The Mark Arum Show 06-11-26 HR 1

It seems like one of the days where three hours is simply not enough time to talk about everything we need to talk about. Welcome to the Mark Aram Show. A ton of important local stories. Massive movement in the war in Iran, the future of FISA. Private expert Peter Greenberg's going to join us live, in-depth coverage on the World Cup, which is now at our front door. Deborah's got tickets to give away. I have got syrup just everywhere. Do you need a wipe? I have brought my wipes to everything I... Touch is Vinnie Bryant French toastics. That's what he asked for. I just got cereal. Anyway, I'm sorry. Why is this keyboard sticky, Floyd? Deborah's got tickets to give away. I got to start, though. I am on cloud nine. So last night, very crucial game four of the NBA finals. And my New York Knicks were up two games to one. They lost game three. It was ugly. It was an ugly game. But I... You know, an eternal optimist fan. I said, all right, that's all right. We're going to win game four. And I'm in bed. Maya is trying to go to sleep and I'm watching the Knicks game and they are getting pounded into the pavement. Now, I know you, most of you, 99.99% of you are not New York Knicks fans. But I am and I'm a friend of yours, right? I consider us friends. And if your team was in the finals, I'd be rooting for you. I want you to be happy. I don't want to steal anyone's joy. So in my mind, I'm probably wrong. A majority of the folks are like, all right, the Hawks aren't in it. Let's root for the Knicks so Mark can get an NBA title in his lifetime. The Knicks had not won an NBA title in my lifetime. And second quarter, deep into the second quarter yesterday, it looked like they were not. And I said to Vinny yesterday, if the Knicks lose game four and the series gets tied up to two, two, it's over. It's over. San Antonio is going to win. They're going to have all the momentum. They get the best player on the planet, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So the Knicks, Debra yesterday, we're getting... smoked in the second quarter. And I was like, it's not worth the adjada. I'm going to get asleep. You know, I was resigned to the fact. All right, listen, it was a magical run. We won 13 in a row, but it's not our year, maybe next year. I wake up, alarm goes off at 5 a.m. First thing I do is pick up my phone. And the text message I get is from assistant program director Chris Crawford, who is a San Antonio Spurs fan. And he goes, the text is basically, I quit sports. And I was like, that's an odd text. What the hell is he talking about? I quit. So I open up the social media apps and I can't believe it. The Knicks were down. What been? 27 points? 29. 29 points at one point in this game to the San Antonio Spurs. And then this happened. Fines Brunson at mid court. Launches a straight on three. Missed and short. Tipped by Ananovi. He put it in. Ananovi. The Knicks take the lead with 1.2 to go. And the New York Knicks just pulled off the biggest comeback win in NBA finals history. One of the greatest games of all time. The biggest comeback in NBA finals history. And he was sleep. And I was asleep. But Vinny, I'm not even mad the least bit.

and the idea that these games themselves might be a target. So you have all of this on the cusp of the deadline. Today, Speaker Mike Johnson's going to put on the floor of the House a bill that would extend Pfizer for a few more weeks. But in order to pass it today, he needs to do it under suspension of the rules, and that would require a bipartisan vote of 290 in the House. Democrats are likely to withhold their support for that, which means that FISA is, Section 702, is likely to expire. We've never seen that happen before. Remarkable. A strong argument with the World Cup starting here in Atlanta as well. A, couple of quick follow-ups relating to Bill Pulte, Stephen. A, isn't it a regulation or a rule or a standard that he has some sort of intelligence background? And B, could he even pass the test, if you will, to get clearance to see classified information? Well, when it comes to a security. clearance, I can't speak to that. I can tell you, though, that when the president wants something done, there's a way to get it done. When it comes to the need for experience, it's very clearly in the statute that created the post. DNI was created in the aftermath of 9-11, a recommendation by the 9-11 commission, that the walls between the intelligence agencies be taken down and that there be some central coordinator of the 18, now 18 different intelligence agencies across the executive branch. So that's what DNI is supposed to do. President Trump says he wants Bill Polar. in to go in and undertake what he calls a necessary downsizing of the agency. The president believes that there are too many people working at DNI and he wants Bill Pulte to go in and essentially clean house. fire some people and send others back to their home agencies if they've been detailed to DNI. Democrats are concerned about that too, but for the president, you know, he's been talking about the idea of a deep state inside the intelligence community for years. Why it is that he needs Bill Pulte to do it, why Tulsi Gabbard, the currently serving and outgoing DNI wasn't able to do it. Well, that's a question for the White House. But for now, the ultimate and primary political problem for the president is that he needs Congress to act. And Democrats are going to drag their feet. Now, Republicans are going to point fingers and say it's Democrats' fault. But Democrats have this ability to exert their leverage here. And when it gets to that question of, does a person have to have intelligence experience? So that's what the law says. But the law also gives the president the power to make an appointment. And there's no check on that. I'm going to ask a final quick, unanswerable question, Stephen. With the votes not being there for the Speaker and FISA being so important, is there any chance President Trump withdraws the nomination of Bill Pulte is? the acting director. It seems unlikely. If that was going to happen, it could have happened yesterday, and it didn't happen. And the president doubled down in response to a question about why he's moving forward with Bill Pulte. The idea here, also to underscore is it's really about timing and how Congress operates. If the president had simply waited until after the expiration of FISA and FISA's renewal, or at least the kicking of a can down the road, there might be a way to get this done. The difficulty is not merely that the votes aren't there, so the votes aren't there with an...

