Morning Joe - Trump: ICE can't give up traffic stops

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

July 15, 2026: 8am — Trump: ICE can't give up traffic stops 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.

You've heard the president talk about how he wants to effectively double the funding for national defense. Look, we live in dangerous times. We're fighting communism on our own shores, and we're fighting evil terrorists and tyrants around the world. And we have to be able to protect our national security. The agents who killed the person in May yesterday were reportedly not using body-born cameras. And that's despite DHS officials coming in Congress and repeatedly saying over the last few months that they want to expand body camera. Does there need to be accountability on DHS from Congress here? I don't know anything about this event. Okay, I was a little busy yesterday, so I'm going to reserve judgment. I know that there was a tragic shooting and I'm not going to comment on because I don't know.

And you guys can mock me for not knowing that. I worked about 22 hours in the last few days and I did not get the briefing on that yet. I will this morning. Yeah, you know, I'm not going to mock you for it, Mike. I'm just going to call you a liar because that's what you are. You know exactly what happened yesterday. You know what happened in Minneapolis. happened in Minneapolis. You understand that un-American actions are continuing to accelerate across

America while Susan Collins votes for $70 billion in ICE funding that has no reforms attached to it. You have Americans being gunned down in the streets of Minneapolis by masked men. That's un-American. You have fathers, husbands, grandfathers being gunned down in Houston, gunned down in the street for no reason in Biddleford, Maine, and the killers whisked away, no justice, no investigations, no real investigations allowed by local authorities who have seen their city streets being turned into killing, and you don't know about that, Mike? What do you know about? You know about, oh my God, you know about $350 billion that you say is needed to fight communism in America?

Do you know how dangerous you sound, Mike? I saw conservative commentators who were still conservative, unlike you, unlike the president, unlike so many other Republicans that I used to work with in Congress saying every conservative show, should be afraid when a speaker of the House says we want to use $350 billion against Americans. People that you call communists because they believe in more affordable health care.

People that you call communists because they believe that billionaires and multinational corporations should pay their fair share in taxes. People you call communists because the income disparity between the richest Americans and the poorest Americans continue to grow. Now, let's think now. That's real commie thinking. No, actually, it was Alan Greenspan himself who said the greatest threat to American capitalism is income disparity. The kind of income disparity that you continue to generate, are you on American, Mike? Are Republicans that continue to do what Alan Greenspan said for a decade?

was the greatest risk to American democracy and American capitalism? You are an American? Are they un-American? And as far as immigrants go, I know you don't really know, because you didn't know what happened yesterday, so you probably don't know that there was a guy named Ronald Wilson-Ragan, who was the 40th president of the United States, and he used his farewell speech to America, talking about the importance of immigrants coming to this country,

like the fathers, like the sons, like the husbands, like the workers, that you're allowing to be gunned down by ice. Time and time again, in American streets. And what happens afterwards, the killers are whisked away? the killers are whisked away and they're protected from justice just like King George III

would surely protect royal troops the gunned down patriots 250 years ago whisk them away from the scene of the crime where the patriots are gunned down here whisking these masked federalized troops

away Willie from the very men who are gun down without cause. I want to know, what does Ken Paxson think about a Hispanic father, a Hispanic grandfather, a man who'd been in America for over 30 years, misidentified and shot to death in the street of Houston. What does Ken Paxson think about that? What does Susan I'm sure she's disturbed. Or what's her word? What's her word?

What's her word? What's she say? I'm concerned. Maybe it's concerned. I'm sure she's concerned. I would be concerned. About what happened in the streets of Maine? A sweet, kind, young man that community member said was so kind, so loving.

Getting gunned down in front of his little girl. Through a car window in front of his family? Where's that kill? What justice for that killer? What justice for that killer? What justice for the men and women who continue to let American streets turn into killing zones? Communists? They're worried about, maybe they shouldn't be worried about fascists.

