The Joyce Kaufman Show 4-13-26 Trump draws the line in the sand with Iran, they're still not fully respecting the ceasefire.

A colossal monster tearing through the streets. A city in ruins. Nowhere to hide. Until he finds a way out behind the wheel of the all-electric Toyota CHR. Instant torque, getaway handling, and immeasurable wow factor. John Cho stars in Escape. Experience the thrill. Test drive Toyota's new all-electric family at your local dealer. Toyota, let's go places. This is the Joyce Kaufman podcast, honest, straight, and unapologelic with your host, Joyce Kaufman. Well, it's Monday, and I don't know about the rest of you, but this weekend went way too quickly for me, but that's okay because this week will go quickly, is my belief, and then the weekend will be upon us, and we'll have another chance to, I guess, decompress is the only thing I can. think to call what goes on every single weekend in my head and in my home The big news, of course, was that we finally have heard from this administration that Iran is not playing according to our rules. And if it's not going to play according to our rules, then they will be eliminated. That's the word that the president used, just like we eliminated the drug dealers on boats. And that's okay with me. I think the idea that I have spent so many days arguing with really smart people about whether or not Donald Trump blew this, really, I guess I feel pretty vindicated because I don't know that anybody could have expected it to go smoothly. And I think that now people are starting to see that when somebody is chanting death to America, that's been the official slogan for Iran. And since 1979, the Islamic Republic has not fought a conventional declared war, but it has waged this long grinding campaign of asymmetric conflict with all this proxy warfare and terrorism and the covert operations and every now and then a direct strike. In more recent decades, the steady advance of a nuclear program had to change the calculus. And I think if we forget that it's a direct result of that Iranian deal that John Kerry and Barack Obama, unfortunately, signed on to and that President Trump had to sign off of, we just never had this under control. And I'm not sure we have it under control now.

All I know is I feel a little better today than I did on Friday. And I think a lot of people out there probably share that feeling. The slogans matter because in this case, they're not incidental. When you use a phrase like death to America, It functions as part of your revolutionary political language. And it is said more for the people living in Iran than it's being said for us. This is chanted at... events that are organized by the state. It's been embedded in all of their official commemorations. It's been said out loud over and over again by senior figures in the regime since the time of Raholika Khomeini. Iranian leaders have periodically argued that the phrase is simply one that says we oppose the policies of America, we don't oppose the American people, but I don't care about the semantic. defense, it's been part of the system's political vocabulary for over four decades. Death to America is repeated in their parliament, at their rallies, in all their state media. And in that sense, it's not just street rhetoric. It's been normalized as part of this revolutionary party line. And it began immediately. In 1979, when the embassy was taken over in Tehran, that wasn't a spontaneous student protest. It was endorsed and it was sustained by the regime. 52 American diplomats were held hostage for 44 days. That act alone changed everything about the relationship between America and Iran. And it wasn't rhetoric. It was action. Iran built and then cultivated all these proxy forces. Probably the one that comes to the front of the line is Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based group that was founded in the 1980s with backing from Iran that operates as more than a political party. It's more than a social service network. It's more than a militia. It is the most important regional proxy. It gets funding. It's being trained. It gets its weapons. And basically, it's just advancing the strategic interests of Iran. Nothing to do with Lebanon. And we've known that. Hezbollah holds seats in Lebanon's government, but it also has a powerful army wing that's responsible for attacks on us and on Israel.

