Russia Sanctions Expected Soon; Gov't Shutdown: $2.5B Blocked For Small Biz | NTD Newsroom (Oct. 22)

President Trump expected to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rut as the Putin summit is put on hold and the White House responding to backlash over the ballroom renovations. We go now live to Entities Washington correspondent Mari Otsu who's at the White House. Good afternoon, Mari. Uh so what can we expect from the president's meeting today? >> Don, good afternoon. President Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rut today are expected to talk about NATO's support for Ukraine and guaranteeing a lasting security for Ukraine after the war. This is coming as President Trump for now is putting his expected Budapest summit with Russia's Vladimir Putin on hold. Uh saying Tuesday that he doesn't want a quote wasted meeting. And just moments ago, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessend says that the US will announce either today or tomorrow a quote substantial pickup in Russia sanctions. President Trump has called for the war in Ukraine to end along these current battle lines. And Secretary General R says uh that President Trump is the only one who can get a ceasefire done. Take a look. >> Well, I have total confidence in President Trump uh and he is the only one who can get this done for us. So his leadership here is crucial. He has to dialogue with Putin. He has to dialogue with Silinski exactly as he did in Gaza putting pressure on all relevant parties to get the deal done. I will see the president later today. We will discuss further how we how we from NATO can be helpful in delivering his vision of getting a fullscale peace in Ukraine. This push for peace in Ukraine is coming as Vice President JD Vance is in Israel uh meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today about keeping the ceasefire, disarming Hamas, and rebuilding Gaza. The Vice President is projecting optimism about enduring peace in the region while admitting that the road ahead will be difficult. And on other foreign affairs, uh, US trade representative Jameson Greer this morning says that there is indeed a spot on President Trump's schedule uh, to meet with CCP leader Xiinping on the sidelines of APEC in South Korea next week. John, >> well, that's certainly a lot to look out for before President Trump's meeting with the NATO secretary general today. Uh, now Mari, on a topic closer to home, what's the White House been saying about the ballroom renovations? Sure, Don. So, there's been a backlash from lawmakers and public officials over these ballroom renovations. Uh Gavin Newsome, Governor Gavin Newsome, uh took to X, saying quote that President Trump is ripping apart the White House just like he's ripping apart the Constitution. And the White House is calling the backlash quote manufactured outrage. Uh they also recently released a statement documenting the history of renovations and expansions um of the White House beginning with President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902. And here's Press Secretary Levit Tuesday. Watch. And I believe there's a lot of fake outrage right now because nearly every single president who has lived in this beautiful White House behind me has made modernizations and renovations of their own. And in fact, presidents for decades in the modern time have quipped about how they wish they had a larger event space here at the White House that can hold hundreds more people than the current East Room and state dining rooms can. >> Press Secretary Levit also emphasizes that the renovation project is funded primarily by President Trump himself and by private donors. Don, back to you. >> Okay, Mari, thank you. Russia announces carrying out a major training exercise involving nuclear weapons and Ukraine says President Trump's idea to freeze the current front lines is a good compromise. NTD's international correspondent Arian Pazdar has the war update. >> You saw messages public messages from Trump. He proposed stay where we stay and begin conversation. I think this that was good compromise but I'm not sure that Putin will support and I said it to President >> Ukrainian President Vladimir Zilinski supports President Trump's call for Ukraine and Russia to stop at the current front lines and implement a ceasefire. The Ukrainian president made the remarks while visiting Sweden and Norway. Sweden has signed a letter of intent to potentially supply up to 150 of its domestically produced Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine. >> If we succeed, it will contribute to increase security in our part of the world and will strengthen both Ukraine and Sweden. >> And Russia announces carrying out a major nuclear drill on Wednesday. It includes practice launches of intercontinental ballistic missiles which are capable of striking the United States. Just on Tuesday, President Trump said plans for a second summit between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin are on hold. Putin emphasizes that Wednesday's drills have been planned in advance, but they came just hours after Trump's announcement. Russian officials say preparations for a meeting continue. The fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues. Meanwhile, Russian drones reportedly hit a kindergarten in Carke on Wednesday while children were in the