‘Damn, stupid ballroom’: Top Dem rips Trump’s White House vanity project

0:01 And Congressman Brendan Boyle joins us now Congressman,

0:02 let's start with you letter to the CBO.

0:05 It was back in March, and at the time you asked them to estimate

0:09 how much a war lasting more than four or five

0:13 weeks might cost and what the estimates might be

0:16 as well for WERE PUTTING BOOTS ON THE GROUND.

0:19 NOW IT ALMOST FEELS QUAINT TO BE ASKING ABOUT

0:21 A WAR THAT LASTS ONLY FOUR OR FIVE WEEKS.

0:23 HAVE YOU GOTTEN ANYWHERE WITH THAT REQUEST?

0:26 WELL, WE'RE STILL WAITING TO HEAR BACK FROM CPO.

0:28 THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE A IT'S A VERY DIFFICULT JOB.

0:29 PART OF WHAT MAKES THEIR JOB EVEN MORE DIFFICULT IS WHEN

0:32 YOU HAVE AN ADMINISTRATION THAT MAY NOT BE FULLY COOPERATING WITH THEM.

0:36 BUT YOU CITED EARLIER THE THAT IS ACCURATE IN TERMS OF THE FIRST TWO WEEKS.

0:44 IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO THE COST RIGHT NOW.

0:47 KEEP IN MIND, WE KNOW THIS FROM OTHER SOURCES,

0:49 THE AVERAGE DAILY COST AT THE VERY BEGINNING THE BUSINESS OF $25 BILLION

0:52 THE BUSINESS THING WAS BETWEEN 1 .5 BILLION TO 2 BILLION A DAY.

0:54 QUICKLY DO THE MATH, LITERALLY WITHIN TWO WEEKS YOU'VE ALREADY HIT

0:58 THE $25 BILLION DOLLAR IT'S NOT A FIGURE,

1:00 SO THERE IS NO QUESTION WE ARE WELL NORTH OF THAT.

1:02 I WOULD SUSPECT PROBABLY MORE THAN DOUBLE.

1:04 IT APPEARS ONCE AGAIN FROM WHAT WE'VE HEARD FROM THE PRESIDENT

1:08 THIS EVENING THAT ANY HOPE OF THE CASE OF A PEACE PLAN,

1:12 A REAL CEASE-FIRE REMAINING IN PLACE, MAYBE FALLING APART ALL OVER AGAIN.

1:18 AND REPUBLICAN Congressman Derek Van Orden,

1:19 he posted this on X in response to the White House saying that basically Iran's,

1:24 you know, return message on a possible

1:28 peace plan was not CONGRESSMAN ORDEN WRITES, QUOTE, START BOMBING AGAIN.

1:33 IT IS THE ONLY THING THEY UNDERSTAND.

1:35 WHAT'S YOUR RESPONSE?

1:37 MY REACTION TO NOT ONLY MY CONGRESSIONAL COLLEAGUE FROM WISCONSIN'S POST

1:42 AS WELL AS ONE OF SEVERAL UNHINGED POSTS THAT DONALD TRUMP MADE TODAY.

1:47 INTERESTING WAY OF CELEBRATING MOTHER'S DAY, DONALD TRUMP HAS.

1:50 HE SEEMS TO DO THAT ON HOLIDAYS.

1:52 ON HOLIDAYS, TOO.

1:53 I WON'T REMIND EVERYONE ABOUT THE EASTER POST, WHICH WAS OUTRAGEOUS.

1:57 BUT MY REACTION IS THE BOMBING OF IRAN IS NOT ACHIEVING ANYTHING.

2:02 WE ARE ACTUALLY LOST.

2:04 OF COURSE, WE SEE THAT EVERY DAY WHEN WE LOOK AT GAS PRICES

2:07 NOW NORTH OF AN AVERAGE OF $4 .50 A GALLON WHEN THEY WERE LITERALLY,

2:12 YOU KNOW, WHAT, UNDER $3 A GALLON, FEBRUARY 28th.

2:16 HERE WE ARE TWO AND A HALF MONTHS LATER, WE'VE HAD MORE THAN 50% INCREASE.

2:19 BUT IN TERMS OF THE STRAIGHT OF HORMUZ,

2:22 WE DIDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT JUST TWO MONTHS AGO.

2:25 NOW WE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT IT.