And they've been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and by some countries in the Middle East, who you would think would be a little more friendly. Iran's proxy network is not abstract. It's built around core groups that do the regime's work on the ground. You have Hezbollah, you have Hamas, you have Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, you have the Houthis in Yemen, and you've got a cluster of Shia militias in Iraq, whose names I can barely pronounce, Khatib, Hezbollah, all these different... groups and different geographies, different sectarian roots, but the same pattern, the same funding, the same training, and the same strategic direction, and it all flows from Iran, which makes it look extremely powerful and forceful. It bleeds its adversaries. It maintains deniability without engaging in direct war. And through these proxies, Iran has struck American targets with that plausible deniability. You had the 1983 bombing of the embassy in Beirut. The Marine barracks bombing later that same year, which killed 241 American servicemen. He had the Cobar Towers bombing in 1996. I call these things out because they're not isolated incidents. They're part of a method. Iran does not need to pull the trigger if it can train and fund and direct others who will. And that model scaled. Over the past couple of decades, Iran has supported a network of these groups. And you can call it the axis of resistance, but that's not just a slogan. It's an operational framework. And through it, Iran has extended its reach across the Middle East. It's targeted our personnel and our facilities and our allies without even engaging in open state warfare. Nowhere has that been more evident than in Iraq. You know, during the post-2003 conflict, it was Iran-backed militias that were supplied with weapons and training and all these sophisticated IEDs. And we've attributed for a long time our government have attributed hundreds of American deaths to these groups. It may not be conventional war, but real casualties, real consequences. And over the last decade and at sea, the pattern repeats. Iran has harassed U.S. naval vessels, has mined shipping lanes, has seized tankers, and threatened all the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz. These actions are calibrated and aggressive enough to signal capability and intent, but often just below the threshold that would trigger a full-scale retaliation.

The line between proxy and direct action has blurred. Missal and drone attacks on U.S. bases in the region, particularly in Syria and in Iraq, have been attributed to Iran-back groups, but in some cases, they bear the clear signature of Iranian planning and coordination. And layered on top of this is a quiet, kind of less visible campaign. cyber operations, intelligence work, alleged assassination plots, U.S. officials have repeatedly warned of efforts to target American personnel, not just abroad, but here within the U.S. In 2024, federal prosecutors charged and later secured a conviction against an operative that was tied to the IRGC who had entered the U.S. to recruit hitmen for political assassinations, including the president. Although the plot was disrupted before an attack occurred. But kill teams? They're out there. What if the assassination attempt had been successful? Would we have gone to war with Iran then? Why did this assassination attempt and conviction hardly make headline news? Because we don't really want to know the truth. Because if you want a list of recent assassination attempts by Iran on American soil, they're out there. I read one on Malone News. I read one on Epic Times. They're out there. Iran's nuclear program in the meantime has advanced in the fits and starts over the decades, but the trajectory is unmistakable, right? Natanz and Fordo, they enabled uranium enrichment at increasingly higher levels. So Iran can say that this is a program for peaceful purposes. and that they'll have international monitoring, including the IAA. But those organizations, those monitoring bodies have repeatedly said, we're not getting the information. The 2015 JCPOA, the terrible deal, for a brief period of time, In exchange for sanctions relief, got a little bit of, we were able to constrain certain aspects of the program. But once we pulled out of that in 2018, once Trump pulled out of it, and subsequent Iranian steps away from compliance and enrichment levels increased and stockpiles grew and monitoring became more limited. Today we know that Iran is widely assessed to be much closer to breakout capacity. That's the ability to produce more weapons-grade material on short notice than at any point in its history. So whether Iran intends to build a nuclear weapon, you don't know and I don't know. But the capability matters.

Federal prosecutors charged IRGC member Sharham Pursafi with trying to hire assassins to kill the former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton for 300,000. And then they had a second unnamed target. He was willing to pay up to a million to have killed. Who do you think that was? Meanwhile, this same John Bolton, if one more person tells me, oh, I wish John Bolton was there. I don't. Okay. In 2024. You had a plot that targeted Trump, Biden, and Nikki Haley. Yeah. This operative, Asif Mershant, was sent to the U.S. and directed to arrange the murders of Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and Nikki Haley. He met with hitmen, who were actually undercover FBI agents in New York and was arrested in July of 2024. And then there was a separate Trump assassination plot. The DOJ announced charges against an IRGC asset in Tehran, who was told by IRGC officials to focus solely on Trump and formulate a plan within seven days. Two American co-conspirators in New York were also charged for allegedly helping surveil targets. There are other officials that have been on the list. John Bolton, Robert O'Brien, Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State. Mark Esper, the former defense secretary, a bunch of people. So don't kid yourself. Death to America is not just a silly word salad. It's a serious problem. And we didn't take it very seriously. That's the problem. That's really our problem. But it gets better because right now... Donald Trump is basically calling Iran's bluff, and he's going straight for the jugular. There's an article in The Daily Wire by Hank Berrien. He said that yesterday, the U.S. Navy... they announced would begin blockading the Strait of Hormuz, effectively sealing off the primary maritime artery, and that will cripple the Iranian regime's capacity to resist the United States. So after 21 hours of a meeting that went well, according to President Trump, Most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered, nuclear was not. So effective immediately, the U.S. Navy will begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz. This is extortion of the whole world. And Iran had warned us that they would do this. And everybody said, oh, well, Trump does not take them seriously. Well, he was, but he let it play out. And he has now warned any vessel that pays an illegal toll to Iran will be denied safe passage by this military blockade. He said, our military will finish up the little that is left of Iran. Yeah, yeah. And that's pretty sharp military rhetoric. But I get it.