building. According to officials, one person was killed and six were injured, but no children were physically harmed. Fortunately, the children were in a shelter during the air raid. 48 children were rescued by our state emergency service units. Shia Zilinski says despite not being physically harmed, many of the kids were in shock after the attack. Arian Pastar, NTD News. >> It's day 22 of the government shutdown, now officially the second longest in American history. The White House and Senate Republicans continue their efforts to keep federal workers paid and reopen the government while House and Senate Democrats double down on their messaging and demands. Our Washington correspondent, Luis Edoro Martinez, has more. >> Saluting the senator from Oregon, Senator Mkeley, for standing strong and long in defense of our democracy and our Constitution and ringing the alarm bells, authoritarianism is here. Senate Democrats have been taking turns for over 18 hours asking questions on the Senate floor as Democratic Senator Jeff Mkeley delivers a marathon long speech accusing the Trump administration of being authoritarian. While House Democrats warn of the impending impact that SNAP beneficiaries will endure starting November 1st when aid stopped being delivered in most states. If this shutdown of the federal government by Donald Trump and Republicans continue, folks may even lose nutritional assistance benefits that they depend on to feed themselves, their children, and their families, and keep food on the table. >> The Trump administration has managed thus far to reallocate funds to pay active duty military personnel and keep the Women, Infant, and Children Program, otherwise known as WIC, afloat during the government shutdown. this point. I just want to get the government open at this point. It's not blaming or who's winning or who's losing because the guarantee who is losing and that's Americans right now. I am now fighting to opening because of the two million Pennians that are on SNAP and those funds are running out. 2 million people in Pennsylvania depend on this to feed themselves and their family. The Trump administration also announced this Tuesday it would be reallocating $3 billion to reopen Farm Service agency offices and resume aid to farmers. House Republicans and Senate Republicans continue to offer exit ramps for Democrats to reopen government or alleviate the pain on the federal workforce. What we're what we're talking about is that obviously the calendar is being eaten up by all this political nonsense by the Democrats. We're running out of time to do very important necessary things. The Senate will vote today for a 12th time on a continuing resolution to reopen government and Senate Republicans have teed up a vote for a bill on Thursday to pay the federal workforce. Both bills are expected to fail without Democratic support. Reporting from Washington DC, Luis Eduardo Martinez, NTD News. The government shutdown has frozen the Small Business Administration's lending programs across the country. The Impass is blocking around $2.5 billion from being dispersed to nearly 5,000 small businesses. The agency said small businesses in California are suffering the most with more than $126 million not approved every week of the shutdown. This was followed by Texas with loans worth more than 88 million blocked each week. Florida is losing loans worth more than 76 million, but administrator Kelly Laughler said small business confidence is at a 7-year high. She cited President Trump's agenda to end unfair trade deals, cut regulations, and reduce taxes. And joining us to discuss this topic is Javier Palirez, founder and CEO of the US Hispanic Business Council and former Obama campaign adviser. And we have Vince Vance Gin, president of Gin Econom Economic Consulting and former chief economist of the White House's Office of Management and Budget. So, good to see you both here today. advance. Uh let me start with you. Uh how significant is is this $2.5 billion in blocked loans in practical terms for the US economy? >> Well, it's a pleasure to be with you and I think that many small businesses have been relying on these dollars flowing in and so this will be a hit to their revenue in order to cover their costs. And so it may be that they delay investments, um raises, things of that nature. Well, at the same time, I think it also shines the light on how many businesses are dependent on these government loans. Um, and so I think that's something else that we need to look at because at the end of the day, it should be about profit and loss in the private sector, not based on small business administration loans that are sent to places like Texas where I live or other places across the country. >> So, Javier, let me go to you now. From what you've seen, uh, what has been the impact on small businesses? Well, I I think Don um you have to look at it in its entirety. We find ourselves right now in a situation where uh this shutdown is one for the history books. Um you know, the health care of 22 million Americans hangs in the balance. Uh those Americans typically are working in small businesses. The big corporations can afford to to ensure and make sure that their uh employees are healthy. Smaller businesses cannot. Um, we're 22 days into this shutdown. Uh, that's already the second largest in history. Uh, trust in