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TRANSCRIPT

Jane Coaston: It’s Thursday, December 4th, I’m Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show that, like Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeth, would not let White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller watch its kids. Or dog. Or apartment. Or can of Celsius. And actually, I’m trying to think of something I’d let Stephen Miller watch, and my answer is not appropriate for this episode. [music break] On today’s show, convicted felon President Donald Trump pardons a Democratic congressman indicted on white-collar crimes because game recognized game. And hello silence, my old friend. No one is talking to House Speaker Mike Johnson again. But let’s start with Secretary of Defense, I mean war, Pete Hegseth. As we’ve mentioned before, Hegseth has been under fire for his continually evolving explanation to blame shifting regarding a September attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. Following a report from the Washington Post, the Associated Press found that the Pentagon was indeed aware that there were two survivors after the initial attack on the boat, and still carried out a follow-up strike. At the same time, the Trump administration has gone from denying a second strike ever happened to blaming the second strike, which did happen on an admiral. And the boat? First it was headed to Trinidad, or another Caribbean country, and then it was, quote, “an immediate threat to the United States.” Hmm. No wonder Republicans like Nebraska Representative Don Bacon and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul aren’t having any of it. Here’s Bacon speaking to CNN on Wednesday. 

[clip of Representative Don Bacon] If the what is being reported is true, someone is wrong and they should be held accountable. It doesn’t sound good. And if somebody actually did this, they should be held accountable. And it and it should be at the top, not at the bottom. 

Jane Coaston: And here’s Paul speaking to reporters the same day. 

[clip of Senator Rand Paul] In this sense it looks to me like they’re trying to pin the blame on somebody else and not them. 

Jane Coaston: Of course, President Trump is fine with the strikes because we’re at war? Here he is in the Oval Office on Wednesday. 

[clip of unnamed news reporter] If it is found that survivors were actually killed while clinging on to that boat, should Secretary Hegseth, Admiral Bradley, or others be punished? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I think you’re gonna find that this is war, that these people were killing our people by the millions actually, if you look over a few years. 

Jane Coaston: Yes, we’re at war with drugs. Again. And while tens of thousands of Americans die from drug overdoses every year, the total number went down by twenty seven percent between 2023 and 2024. As for any survivors of those strikes. 

[clip of unnamed news reporter 2] So to be clear you support the decision to kill survivors after the initial strike?

[clip of President Donald Trump] I no, I support the decision to knock out the boats and whoever’s piloting those boats, most of them are gone, but whoever are piloting those boats they’re guilty of trying to kill people in our country. 

Jane Coaston: Pressure on the Pentagon is building, though, and Nevada Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, is among the many members of Congress calling for Hegseth to resign. I spoke with Senator Rosen about Hegseth’s failures and what she thinks needs to happen to protect America’s service members. Senator Rosen, welcome back to What a Day. 

Jacky Rosen: Well, thank you for having me. And and like I said to you, and I’ll say every time, not just what a day, what a week, what a year, huh?

Jane Coaston: Indeed. To that point, you have called on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to resign following the Washington Post reporting from this weekend, which alleges that in September, Secretary Hegseth issued an order to quote, “kill everybody” on board a boat suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean. Why do you think he needs to step down following this report? 

Jacky Rosen: Well, how long do we have? 

Jane Coaston: I I mean. 