2:27 NOW SOMEHOW THE WHITE HOUSE WOULD BE CLAIMING SUCCESS IF WE GOT IT REOPENED.

2:31 THUS FAR, THE ONLY THING THIS ADMINISTRATION IS REALLY

2:34 INTERESTED IN PAYING FOR IS MORE BOMBS AND A BALLROOM.

2:37 AND YOU REALLY CAN'T GIVE A DAMN

2:39 AT THE END OF THE DAY ABOUT THE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS.

2:42 CONGRESSMAN, LET ME PLAY FOR YOU BENJAMIN NANYAHU.

2:45 HE WAS ON 60 MINUTES TODAY.

2:46 HE WAS ASKED ABOUT the conclusion of the war and whether or not it was going

2:48 to end take a listen to what he said is the war with Iran over and if it

2:54 isn't who will decide when it is I

2:57 think it accomplished a great deal but it's not

2:59 over because there's still a nuclear material enriched

3:02 uranium that has to be taken out of Iran.

3:05 How do you envision the highly enriched uranium will be removed from Iran?

3:10 You go in and you take it out.

3:12 With what?

3:14 Special forces from Israel, special forces of the United States?

3:16 Well, I'm not going to talk about military means,

3:19 but what President Trump has said to me, I want to go in there.

3:24 I mean, some troubling information in that in the sense that he's,

3:27 you know, we don't know if it's true or not,

3:29 but assuming it's true that he's saying that President

3:30 Trump is saying he wants to go in there.

3:32 But also more importantly,

3:32 the idea that the only way to get the enriched uranium out

3:35 means that you're going to have to get boots on the ground,

3:37 which we were hearing earlier is almost an unimaginable

3:40 operation that would put American soldiers at great risk,

3:43 because it wouldn't be a couple of hours.

3:45 It would be potentially a couple of days or even longer.

3:47 What do you make of that?

3:48 That the war is not over.

3:50 It's not over until we get the enriched uranium out and THE PRESIDENT

3:52 HAS TOLD THE ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER HE WANTS TO GO IN THERE.

3:55 I'M NOT VERY SURPRISED BY WHAT PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU JUST SAID.

3:59 LET'S NOT FORGET, HE'S BEEN SAYING THIS FOR 30

4:01 HE HAS BEEN ADVOCATING FOR THIS WAR WITH IRAN

4:04 AND ONLY NOW DID WE HAVE A PRESIDENT

4:06 WHO WAS DUMB ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY LISTEN TO HIM.

4:10 ALSO, LET'S NOT FORGET THAT NETANYAHU WILL BE GOING

4:10 TO THE POLLS IN ABOUT FOUR OR HE IS

4:14 UNDER ENORMOUS PRESSURE IN TERMS OF HIS RIGHT-WING COALITION

4:19 TO KEEP THIS WAR GOING AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.

4:22 I THINK FOR BOTH OF THOSE REASONS I DESCRIBED,

4:24 I AM NOT SURPRISED AT ALL THAT NETANYAHU WILL BE PUSHING

4:26 AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE IN ORDER TO KEEP THIS CONFLICT GOING.

4:30 DO YOU THINK HE'S MISCHARACTERIZING HIS CONVERSATIONS WITH THE PRESIDENT?

4:33 I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WHAT THE HECK THOSE TWO TALK ABOUT WHEN THEY, I MEAN,

4:38 I ALREADY KNOW HOW UNHINGED IT IS WHEN THE CAMERAS

4:41 ARE ON IN TERMS OF WHAT DONALD TRUMP SAYS.

4:43 SO ONE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT HE TALKS

4:45 ABOUT BEHIND IT'S ABOUT 10% ON IRAN AND 90%

4:48 ON THE BALLROOM AND THE ARCH DE TRUMP

4:51 THAT HE'S ATTEMPTING TO BUILD OUTSIDE ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY.

4:55 I APOLOGIZE, THE BIG, BEAUTIFUL BLUE REFLECTING POOL.

4:59 CONGRESSMAN, I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE REDISTRICTING WARS THAT ARE HAPPENING.

5:03 TWO BIG LEGAL SETBACKS FOR DEMOCRATS THIS WEEK.

