Morning Joe - "I think it's over": U.S. launches strikes on Iran, Trump criticizes NATO

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

July 8, 2026 - 8am: U.S. launches new wave of strikes against Iran Graham Platner latest Ken Paxton may have violated Texas election law Latest on NYC building on the verge of collapse NJ Gov. Mikie Sherrill joins Morning Joe for wide-ranging discussion Tom Rogers on his latest Opinion piece for Newsweek: "If 'Save America' Dies, How Could Trump Still Kill Elections?" Live coverage of Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting at NATO    To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is he fired Don is the MOU dead? It's a very interesting question. To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them, but they're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum. They're sick people. They're led by sick people.

And they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. You know, that's interesting. Because, you know, that's what we've been saying. if they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. But a couple of weeks ago, J.D. was saying it's neat working with the Revolutionary Guard. And Donald Trump was saying that, you know, they're easier to deal with in other countries.

So I'm glad they've reverted back to what American presidents have said since 1979. Yeah, nothing neat about this. That was President Trump just moments ago in Turkey, saying the ceasefire with Iran is over amid renewed fighting in the reach. And those comments come after the United States launched a new round of powerful strikes against Iran. More than 80 sites were targeted, including Iranian air defense systems and radars in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command released this footage late last night, as U.S. officials called the Iranian attacks, quote, unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the U.S. Central Command released.

of the ceasefire agreement. Before those strikes took place, the US Treasury Department also reimposed sanctions on Iranian oil. That move caused oil prices to jump yesterday. Overnight Iran responded by targeting U.S. military sites in both Kuwait and Bahrain. Iranian leaders warn the country would take whatever measures

it deems necessary in retaliation to the new U.S. strikes. Raising new fears, the repeatedly violated ceasefire could collapse and reignite a wider regional conflict. And the president seeming to confirm that it's over. With us, we have the co-host of our 8am hour staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lemire. MS Now National Affairs analyst, John Halman, he's partner and chief political columnist at Puck, co-host of the weekend and Washington reporter for MS Now, Jackie Alamini, and senior writer at the dispatch and columnist at Bloomberg opinion, David Drucker. You know, before we start, we've got the major political storm playing out in Maine.

We'll get to this in just a moment. The deadline in Maine for dropping out of the Senate race, quickly approaching for Democrat Graham Platner amid this week's new allegations of sexual assault from a former girlfriend. Now Platner's most prominent supporter, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, has joined many calls for him to step aside. So we've got a lot to get to this morning, but let's stay on Iran with this major breaking news.

You had warned on social media in a tweet, I believe, back in June. It was days after the MOU was signed. And you said, quote, lifting sanctions on Iran before a deal is done is a dangerous mistake. What was your thinking when you said that back back? Well, I saw Graham Platner's t-shirt. Oh, that was it? No, no, but that just reminds me that J.D. Vance thought it was neat that they were dealing with the Revolutionary Guard. Donald Trump was flattering the Revolutionary Guard and the radical Islamic state of Iran, which is, as I've said, repeatedly, been the epicenter of terrorism since 1979.

And so, listen, here's the deal. We need peace in the region. We need peace in the region for our allies there. We need peace in the region for a million different reasons. My only complaint was that they were negotiating from a position of weakness. The whole world knew they were negotiating from a position of weakness. Now we have a reset. And now the president, towns like he's ready to negotiate from a position of strength.

And this is not. just because Iran is involved here. This is the same way we negotiated with the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union the evil empire. And I would say if you killed 30 million of your own people, then yeah, that qualifies as being part of the evil empire. If you enslave 100 million people behind the Berlin Wallia, I think that qualifies for being evil. But yet Ronald Reagan negotiated with them and negotiated a nuclear deal with him. But he always negotiated from a position of strength. Donald Trump and J.D. Vance

were negotiating from a position of weakness and thinking that all of America were idiots, that they'd somehow forgotten the past 47 years. And they would say stupid things like, well, J.D. Vance, last month talked about how cool it was working

with the terrorist regime. Take a look. The coolest thing about the progress we've made over the last few weeks is that you see people within the Iranian system. Senior leadership, even IRGIC officials say, you know what, we may have some animosity, we may have some mistrust, but we recognize the way that we've done business with the United States for 47 years is a mistake. Let's try something else. We're going to verify that, of course, but we're