time, you know, for things to happen swiftly in Congress. You can do it if everyone's on board. But objections can drag out the process for several days. And that's the problem here up against tomorrow's deadline. Great point on the timing. Great big story. Great coverage. Stephen Portnow, ABC. Stephen, have a good day, my friend. You bet, Mark. Interesting point there at the end. The timing of this. I've got to lay blame at President Trump's chief of staff. She had to know Susie Wiles had to know that the Bill Pulte nomination, the Bill Pulte appointment would be controversial. And with the FISA extension due Friday at midnight that this was an issue. All President Trump had to do is wait until after the FISA renewal kicked in because it would have passed. It's so important right now. World Cup, Iran War, right? Our intelligence agencies need that FISA renewal. All he had to do is wait till next Monday and be like, oh, Bill Pulte is the new acting. And there would be no repercussions. I don't even blame the president on this. I blame his chief of staff. Chief of staff has to have, you know, Deborah, our boss has a calendar, right? He pulls up a calendar. What were you talking about on May 21st? And then boom, boom. Susie Wiles has to have a calendar. All right, FISA renewals, Friday midnight. Don't do anything to screw that up. Nominate Bill Pulte. The Monday after or heck the Saturday after. Now it's in flux. Now we're freaking out and now it's a big, big deal. Timing is everything. This was bad, bad timing by the administration. And I blame his chief of staff, Susie Wiles. We'll continue our team coverage on that FISA story. It's a big story for sure. Crime and terrorism analyst Brad Garrett's going to join us a little bit later on in the broadcast. So when we come back, we'll get the latest on the Iran war. Some more movements. Let me say this before we go to check traffic. President Trump on true social earlier this morning, the quote, the United States will be hitting Iran. Parentheses, whose Navy Air Force radar, anti-aircraft, and all other forms of defense together with most of its offensive capability are gone, end parentheses. Very hard tonight. He's going to be hitting Iran very hard tonight. At some point in the not too distant future, we'll be taking Karg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump. That post on social media this morning says Iran's going to get hit very hard tonight. Come with me and you'll be. In a world of pure imagination. This is actually how I felt driving into work today. Happy heavenly birthday to Gene Wilder, born on this date in 1933. What a legend. He died back in 2016.

That's Willy Wonka. I never saw the redo. The Willy Wonka redo. You're okay with Nazi and the redo. Gene Wilder, love Gene Wilder. All right, welcome back to the Mark Aaron show. I read before the break. President Trump's truth social post said Iran is going to get hit tonight and they are going to get hit hard. Instant reaction from the White House Elena Treen moments ago. I mean, this is just a remarkable. post from the president this morning, Kate, one, previewing that the United States is going to be hitting Iran very hard, are the words that the president used tonight. And then going on to say that in the not too distant future, we will be taking Karg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets. He went on to compare that to what they have done with Venezuela. A few things I think we need to point out here. One is this idea of wanting to capture Karg Island in the not too distant future. This is something that my colleagues and I have been reporting on extensively. Karg Island is a small island, about a five mile stretch of land off the coast, off the Iranian coast, and it is responsible for 90% of Iran's crude. exports. Now, the thing about Cargylland is this is something that has been considered, like I said, for a long time by the Pentagon. But I've had extensive conversations with my sources, Kate, over the last several weeks about this. And many people have told me that they viewed an idea of capturing Carg Island as almost a last result or something that would really try to quickly end this war. And that's because many experts have warned that an operation like that to try and capture or wipe out the energy infrastructure on Karg Island would require a significant amount of ground troops. Many have said there would likely be many casualties should the U.S. move forward with a strategy like that. Now, if you listen to what the president just said on Fox News, he said that has long been his preference to go after Karg Island, but he doesn't know, and I think this is a key quote from that interview that got caught off in the clip you played, he doesn't know if Americans could stomach it. I think that is referencing, of course, the major, you know, downfalls between potentially of what would require and capture like that. Another point I think very much worth making is that the president is previewing these options publicly through the media. We have now seen this as a new pattern of his over the past couple of days, him previewing these attacks on Iran. I think that is a huge signal, of course, that he is one. grown completely impatient with the status of these negotiations and more specifically the pace of these talks and how Iran has been unwilling so far to sign a deal. I co-sign there, Alana Treen. I think that I said yesterday the president's patience warrant in. It is gone right now. posting on social media that he is going to, the United States will hit Iran tonight and they will hit them hard. When we come back after news weather and traffic, we're going to talk to Joe Khalil from News Nation, covering the Iran War, the breaking news this morning we are following. And what's going to happen with that UFC fight on the White House lawn? There was a lawsuit. We'll get caught up to date with that and Joe Khalil from News Nation. I should.