Jacky Rosen: Because I I could start going through the list. We we won’t talk about Signalgate. We’ll save that for another. I haven’t seen the classified report, but I believe we’re gonna see the inspector report on Signalgate where he put our men and women in harm potentially, would have endangered US troops, our men and women who serve honorably. He used a private cell phone, a personal cell phone, he’s not supposed to do that. And so that gets us to what’s happening in the Caribbean. He is well, he’s trying to flex his muscles. He loves to show those big pictures. Everything about him is the show. I want the strike, I want the picture. He wants to start explosive nuclear testing so we can see the mushroom cloud go up. It’s all about the visual for him. So here in the Senate, in the House, we have not seen any intelligence or justification for this. He is blowing up tiny little boats in the middle of the ocean. And in this case, two people, two people are hanging on to the edge of what appears in that picture to be just a little motorboat, 1,500 miles at least from the nearest shore, no threat to anyone. He says, kill them all. Well, it’s a war crime on one side, but it’s murder on the other. So either way, it’s not good. This is why he should resign because he doesn’t have the demeanor, he doesn’t have the character, he doesn’t have the leadership skills, and he’s throwing everyone under the bus. Every day his story changes. And let me tell you the last thing I know I’m going on and on because I’m just so pissed off about our men and women in uniform who serve every day and the families who wait for them to come home at night that he dare put them in harm way for his own damn ego. He needs to resign. And last time I checked, when you’re the boss, the buck stops at your desk. You can’t throw an admiral, throw this one, throw that one. I didn’t see it. I didn’t know. It’s his goddamn job to know. The buck stops with him. He needs to resign. 

Jane Coaston: To that point, Navy Vice Admiral Frank Mitch Bradley, who ordered the second strike, as far as we know, is scheduled to give a classified briefing to lawmakers this week. What are some of the main questions you hope he answers in that briefing? 

Jacky Rosen: Well, I’m not gonna be in that briefing. It’s my understanding that the um chairs and ranking member of the House Armed Services and Senate Armed Services are in that briefing. I also believe the um intelligence committees will be in that briefing. After that, I’m hoping that ranking member Reid and Chairman Wicker will have the rest of us, I sit on Senate Armed Services, we’ll have the rest of us in to discuss what they heard and what our next steps are after that, which I am hoping that we will, we have subpoena power, that we will have a full investigation. I do believe that they have signaled that. We’ve been writing letters on that, and I think that you will see all four um House and Senate, both all all four chair and ranking members are in agreement on doing that investigation, which is really important. You have to get to the bottom of it. You wanna see the visuals of the strike, you wanna hear the transcripts, you wanna see all supporting information in order to determine whatever the future course of action you take is. 

Jane Coaston: Now, the Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that their deadly strikes in the Caribbean are targeting narco terrorists, which isn’t a thing, but okay, that’s what they’ve said. But the family of one man from Colombia who was killed in a September 15th attack is now claiming that there were no drugs on his boat and he was just a fisherman. Now, I think I kinda know the answer to this, but has the administration provided any evidence to you or your fellow lawmakers to substantiate their allegations? 

Jacky Rosen: Yeah. Zero evidence to certainly us as Democrats. I can’t speak if they’ve been providing every anything to the Republicans, but what I can tell you that at least my colleagues on Armed Services are saying that they’re getting nothing from the administration. And I just want to let your viewers know this, that only Congress can declare war. Again, we don’t have a king. He doesn’t get these special superpowers. No matter how much gold he puts in his office, no matter how much he thinks that you need to curtsy when you see him, he is not a king. Only Congress declares war. Congress has Article one power to do that. We do have a war on drugs. We do have drug problems. There are issues coming from many countries. And other countries share the same problems we have. This is where you work together, whether it’s sanctions, precursor [?], you come up with an action plan to do every single thing you can possibly do, your allies and partners, diplomatically, financially, you name it, whatever way those things are, in order to stop or prevent what’s happening, because he says he’s going to strike Venezuela. You don’t think those bullets come back the other way. And before you put one young man or woman in uniform at risk for their life, the blood’s on your hands, you better damn well be sure that you’ve exhausted every other avenue because the one thing I know that can’t be replaced in life is somebody you love. 

Jane Coaston: Yeah, and especially because, you know, talking about Venezuela, we’ve heard claims that Venezuela is the font of fentanyl trafficking, which it isn’t. And you also have the administration claiming to be going after drug trafficking in the Caribbean, but President Trump just pardoned former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was sentenced last year for his role in a massive drug trafficking operation. 