I was reading Maid Maliki, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense Democracies and a former sanctions strategist, and he said the economic consequences for Tehran will be absolute. The blockade will inflict roughly $435 million in combined economic damage every single day. We're talking $13 billion per month. And according to Maliki, Over 90% of Iran's 109 billion in annual trade transits the Persian Gulf. And oil and gas account for about 80% of what the government export earnings are. It's about a quarter of the national GDP. So the closure of the strait zeroes that out overnight. That's a pretty grim picture for Iran's energy infrastructure. And furthermore, The blockade targets the heart of the Iranian logistics. Because that Shahid Raji port handles 53% of all cargo operations, while the Imam Khomeini handles 58% of basic goods imports. Yeah. So Iran's attempts to bypass the strait, not going to work. Not going to be successful. The internal impact is expected to be catastrophic. You have food inflation hitting 105% just in February this year. Rice prices up seven-fold. The loss of 159 million in daily imports? You can have total currency collapse. The real is already plummeted to $1.5 million per dollar. 1.5 million per dollar. Just think about that. forcing the regime to issue a 10 million real banknote that's only worth seven bucks. But maybe most critically, there's a storage clock ticking. Iran has roughly 20 million barrels of spare onshore storage capacity. So at current production levels, that will fill up in just 13 days. And once that's full, Iran has to shut its wells. which could cause all kinds of problems, water conning and destroy like 300 to 500,000 barrels per day of production capacity, that would result in a permanent loss of 9 billion to 15 billion in annual revenue, even if the blockade eventually ends. Permanent loss of 9 billion to 15 billion in annual revenue, even if the blockade eventually ends. This is... an economic nightmare for them. And for those of you who give Donald Trump absolutely no credit for the long game, what exactly would you call this? If not, the long game. He issued this threat. He warned him. He said, we'll deploy, you know, whatever we need to. And if the Islamic Republic, he warned them that if they deploy those fast attack ships against the U.S. naval blockade now in the Strait of Hormuz, what's left of the Iranian Navy, I mean, you have 158 ships on the bottom of the sea.

What we have not hit are their small number of what they call the fast attack ships because we didn't consider them that much of a threat. Warning. This is what Donald Trump said to them. Warning. If any of these ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on those boats. It's quick and it's brutal. P.S. 98.2% of drugs coming into the United States by ocean or sea have stopped. Think about that. U.S. Central Command said the blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports began at 10 a.m. this morning in accordance with the President's proclamation on Sunday. The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports. All mariners are advised to monitor notice to mariners broadcast and contact U.S. naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16. I mean, this is spelled out as clearly as it could be. Yeah, that's it. The Navy has been instructed to seek and interdict every vessel in international waters that has paid a toll to Iran, and anyone who pays an illegal toll will not. You know, that's not going to fly. We're also going to begin destroying the mines that the Iranians laid in the straits. Any Iranian who fires at us or at peaceful vessels will be blown to hell. That's what he said. Other countries will be involved with this blockade because Iran will not be allowed to profit off this illegal act of extortion. They want money and more importantly, they want nuclear. So we're fully locked and loaded. And our military is going to finish up the little left, what little is left of Iran. And that's just the necessary truth. And the fact that so many people were so over-eager to say that Trump blew it really makes me mad. Because it's not blown yet. And I think it's time for people to... Really pay careful attention. You know, when I read you these things, the names of the assassination, it's not because the information is not available to you. It's because for some reason many of you have elected not to read it. You're so hung up in getting an outcome that you want. which is to make Donald Trump look bad. I don't get it. I really don't. Believe me, I have some big issues with the way Donald Trump is handling this in terms of Israel's safety, and I call him out on that. But I'm fair, and y'all need to be more fair.