There he is. There's the young man being remembered. the young father. He had two jobs. The young worker. Look at that face. That is the face of a man who typifies what Ronald Reagan said

his last night in the White House. It is men like this that will keep America for every young, forever growing, forever American. You can go to France, and you'll never be called a Frenchman, Reagan said. You can go to Turkey or Germany,

and you will never be Turkish or a German. But you come to America, and you will become an American. And Willie, according to the New York Times, this 25-year-old young man, a young father, was left dead in the street with his wife weeping next to his wife, weeping next to his body. His three-year-old girl saw the whole thing happen, traumatized for life.

They lived in an apartment building. He worked as a door jazz driver and cleaned a veterinary center at night. He held two jobs. He was seen in the community as someone who was so kind. The whole family was seen as so kind. And all of a sudden, this happens to them for no reason it appears. and according to his father, he had legal status to work in America. And from all the reports we've heard so far, Willie, he was not the intended target of ICE. Well, that's the important point. They shot the wrong person. They killed the wrong person again, again, because he got into a car that they thought was the car that belonged to someone that kind of looked like him maybe or whatever the reason was.

Again, shooting into a car, which violates every protocol of every well-trained. police officer at any police department in the United States. That should be obvious. And to your point, Joe, about Susan Collins, when she voted for the $70 billion, as you just pointed out, to support this operation that we watched again two days ago in Maine and the week before in Houston have deadly consequences, she said, I voted for it, but here's what I got out of it. Body cameras and real investigations when bad things happen. Well, no body cameras. Again, in the case of this shooting in Maine and no real investigations of any of these. It took six months for federal investigators to give evidence over in Minnesota to state officials so that they could then

look into it. These are not real investigations. This is not real accountability. And for Mike Johnson to say, I worked a 22-hour day yesterday doing what? We don't know, sweeping up after President Trump or chasing around whatever the president's requests or whim of the day is because that seems to be his job. I guess there are going to be a lot of staff firings in Speaker Johnson's office if they didn't brief him on this story. And again, Joe, just to go back to the core, as you bring up Ronald Reagan principle that conservatives have talked about since I can remember, which is the idea of jackbooted thugs,

as they called them around Ruby Ridge, or they called them around Waco, you know, marauding through the streets, going after people in this country. It's happening. It's happening in real time in our story. streets in this country. It's happening in real time in our streets, and maybe those people driving into their country clubs with don't tread on me license plates, on their Maseratis, maybe they should take those off and understand that if they still support this administration and their actions,

then they actually are on the side of King George III. They actually are on the side of the people that conservatives once called jackbooted thugs after Ruby Ridge and after Waco. They are the ones that are allowing the killings to go on in the streets of America based on faulty identification and no due process. The seemingly tough. Maybe Democrats need to be the one to start flying the flag of don't tread on. me because that's what this administration's doing. And there are reports that tomorrow night, the president is going to speak, trying to seize this midterm election away from voters. And actually trying to say that two Democratic senators elected in Georgia are there improperly

because he's got a bunch of fools, a bunch of bumpkins around him. that will tell him whatever he wants to hear. Is there any Republican on Capitol Hill that actually has the courage to do what Barry Goldwater did when he walked over to Nixon and say, Mr. President, it's over? Does anybody have the guts to tell Donald Trump? Mr. President, do not go

where you're thinking about going on elections or it will be over. Do not try to steal these elections. Do not try because you think that Republicans are going to do so badly this fault. Do not try to take the vote away from Americans. Because that's exactly what this president has been trying to do with a Save Act that would actually take away the vote.

45 out of 50 states, you wouldn't be able to use your driver's license. Women who got married and changed their names might not be able to vote. You can go down the list. trying to seize voter rolls state after state after state after state and then saying, oh, you can't get mail and ballots if you aren't in a state that allows the federalization of voting. This is all about the federalization, the federalization of policing, the federalization of killing, the federalization of voting, the federalization of everything. And by the way, I just have to say one final thing. Mike keeps talking about communism, Willie? You know, Ron Paul said yesterday, yeah, there is a real threat when it comes to communism, when it comes to socialism.