Jacky Rosen: Can you imagine? That if any prior president, cabinet member, senator, if you had us in any cabinet hearing and you’d watch the people sleeping like he is, all the crazy things he says all the time, all the ridiculous pardons that he’s doing, I bet if you ask him tomorrow about pardoning President of Honduras, he probably won’t even remember. And so he can’t do this for drugs and then suddenly say I’m striking Venezuela. None of it makes any sense. This whole thing makes no sense. And I think it’s just Pete Hegseth likes the idea that he’s showing his real life video game. I I don’t know what it is, but he is unqualified. He is unqualified, and I don’t think respected by our troops. 

Jane Coaston: I wanna pivot to healthcare for a minute. Last month you voted to reopen the government after Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune promised to vote by mid December on extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Where do things currently stand with negotiations around health care costs, since the Republicans have no plans on that matter? 

Jacky Rosen: Yeah. 

Jane Coaston: And whether any legislation that can actually pass will get to the floor this month?

Jacky Rosen: Well, we do have um and so for your listeners, the one thing about the Senate, the House as well, is that the majority leader solely controls the votes on the floor. What comes to the floor when we vote, except for a few situations. And so he did agree to give us the floor on the time and day we want on the bill that we want. We are going to um put forth a clean extension. We will have that vote in the next few weeks. And so when we do a clean extension, then we’ll put them on the record. And let me tell you the reason we reopen the government, because after 40 days it became clear to us in the chamber that they were trying to push the shutdown to January first when every window of open enrollment closes like that. And no no way out of it. They were using starving children with SNAP, tens of millions of families all across this country in Nevada, half a million, forty percent children. All of this cruelty is a feature, not a bug for Donald Trump. The crueler he is, the happier he seems to be. And so we didn’t want to let them get to that January first when all hope would be lost. So we’re gonna put them on the record. And the other thing we got when we reopened the government is we passed part of our budget. What part of the budget did we pass? Well, we funded the entire Veterans Administration, number one. And we funded what they call the Ag Bill that has SNAP, it has WIC. It has Head Start. It has so many programs that our families rely on for food insecurity to help our young mothers, to help our kids get a head start in this world. And we can give you the list of all others. So we extracted something. We can shut down the government again on January 30th. We’re going to try to continue to pass our budgets, but we’re going to hold their feet to the fire and show you who they are. Are they going to be like, well, Senator from Iowa who says we’re all going to die anyway? Or are they going to go home and listen to their constituents who are scared to death about losing their health care? We’ll see which way they vote. 

Jane Coaston: Senator Rosen. Thank you so much for joining me. 

Jacky Rosen: Any day, any what a day. I’ll be on here any day because every day seems to be what a day and I’m so glad you’re doing this and I’m happy to come on and talk about all of it with you. Thank you for being a voice for so many and uh and letting us share our stories a little bit. 

Jane Coaston: That was my conversation with Senator Jacky Rosen. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube, and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: Here is what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, [?] standards that imposed expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems, gave all sorts of problems to automakers. 

Jane Coaston: President Trump announced more plans to reverse Biden era policies from the Oval Office on Wednesday. Surrounded by executives from auto companies like Ford and Stellantis, Trump took the time to rail against fuel economy standards the Biden administration implemented to fight climate change. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Today we’re taking one more step to kill the Green New scam. It’s part of the greatest scam probably well, other than Russia, Russia, Russia and a few others I could name. The greatest scam in American history. The green new scam and its a quest to end the gasoline powered car.  

Jane Coaston: He just talks like this all the time. All the time. So what’s the amazing new plan then? The Transportation Department would significantly reduce those fuel economy requirements, like how many miles per gallon vehicles must hit, which would in turn lower car prices according to the Trump administration. But by loosening the MPG target, the proposal would allow companies to manufacture more gas guzzling, inefficient, and screw you climate cars. A White House fact sheet says in part, quote, “The Biden standards would have compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for.” Bye-bye electric vehicles. I can sense a new fight between Elon Musk and Trump brewing as we speak. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] It’s a hellhole right now. And the Somalians should be out of here. They’ve destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. 

