Jim Hanson, Mary Margaret Olahan, Hilarious Trump

Now on 105.9 FM and streaming worldwide on the WMAL app, O'Connor & Company. It's 7 0 7, it's O'Connor & Company. Thanks for tuning in to the program here on this Tuesday morning and some day we'll have a little camera on in the studio during those news reports so you can hear me singing the jingles of our radio stations advertisements. I wouldn't do that on the air though. Double Dog dared you to do it on the air and you chickened out? If I did everything that People Double Dog dared me to do on the radio I would not have the long-storied career that I've currently enjoyed here in our nation's capital for oh these many years. Coming up in 30 minutes is Mary Margaret O'Lehan, White House correspondent for Daily Wire. 805 brings us Tom Sauer, former Navy Commander and Navy Academy graduate. Give us his perspective from a Navy look-see on what's going on in Iran and what the next steps might be. 835 Chuck Thies, DC political analyst on DC curfew zones and the mayor's race. That's Bethany Mandel of the Mom Wars podcast and I'm Larry O'Connor and this my friends is Uncle Jim Boe Jim Hansen, President of Security Studies Group and he's heard in the US Special Army Special Forces. Good morning Jim. Hey, how you guys doing? Good good. Hey listen before we look at the president's deadline and what the reaction might be as a former Special Forces guy you must have been riveted to I'd love to see your group chats over the course of those 48 hours when we had our downed pilots there and the search and rescue effort was underway. Just reflect on that feat a little bit and why it was so important from your perspective and and what it says about the the campaign at large the fact that our guys will be able to go into their territory and dominate on this mission better than the Iranians in their own country. Yeah well the funny thing is you know a lot of people in my group chat it was the most fun about this. It was it was one of those situations where it was proof of the dominance of the American military and the professionalism and the excellence in a way that everybody had to take notice of and I think the the mental aspect of that you know for bad guys the world around is to just go ahead and prove what you said it doesn't matter where on the planet something happens if we decide what we want to happen in that particular spot anywhere on earth we can make it happen and we'll move heaven and earth to take care of our people when they're in jeopardy it was a brilliant moment a dangerous scary one for a while but one that actually in the end turned out to be brilliant. Well and Jim given the fact that it had to sort of be game planned out worked and executed with in real time really in a 36 hour window for the most part it's been compared to Jay Johnson former Homeland Security Secretary for Barack Obama said that this was more challenging than the Osama bin Laden raid would you agree with that assessment given the time frame and given what needed to be done and where it needed to be done? Yeah I think the difference was they planned the bin Laden raid over months you know almost I mean at one point it was more than a year so there was a lot of time to do it there was time to build you know models and and run numerous you know run-throughs and planet so this was a situation where they didn't know you know they had to be ready to go anybody vague idea of where it was and what it was going to be but then to actually have to put everything on the ground to find a forward operating base and to get all those pieces in motion it was a stunningly you know well executed ad hoc raid and I think that's what made it so so amazing. So I'm seeing reports from Amit Segal who is you know he stepped into a little bit of controversy this week but he's reporting multiple strikes are reported on Karg Island and the IRGC has issued a stark warning any red lines crossed by the U.S. will trigger a response that extends beyond the region. What is your take on that because it was my understanding that there was a deadline tonight for 8 p.m. eastern but is this is this separate from that and what do you think about those threats that the the response will go beyond the region. Yeah I think one thing all the bad guys ought to have noticed by now the president trump gives deadlines and then he acts when he decides it's time so you know we don't make promises to our enemies and I think you can say one thing and do another that's a head fake it's brilliant operating and we don't know if these happened and if they were the U.S. or if they were the Israelis because that's the other option we have we have a very capable partner who hit some oil facilities yesterday you know they hit part of the southern oil fields processing facilities they could very well have done this and president trump could still be saying see I didn't I didn't that was not me you know and and I think the the response and the threat has always been there you know asymmetric threats are all these the Iranians have left yet they no longer they never really had much of a military but they don't have any way to go force on force with us so they have to do sabotage they have to do terrorism they have to do things like that and and that's been their bread and butter all along we knew it was coming it's going to be ugly and we we tried the the easier ways we gave them as much pressure