certainly willing to try something else if they comply. You know, we are flooded every day with so much bullshit coming from the White House. It's really, it is a nonstop torrent of bullshit coming from the White House. Whether it's on Iran, what wonderful, cool people they are, you know, how cool it is to negotiate with the Revolutionary Guard or whether it's the absolute horrors that we're hearing coming out of the White House with their attitude toward the Ukrainians who are not only fighting for their own freedom, they're fighting for Poland's freedom, they're fighting for Europe's freedom. And I'm sorry, sorry, Mr. President, sorry, JD. This isn't 1914, all right?

What happens in Ukraine? What happens in Poland? What happens in the Czech Republic? What happens in Germany? It impacts all of us. And so, you know, we're flooded with so much nonsense that Jonathan Lemire, when Donald Trump comes out with this MOU that hands the Iranians half a trillion dollars over time, half a trillion dollars. to do nothing, but like, you know, blackmail us with a straight. Then you are sending the signal.

We said it time and time and time and time again on the show, just like we said before Iran, don't go in. Ah, this is not Venezuela. Don't go in. You will pay if you go in. Well, this is what happened. So the State Department, before we lifted sanctions against the Iranian, and said, you know what the Iranians used their oil money for? Funding terrorism, killing Americans,

killing our allies. That was one week before JD and Donald Trump thought it was cool to lift sanctions. And so, yeah, this was an easy call to make. Don't lift sanctions until you have an entire deal. I will say what the Obama administration understood was there is no deal done until the entire deal is done. And in showing weakness, the Trump administration opened themselves up to this, and they probably gave the Iranians another $5 to 10 billion of sanction-free oil money to use to target and kill Americans. But does Donald Trump care about that? I'm not so sure, because he was thanking the Russians and the Chinese for their help in the Iran war, even though they were helping the other side target and kill Americans. So,

Where are we this morning? I mean, this war was mishandled since its first days. And with the United States, you know, has empowered Iran. The hardliners in Tehran are better equipped. They're more entrenched. They have more control today than they did in late February when this war began. And we have seen Trump indeed, Joe, as you say, show weakness time and time again. He's in such a rush to get a deal done that he was offered threats.

and didn't follow through. Offered deadlines, let them lapse. And Tehran kept calling his bluff. They recognized that he was a paper tiger. So in Trump's haste to get this war done, Iran made clear to say over and over again, okay, we'll talk to you. We'll also happily take sanctions relief.

We'll happily take this money from you. But what we're not going to do is give up our new control of the Strait of Hormuz. That's the lesson learned in Iran, is that they have the ability to shut down one of the most important waterways in the world, triggering a surge in energy prices, which panicked Trump in the White House

and wants them to end this deal. And that's why we're suddenly seeing hostilities again because Iran, even in this fragile ceasefire of recent weeks, has repeatedly, from time to time, menaced ships in the strait saying, we're in charge here, and now we see Trump finally lash back. We'll see what happens next. It's a very fluid situation.

For the latest, let's bring in MS now, international reporter, Annesa Qatara, who joins us live from the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. Andez, good morning. There are so many headlines to sift throughout of NATO. President Trump, again demanding that the U.S. be given Greenland, are you reigniting a trade war with Spain? But obviously the major headline is the sound we played at the top of this hour, him suggesting that he believes the ceasefire could be over.

Now, he suggested negotiations still could continue, but this is we're seeing hostilities, our biggest set of hostilities in the region in weeks. Give us the latest as to what's happening there. Yeah, that's right, John. And I think NATO allies are frankly shocked by what they're hearing coming out of President Trump. We knew this was going to be a tense summit, but it is, you know, a lot more tense, I think,

than we expected. So on Iran, you heard President Trump there talking about how the Iranians are sick, how they're scum. He was asked if the MOU is dead, if the ceasefire is over. And he said, as far as he's concerned, it is over. did say that he would speak to his negotiators. So Steve Whitkoff, Jared Kushner, we'll see if they're able to calm things down. But I will say we did hear from Iran's Revolutionary Guard saying they were targeting U.S. bases in Bahrain and Kuwait. And we know that air raid sirens did sound in both of those countries this morning.