5:07 AND THE NEW YORK TIMES PUT IT LIKE THIS QUOTE, PUT BUT BLONTLY,

5:11 REPUBLICANS HAVE ROUGHLY 10 MORE HOUSE SEATS THAT FAVOR THEM THAN THEY DID

5:15 JUST TEN DAYS AGO AND DEMOCRATS ARE SUDDENLY GRAPPLING WITH A NEW LANDSCAPE.

5:19 SO YOU'RE QUOTED IN THE ARTICLE AND YOU SAY THAT YOU ANTICIPATED 15 TO 20 SEATS,

5:25 BUT NOW YOU'RE LOWERING THAT TO AROUND 10 TO 15 PICKUP SEATS.

5:30 SO YOU STILL THINK THAT DEMS WILL RETAKE THE HOUSE,

5:34 BUT IT'S JUST GOING TO BE BY A SMALLER THE VOTING RIGHTS ACT?

5:36 FIRST, THE DECISIONS THAT CAME THROUGH TWO DIFFERENT COURTS,

5:39 FIRST THE SUPREME COURT GUTTING THE REMAINING PARTS OF THE VOTING Rights Act,

5:42 combined with this outrageous decision from the Virginia Supreme Court to allow

5:47 that public vote to go through in the first place, to have that vote.

5:52 And then afterwards when, let's be honest,

5:53 they just didn't like the result of that election,

5:56 they decide, oh no, never mind.

5:59 It didn't count.

6:00 That is a threat not just in terms of the ramifications for redistricting.

6:04 That is a threat to democratic legitimacy.

6:07 So I do want to just say that at the outset.

6:11 In terms of the raw numbers, though,

6:12 when it comes to what we're looking to pick up this November,

6:15 our task just became more difficult.

6:18 However, I still think if the election were held today,

6:21 we I THINK IT WOULD BE A PICKUP OF 10 TO 15 SEATS.

6:27 WE NEED THREE IN THE END IN ORDER TO PICK UP THE MAJORITY

6:31 BUT THAT SAID THIS IS STILL GOING TO BE A DOG FIGHT AND WE'RE

6:33 DEALING WITH THE WHITE HOUSE THAT THAT WILL PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS

6:37 AND RESORT TO ANY AND EVERY LAST TRICK TO DENY US A VICTORY.

6:41 SO, CONGRESSMAN, BEFORE WE GO,

6:44 I HEARD YOU NAME CHECKED THE BALLROOM A COUPLE OF TIMES.

6:47 I CAN TELL YOU ARE EAGER TO TALK ABOUT LAST WEEK,

6:49 THE REPUBLICAN CONTROLLED SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE REQUESTED

6:52 A BILLION DOLLARS IN FUNDING FOR APPARENTLY

6:55 SECURITY-RELATED PURPOSES FOR THAT BALLROOM THAT TRUMP

6:58 OF COURSE SAID WOULD COST TAXPAYERS NOTHING.

7:01 I WANT TO HAVE OUR VIEWERS WATCH A LITTLE

7:05 MONTAGE ABOUT THE EVOLVING PRICE TAG FOR THIS BALLROOM.

7:10 I WILL BUILD A BALLROOM FREE OF CHARGE,

7:13 WE WILL PROBABLY HAVE SOME DONORS OR WHATEVER, BUT IT'S ABOUT 200 MILLION.

7:17 I THINK IT WILL COST 250 MILLION.

7:19 IT'S GOING TO COST RIGHT IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF 300 MILLION.

7:22 IN JULY, THE WHITE HOUSE SAID THAT IT WOULD COST 200 MILLION.

7:26 YES, TODAY, THE PRESIDENT SAID 300 MILLION.

7:28 IS 300 MILLION NOW THE OPERATIVE FIGURE AND WHY DID IT GO UP BY SO MUCH?

7:33 300 MILLION IS THE FIGURE AND AGAIN,

7:35 IT'S NOT GOING TO COST THE TAXPAYERS A DIME.

7:39 So what do we actually know about where this money is coming from?

7:44 How much will be from taxpayers, potentially?

7:47 How much will be from donors?

7:49 FOR THEIR DONATIONS AND WHAT THE PLANS LOOK LIKE

7:54 AND WHAT THOSE DONORS MAY BE GETTING IN EXCHANGE,

7:57 PARTICULARLY IF THEIR DONATIONS ARE BEING DEFRAYED BY THE TAXPAYER.