DC is at an all-time low. Um, you know, prior to that, we had the tariffs which increased prices, uh, made supply chains a bit more difficult to deal with. So, we had supply chain challenges to deal with, tariff price increases to deal with, a 22-day shutdown, uh, you know, healthcare in the balance, that's front and foremost for every small business owner is the healthcare uh, and the well-being of our employees. Now, you've got a situation where the SBA has kind of frozen up. You know, you're talking about overall about 1,616 loans every day, I'm sorry, every week that are not being looked at and therefore not being approved. uh that's nearly on a national level nearly $900 million a week that is not being approved and not being put into the economy that was already earmarked. This these are not increased dollars. These were already, you know, approved for for for funding. Uh and when you look at the states that are most impacted, you got California, you got Texas, Florida, and New York. If you do an overlay of the concentration of Hispanic businesses in this nation, guess where they are? California, Florida, Texas, and New York. Disproportionately, the American small business community, the American family is feeling this. It's it's a difficult time to be a small business person in America right now. >> So, Vance, uh, I have two questions for you. Uh, one is, do you think the lack of loans could translate to higher unemployment rates? And another is I want to follow up on your point earlier where you mentioned that uh small businesses should rely on themselves uh more rather than the government. Uh can you explain that further? Why do you think that should be the case? >> Yeah, I think when you're a small business, you're running your business, you're looking at your revenue, your costs. You usually have pretty tight profit margins that are there already. And so these small business association loans can be uh kind of your your lifeline for a period of time in order to fund um wages and and other types of earnings for your business and for your employees. And so for that sense it it can definitely influence a lot of their business that they're doing on a day-to-day basis, which is unfortunate. I my hope is though that we will um end the shutdown quickly. um one that will look I mean the Republicans put forward a clean continuing resolution um that the Democrats now want to add 1.5 trillion more dollars in spending on healthcare related expenditures mainly for Medicaid um that were extensions during COVID and from the Biden administration. both initially by Trump and then by the Biden administration. And so this is really creating the the the economic damage if there is going to be any from this shutdown because remember we also got to think about we're running about $2 trillion a year in deficits that were contributed to by the co shutdowns and then the Biden era of excessive government spending which also led to high amounts of inflation. All these things now are contributing to a burden on these small businesses and at a time when the small business association is also not able to give out a lot of these loans that does put a hefty burden on them whether or not they should hire more people not hire more people. So your first question about whether or not there will be increase in unemployment, I think it really depends on whether or not this shutdown lasts for a lot longer and whether or not those private businesses have other resources, other um ability to gain access to credit or access to uh funding so that they can fulfill all of their expenses on a a monthly or even a daily basis. And so I think time is still going to tell, but I'm hopeful that Republicans and Democrats can come together, at least pass this the clean CR uh and then let's talk about healthcare and other things thereafter. >> All right, Javier, what what do you think about this idea that the private sector should rely more on itself in the event of a government shutdown such as this, the impacts will be more limited? >> You know, clearly uh every business should fund itself. every business uh should be responsible for its own uh you know livelihood and it and and its own profitability but the vast majority and I'm talking in excess of 95 98% of American small businesses don't rely on SBA loans so let's put that in its proper context but again a small business doesn't uh it doesn't exist in a vacuum all of these things are impacting ultimately the American small business community and the American family that two are intrinsically tied to each each other. Uh you know when you look at a government shutdown uh when you look at tariffs when you look at supply chain challenges all of this is happening at the same time and if you are a business that yes in fact does rely on some government SBA loans then yes absolutely when you cut off access to capital that's the lifeblood of a business operational disruption happens stunted growth happens you know increased financial strain happens and ultimately you start seeing businesses close their doors which of course increases unemployment. Everything is tied to each other. There there's nothing that happens, you know, in a vacuum here. What we need are our Republicans and our Democrats to come together, do the job that they were, frankly, put in place to do. This is not a Democratic