So we could very much be seeing the war resume here. Now, Iran has been a big point of tension between the U.S. and NATO allies. President Trump has repeatedly talked about how he's frustrated with the fact that NATO allies have not done more to support the U.S. US in its war with Iran. He again made those comments last night and again this morning. He said he was basically unhappy with NATO because of Iran, because of Greenland. He also talked about how he feels the U.S. is not being treated fairly by NATO because the U.S. spends more than other allies. And he singled down specifically Italy, Spain, and the U.K. He was really lashing out at Spain saying the U.S. would no longer be doing any trade with Spain. Worth pointing out that he's

made those threats before and hasn't actually acted on them. So really remarkable. comments there. And of course, like you mentioned, Greenland back in the headlines. I think there's frustration here that Greenland is back in the headlines. People were hoping to talk about Iran, about Ukraine. But we just heard the Danish Prime Minister this morning once again having to talk about how Greenland is not for sale and how Denmark was going to be defending every inch of Danish territory, Mika. And coming up, will Graham Platner drop out of the race for U.S. Senate in Maine? The Democratic contender is under withering pressure after a former girlfriend accused him of sexual assault. We'll have the latest on those developments when Morning Joe comes right back.

Welcome back. Democrat Grant Platner is facing growing calls to suspend his Senate race in the state of Maine. Plattener has until Monday to formally end his campaign. Otherwise, his name will remain on the November general election ballot. Platner's race was upended this week after a former girlfriend accused the nominee of sexual assault. Platterner denied the accusation, but the controversy led to a wave of lawmakers pulling their endorsements. Yesterday, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders, Plattner's most prominent supporter, joined those calls for him to step aside. In a statement, Senator Sanders said he spoke to the nominee and recommended that

Platner end his campaign. As the party looks to move forward and find another nominee, Plattenor is reportedly pushing to have a say in figuring out his successor. Last night, the main Democratic Party executive director posted a statement saying the candidate's team was looking to influence the process of finding his replacement. Unfortunately, Graham Plotner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Plotner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like. We have also reiterated that Graham Plotner must drop out of this race so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins this November.

So as that situation plays out in Maine, there's this new development in the Texas Senate race. The Texas Tribune is now reporting that Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton may have broken the same state election law that he's trying to tighten. Paxton appears to have used an address where he did not live while voting in six elections over the past two years, including a May's runoff that made him the GOP nominee for U.S. Senator. That's according to records that were obtained by the Tribune and ProPublica. Paxton is currently in the middle of a divorce, and the Tribune reports that last year, his wife stated in a divorce filing that Paxton had moved out of the home.

but the Attorney General continued to list that home's address on his voter registration forms. The reporting also comes despite Paxton's own warning to voters that, in his words, it is illegal to misrepresent your residence on election records. The Texas Tribune points out that voting in an election where the voter is ineligible, is a second-degree felony under Texas state law and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. A campaign spokesperson for Paxton responded to the Tribune in ProPublica reporting

stating that Paxton is a national leader on election integrity with a long record of defending Texas elections and that, quote, attempting to insinuate otherwise and tear him down with a baseless, live-filled tabloid story is not real reporting.

We shall keep you posted. Still ahead on Morning Joe, we'll bring an update on a scary situation in New York City where a high-rise building is starting to buckle. What city officials are saying about any potential threat of collapse, that's where we come right back. A live shot there of New York City, the Empire State Building, and not far from that iconic skyscraper is a real issue this morning. New York City's buildings commissioner says that a buckling high-rise under construction in Midtown Manhattan is stable. at least for now. Fire officials say they received a call just before 8 a.m. yesterday about falling bricks near this housing development, not far from Grand Central Station. A safety manager reported that a steel beam was compromised on this high-rise's 21st floor, and the FDNY confirmed

that two support columns were buckling. The building, which was once part of Pfizer's global headquarters is being converted into a luxury rental complex. It was evacuated yesterday, along with several neighboring buildings. The buildings commissioner says that installation of temporary shoring began yesterday and that jacks have been set up to try to stabilize the structure. New steel is being installed as well. The question then will be, can they shore this building up to make it safe? Will they have to deconstruct it? It's a big deal. It's, if you know Manhattan, it's just to the east of Grand Sustration, but right on 42nd Street, not far from the U.N., a very, very busy part of town. Coming up here on Morning Joe, President Trump is set to meet with this morning with Ukrainian