But it's not what Republicans are saying. It's actually coming from Republicans. Here, here the preeminent libertarian of our time who has warned more about socialism and communism than anybody else is saying that the Republicans' seizing of private industry, like Intel. is the greatest socialist threat that we face as Americans. That was an extraordinary piece by Ron Paul, who obviously has the credentials to back up what he's talking about saying. You want socialism? You've got it in the Trump administration.

Basically, he calls it corporatism or state capitalism where the government takes a stake in these companies and then has a say. That's not capitalism, Ron Paul points out, has a say in how these companies operate and dictates what happens to consumers. There's a lot swirling around this morning, fair to say. And there sure is, including this morning's confirmation hearing before Todd Blanche to become

Attorney General Al Vitale is standing by live on Capitol Hill when Morning Joe comes right back. Welcome back. President Trump says that immigration and customs enforcement agents, ICE, should continue conducting traffic stops despite a pair of deadly encounters in just the last week. The president's social media statement released within the last hour comes just a day after the agency direct to officers to largely suspend that practice amid widespread outrage. MS now reporter Britt Miller has more, starting with the latest from Maine. The demonstrations centered around 25-year-old Johann Sebastian Guerrero, a Colombian father authorized to work in the U.S. who was gunned down by an ICE agent Monday. Several shots can be heard on this neighbor's home camera as surveillance video raises more questions about what led to this shooting. We have to warn you, the images are graphic.

But you see a car slowly driving in circles before ICE officers approach the driver's side with their guns drawn and drag his body out of the car. A former ICE attorney in disbelief. On the case of Johan, that was so startling to see that the first reaction of, of the ICE officer as he's pulling out this man's limp body from the cars to put handcuffs on him instead of asking him or trying to figure out if he needed medical attention. The Department of Homeland Security claims, without evidence, quote, the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon. Main Senator Angus King says Guerrero was not the intended target.

It was the same story last week in Texas. when ICE agents looking for someone else stopped and killed Lorenzo Salgado Arajo. Arajo's brother, Victor Salgado, was also in that van. We spoke to his attorney. He's reiterated this to me multiple times as we were putting his testimony together, that at no point was an agent's life in danger. They did not know who they were. It was stopped and then shoot almost simultaneously.

Contradicting DHS claims that Salgado Arrajo, weaponized the vehicle, his brother still in ICE custody this morning. Some now worry the agency may be beyond repair. I used to think that it was salvageable. I don't think it is anymore. I think that the foundation of what ICE is built on is so broad. And at this point that the only way to cure it is to dismantle it all. And none of the ICE officers involved in these deadly shootings were body cameras, despite Congress approving $20 million for the devices months ago. Borders are Tom Holman blaming the government shutdowns for that delay. Back to you.

That was MS Now's Britt Miller with that report. Still ahead here on Morning Joe, we're going to bring an update on the drama surrounding the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which has been drained once again. Plus, writer E. Jean Carroll finally receives her court-ordered payment from President Trump. We'll have details on that next on Morning Joe. You just saw it there. President Trump continues to insist that the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool was slashed by Vandals despite offering no evidence, none, to support those claims.

Trump stated on social media that the pool was drained on Monday to, quote, fix the scars and damage caused by vandals, and that it will be refilled and put back into service soon. Trump also claimed that the so-called vandals made slacks. 300 yards long and then pulled the pool floor upward with great force. But there are, as you might imagine, growing questions about those claims because video and images that were taken of the drain pool do not appear to show any signs that the pool was slashed. Prior to draining the pool, several algae blooms appeared, along with reports of peeling paint. After a more than $16 million renovation for America's 250th anniversary, now at least

these four people have been charged with deliberately damaging the pool, all have pleaded not guilty, and again, no real evidence that they did. Elsewhere, court records show that the writer E. Jean Carroll has finally received the $5.6 million owed to her by President Donald Trump. This comes more than three years after a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing her in the mid-1990s and then later defaming her. The money had been deposited with the court while Trump appealed. But last month, the Supreme Court declined the president's request to take up the case. The payment appears to have gone out. Up next here on Morning Joe, we're going to go live to Capitol Hill for today's big confirmation hearings,