Or else just, you know, give me a break and spare me. Speak among yourselves as they say, or what is it that Trump says now? He says at the end, he says, thank you for your attention in this matter or something. Yeah, that's exactly how I feel. All right, I'm going to take a break. I do want to talk about Eric Swalwell because this is the kind of story that should make your stomach churn. This is what has been going on in this country for far too long. And people have allowed these real morons, idiots, to hold positions of power in our government and even aspire to more positions of power. Now, he has suspended his gubernatorial campaign. And actually, I just saw that one of his billionaire backers wants his money back. Yeah. And we're going to talk a little bit about what's going on in Eric Swalwell world. So stay right where you are. I'll be right back. Well, you almost had to predict that this would happen. A dozen of the congressman, Eric Swalwell's former staffers, have now released this letter. I spoke about this last week. Because there have been so many serious and pretty credible sexual allegations against this dude, right? Right now, this California Democrat's political career is in freefall. And there are four women who have made allegations, including a former aide, accusing him of sexual misconduct, including an alleged rape. And hours before he suspended his gubernatorial campaign, 55, now this is huge. 55 of his former staffers penned a joint letter expressing their heavy hearts and unwavering resolve. They said that the allegations reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN are serious, credible, and demand accountability. We stand unequivocally with our colleague who showed extraordinary courage in coming forward to share her truth. We believe her. The letter signed by the former employees continued. What has been described is not a political attack. It is the account of a young woman who trusted her employer, who was targeted and exploited by someone in a position of power over her. The corroboration reported by both outlets, meaning CNN and the San Francisco Chronicle, including medical records and multiple witnesses, makes clear that this cannot be dismissed or deflected. And listen, in the face of these claims, no statement, no cease and desist letter, and no claim of political motivation changes what our colleague experienced, they said. They called for a full and thorough investigation to be launched without delay. No one is above the law, not a congressman, not a candidate for governor. No one, they wrote. These are his staffers. Further, they demanded that the Democrat lawmaker withdraw from the gubernatorial race, which he did right after, and that he resigned his seat in Congress.

remaining in either role while these allegations hang unresolved is an insult to every person who has ever worked for him reported to him or placed their trust in him the letter concluded with a message to the former aide who had the bravery to come forward with her story We are deeply sorry that we did not know what you are enduring. And we carry the weight of that with us, they wrote. We are appalled by his actions and stand firmly with you and every victim who has come forward. This is the beginning of a total destruction. This is not going to disappear. And this is not, you cannot excuse this by calling it a political witch hunt or any of that other stuff. This is going to literally shine a light on a lot of corruption, particularly in the state of California, which of course is something that we've been talking about, I've been talking about, for a long time. You know, the idea that... We, ever since, what was it, Fang Fang, the Chinese spy that he was supposedly having an affair with, ever since that story was out in the news, I kept asking people, at what point will we take that seriously? Because that's more than just the horror of a sexual, you know, abuse allegation. That's national security. And the idea that it got pretty much swept under the rug and people said, oh, this is just, you know, the Trump administration or it's just the Republican Party going after this guy because he was so anti-Trump, that doesn't work. It really, you know, that should have never stopped investigations from taking place. But it did. So I'm going to tell you I saw a, you know, my prediction is this is going to bring down more politicians than just Eric's Wellwell. I have had some interesting allegations sent to me about some other California politicians right now. And I think once you pull back the cover, there's going to be a lot. And look for Gavin Newsom. to be in some serious, serious trouble himself. That's all. I'm just going to leave it there because I don't accuse people of anything without evidence and the evidence is mounting and when there is significant indications that charges are going to be filed against some of these people. then I'll feel comfortable talking about it. But until then, just know this. Keep your eyes on this California gubernatorial election. Because this may be the best thing that could have happened for California was that a creep-like Eric Swalwell unleashed an investigation into Democrat politics in that state. And maybe, just maybe, Steve Hilton.