President Vladimir Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. Trump's also going to sit down a little later with serious president before holding a news conference. And then he'll return to Washington, D.C. tonight. We, of course, will follow all of those movements and bring you more coverage of Trump's comments earlier this morning regarding the future of the war in Iran following the latest series of strikes by the United States. We're back in a moment with all that and more. Coming up with affordability, a top concern for voters. Governor Mikey Cheryl of New Jersey has signed new legislation meant to lower electricity

costs by targeting utility companies and AI data centers. The governor joins us straight ahead. talk about that and the World Cup final, which will be held in her state when Morning Joe comes right back. It's Wildwood, New Jersey. Jersey, sure. We ordered that shot up for our next guest. Democratic Governor Mikey Sherrill of the great state of New Jersey.

She served nearly a decade in the United States Navy, leading missions as a helicopter pilot before moving to elected office. Mike Barnacle, back with us as well. Governor, good morning. So as we teased and as you sat down and started chatting to us in the break, you have some new initiatives here about trying to combat rising utility costs in New Jersey, a problem not unique to your state, but certainly one, a densely populated state. You're suffering acutely. Talk to us about, you know, how has this affected Guard State residents,

and how do you try to make it a little easier? As I went around the state, we had an affordability crisis. I don't think that's news to anybody, but one of those key drivers of costs was our utility costs. They had gone up by double digits last year. They were set to go up by another double digits this year. And it was largely because between data centers and utility companies and our grid operator, they were making a whole host of decisions, many of them poor decisions, that were not leading to better utility and better grid, but were actually leading to higher costs.

But they all made money. You know, they were never left holding the bag, but the rate payers were. So when I got into office, I declared a state of emergency on utility costs. In the middle of my inaugural dress, I stopped it and froze rate hikes with executive orders. We've continued to expand power generation. So we have about 18 new solar and battery storage projects just yesterday. I signed legislation to hold data centers and utility companies and the grid operators accountable. And we've just had a report, an independent report put out that said that all of these measures already,

just in the first six months, we'll save New Jersey ratepayers about a billion dollars. So let's talk a little more about the AI data centers because, I mean, it's remarkable how the political discourse has changed in the last six to ten months or so, where AI now is, polls very poorly. People concerned about their jobs, but also concerned about costs and these data centers. But yet, as you sat down here, you're saying, like, New Jersey's a state with a lot of high-tech innovations, you can't just do away with these data centers. You need them. So how do you strike that balance where you, they require power, but yet how do you do that without passing those costs onto your average resident?

That's exactly what we set out to do. And I think we have in New Jersey, we have put out the most comprehensive data center plan with guardrails in the nation. Because while, yes, when we want to take on how we are going to cure cancer or Alzheimer's, it's very important to have that computing power. But at the same time, towns should not be left holding the bag. And in too many cases, we were seeing bad data center operators, either with energy usage, driving up costs for people, water usage. We were seeing environmental damage.

We're seeing just noise pollution. And towns really impacted by that. So that's why we put out these guardrails saying, look, if you're a data center, you have to bring your own power. You have to report to us your power and water usage so we can monitor that. You have to negotiate community benefits. Think like a new turf field or a new community center that a town needs. And each town in New Jersey is different. And so they can negotiate that.