where it's unclear if the president's former personal attorney has enough support to become the United States Attorney General. Keep it right here on Morning Joe. It's going to be a big day there on Capitol Hill, where in just a few moments, President Trump's former personal lawyer and the current acting attorney, General, Todd Blanche, will testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing to make his AG role permanent. Also today, the confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, who's president Trump's pick to be the next Director of National Intelligence, will be held before the Senate Intel Committee. Let's bring in MS now, Senior Capitol Hill Reporter and the host

of way too early, Allie Vitale. Allie, good morning, great to see you. Let's take them one at a time. Let's start with Blanche, who we just saw walk by you a moment ago there in the hallway. What will you be looking out for? I guess he was getting an early look at the hearing room, Lamere, because I didn't expect to see the acting attorney general so early before the hearing is set to gavel in. I was able to try to ask him a few questions. He did walk directly next to me. He ignored them all, everything from what he hoped to get across to lawmakers this morning to if he had any regrets over his handling of the Epstein files. because certainly the Epstein files are going to be in full view when that hearing gavels into session.

It's something that we expect every Democrat to bring up, but not just Democrats either, because there are Republicans on this committee. Specifically, I'm thinking of Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, who have told our team they are not settled in their assessment of Blanche. And if I look at past hearings, Kennedy has been one of those Republicans that has asked both Blanche's predecessor in Pam Bondi, as well as Cash Patel, the head of the FBI, about their handling of the Epstein files. And so I imagine that is going to translate

to what Kennedy gets to ask Blanche about as well. The other two names that I'm keeping track of on the Republican side of this committee are Tom Tillis and John Cornyn. We sometimes talk about them as members of that Yolo caucus. You only live once, and they're not coming back to the Senate. They do have questions for Blanche,

specifically around that $1.776 billion dollar slush fund out of DOJ for Tillis, he's got questions about if January 6th insurrectionists would be able to access that. For Cornyn, he has questions about the IRS portion of the settlement as it relates to the president, although a judge already had their say on that this week as well. And for Blanche, I think the thing I continue to keep in mind is that the assurances that he will have to give some of these senators to get their yes vote are some of the very same things that could end up putting him crosswise with Trump and the administration itself. so it is going to be a high wire act here for Todd Blanche whenever it kicks off this morning. And now let's quickly turn to the Jay Clayton hearings as well.

They come just a day before. It's believed that President Trump is going to give a prime time address to use material gathered by the Intel Committee to claim, again, that falsely the 2020 election was rigged. Yeah, that is one of the things that they are going to likely press Jay Clayton about. And I think it's important to remember the way that the Clayton hearing even came to. be because it's in large part in response to acting director of national intelligence, Bill Pulte, who has no experience in that realm and no real reason to have that job other than his loyalty to President Trump. It caused massive bipartisan outcry up here on Capitol Hill. Clayton was largely seen in bipartisan fashion as the more palatable pick, but in the intervening weeks since

Trump abruptly canceled the first iteration of this confirmation hearing, it only gave Clayton more things that he's going to have to answer for, you're right to bring up the primetime address that is looming for tomorrow, rife with speculation over what this administration is going to try to do to bring some kind of evidence to these lies and false claims that they've made for years about the 2020 election being stolen. But then there's also those five new subpoenas of New York Times reporters for their reporting over security concerns on the new Air Force One. That came out of SDNY. That is Clayton's current home. He is currently the head there. So all of of that is now going to be on the table, too. A lot of testy confirmation hearings this morning

with very high-stakes questions and answers. Absolutely. A busy day ahead for you. MS now, senior Capitol Hill reporter, Allie Vitale. Allie, we appreciate it so much. Up next year, our morning, Joe, we're going to go through more about what we're learning about that aforementioned primetime speech that President Trump is slated to give from the White House tomorrow night. Morning Joe is back in just a moment with that. It's really big news. It's really, really big ones. And our country has to shape up. But what we're going to be talking about Thursday is it doesn't get bigger.