as we could and they failed to listen here's the president yesterday at his press conference talking about this deadline of 8 p.m. take a quick listen here Jim and then we'll discuss it essentially they have till 8 o'clock tomorrow night eastern time but we are dealing with them I think it's going well mr. Whitcoff is here and JD is involved in the dealing mr. Whitcoff is sitting right here and I think it's going fine but we'll have to see you have to understand we've been dealing with these people for 47 years and he talks about the strikes focusing on bridges and power plants etc I've heard people who are certainly the intellectual and moral betters of you and I Jim Hansen go on cable news and suggest these are people with journalism degrees of course who suggest that targeting a bridge in Iran would in fact be a war crime can can you discuss the war crime narrative here because I think that you might have some experience in knowing what is and is not a war crime yeah I've taught the laws of land warfare and Geneva conventions to us and allied forces around the world and they're lying but it's absolutely not and they know that you know that's the that's the painful and stupid part of this is this is a time where they can go ahead and use that as a lever against president trump who they hate and actually damage our country standing and they're willing to do that and they're willing to put our troops at risk and make this whole thing more difficult but just because they want to win a political victory or an ideological victory the laws of land war that's called the additional protocol one and it says that any military target even if it is civilian in nature if it gives an advantage to the enemy then it is a legitimate target obviously the IRGC controls the entire power grid for the country so they get first dibs of any power that comes out of it therefore it's a legitimate military target the same as bridges used to transport their their mobile launchers and other military equipment around the country so they're both definitely legitimate targets and and it's horrible to watch these people damage the US standing just because of their hate for president trump you know what hold that thought I want to I want to pull on this thread a little bit more we heard a lot about this whole war crimes narrative over the last 24 hours and it almost sounds like these people Democrats elissa slotkin one of them as well the senator from michigan former CIA officer it's almost like they're setting up the next impeachment process for the next two years should democrats win the majority in the house I want to continue talking with jim hanson about this war crime narrative but also what the strategic possibilities might be here going forward on bringing this to a close a resolution potentially with Iran seemingly intransigent and unable to move from their current position of you know bomb away we're not we're not going to budge that seems to be their plan I don't think it's going to work out for them but we'll ask jim coming up in a moment first though at 715 hey there I'm paula pan I help people make the smartest money decisions possible do not ever worry about your salary you need enough to make sure that you aren't in a bad financial position once you have that your salary becomes moot what matters from that point forward upside gains any type of ownership stake or ownership potential that's the money remember you can afford anything just not everything afford anything follow and listen on your favorite platform a lot of scholars in this area have been a little bit hesitant to just outright say that taking out a bridge is a war crime taking out a power plan as a war crime because as I just explained that isn't always the case there could be circumstances where they can be legally targetable when you make statements like we're going to take out the entire country in a single night that's a per se war crime and if that is the commander in chief ordering his commanders underneath him in the chain of command to do that they should understand that that is a blatantly unlawful order that's my friend jim hansen is former jag core captain margaret donovan explaining to the viewers on ms now that the president will be guilty of per se war crimes and you heard that last part anybody in the chain of command underneath him needs to understand that they will be following a blatantly unlawful order i'd like for you to reflect on that because this is the narrative over on blue sky ms now uh i have no doubt morning joe this morning this is what they're talking about what what do you make of that and what are they really trying to achieve here i mean what what she just said was absolute garbage you know and i mean to go on she knows better that's the really disgusting thing about this i am 100 percent certain that hyperbolic rhetoric by our commander in chief is not a war crime that is not a crime of any kind anytime any place on the planet and for her to imply that and then for the the politicians now who are saying that following those orders if he gives them is a war crime and that the troops have a requirement to disobey them is sedition when they if you know you're lying about that and you're trying to undermine the authority of the commander in chief when he is giving an order that you're saying is a war crime when you know it is not is so many there there is a vast array that other