issue. It's not a Republican issue. This is an American challenge. And I'm not in the business of politics. You know, I don't care whether Republican points to a Democrat or a Democrat points to Republicans. It's their fault. I don't care whose fault it is. It's all of their responsibility. Fault or not, it's their responsibility to get this thing fixed. We got to fund the government. We got to get back to business. We got to open up the SBA. And we got to fund somehow the Affordable Care Act tax credits that are necessary for 22 million American families. Those families don't work for Exxon. They don't work for Bank of America. They don't work for Goldman Sachs. Those people are very well taken care of. This does not impact Wall Street. But it devastates Main Street. Those people, those 22 million Americans are generally working in agriculture, in construction, in hospitality, in manufacturing at a small business where we cannot afford to buy inbulk at a discounted rate insurance for our employees. But this is a real American crisis and we need both sides to quit playing politics and get busy and get this government back up and running. >> Okay. So, Vance, if you have a response to that, I'd like to hear it. But uh I also wanted to ask you as well because you mentioned earlier you questioned whether the government shutdown would have any uh any impact or lasting impact. Can you go a bit deeper into that? Um clarify for us. Do you think government shutdowns will have any permanent impact on the economy? >> Well, I think it certainly will have an impact on the federal government employees um who have been furoughed, maybe even got a a riff, meaning that they're going to be let go. I mean, certainly their families are going to be struggling. Um, they're going to they just missed their their first payment. Um, but we've seen in the past with government shutdowns is that they'll they'll reimburse. They'll they'll fund that period of time. So, usually it's a shift. Instead of spending more this month, they'll just spend more in the next month. So, the economic effects really are just a shifting around of the timing. Although that doesn't help with the families who will, you know, who are going to be struggling during that period, which is one of the reason, you know, I agree with the other guests about how Democrats and Republicans should be coming together um and forcing of something that allows for the government to open back up. We just started the new fiscal year. And so there's a lot of different dynamics that are going on. Um the only thing I would say in in response to the other the other guest is that you know the 22 million sort of tax credits. I mean a lot of this was an expansion of Medicaid uh to many people who were not eligible and they for income or for ages for because they've aged out. They they're too old or their incomes have have increased substantially since COVID. And I don't know why we want to continue those sort of emergency types of items that were during COVID when the when when Biden the Biden administration ended the emergency declaration. And so I think it's time to get back to some sense of normal and having that many people on a Medicaid program where coverage does not equal care does not improve patient care for Americans. Um at the same time it raises taxes on everybody. nothing is free, including those Medicaid tax credits and to the tune of about $1.5 trillion o over time if the Democrats get their way. So, I I think that we need people to come together, but let's also look at what the economic and the fiscal situation that we're in to allow for people to prosper. I think that's by expanding government. >> Okay, Javier, you talked about sentiment earlier and I want to continue a little bit on that. SBA administrator Kelly Lofer said uh confidence at a 7-year high. Can you tell us what you're seeing right now with the confidence level among businesses? >> You know, it's funny, Don. It's a great question. It's a great question because we're hearing on both ends of the spectrum. Um, you know, when we first started seeing some of the tariff scares, of course, we were as concerned as anybody else. Uh, then we saw what was actually going to happen and did happen. For example, the EU deal. uh you know the deal that President Trump uh struck with uh the European Union is a boon for the American economy. It's fantastic for manufacturing and particularly the the automobile industry. So, you know, there's some real great news there. Um we love the the attention to traditional energy and bringing energy costs down. That's fantastic news. the extension of the 2017 tax jobs and and uh uh act that that that ultimately rel for the first time in in decades uh really offers some relief to the American small business community in terms of our taxes. There's lots of good news here. At the same time, however, we're facing the uncertainty that you know the government shutdown has brought about this SBA stall. You know, at the end of the day, you know, small businesses suffer, the entire nation suffers. Uh we don't have lobbyists in Washington DC. We don't have big marketing departments. We don't have divisions of tax lawyers. It's just us. But at the end of the day, we account for 99% of the businesses in this country. We employ almost 72% of of of the of the uh of the nation. Uh we we