Because without free and fair elections, you don't have a country. As President Trump teasing his primetime speech set for tomorrow night, two administration officials have told MS now that the speech will focus on voting machine security and alleged foreign efforts to influence U.S. elections. The text of the speech is not final, but Trump is expected to release a declassified intelligence documents on both of those subjects. The officials tell MS now it's not clear if Trump will present any credible new evidence specifically regarding claims of interference during the 2020 election.

We will once again note that extensive intel reviews under both the Trump and Biden administrations found no basis for claims that the 2020 election was started. We do know, though, that four years earlier, Russia certainly did meddle in the 2016 elections to Trump's benefit. Joining us now, former U.S. ambassador to Denmark, Rufus Gifford, he also served as Chief of Protocol under President Biden. Editor at large for Newsweek, CNBC founder Tom Rogers with us. He's also senior advisor of Versant, MSN's parent company. And we're happy to also be joined by former State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, Dave Aramberg. A great group. My thanks to you all. Rufus will start with you. We're going to go, David,

minute as a reminder about the lack of evidence and the legal challenges and already failed about the 2020 election. Let's have you talk about the politics of it. There are a lot of Republicans who, this is the last thing they want President Trump to talk about. This is ancient history. It's six years ago. It's not popular with the public. It reminds people of what happened on January 6th and the like, yet Trump persists to do it anyway. Oh, absolutely, Jonathan. I mean, I think this, look, the more that Democrats are, the more the Republicans, the president, the Republican Party are talking about what happened six years ago, an election that, as we have said, has been, probably the election that has been counted, recounted, litigated more

than any election in the world, in particular in Georgia, the more that we need to be focused, we can be talking about the issues that I think American voters really want to talk about. I can't think of an American voter that's a swing voter in the 2026 election. that has any interest in relitigating the Georgia election of 2020. It is a political win for Democrats. There's no doubt that that is true, but we also have to seize on it. I don't think we've been particularly effective as a party in seizing on these opportunities of the Trump administration.

And there's even some speculation that he'll claim that the two senators, Warnock and Ossoff, who won in 2020, that they won so illegitimately and shouldn't be seated, which, of course, there's zero, zero evidence of that. So Dave Arring, let's go to you, as a reminder. Just how many court cases did the Trump people bring up post November 2020 and remind those watching at home just how many they won? Oh, yeah, it was about 62. They lost all them except for one small procedural victory. But from the substance of it, they lost every substantial case they brought. Anything related to whether the 2020 election was stolen. And if you want to help John Ossoff get elected in the landslide, go after him, call him illegitimate and say, election was stolen. I mean, that's a gift to the Democrats. This is a nightmare for the GOP.

The issue of a stolen 2020 election is a loser for Republicans. You're right. 60 plus judges already rejected the claims, including Bill Barr, the Attorney General, and the head of Trump's cybersecurity agency. But this is a pretext to an attempt to challenge a 2026 and 2028 election results and to try to federalize future elections. So Trump is actually looking for. forward, not backwards, and he's going to try to conflate foreign bad actors trying to sow discord, which is true with the election was stolen, which is not true. And after all, if the 2020 election was really stolen, don't you think we would have seen at least a single criminal charge from this Department of Justice relating to this? This is the same agency that indicted

James Comey over seashells, but nothing from DOJ related to election interference. That tells you all you need to know. No, Dave, you're so right. Yes, it's a little bit about Trump's ego about losing in 2020, but Tom Rogers, it's far more about setting up pretenses for 26 and 28. He's trying to get the Save America Act pushed. Many people feel that would really restrict voting. It seems unlikely.