We're going to help as a state do that. You have to build with good union labor and really bring jobs to the area. So in this way, we are giving towns the ability to make decisions for their towns in a way that makes sense to them. And at the same time, provide those guardrails as we move forward with this computing power that we need to drive the economy. You know, utilities in every state have unusual political clout in the legislatures. in your state, last week, for instance, horrendously hot temperatures throughout, have you been able to do anything about shutoff notices to people during periods of unbelievably hot weather or unbelievably cold weather, especially the elderly,

especially people with very little resources with a bunch of kids in the house and they get shut off? That's a death sentence for some of them. You're exactly right, which is why we've continued our program to not have shutoffs during these incredibly hot months. Anybody who needs that can go to nj.gov to look into that program so they don't get shut off. We've also put forth, and I just signed it yesterday, a program because I've frozen rate hikes. But rates are sort of like the cost per gallon of gasoline. If you use more, your bills are still going to go up. So what we've done is put out for some of our lowest income residents, a program where we're going to defray some of the costs. So about $150 over the next three months

with those really high heat bills. So they'll get about $50 a month off on their utility bills. So we can keep driving down costs. But really, the key here is expanding power generation and holding some of these utility companies accountable. They just haven't invested in the grid in the right way. They've been given sort of a blank check. And so we're holding them accountable.

What's the right way to invest in the grid? High-end technologies that are both make your grid more resilient, but also are far cheaper than what they've replaced so far. And so we need a more resilient grid. We've had incredible weather in New Jersey. I mean, we haven't even seen some of this stuff, even in Superstorm Sandy. We're talking about historic snowstorms. We're talking about a historic heat dome.

And then 85 mile per hour microburst in the state. And then flooding in Camden, I was just down there yesterday. I said, oh, is this compared to Sandy? They said, this is worse than Sandy. So we need a resilient grid. Governor, let's turn to politics now. Your win last year, as well as the win of Governor Stamberger in Virginia, were sort of hailed among Democrats as a victory for sort of the moderate wing. We're seeing this year more progressive candidates have success in a number of states.

And, you know, we're seeing a debate. We're seeing in Maine, for instance, a progressive populist, was surging to the nomination in Grant Platner, now, of course, facing a variety of scandals. So two-part question to you, what do you believe candidate Plattner should do? And then secondly, where does your make of the sort of the big tent issue here for Democrats where there's real internal debate about just how progressive do you want to be? I think candidate Plattner needs to have left the race yesterday and become ex-candidate Plattner because it's too important here. We had a saying on the Hill about Susan Collins.

She was always there when we didn't need her. That is not these times. We need people who are going to fight when it matters, not when it doesn't. And that's why Maine is so incredibly. important as we work to take back a majority in the Senate. So he needs to get out right away. As far as, you know, I constantly, and I've heard this from day one, and there's always this, oh, is it moderates, is it progressives? And I don't, you know, quite frankly, I think like most Americans, I'm not sure I see myself in either one of those camps very comfortably. What the American

people want is somebody who is going to fight for them and take on the status quo. And so I think what you're seeing is not necessarily a fight between moderates and progressives, but more of a fight between a new generation of leaders who don't think we've done good enough. So when it comes to our utility grid that's old, as I was talking about, or our housing costs or the affordability crisis, there are all these ways in which the cans have been kicked down the road for far too long. And so what the people want to see is someone who's going to take on these tough problems and solve them. And for too long, people haven't done that. That's what we're fighting for. in the Democratic Party. Well, Governor, we can't let you go without briefly mentioning the World

Cup. Yes. MetLife Stadium in northern New Jersey has hosted a number of matches so far as as it one of them, the Brazil-Morocco one, and of course has the final in about a week and a half. That's going to be a massive event, an international event with significant security presence. President Trump has said he's coming. Can you talk to us about that significant undertaking? Sure. Unfortunately, Trump has been a real curse on our American sports teams from the Knicks to the U.S. team as he got involved, which I had had had a dream of hosting the U.S. team in the final. That's not to be. Nevertheless, we are just thrilled to be hosting these games. I say we're bringing the world to New Jersey, but we already have the world in New Jersey.

We have people from every corner of the planet who live in the state of New Jersey. I think what the World Cup has done is remind people of what a world community we are. One in three people on the globe will be watching the World Cup final at MetLife's stadium. We are thrilled to host it. I'm going to say something that you've probably never heard before. MetLife Stadium looks beautiful. I know it's hard to believe. You saw it. You saw it. It's hard to believe. I've talked to people who've gone to every stadium. It's open. It's sunny. The pitch looks great. We like the grass. I know they're not going to keep it. We like the grass. The pitch looks straight. They should keep the grass. It's one of the biggest stadiums in our country. It has full of people. The crowds are

amazing. The energy is amazing. We are so thrilled to host everyone. Fair to say, not a beloved venue, but it is pulling all, has pulled off the World Cup. Well, although we know better than think that success will rub off on the Giants or the Jets. Democratic governor of New Jersey. Mikey, Cheryl, thank you. Thank you. Madam Governor being on this morning, Joe.