8:01 YEAH, AS YOU POINTED OUT,

8:02 THE BALLROOM IS A SPECIAL FAVORITE TOPIC OF MINE BECAUSE IT DRIVES ME NUTS.

8:07 I CAN TELL.

8:08 IT IS THOUGH THE THAT IS THE GREATEST METAPHOR

8:10 FOR THIS PRESIDENT IN TERMS OF WHAT HE REALLY CARES ABOUT.

8:14 TO THE REST OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO ARE PAYING HIGHER GAS PRICES,

8:17 LOSING THEIR HEALTHCARE, PAYING HIGHER FOOD I DON'T CARE,

8:23 I'M PRESIDENT TRUMP AND APPARENTLY HAVE ONE TO TWO

8:26 MEETINGS EVERY SINGLE DAY ABOUT THIS DAMN STUPID BALLROOM.

8:30 NOW THE IDEA THAT WE IF THE TAXPAYERS WOULD HAVE

8:32 TO FORK OUT A BILLION DOLLARS FOR TRUMP'S VANITY PROJECT,

8:37 IT IS AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE.

8:39 I WILL SAY THIS, I THINK IT IS SO DEEPLY UNPOPULAR THAT WITH THEIR REPUBLICAN

8:45 COLLEAGUES ARE GOING TO SUDDENLY GROW A BACKBONE AND STAND UP TO THIS PRESIDENT,

8:49 BUT I THINK THEY RECOGNIZE IT IS SO DEEPLY

8:51 UNPOPULAR THAT WITH BUT IF THEY ARE ALREADY SMALL MAJORITY,

8:55 I THINK THEY WILL HAVE A VERY DIFFICULT TIME GETTING THE VOTES

8:58 NECESSARY IN ORDER PASS IT IN ORDER TO ULTIMATELY PASS IT.

9:02 DO YOU WORRY BECAUSE OF THE LESSON THEY MAY HAVE

9:03 JUST LEARNED FROM WHAT HAPPENED IN INDIANA WHERE YOU, YOU KNOW.

9:06 DON'T SAY NO.

9:06 COME AND GET YOU BACK.

9:07 RIGHT, IF YOU SAY NO TO THE PRESIDENT,

9:08 I MEAN, HE'S GOING TO COME AND GET YOU BACK.

9:11 AND IF HE IS SO IN LOVE WITH THIS BALLROOM,

9:13 HE WOULD BE HIGHLY MOTIVATED TO COME GET THEM IT'S

9:15 A VERY FAIR POINT AND I WOULD SHARE THAT WORRY.

9:21 HOWEVER, I WILL SAY THIS, ONCE WE GET BEYOND THESE PRIMARY ELECTIONS,

9:26 FOR ABOUT A DOZEN TO TWO WHICH IS INCREASINGLY LOOKING MORE DIFFICULT FOR THEM.

9:35 THAT'S WHERE I THINK THEY WILL ACTUALLY HAVE THE DIFFICULTY GETTING TO THOSE.

9:38 I DON'T WANT TO LET YOU LEAVE WITHOUT ASKING YOU ABOUT YOUR COLLEAGUE,

9:42 FROM PENNSYLVANIA, SENATOR JOHN THETTERMAN.

9:44 ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT HE COULD POTENTIALLY FLIP AND BECOME A REPUBLICAN?

9:49 HAVE YOU SPOKEN TO HIM ABOUT THAT?

9:51 I WAS AFRAID YOU WERE GOING TO BRING UP THE NEXT SIX YEARS.

9:53 SO I AM MORE THAN HAPPY TO I WANT TO TALK ABOUT FETTERMAN INSTEAD.

9:57 YOU KNOW, LOOK, IT'S A REALISTIC CONCERN I GRANT YOU.

10:01 THAT SAID, I'M NOT A I'M NOT GOING TO SPEND EVERY DAY WORRYING OR OBSESSING OVER

10:09 THE ALLEGEDLY DEMOCRATIC SENATOR FROM PENNSYLVANIA.

10:12 ALL RIGHT.

10:12 WE'RE GOING TO BRING YOU BACK TO ASK.

10:14 ALLEGEDLY DEMOCRATIC are you going to run?

10:18 Are you going to run against him?

10:19 I'm looking forward to being the next chairman of the House budget.

10:21 All right, great.

10:22 That wasn't a no.

10:23 Congressman Brendan Boyle, good to have you here on set with us coming up.