Markets are about to open, but pre-trading has been very positive. Futures, Dow futures up 200. Nasdaq futures up 200. Silver and gold dropping. But the markets will open in three minutes, and we'll update the markets for you throughout the day here on 95-5. WSB. Social media is up and active through the broadcast at Mark Airman at WSB Radio. If this bunch is all you've got, they don't look tough enough to me to stump a stringy jack rather. That's John Wayne and El Dorado on this date in 1979. The Duke passed away at the age of 72. I think the Gen Ziers know who John Wayne is, Deborah? Probably not. I don't think so. If you listen to that clip, it's kind of funny. Yeah. Anyway, the Duke passed away at this age at this date in 1979 at the age of 72. All right, let's go live to the nation's capital. Holy smokes. What a busy morning for news nations, Joe Khalil. Joe, we got major movement in the Iran War. We got the future of FISA, and we've got a questionable UFC fight. Let's start with the Iran War, if you don't mind. President Trump posting on true social today saying, We are going to hit Iran and hit them hard. What are you hearing in the nation's capital? Yeah, and if the president, if the U.S. follows through on that, that's going to be three days in a row of strikes. So we have not seen that really since the beginning of this war. And obviously, look, we're in a new phase in this war now. I think that's pretty clear. We've gone from, you know, the first few weeks of just kinetic action, which was strikes and Iran striking backs. And then it was largely ceasefire with breaks here and there. You know, on a sort of biweekly basis, we had some violation of the ceasefire. Somebody would fire on someone. But there was always negotiation and there was always diplomacy trying to get to a peace deal. Now we're in this new phase where President Trump thinks he can force Iran to agree to the terms the White House wants to end the war by striking them harder. Is that going to work? You know, we will see. Historically, Iran has been tricky when you drop more bombs. Does that force them to come to the table? Usually not. This White House thinks. you know, that something may be different now. But we're really going to have to see what this looks like and what the result of it is. Yeah, well, the ceasefire, you know, obviously wasn't putting enough pressure on Iran to get to the negotiating table. So we'll see if force does that. President Trump also mentioned in that true social post that are going to be focused the attention on Karg Island, which handles roughly 90% of Iran's crude exports. And he also kind of out of nowhere yesterday let it slip or just inform us that. The U.S. has been, I don't want to say, sneaking Iranian oil out of the Gulf for a while now.