Up next here on Morning Joe, as the White House continues to push the Save America Act, we're going to dig into concerns that President Trump could find new ways to influence elections, even if that bill doesn't end up becoming law. Morning, Joe, we'll be right back with that. Welcome back. President Trump still has not signed into law a major bipartisan housing deal, demanding that his beloved so-called Save America Act get passed first. But most on Capitol Hill, including Republicans, recognize that legislation has little chance of getting through. And it's what the president could do next, could do instead, that has the attention of our next guest.

Joining us now, editor at large for Newsweek. CNBC founder Tom Rogers. He's also senior advisor for a person, MSNNAS parent company. we're always glad to see him. Tom, let's get right into it. Your new opinion piece for Newsweek, you ask this question. If Save America dies, how could Trump still kill elections? So I'll ask you. How could he? Well, clearly he's being frustrated by Congress, also frustrated by the courts. As we know, he has tried to get a citizenship eligibility list done by having the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration put together a database coming from the records of the state. States have refused. Courts have blocked that. He's tried to get the postal service to not be able to deliver mail and ballots for states that don't comply. So he's being frustrated by the courts also in terms of his ability to try to control the elections.

So what might he do? I think a combination of obsession here, and the obsession has become really clear when you order 260 FBI staffers to go back into Fulton County, Georgia, which has been counted and recounted umpteen times, and now all kinds of additional resource being put there, and desperate in that Congress and the court seem to be blocking it. And I think what he'll likely do is a claim that the elections were fraudulent in districts that he believes Democrats shouldn't have won, that he will claim that this is something that can't be finalized until there's a thorough

investigation because there was foreign interference or illegal aliens voted. And I think he will try to order Congress the Republicans in the lame duck session to try to adopt some kind of rule that would not seat newly elected members. And I think all that's going to create an enormous. amount of challenge in the courts, but more importantly, street protests. And then what happens when there's street protests all over the country and how he reacts to them? Such an important conversation. We have to pause real quick, though, because right now, live in Turkey, President Trump is speaking with Ukraine and President Zelensky. Let's listen in

for a minute. Strengthen it. It's really good. Scott, what do you think? Yes, sir, all the Europeans attributed you to saving NATO, and they're they want to do what they're supposed to do and do the right thing. Yeah. There was something very special. And I will say that what they've done with Turkey and President Erdogan has been a friend of mine, he's been a friend of mine for a long time. Strong man, good man, and he's done a fantastic job.

Every road is so everything's perfect. From the airport to the destination, everything's been perfect. So we had a really good meeting. And we thought this would be a good time for President Zelensky and I to meet, and we'll see what we can do. But we've actually developed a good relationship. It's hard to believe, right? From the Oval Office to now, we've developed. I think we've developed a very good relationship.

And this is not the end. No, this is going to be the beginning, maybe. Just the beginning. And, you know, the country has a lot of future. There's such great land, such great assets, such great people. And you have a lot of people. I was with a group in Poland, and you have a lot of people in Poland, which is a terrific country with a really great president.

I happen to endorse him. And he's doing a very good job. And they were saying they love Poland, but they really want to go back. You know, you've got to get a lot of people back when this is over. they left some and they're all I think they're going to come back a big percentage are going to come back

so we're going to have a good talk and we're going to see how it all goes and Mr. President would you like to say something thanks so much Mr. President thank you very much on this meeting and we're thankful as always to your support, American support

Advocates and support thanks for an invitation to this summit And I think that we really, I agree with you, we have a lot what to discuss, what to speak about. And of course, we are thankful for the PIRL program. And we want to share with you some details what we want to raise during our meeting. The air defense is the priority. The second point, or maybe the first, about negotiations. I think, yes, we understand what to do is our estimation, what to do, how to bring this.

and I hope that you will do, I'm sure that you will do everything to solve this war. Yeah, and I'm very happy that our side begin to work on a drone deal, and it's a very good beginning, and I hope that today I will have a possibility to do it also to discuss with you some very important details. Thank you much. We've settled a lot of wars, and this one is the one that I thought maybe would be the easiest, but Putin's a difficult character and this guy's a difficult character. It's not the easiest thing.