lawyers could detail for you but it is number one sedition and they need to stop this is disgraceful what was your read on what we were seeing yesterday from jim kent that was his name right the the guy who went on the the the tour of tucker carlson's show and kentis owens show after he after he left the nsc he was citing reports from drop site news what is your take on you know i i'm personally really disturbed by the fact that he was ever in government at all are there more like him in government now i hope there are no one in positions of of that high level of authority you know and i i know joket you know and that's the truly sad thing he was a very well respected special forces officer c i paramilitary officer and he did magnificent things he was a brave soldier he obviously does not understand higher level strategic thinking and is baffled by some of these things and saying things that are not just wrong but they're stupid and dangerous and i i am sad for him to have destroyed whatever credibility he had in doing this you know going on a tour of the the podcaster at idiots and then now he literally that drop site news is bad enough but he was quoting a drop site news piece of iranian state tv that said that we were trying to kill the pilot well we didn't want him to fall in enemy hands we were trying to kill him and it was an absurd thing to say it goes against everything we believe in and for him to have even for a second pushed that out into public uh disgraces his name jim hanson is the president of security studies group and he served in the u.s army special forces i and we hear a lot of talk about what what's the president's strategy what's the hexas strategy what's our plan it's like but to suggest that our military doesn't have a strategy and various contingency plans i think they just proved that in uh their quick operation in the search and rescue mission over the weekend but it's still something that you hear a narrative all the time and of course we're not going to say out loud what our plans and strategies are is midterm and long term i have a better question for you jim hanson from your observation and from your expertise what the hell is the iranian strategy i haven't understood what they're what what they're trying to achieve from from day one with the strikes on their neighbors on civilian targets um which by the way are war crimes literally they went after hotels there's no you know dual purpose there in dubai what do you what do you make of what's going on in iran right now yeah that's a an interesting point to look at what they have actually achieved now what they were trying to do i'm i'm still i'm kind of baffled too because the the most massive miscalculation was attacking the other gulf states you know those guys were sitting it out they were on the sidelines they were saying look okay you know president trump you got to do it you told us about this you know we we have bought into the idea but we're not going to get actively involved and then things start blowing up in their countries and all of a sudden they're like what are you guys doing you know and as you said those were 100 war crimes of targeting and uh taking out civilian structures that had zero military value and now he's he's created or iran has created a unified block against them in the region and and even at some point you know a 22 nation coalition to reopen the state of straight up for moose so whatever they were trying to do i i think it's usually their their play is always to just outlast our ability to to keep going but you know in the midst of media pressure uh that's not working for them and now they're going to feel the the full wrath and we're going to see if you know this level of pressure actually pushes them to decide that survival is more important than uh you know maintaining a brave front well we'll have to leave it there uh jim hanson thanks for joining us appreciate oh can i ask you just one quick question it was reported that um airborne which the portions of us army airborne were uh mobilized i believe it was last week that's the first mention of the army being um publicly called and identified as part of this mission can you shed a little light on what you think they might be utilized for here in whatever ground operation might be anticipated a great mission for them dangerous but uh you know fitting the profile would be seizing karg island and shutting off the flow of iranian oil to the world which is 60 of the revenue for the state of iran so that to me has always been the the biggest level lever and pain point and and that would be a great job for them you could also use them to to go in and sweep the crescent of land above the strait where a lot of the uh boats and missiles launched from and the other islands like karg that they used to shut that down so the marines would take the short likely things marines would take the shore and the army would drop from the skies there you go fun stuff sounds like a party all right jim thanks for joining us it's 724 now on 105.9 fm and streaming worldwide on the w m a l app o'connor and company it's 737 o'connor and company good morning thanks for joining us this Tuesday in your nation's capital coming up at 805 tom sour he worked with special forces in the navy so we'll get his perspective on where things stand with iran and what might happen after this deadline that's looming this evening 835 brings us