Yeah, that was interesting. And there is some New York Times exclusive reporting citing some U.S. officials that actually the U.S. has been doing this for quite some time. In fact, have escorted some 70 ships through the Strait of Hormuz, despite Iran trying to close it. Now, the White House came out and said President Trump was actually just referencing something that had been public knowledge a couple of weeks ago. The New York Times reporting is saying, actually, this is new information. The president sort of revealed it yesterday. And when he said it, he did say no one knew this and not even Iran, but they're going to know now. And then he said it. So he very well may have. sort of revealed what was a classified or semi-classified operation that was going on. 100%. The Carg Island, yeah, the Carg Island threat is interesting because he posted that through social. It's a huge oil energy hub. So the implication there would be that the U.S. would sort of seize or take control of Iran's oil like it did in Venezuela. But then President Trump on Fox News this morning called in. and said it's always been his preference to take Harg Island, but he doesn't know that Americans have the stomach for it. That's his exact words, the stomach for it. So whether he follows through on that, I don't know, he seemed to waver a bit. He, you know, set it on true social and seemed to pull back on Fox News this morning. Yeah, the stomach, I would imagine referencing American stomach for it would be boots on the ground. That's a boots on the ground type of operation. And obviously putting our service members in harm's way. All right, not as important, obviously, is the Iran War, but certainly something to talk about as we celebrate our 250th birthday as a nation. The future of the UFC fight on the White House lawn. What do we know this Thursday morning? Yeah, I am quite literally talking to you from the shadows of the big giant UFC setup that is hovering over the White House right now. Just this morning, for the first time, the White House opened this thing up to media. So we could actually see the setup, the ring, the chairs, all of it. Full disclosure, I was scheduled to go in myself. And then because the Iran War popped off. News Nation switched assignments around and said, we're going to keep you on the war, and we will have somebody else go in. So I didn't get to go in personally. Some of our producers did. I've seen their pictures. It just, it looks massive. And it does look surreal because what you see is the very iconic South Lawn, the White House portico, which is, you know, you see the sort of balcony that you'll recognize from TV and movies. And if you've been visited, D.C., And then there's just a massive ring that's got the whole octagon. And you have more seats than I, frankly, anticipated. And they really did this giant setup on it. And then, you know, you look across the street and there's the Washington Monument. And it just doesn't look like all these things fit together. But, yeah, in anticipation for Sunday, it is ready to go. It looks like the lights are set up. Everything is exactly where it needs to be for this.

very sort of unprecedented event. So I saw reporting yesterday. It's going to cost $60 million to hold this event. But there's also a lawsuit filed to prevent this from happening. Is there enough time for that lawsuit to even get through the court system? And I guess is the fight in jeopardy at this point? You know, I'm not sure if the lawsuit, I think, will pause the event. And, you know, frankly, we've seen with this administration that, you know, an initial lawsuit usually doesn't stop them from doing things even when the law should compel them to do that kind of thing. Sometimes, you know, so I doubt it. I think what is more of a potential hindrance is the weather. Now, I haven't seen weather reports today, but earlier in the week, there were possibilities. of some rain um and so i don't know whether that dampens the event or not uh you know we're i guess we'll find out as we get closer to the day i didn't even think about the way outdoor event the weather is uh certainly a key there can i ask a huge favor joe yeah can you grab those pictures from your producers and uh dm me on twitter i want to see what it looks like in there i will send them to you yeah we'll make sure that those get sent for you you're the best joe cule news nation joe appreciate it have a good day my friend Thank you. You too. There you go. I didn't even though. Outdoor event. It's not like a baseball game where you can kind of play through drizzle. A rain delay. Yeah, or a football game you can play in the snow. Like that's mixed martial arts. That's life and death. Like you couldn't hold a boxing match out in the rain. No, although you could slip on the wall. Yeah. Yeah, I strict my lightning. I didn't even, are they going to, can they dome it up? Can they dome up that UFC ring? I don't know. I'm excited. Once Joe DMs me those pictures, I'll share them with you. All right, so I want to go back to the oil. So President Trump yesterday, out of nowhere. And I agree with Joe. I think this was, because President Trump even said it, that the United States has been basically escorting Iranian oil out of the Gulf. I forgot 100 million barrels, I think was the number. And he's like, no one knew about it. I think he, I don't know if he was, he wanted to tell the world or if he just slipped up. But that's new information. And it kind of explains why oil prices have not gone crazy. And it's been inexplicable. Right. We talk to energy sector analysts from Bloomberg News all the time. And like right now, oil is trading at 89.63 a barrel down 0.4% this morning as the trading opens. With 20% of the oil and energy production shut off because of the straight, that barrel price should be like $130 a barrel. And no one could figure out why, well, why isn't oil price surging right now? That kind of answers that question. The United States military has been putting this oil into the market to help keep the prices down.

I don't know, you know, if we're getting that money, the legality, I don't know, but it kind of explains why we haven't seen oil hitting like $120, $130 a barrel. That was really important new information from President Trump yesterday that, hey, the United States military has been, you know, escorting Iranian oil on the DL through the Strait of Hormuz and putting it into the world market. I thought that was big information. And then, of course, that gets surpassed by ongoing attacks between the United States and Iran. We'll see. The ceasefire deal. Is it safe to say the ceasefire is now over? I don't know. Do you have to declare it? I declare bankruptcy. You keep saying, oh, the ceasefire is holding. I don't know how. I think it's done now. But obviously, the ceasefire wasn't working when it came to negotiation. So. Will military action force Iran back to the negotiating table? Because I ultimately think that's what all parties want. A little bit later in our show, we're going to talk to Barack Ravid from Axios. His thoughts on what we've seen with the Iran War in the last 48 hours or so. Most famous Southern guitar rift of all time, Deborah? It's got to be up there. Up there for sure. Happy 74th birthday. Donnie Van Zant singer, guitarist. He was also in 38 Special, brother of Leonard Skinner's Ronnie and Johnny Van Zand. Donnie Van Zand turned 74 today. You'd be surprised in the bar in New York while I went to college. This song came on erupted. It erupted. Really? In the Northeast? In Connecticut, New York. Well, it's just a great classic rock song. It's a great classic rock song. Yeah, you'd be surprised. Like, I was on Skinner, you know, early on. Journey, all that stuff. Yeah, absolutely. They played Journey, by the way, after the Knicks game. I'm going to stop bringing up the Knicks game lest Vinny gets upset with me. Turns off my microphone. Local story. This is road, I see road rage. I feel road rage a lot. And I see it a lot on social media, especially. This is a lawyer. that got booked for a road rage incident here in the metro area. So you remember last week you talked about how that guy was stopped at the light and the other guy got out of the truck and started banging on his window? No. And then they put out a picture. With the Detroit Tigers hat. They put out a picture. You said he was wearing a Detroit Tiger's hat. And the cops were like, if you know this dude, help us out. That guy's stepped up and they said, it is this guy. His name is Richard Craven. He is a practicing lawyer in the area. They were able to identify him. He is now booked on. He's facing charges of criminal damage, property, and disorderly conduct. lawyer a barrister a barrister wow and again all right so in case you missed the road rate story last week it was caught on social media guy gets out of his car starts banging on this other car and he's wearing a detroit tiger's hat no one wears detroit tiger's hat except for magnum p i

There's probably three people in all of Cobb County that even own a Detroit Tigers hat. I guarantee that's how the authorities caught him. They heard you. Well, apparently, they put his picture out there. People are like, I know that guy. He lives in the neighborhood and they reported it. Wow, I can't believe it's a lawyer. You know better, sir. You know better. I feel road rage a lot. But I'm smart enough to. Because I because of dumb drivers. I felt like you come in off hours. It shouldn't be that bad. Yeah, but there's still dumb drivers out there. But I have to I have to say Serenity now. Like I don't I'm not going to get killed. because of this jack wagon, you know, skirting over five lanes on I-85 going 100, just serenity now. So I'm not going to get killed. So I've done a good job. And again, I don't sit in massive traffic ever. So that helps with my blood pressure and my road race. Just don't, it's not worth it, folks. Just let it roll off your shoulders. Brush that dirt off your shoulders, as a wise man once said. One more story to Cobb County. This is also not a good story. A massive job theft in Cobb County. So this was a mother. She's accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her company. It's an electrical company in Marietta, and they said she had access to, like, company cards. She basically charged daycare. on this company card to pay and then all kinds of other things vacations extra hours that's where you like i had sympathy because we see these people embezzling money from their companies and they're buying jewelry and luxury watches and Lamborghinis and it's like oh but you had me i felt bad she's like she was charging her kids daycare on it And then you were like other stuff too. Plenty of other stuff too, but that's the one that seemed to me most shocking. You could probably get away with small things like I bought this for the company or I had to buy food and you could sneak in your own groceries. You're not going to be able to sneak in a daycare cost. Yeah, I felt bad at first because if that was all she used the company card for. I wouldn't throw the book at her. It also says she inflated her hours, so she might have worked 40 hours, but she put in 60 to get the overtime. Vinny's doing that, but it's not inflated. He is just working. No, Vinny's just working it. All the time. Yeah, double dip. I missed those days. I used to do triple dip. Triple bill traffic back in the day. It was phenomenal. I know how you're living right now, Vinny. You're living, that's why he bought the French toastics. That's why you got syrup all over the place. Exactly. Again, don't steal from your body. Don't steal from anybody. But I've never been in that position. WSP Radio's never given me a company card. And I don't want one. I don't want the temptation. Be like, oh, can I get away with Donut Friday every day? Now that I could be compensated for. If they want to reimburse me for Donut Fridays, that's fine. All right, a couple of local stories are I can't believe that road rage dude was a lawyer. Good grief.

And don't wear off-team hats. You want to commit a crime and blend in. You wear a Braves hat, a Falcons hat, a UGA hat. A Nix hat right now. A Knicks hat. Oh, Fini just turned star of the show. Goodness gracious. Well done, Vincenzo. Brush that dirt off your shoulders. All right, Sabrina's got news weather and traffic in two. When we come back, the latest on the war in Iran, our top local stories and the future of FISA. Really big stories cooking next on the Mark Ahram show.