There's a lot of commitment and there's a lot of love of the countries and everything else. But I think we've made a lot of progress in the last couple of weeks and we'll see how it all goes. So do you have any questions? President Trump, sir. What the Iran sees fire possibly over? Can we expect the resumption of all-scale hostilities? They are behaving very bad. as they have for 47 years.

And we hit them hard last night after they launched. They launched a couple of, you don't have to know about this. You've got stuff on your mind, but they launched a couple of drones and one rocket, one missile, and at chips because they were in the straight, which they have every right to be. And so we had them very hard last night, very, very, very hard. Probably hit them hard again tonight.

I'll give them a little warning. We're going to hit them hard tonight. But we'll see how it all works out. No, I'm not happy with them. It's like, for instance, we'll have a meeting and we'll talk about the denuclearization of Iran, because that's what the war is. A war is really the denuclearization of Iran. And we'll have a meeting, and we'll talk about just that,

because my whole thing is not about regime change. It's not about that. Although I think it's regime change when you knock out the first group, the second group, and now you're at the, I think that's maybe the ultimate regime change. But that's not what it's about. It's about we don't want them to have nuclear weapons, and it's denuking or denuclearization. And I think we've made a lot of progress,

and they'll get out of the room. We'll talk about it like we're here. They'll agree on everything, and then they'll go have a news conference and say we never even talked about it. They're cuckoo. There's something wrong with these people. And for 47 years,

they've been the bully of the Middle East, And they're not to bully anymore. They're not the bully anymore. And all we want, it's very simple. They can't have a nuclear weapon. That's what I'm there for. President Trump, sir. President Trump.

They'd use it, and we're not going to let that out. President Trump, sir. Daniel? You've made a career making deals in very challenging situations. Speaking to President Zelenskyy, speaking to President Putin, in your view, sir, what is the most pragmatic pathway forward

to finding a long-term peace deal in Russia? I just think you're going to make a deal? Look, it's been... This deal has been in the works for a long time. It's got the pluses, the minuses. They know what it is. He knows what it is better than anybody.

And I just think it's sometimes, you know, I used an analogy, and it sounds simple, but it's sort of true. You have two kids in a park, and they don't like each other, and they start fighting. Sometimes you have to let them fight, let them see that it's tough, you know. It's tough. fighting is tough. And he's done an amazing job. Look, he's been, he's been very effective. And he's had the best equipment because he's had our equipment. And he's had great, but somebody has to use that equipment. And you have a lot of brave people that are using that equipment.

And Russia, you know, it's a big, it's a big country, but it's a big force. Russia's always been a big fighting force. So, you know, it's, but I really believe it's ready. It's very interesting because you'd almost say it's worse than ever, and maybe it isn't. Sometimes with war and you study war, and I've studied it so long, for years long before I did this, sometimes it's when it gets the worst. And I don't know that it's the worst right now. It's consistently bad.

They lost, 25,000 people were lost kids, young people, last. last month and we had a month 35, two months ago. And I would say more Russians and, but it's just they're people, they're people. And there's actually very little difference between the people. I mean, it's like the Russians and Ukrainian people and they can get along. But it's a nasty war. Thousands and thousands, mostly soldiers are being killed.

the battlefields, I see pictures and it's horrible. He thinks it's horrible. We all think it's horrible. And the president wants to get it done, and I believe that President Putin wants to get it done, and that should be a good combination. Mr. President, what is your assessment on Ukraine's strike on Russian oil refineries and military factories? Where are you from?

Ukraine. Frase the question differently, please. Ukraine deliver a long strikes on Russian. military factories. We're listening to President Trump, sitting alongside Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the NATO summit in Turkey. We're going to stay with this. And when this wraps up, Stephanie Ruhl will pick up MS Now's live coverage.