create 70% of the net new jobs in this nation. We account for 45% uh of our GDP. We are an important element of the American economy, but we're disparate. We're not we're not we're not huge companies. It's only when we aggregate our voice, and thankfully we have outlets like yours that allows us to come on the air and talk about our concerns because this is a challenging time. It's full of good news, but definitely there's some bad news and some trying times right now. >> Well, really appreciate that comment, Javier. And uh Vance, I'll give you the final comment here. Anything else you' like to add? I mean, do you think this shutdown could potentially a flag affect global confidence in the United States? >> It's possible. And and Don, it's always good to talk with you and Javier as well. I mean, it's I think these are the types of discussions that we need to be having and too often we're we're not having those across different types of of the spectrum in America. And so when you look at this shutdown, you look at the effects on small businesses and many families, we need to say, okay, what are the proper roles for government? Where should the government be coming in? And my argument has been that we're doing already too much. The government's already involved with so much. And so the more that we see those effects that happen now in my view that would indicate that we need less government in our lives, less government in businesses and less government spending including the small business association loans uh is really allowed for that to happen in the productive private sector. So no matter where the volatility happens within government from one president to the next, one party to the next, they're going to be in a much stable footing for their future if they are more self-sufficient with their own business, with their own families and communities. I think that's really the path to prosperity. >> Well, all right. Great discussion today. Uh, thank you both for coming on. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> North Carolina Republicans have remapped one of the state's US House districts. The redistricting comes as GOP lawmakers hope to pick up one more seat to maintain their majority. Democrats have responded by redrawing their own lines in blue states. The president's party historically loses seats in midterm elections, and Democrats just need three more seats to gain control of the House. Texas and Missouri have already revised their House districts to try to help Republicans win additional seats. Democratic le California retaliated by asking the state's voters to approve a map revised to elect more Democrats. The Supreme Court is currently considering a redistricting case in Louisiana. The high court's decision would have a nationwide impact on the practice of redrawing district lines known as gerrymandering. Federal immigration operations erupted into chaos on both coasts. Protesters clashed with agents in New York City and gunfire broke out during a traffic stop in Los Angeles. Here's more. >> In New York, a routine Immigration Enforcement sweep on Canal Street in Chinatown quickly escalated. Federal agents with ICE and Border Patrol moved in on street vendors accused of selling counterfeit handbags and electronics. Within minutes, crowds gathered, shouting and blocking agents vehicles. Homeland Security later said the operation was part of a broader crackdown on sellers of counterfeit goods. DHS spokesperson Trisha Mclofflin said agents arrested one person for assaulting an officer. But New York Mayor Eric Adams said his city was not involved in the immigration operation. He said that undocumented New Yorkers trying to pursue their American dreams should not be the target of law enforcement and resources should instead be focused on violent criminals. While New York saw street protest, Los Angeles witnessed gunfire when a traffic stop turned violent. Officials say 44year-old Caritos Ricardo Paras, an illegal immigrant who had previously escaped custody, tried to ram his car into officers as they attempted to arrest him. The DHS says officers followed their training and fired defensive shots. The man was shot in the elbow and a US marshal was shot in the hand by a ricocheted bullet. Both are in the hospital. Paras faces one count of assaulting a federal officer. He has a considerable social media presence. According to local media, he has regularly documented federal immigration operations on his Tik Tok account and has more than 100,000 followers. Mlofflin has defended her agency's approach to immigration enforcement, saying officers aren't just going after random people. >> When we say we want the worst of the worst out of this country, it's not just a talking point. It really is what it is. That's who we're going after. And these are not indiscriminate stops. We're not just walking on the sidewalk and picking up random people. We have intelligence. We have reasonable suspicion under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. That's who we're going after. >> The Los Angeles shootout and the New York protest come amid a surge in hostility toward ICE officers. Something President Trump's borders are Tom Hman told Newsmax is being fueled by divisive rhetoric from politicians and activists. I think it's the cartels, but I also think it's the rhetoric, especially from