chuck these dc political analysts on the mayor's race and curfew debates larry o'connor with bethany mandel sitting in here today good morning bethany good morning larry o'connor in the past we've had our next guest sitting in that very chair mary margaret olehann of course a big fan favorite of our listeners now the white house correspondent for the daily wire good morning mary margaret always good to talk to you my friend good morning it's great to be here we were just discussing heather huntry was just sharing with us her uh time at the easter egg roll yesterday and uh and she said you know next time i'm not going to wear heels you gotta attend a lot of things where you're standing on the grass at the white house mary margaret have you have you thrown out the heels you just go in with flats these days you know what larry my secret is a good block heel i would recommend it to hunt heather you just get a block heel and then you don't sink into the grass meanwhile as you cover the president obviously you've had some very busy days these last few days what a whirlwind schedule he's been on yesterday no exception what's stuck out to you as he held court there in the briefing room well so we spent a lot of time with the president yesterday at the we actually had a gaggle with him at the easter egg roll before we went to the press conference in the briefing room and a lot of the questions that people might have wanted to ask in the briefing room were asked in this kind of chaotic gaggle in front of the white house as melania and the easter bunny stood to the side and watched kind of a funny spectacle if you think about it you know the president happily answering any questions we might have on iran well melania patiently waits with the easter bunny and i actually i asked him i said have you spoken to the families of of the the two individuals who were shot down in iran i called them airmen but we know one of them to be identified now is dude 44 he was the one that was hiding in the mountains in iran trump told me that he was about to talk to their families and he didn't elaborate on whether they were there at the easter egg roll or whether he was about to talk to them on the phone and he kind of moved on really quickly so thought that was interesting but then in the briefing itself oh my gosh just utter chaos the room was completely packed we finally have a seat the daily wire has a seat in the very back of the briefing room in the back left corner so i was delighted to be in it i bought a booster seat so that i could be a little higher but unfortunately it's just so crowded in there it's so hard to see and i have never had so many foreign reporters in the aisles kind of leaning out over you blocking your face with their arm so it was just it was madness in there but the president called on a lot of people he answered a lot of questions about ron he was so adamant about this 8 p.m. deadline which 8 p.m. in iran is coming up in a couple hours maybe five at this point i think and he was he's very serious he was very serious about his plan to to bomb their bridges and infrastructure today at 8 p.m. their time if they don't comply with his demands so one of my favorite things that president trump does is he just takes calls from people a lot of people have his cell phone number have you ever just cold called dialed the president i have yeah i have a good time yeah so he it's what everyone says is true he does just take calls from reporters i think one of my favorite calls that i've had with him was it was it was about the iran war i called him and asked about what was going on with the with these terrorist attacks that we're seeing all over the country so with these people who you know since the war in iran began would commit an act of violence whether it was in austin or new york so what i specifically called him about was in austin i believe and you know he answers the phone he's like hello and you're not totally sure right away if it's him you're kind of nervous and uh he was so kind to me he said i asked him the question and instead of acting as if you know i was asking this question um you know necessarily as a reporter he he kind of acted like i was personally scared of these terrorist attacks and he said don't worry it's going to be okay you don't need to worry about this this is a lone actor um and he was really sweet about it so you know obviously we still reported it and and you know like the story was that the president was encouraging us not to worry about these these terrorist attacks but he's he does answer the phone once he's done he'll say all right you good you good and he'll hang up it's not like he's going to spend a super long time talking to you but i think that's how he feels so many of them because it's just you know he's he's he's answering he's hanging up and then uh one time he answered and said you've been very good to me so i'll take your questions so does he save your numbers does he know who he's about to get i don't think so i don't think so i think if you're if you're really important he might if he really likes you but i think he's just taking calls from numbers that's well you're important to us mary margaret only we see you in our phone uh well listen with the questioning yesterday it seems like there's a narrative being built i was just speaking with jim hanson about this uh that if the president um follows through with some of the