It seems like it won't go anywhere in the hill. But you've been thinking about ways he can sort of achieve similar objectives. Absolutely. I think we have a combination of desperation and obsession on Trump's part here to do something to overturn the 2026 election. clearly he's been frustrated by Congress, not passing Save America. He's been frustrated by the courts who have shot down his attempts to change process when it comes to the midterms.

And the question is, so what does he do? And I think the speech tomorrow night, along with a number of other speeches he's given, is about laying the groundwork for him to take action. He's going to claim that the 26 midterms were rigged if Democrats in key districts win that would turn Congress into Democratic majorities. He will say the results can't be finalized until it's all investigated because there was foreign interference or illegal immigrants voting. He would then probably order Congress to organize around Republican majorities and say you can't

seat members in districts where we're questioning the results. I think what would follow from that is enormous street protest, probably stimulants, violence on his part by bringing in troops. And then it could get really scary. There's something that hasn't been focused on at all called PEDs or Presidential Emergency Action Documents. These are highly classified documents that have been in place since the Eisenhower administration. When you hear Trump saying, I have a lot of powers that people don't even know about or I have very strong emergency powers, he's probably referring to those. They've never been used. They're in place to be signed, in the event of a nuclear attack and civil society totally disintegrates and president has to take

some kind of emergency action. I think he's laying the groundwork to be able to put those in effect, arrest and detain people without trial, seize election machines. Obviously, all that would be litigated. But we know the courts move a lot slower than the administration would move in that kind of circumstance. And I think we're headed with all this communist threat talk of bigger threat than World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor in 9-11. He's talking about something that he thinks is he's going to be able to turn into a major crisis to take actions like that. We'd be naive, not to think so. Yeah, we are seeing some Democratic officials starting to sound the alarm on that. All right. Everybody sit tight. Everybody stick with us. We're going to sneak in a quick break,

and then be right back with more. Morning Joe. So we've got live pictures there of the Capitol Hill hearing room where Todd Blanche will soon be seated, Dave Arrenberg, to face questions. If you were on that panel, if you were on a law, who got to pose a question, what would you ask him? Jonathan, I'd want to know why he chose to interview Galane Maxwell himself, instead of a career prosecutor with more knowledge of the case. Why was Galane Maxwell moved to a minimum security facility only a week after that interview where sex offenders are not allowed to be?

Did Blanche order that or approve that? And I'd also want to know if he would put in writing that the $1.776 billion dollar weaponization fund or anti-weaponization fund is dead. He's refused to do that in the past. Also, I'd want to know if he's going to authorize payouts to January 6 insurrectionists. Now, that's different than the slush fund, because even with a designated slush fund or without it, DOJ can still approve financial settlements with agreed parties. Blanche will have a lot of discretion to payout claims to January 6ers, including the violent ones using taxpayer money. He needs to shut that door once and for all. We, of course, will be watching those hearings, both Blanche and Clayton on Capitol Hill

throughout the day here on MS now. Rufus, final word of the morning to you. Yeah, look, I think that for folks who are paying close attention to the 2026 election, this week is critical between this hearing today, between Trump's speech tomorrow night. For those of us who love democracy and who believe that this is something special that we have to protect. I'm sitting here with Tom Rogers, who you were one of the clairvoyant voices in advance of 2020 election that essentially predicted part of what Trump was about to do. And I think we need to listen to you. And I think that our side needs to be well-funded and well-organized and have these conversations in these months in advance of the election to ensure that it doesn't actually happen again.

And Tom, it comes also, as the president, doubles. down in support of tactics that cost two people their lives on the streets of America this week at the hands of ICE agents. It shows what he's willing to do to stimulate violence that gives him the excuse to go in and do something extraordinary. I think we'd all be naive not to think he isn't laying the groundwork for something absolutely atrocious come the midterms. We certainly on this show will be watching out for it. Former U.S. Ambassador Denmark, Rufers Gifford, former state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, Dave Arrenberg, and editor at large for Newsweek, Tom Rogers.

My thanks to you all, that was a great conversation. That does it for us this morning. We'll see you again at 6 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.