elected mayors, elected governors, and elected Congress people who who want to compare ICE to terrorists and the Nazis. The far fringe on the left that become violent against ICE. They feel emboldened when the United States senator or or congressperson or or governor says ICE are Nazis and they're racist. That embolden them to take more action against ICE officers. Homeman also said cartels are taking revenge on ICE by using internal gangs in the nation's largest cities to attack officers. According to Hman in the White House, attacks on immigration officers have risen more than a thousand% in the last few months. >> To discuss the latest legal disputes relating to ICE arrests, we're bringing in Bobby Anne Cox, a fellow at the Brownstone Institute, a legal analyst, and a civil rights attorney. Bobby Anne, always great to see you. Thank you for joining us today. uh to start off uh can you give us an overview of the latest legal disputes surrounding Trump's deployment of the National Guard? >> Sure. Yes. Uh so there was just the other day a uh a decision by the circuit court. So the court of appeals uh for the northwestern district of our country. So, uh, this is regarding the case with Oregon and, uh, basically what's going on there is the court, uh, which was the appellet court ruled that, uh, yes, President Trump does have the ability to deploy the National Guard, uh, to Portland, uh, Oregon, and that the, uh, lower court, the federal district court, which had stopped Trump and told him he did not have the power to, uh, to deploy the National Guard in Portland. um they have now overturned that lower court decision. Uh and this just happened two days ago. So as of right now uh President Trump it has been declared by the court of appeals in that uh particular area of our country that the president does have the power to deploy the National Guard into Portland, Oregon. Um whereby overturning this lower court uh decision. Uh but you know I I do want to point out that you know we are really facing some uh scary times that we have courts trying to tell the executive branch uh how and when they can govern this country. Uh so you know the these cases brought against uh the executive branch, brought against President Trump uh trying to stop him from deploying the National Guard uh to keep Americans safe and to carry out uh federal law enforcement uh operations is is completely ridiculous and uh wholly unconstitutional. I mean the the the constitution doesn't say that the courts get to determine whether or not the president can do his job. Uh so uh I do think the decision by this court uh two days ago at the circuit court level was correct uh in lifting the injunction that the lower court had put on President Trump's depo uh deploying the National Guard. Uh but the case shouldn't have been brought in the first place in my opinion. So, Bobby, can you clarify for us exactly what does the law say about when a president deploys uh the National Guard when a state's governor opposes it? >> Yeah. Well, you know, we have th this clause in our constitution. It's called the supremacy clause. uh and it clearly says that uh the supreme law of the land is the constitution and uh the the federal government does have the power uh to do certain things as per our constitution. Uh and one of those things is to uh keep Americans safe and to protect Americans uh from enemies both abroad and domestic. And uh with the supremacy clause, the the the notion is that state governments can't overrule the federal government in an area where the federal government has specific power. Uh and this is one of those cases as I just mentioned where the federal government, the executive branch, the president specifically has the power to carry out uh and enforce our federal laws. That's actually part of his job is he has to enforce our laws uh which will keep us safe. And um so the to answer your question directly the the governor of a state or the legislature of a state doesn't have the power to tell the government the federal government to tell the president uh hey we don't want your uh federal agents in our state um you know go home. So that's that's just not the way it works. the president is wholly within his power to uh deploy the National Guard into a state or a city that is having um civil unrest. And uh it is this is something that has been done numerous times in our history. This is not something new. Um and yeah, so really the governors have no say. you know, they can they can talk a talk. Uh but there's nothing they can do to stop the federal government from deploying um in this instance uh deploying the National Guard uh or other federal agencies, you know, sending an FBI, for example, uh to enforce our laws. This is this is clearly a power that falls to the executive branch. >> All right, understood. Um there there's another argument that I've heard uh against Trump's deployment here. Does the president and can you clarify for us uh does the president need an emergency in order for this deployment? Well, so his whole premise here uh and not just in the Portland, Oregon situation, but in other states around the country where he has deployed the National Guard uh or militarized their their local police as he did in Washington DC uh not too long ago. You know, the whole premise here is that he is enforcing the law, right? he is