things that he's been projecting with regard to this next bombing campaign that he would be guilty of war crimes what was the president's response to some of those challenges yesterday yeah so he got a couple questions like that and the president just basically instead of directly addressing the question or the accusation that he'd be guilty of war crimes he kind of elaborated on what iran was doing to its citizens yeah um who tried to protect really want to focus on some crimes against humanity it's iran for god's sake look at him yeah yeah and he really he would point to what they were doing how they had responded to us what a danger they posed uh and that's kind of you know his typical style you know he's um you know and honestly a media style that a lot of consultants would probably encourage rather than getting into the weeds on um what either is in a war crime he's going to point out what iran has done to its people so um that was interesting uh he also had someone just straight up tell him say to him uh that there's people that think that he's mentally unstable and a reporter looked him in the eye and said like what would you say to the people who say you're mentally unstable and the question you know it had a it had a flair to it the reporter probably thought he was unstable and to your surprise the president responded really well and just kind of nicely said well uh i'm not unstable you should look at my predecessor and you know see how i'm doing and didn't even get mad so it was just such an interesting press conference he's flanked by pete hegseth um general kane uh the head of the cia it was so full i didn't even know until afterwards that uh his daughter tiffani was sitting in the chairs to his left with her husband uh the room was just so full of people and uh the president you know he's in his element he's up there and he's he's taking all these questions we were supposed to have a press conference at the pentagon this morning uh right now actually i was supposed to be up at the crack of dawn i'm heading over to the pentagon but they canceled the press conference saw that last night and we don't have any information yet on why that is but um the president teased that for more information and then i think my favorite part of the the press conference was pete hegseth describing how um dude 44 this this airman that was shot down a colonel how dude 44 was shot down on good friday hidden a cave on holy saturday was rescued on easter sunday and then as the sun was coming up on easter sunday was flying back home i got chilled listening to this i just i thought that was really beautiful cave was empty yeah saw that mary margaret ola hann she is a fine up and coming reporter in washington dc and not a sella like katlyn colin's marry margaret real fast uh uh let's see how good a reporter you are who you're doing this who was in the easter bunny costume my best guest is marco rubio i didn't see him during the uh during the egg easter egg roll and i saw some great memes so i just kind of want it to be him at this point you're wish casting here this is not reporting we gotta bring the facts marry margaret you're not at cnn listen i asked the first lady's calm guy i said who's the easter bunny this year and he looked at me like i was crazy and he said it's the easter bunny so that's all i got you know what that is the only appropriate answer margaret thanks for joining us don't be a stranger i'd love to have you back in studio at some point when things calm down as if i would love that i would love that it's 746 vince colin a's is redefining news talk with the vince show it is a reflection of your response to this program that we get to take this thing to the next level these gigantic shows this is going to be so much fun it's unbelievable in-depth interviews live-collar interactions and a front row seat to the most important conversations of the day i've got updates i've got big stories we'll sort through the truth of what's really going on to buckle up here it comes the vince show following listen on your favorite platform bethany there are some amazing moments of president trump interacting with children yesterday uh some candid moments that got picked up we played a few of them but here's my favorite take a listen to this exchange did you catch that how old are you and trump trump says i'm 51 he goes the kid goes 51 i thought you were 46 i love it um i this is such a fun opportunity for kids to meet the president my kids met him um when the department of education was disbanded my kids met the president and we have an incredible picture of president trump pointing to my son and talking and he my son afterwards said he's kind of a narcissist because he complimented my pen but the pen is his well spotted 754 full sen golf you guys know how much i really really love golf and i think every week would be dope to post on the golf channel i want to get a lot of guests on here saline's gonna take leave i'm down to be in it it's not really work to play golf join the party on the golf course i was like let's go to the range so what are we putting on it we said 10k right 10k all right we probably bet more than all the other golf channels right 10k nine holes those guys bet for like cookies so i'm gonna shank it this guy's been trading like a navy seal when it comes to golf i'm very very excited excited yeah full sen golf follow and listen on your favorite platform