more block parties that are going to be kind of organic and registered online. You can even register your own block party. So again, our goal is to really connect 350 million Americans as part of the celebration. If you remember anything, it's 350 for 250 and we are well on our way. Rosie Rios chairs the US semi-Queen Centennial Commission on C-SPAN's Washington General

50:14Program this morning. C-SPAN is an official media partner of the commission. Some members of Congress posting messages on this good Friday holiday, Nikola Lota, Republican from New York, writing on X, as all who observe Good Friday reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made, we are reminded of the importance of faith and the privilege we have as Americans to worship freely. And from Congressman Debbie Dingell, Democrat from Michigan, on Good Friday we honor Christ's sacrifice and the enduring hope it carries. May this day of reflection bring you peace and may you find comfort in the promise that even in our darkest moments, the light is never far. The White House press secretary Caroline Levitt spoke about her Christian faith and the faith of many in the White House and Trump administration during a conversation Thursday night with Erica Kirk, the chair and CEO of Turning Point USA, the conservative organization co-founded and led by her late husband Charlie Kirk until his assassination last September. They were at George Washington University in Washington DC. And when I last saw you, I was so excited to hear because on the way out,

51:19you had shared with me that your team specifically started a Bible study. Are there other, I mean, that to me makes my heart so happy to know that that is happening within the White House. Are there other groups within the admin that after Charlie, everything happened on 9-10, are there other groups within the admin that also have started their own little Bible study groups? Members of the cabinet, members of the cabinet have started Bible studies. One of the most beautiful moments I've witnessed in this job was prior to the cameras coming into a cabinet meeting in the cabinet room. The president always sort of has private conversation with the cabinet and checks in and asks them, how's everyone doing? Is there anything you need for me? And it's sort of that private moment before the cameras roll in. You guys have seen these advertised three hour long cabinet meetings that we hold about once or twice a month. But they do have that private talk. And there was a day in which secretary Turner prompted a prayer

52:25over the president and over the rest of the cabinet. And I had the honor of just standing in the corner of the room for when the president wanted the media to come in and witness that moment with the president of the United States, the vice president of the United States, and the entire cabinet with their heads bowed in that beautiful cabinet room, praying together. And I took a video of it on my phone and I will save it forever because it was the most powerful people in our country and the most powerful men in the world humbling themselves and just praying over each other for protection and safety and continued wisdom. And that was one of the best moments I've witnessed. But we have started a Bible study. It's predominantly, it is all women. Men are welcome too. If they want Robert, I see you over there. He's my colleague. He can come if he wants. White House male staff are welcome, but it's been all ladies thus far. And it's been wonderful Tuesday morning, 745 in the Roosevelt room. And a colleague of mine, Dr. Heidi Overton. She's a big mind in the Maha movement.

53:26She's incredibly brilliant. And she leads the study. And it's all young women that are working in the West Wing and just need that moment of prayer before we get started with our very busy days. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt in the conversation with the turning point USA CEO Erica Kirk at George Washington University in Washington DC. Thursday night. The White House putting out an Easter message from President Trump. This Easter Sunday, the first lady and I joined with Christians all across our nation and around the world in rejoicing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ who's triumph over sin and victory over death secured the promise of redemption and the hope of eternal life for all who believe in him as Lord and Savior. The President of First Lady Melania Trump will be hosting the 49th Easter egg roll on the White House South Lawn on Monday, April 6th. The first ladies office with a press release alongside the traditional egg roll and egg hunt. There will also be a sensory friendly egg hunt all featuring real eggs generously provided by the

54:27American egg board. The events leading partner and courtesy of the many public and private sector partnerships with the White House Historical Association. Children and families will enjoy a day of unparalleled fun learning and lasting memories through a variety of engaging activities and interactive experiences. That was the press release from First Lady Melania Trump's office to have an egg roll. You have to have eggs. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins posted a video Wednesday of her trip to get them. And how many eggs a day move for here? We move about 2 million eggs for that 2 million eggs a day. Hey everyone this is Brooke Rollins here at the amazing Braswell Farms with the fourth generation Braswell family along with what we hope to be the fifth generation an incredible facility here in North Carolina. So these were just laid. Just laid. Unbelievable. Producing food to feed the world real food real food to feed the world. These eggs about 40,000 of them are headed to Washington DC for the Easter egg roll. We'll see all in Monday at the White House.

55:32It's just mind blowing 2 million hands 2.2 million each laying on average one egg a day. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins posting that video Wednesday ahead of Easter Sunday and Monday's Easter egg roll at the White House. She and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also held a news conference at the White House to promote eggs as an inexpensive source of protein part of the Trump administration's Make America Healthy Again Maha campaign. Rowan said that Kennedy told her he ate 5 eggs per day. Kennedy said 2 eggs are cheaper than the doughnut that kids are getting in school for breakfast. Thanks for listening to Washington's Day. Sign up for C-SPAN's evening newslet award for word and we'll send the day's stories to your inbox every day. Subscribe at C-SPAN.org. Slash Connect. Have a good night and weekend.