doing what needs to be done because the local governments whether it's the city or the state are not doing what they're supposed to be doing. You know, in the instance with uh this this case that was just uh the decision that was just issued two days ago uh from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding President Trump's authority to send the National Guard into Portland. You know, I I read part of the decision where they were going through uh the factual background of the case and according to the court's decision. Uh it says that, you know, ICE agents at the ICE detention facility in Portland were being attacked. Uh you know, they were being assaulted, personally assaulted. The building itself was being attacked. Um you know, they set fire in in the driveway. Uh protesters set fire in the driveway uh to the ICE facility. They were uh setting off fireworks. Uh they physically assaulted a couple of the ICE agents. Uh they had to actually close down that ice facility uh to repair it from the damage that was caused by protesters. Um and then they reopened it so it's functional again now. But uh you know this is this is not a situation where you you scratch your head and say gee I wonder why the president is sending the National Guard. Uh these ICE agents are trying to do their job. They are tasked with doing uh enforcing a specific federal law that says uh you cannot illegally come into our country. Uh so they're doing their job. You have protesters attacking them, attacking their facility, uh, you know, setting things on fire. One ICE agent was, uh, confronted by a protester with a knife, you know, we we can't have this. So, if the governor uh of Oregon is not going to do anything or the city mayor of Portland is not going to do anything uh to stop these riots and uh these unpaceful protests, then yes, absolutely the federal government, the president does have the authority to come in and say, uh you know what, you're not doing the right thing. So, I'm going to make sure that these ICE agents are protected and that they can carry out their duties. Uh, so yes, th this is wholly a situation where uh the state government and the the local government are not doing what they're supposed to be and so it is the jurisdiction of the federal government to step in. >> So, Bobby, you you said earlier that these legal challenges uh shouldn't be brought upon the president in the first place. So, I'm wondering what impact are these court cases and appeals having on law enforcement trying to do their jobs. >> Yeah, it's terribly restrictive. uh you know, you've got the for this particular instance, let's say, uh with Portland, you've got the trial court judge saying, uh nope, Trump doesn't have the power to send in the uh the National Guard to quell the unrest and to protect the ICE agents and the ICE facility. Uh and then so, you know, then you have the ICE agents fending for themselves and getting assaulted and attacked. Um, and then you have the appellet court now saying, "Oh, wait, no. Yes, they can they can send in the National Guard. You know, there's enough unrest here and and Portland's not doing anything about it and Oregon's not doing anything about it." So, yes, the federal government can come in with the National Guard uh and protect the ICE agents and the and the ICE detention facility, you know. So, it's it's a pingpong back and forth. Uh so it it's very disruptive to law and order and uh we shouldn't have this this pingpong effect. We shouldn't have the courts deciding whether or not the federal government can carry out their duties under the constitution. Uh the constitution is clear. Uh there shouldn't be a challenge to the executive officer of our country. That would be the president uh exercising his not just his authority but his duty. You know the president of our country swears an oath to our constitution. Swears on ignor inauguration day that they will uphold our laws and enforce our laws. And that's what's happening in this instance. So the fact that you have, you know, local governments suing the federal government saying, "No, you can't do this, uh, is completely absurd. It it I mean, read the Constitution, folks. You know, the supremacy clause is very clear." Uh, so yes, it's very disruptive to the activities of of these federal agents that are trying to do their job and and keep Americans safe. I mean, this is this is ridiculous. We're fighting against the people that are protecting us and enforcing our laws. It It makes absolutely no sense. >> Well, okay, Bobby and thank you for uh explaining it very clearly here today. Thank you for your time. The Department of Energy expects to begin announcing which companies will receive surplus cold war era plutonium by the end of the year. over 19 metric tons would go toward eventual processing into nuclear reactor fuel. President Trump issued an executive order in May to pause the dilution and disposal of surplus plutonium and instead provided as fuel for reactors. It would take companies several years to convert the plutonium into fuel. The energy department holds surplus plutonium at heavy guarded facilities. Plutonium is radioactive. It has a halflife of 24,000 years and must be handled with protective gear. The plutonium would be offered to industry at little to no cost, but companies will pay for processing and manufacturing.