will be the governor. It's just, it is now much more of a possibility than I would have thought just one week ago. I also saw a great piece, well, I'll talk about it in the final segment of the show, but, you know, I... I've been watching to see what some of the candidates who may want to be president in 2028, what they're up to. And today, Nikki Haley said she will not run for president. I would have considered her a contender. My husband turned to me last night and said, so is it going to be JD Vance after he walked out of these negotiations with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with Iran, he said, is it going to be JD Vance or is it going to be Marco Rubio? And I wish I knew the answer to that question, but if I had my druthers, it would be Marco Rubio. And for me to say that is almost painful, but I want what's best for this country. And Marco Rubio continues to exceed my expectations. I just look at this Nicholas Maduro. You know, we don't even talk about that anymore. Things happen so quickly and so many things are happening that stories don't have a long shelf life. They get replaced rather quickly. But before he launched that capture of the dictator, President Trump brought the Venezuelan economy to its knees with a naval blockade that strangled their oil revenues. So Iran refusing to accept the final deal that we offered this weekend where, you know, Trump has vowed that if they don't take the deal, he might bomb them back into the Stone Ages. Or, here's my guess. He could reprise his successful blockade strategy and choke the teetering Iranian economy. You heard what I just said about the economic cost of this blockade and then ratchet up diplomatic pressure on China and on India, cutting them off of one of their key sources of oil. You know, it's ironic that the USS Gerald Ford, the massive carrier that led the Venezuelan blockade, is now in the Persian Gulf. I mean, it was in for repairs. The crew got a little bit of arrest after some fire. And now it joins the USS Abraham Lincoln and some other major naval assets. So in short, Trump simply could out blockade Iran's hold over the Strait of Hormuz. And that's what it looks like he's going to do. Now, I'm getting texts already when people say, oh, he says they were ready to talk another deal. Look, stop paying attention to the minute minute. And look at the long picture because it would be very easy for the U.S. Navy to exert complete control over what goes up and what goes down the straight right now.

There were about 10 ships that moved in the last 24 hours, and one of them was a reflagged Russian tanker. And we know that cargoes have gone out to China, to India, and there have been some inbound traffic. If Iran gets intransigent, then absolutely the U.S. Navy can set up with great overwater surveillance and watch everything that goes in and out of the strait. And you literally have to ask the U.S. Navy if you want to move past Karg Island or past that narrow part that's right by Oman. Yeah, because after that peace negotiation, 21 hours, I love the way they keep throwing that around. After that, JD Vance told the press conference that we negotiated in good faith for 21 hours, and now it is up to Iran to decide whether to accept the final terms approved by President Donald Trump, and they've already said they're not going to. He said, we leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We will see if the Iranians accept it. Now, we don't know exactly what the offer was, the specifics, but we do know that the most important part of it is that they abandoned their development of nuclear weapons, and we have not heard anything to indicate their thinking about doing that. And with the clock waning on the temporary ceasefire, They're already preparing all kinds of options. The idea of a naval boucade was first suggested last week by Jack Keene on Fox News, one of the nation's top military strategists. If the war resumes, and after we degrade Iran's remaining military assets efficiently, those little fastboats, the U.S. military could choose to occupy cargo or to destroy it. Alternatively, the U.S. Navy could set up a blockade and shut down Tehran's export lifeline. And if we preserve Karg's infrastructure but take physical control, we'd have a chokehold over Iran's oil and its economy. And that's about the – that's the most leverage. that you need to seize its nuclear dust or its stores enriched uranium and to eliminate its production capabilities. I know you don't want to give this man any credit, many of you, but this may end up being a perfectly executed plan. I certainly am hoping for that. And I would think you are hoping for it too. All right, let you on a break. Let me take a quick break. Don't forget coming up after me is Guy Benson, then Will Kane, then Joe Pags, Lars Larson, the overnight guys. Tomorrow morning at 6 a.m., Jennifer Ross and Stephen Deiner, I'll be back with the South Florida morning show. We have 9 o'clock, Brian Kilmeade, noon, Eric Erickson, and then I get to come back at 3 p.m. But I still have a brief segment left in today's program, so don't touch that dial.