Jane Coaston: Trump complained, complained, complained on Wednesday in another racist rant against Somali immigrants in Minneapolis. Conveniently timed since immigration and customs enforcement started an operation in the city the same day. The agency is primarily targeting Somali nationals in the Twin Cities with outstanding deportation orders, though an anonymous official told the New York Times that people still navigating the legal process could also be detained. Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Wallz responded by posting on Twitter, quote, “We welcome support in investigating and prosecuting crime, but pulling a PR stunt and indiscriminately targeting immigrants is not a real solution to a problem.” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement, quote, “what makes someone a target of ICE is not their race or ethnicity, but the fact that they are in the country illegally.” Which she should probably tell Trump. Seems like news he could use. A concurrent operation also launched Wednesday in New Orleans. A DHS official told the Associated Press that agents are seeking to arrest immigrants accused of violent crimes. The crackdown, codenamed Operation Catahula Crunch, aims to maximize arrest during a campaign expected to last at least 60 days, just in time to ruin everyone’s holiday. Life is looking a little grim these days if you’re a House Republican. The first signs of smoke came after last month’s off-year elections. Then Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene had a very public political breakup with Trump. And announced she’s resigning from Congress in early 2026. Did I mention that more than two dozen Republican lawmakers have already called it quits for next term? And on Tuesday, Tennessee held a special House election that should have been a Republican layup, but ended up being a much tougher shot. Republican Matt Van Epps won his house race, but only by about nine points, in a district Trump won by more than 20. That small margin is almost incomprehensible when you consider his challenger was the so-called AOC of Tennessee, Democratic State Representative Aftyn Behn. But that’s not all. There’s more infighting within House Republican ranks. New York Representative Elise Stefanik went scorched earth on House Speaker Mike Johnson in a Wall Street Journal article published Wednesday. In it, Stefanick claims, quote, “Mike Johnson is a political novice, and boy does it show, with the House Republicans underperforming for the first time in the Trump era.” Apparently, 2018 was a different Trump era. In any case, 2026 should be fun for the grand old party. 

[clip of Henry Cuellar] I wanna thank President Trump for this action that he took. On behalf of my wife and my family, I wanna say thank you. 

Jane Coaston: Texas Democratic Congressman, Henry Cuellar, responded to President Trump Wednesday after he announced on Truth Social that he is pardoning Cuellar and his wife, Imelda before their trial could even begin. Apparently Trump pardons Democrats too. The Cuellars were indicted last year on about a dozen bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy charges. Federal prosecutors said the couple took nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign companies. In exchange, Cuellar allegedly agreed to use his seat in Congress to influence policy that would help his supposed benefactors. But Trump said that the Biden administration went after Cuellar because he opposed its border policy. He wrote on Truth Social that Biden’s government, quote, “weaponized the justice system against their political opponents.” Sorry, I’m getting confused. Which administration is he talking about? Trump also spoke about his decision from the Oval Office on Wednesday. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] What happened is he got indicted for speaking the truth. And his wife got indicted, Imelda. And that’s sort of a first. Usually they leave the wives alone, right? Don’t they, Congressman? 

[clip of unknown speaker] Yeah. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Typically they indict somebody, put him in jail for the rest of his life, but the wife can just sit home and cry, or she’ll find a new man, you know. A lot of times they find a new man that makes them much happier. 

Jane Coaston: It’s too bad Melania never got a chance to find out. And that’s the news. [music break]

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Jane Coaston: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, check out your Spotify Wrapped, and let me know whether or not it tells you things about yourself you wish you didn’t know, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading, and not just about how my Spotify Wrapped indicates that I have spent a lot of this year just absolutely furious. Like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Jane Coaston, and for those of you who have spent thousands of minutes listening to What a Day, thank you. [music break] What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Emily Fohr and Chris Allport. Our video editor is Joseph Dutra. Our video producer is Johanna Case. We had production help today from Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Caitlin Plummer, Tyler Hill, and Ethan Oberman. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our senior vice president of News and Politics is Adriene Hill. We had help today from the Associated Press. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]

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