Piece of news on the Eric Swalwell case, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is investigating the sexual assault allegations that were made against Representative Eric Swalwell. And a spokesperson for the Manhattan DA's office on Saturday encouraged survivors and anyone with knowledge of these allegations to reach out to its special victims division. Our specially trained prosecutors, investigators, and counselors are well equipped to help you in a trauma-informed, survivor-centered manner, the office said. This is interesting. You know, the Manhattan DA, why would they be involved in this? I could understand Washington, D.C., I can understand California, but the Manhattan DA, what was this guy doing? Just abusing women in every city in the country. And interesting to see this, you know, yet another nail in the coffin for this guy. John Solomon also had unpacked another revelation about James Comey, because I know a lot of people think that the James Comey story is over. It's not. And I wish... that I got before I go to my final destination, whatever that may be, I wish I could see James Comey, the former FBI director in an orange jumpsuit. because there have been shocking new revelations from some of these declassified documents regarding the way the FBI handled classified leaks during the Russia Gate investigation. So, you know, that's something that John Solomon usually gets the story. And I'm looking forward to reading that, and you should be as well, because there's a lot there. Anna Paulina Luna says that she believes there's support to remove Eric Swalwell from office if he decides not to resign. And I believe that she's also gone after, what's his name, Tony Gonzalez, the Texas. Republican. And Luna said she believes Eric Swalwell should voluntarily resign over the allegations, which accuse him of sexually assaulting a former aide in 2019 and 2024, both of which allegedly happened when the woman was too intoxicated to give consent. It is against House rules to have an inappropriate relationship with your staff, and it's also against House rules to sexually harass your staff, Luna said. I can't speak to the criminal allegations regarding Eric Swalwell and rape, but what I can say is, based on the evidence that's been put forward, I believe CNN has screenshots, et cetera, and the information that's come out.

He already violated House rules. If he had any sliver of dignity, which he doesn't, he would resign. Luna said she will be filing a motion soon to expel him from office, but did not give a clear timeline for when it would take place. Gonzalez also faces sexual misconduct allegations that expand beyond a single alleged victim. Gonzalez admitted last month to having had an affair with a former aide who was married at that time and later killed herself. But a second former staffer accused the lawmaker earlier this month of seeking a sexual relationship with her in 2020. Luna said she believes she has the numbers to expel both lawmakers from the House. I think the votes are there for both. Do you think members are really going to try to protect people that openly admitted to breaking congressional ethics and sexual harassment before the midterms? Gonzalez has also ended his campaign for re-election over the news of that affair. But what it really does tell you is how terribly bad the moral temperature of Congresses. You know, I know it's bad out here in the real world, but one always hopes that somehow we'll have a higher standard, is that the right term, that somehow we would expect more from people that we send to Washington to look after the business of the people. I find it, you know, beyond disturbing that we're in the position we're in. Now you've got this billionaire backer. He wants his money back. I don't really know who this guy is. Stephen Klubeck. But he's been, Eric Swalwell's been so toxic that that Stephen Klubick, who allowed the embattled lawmaker to stay in his Beverly Hills mansion, gave him the boot and said he could be meeting with his lawyer about getting a refund on the million dollars he gave in an independent committee supporting this candidacy. And it couldn't have happened to a nice, to a nicer guy. Anyway. And tomorrow I do want to get to the story about Jim Acosta, who regrets he wasn't opinionated enough while covering Trump. So thank you for your time this time. Until next time, my plan is to be back here tomorrow at 3 if it be his will and he delays his coming, what lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are, compared to what lies within us. So wherever you are, just be yourself. Everybody else is taken. Then may God bless you. May God bless Israel and may God bless the USA. I'll see you all tomorrow at 3. This has been the Joyce Kaufman podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts.