'This Week' Transcript 4-5-26: Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries & Rep. Mike Turner
This is a rush transcript of "This Week" airing Sunday, April 6.
A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, April 5, 2026 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: “THIS WEEK” with George Stephanopoulos starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, airmen rescued. Martha Raddatz details the dramatic special forces operation to recover the F-15 fighter crew downed in Iran, as the president issues a new ultimatum and new threats.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the stone ages, where they belong.
STEPHANOPOULOS: After five weeks of fighting, is there any off ramp in sight? What’s Iran’s next move? And how will the political and economic fallout play here at home?
And, cabinet shakeup. Trump fires Attorney General Pam Bondi, the president’s former personal attorney takes over as acting A.G. Will he ramp up Trump’s campaign of retribution?
Voting overhaul.
TRUMP: I believe it’s foolproof and maybe it will be tested and maybe it won’t.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The president signs an executive order to restrict mail-in voting. Multiple lawsuits push back. Will it stand? What will it mean for the midterms?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His party is going to get their clock cleaned. And so his only mechanism is to, as you said, try to change the composition of the electorate.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Plus.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think my family and I deserve to know the truth of what happened to my dad.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Matt Rivers reports on increasing deaths in ICE detention centers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: From ABC News it’s “THIS WEEK.” Here now, George Stephanopoulos.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning and welcome to “THIS WEEK.”
We want to get right to the breaking news overnight. A second American airman has been rescued in Iran. It was a risky mission with hundreds of special operations forces deployed deep in a mountainous region. Chief global affairs anchor Martha Raddatz has been tracking the mission all through the night. She starts us off.
Good morning, Martha.
MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC “THE WEEK” CO-ANCHOR: Good morning, George.
This was an incredibly complex and dangerous operation for the rescue team and for that missing Air Force aviator who had evaded capture behind enemy lines for days. But in the end, the news we had all been hoping for, that the second crew member is now out of Iran, seriously wounded, according to the president, but he is safe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ (voice over): Overnight, that stunning announcement, the second Air Force officer from the downed U.S. fighter jet in Iran rescued by U.S. special operations forces and now safely back in U.S. hands. President Trump posting on social media saying, “over the past several hours the United States military pulled off one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history for one of our incredible crew member officers. This brave warrior was behind enemy lines in the treacherous mountains of Iran, being hunted down by our enemies who were getting closer and closer by the hour.
The Air Force colonel was the weapon systems officer, or WSO, the airman in the back seat of the aircraft. It was a herculean effort to bring the colonel to safety and an extraordinary effort for him to evade capture for nearly two days following the rescue of the pilot of that F-15 fighter jet in the hours just after the crash on Friday. A senior administration official telling ABC News that, “prior to locating the WSO and the Department of War’s daring rescue, the CIA first launched a deception campaign, spreading word inside Iran that U.S. forces had already found him and were moving him on the ground for exfiltration out of the country.” Retired Commander John Hiltz was a Navy FA-18 Super Hornet pilot who flew combat missions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, and was a rescue mission commander and forward air controller trained to oversee these types of missions.
CMDR. JOHN HILTZ, U.S. NAVY (RET.): This is an incredibly perilous situation. You’ve got to locate them. You’ve got to authenticate them. You’ve got to assess their mobility, assess their health status. Are they compromised? Are they, you know, is there any other threats around them? So, you’ve got to take account for all these different variables.
RADDATZ (voice over): President Trump said the rescued colonel had been injured but said he would be fine. It is likely the injury came from the initial ejection.
HILTZ: Ejection from a fighter jet is a very violent maneuver. You’ve got to land on the ground. And that may cause other injuries.
RADDATZ (voice over): The two men ejected just milliseconds apart, which means they would have been generally in the same area, yet could still have been separated by miles.
HILTZ: And then you’ll hit the ground and really then have to assess a whole lot of things about yourself, about the -- about where you are, and then, you know, the first thing, you know, survive, evade, resist and escape
RADDATZ (voice over): And we know, according to officials, in the first rescue of the pilot, hours after the F-15 was shot down, the rescuers came under intense fire. Two Black Hawks were hit and an attack jet shot down, which may explain why they couldn’t get the second airman on that first day.
HILTZ: If you’re taking fire and it -- it obviously, based on reporting, and on video that has come out of Iran, it looks like they were, it might make sense to regroup and come back in a better tactical situation. Maybe that’s under the cover of darkness. Maybe that’s when you’ve eliminated other threats that you identified on that first mission.
RADDATZ (voice over): And more harrowing detail about last night’s operation. Two C-130 aircraft, according to officials, got stuck in Iran. American troops forced to intentionally destroy both to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands. The U.S. then sending in replacement aircraft to bring the American teams back to safety. The downing of that F-15 marks the first time in this war that Iran has successfully taken down manned U.S. aircraft, raising questions about Iran’s military capabilities after President Trump’s repeated claims that Iran no longer had the ability to shoot down U.S. aircraft.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They have no anti-aircraft equipment. Their radar is 100 percent annihilated. We are unstoppable as a military force.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RADDATZ (on camera): Those combat rescue forces were indeed unstoppable. But clearly, George, Iran does have the ability to shoot down U.S. aircraft.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, just a remarkable effort right there and what a relief. But their defense is still able to cause some harm.
RADDATZ: Exactly, George, it was a remarkable rescue. But all these missions remain very risky. Again, not only did we have that F-15 shot down inside Iran, but the Iranians also shot down that A-10 attack jet, which was part of the first rescue. Although the pilot was able to keep flying to Kuwait before it crashed after he ejected. And he was later rescued.
And we had those two Black Hawk helicopters that took fire. And in last night’s rescue, again, during that attempt, our forces had to blow up those two C-130s, which are modified for special operations. We are told they had mechanical issues and that’s why they were stuck in Iran. So, despite the significant loss of air defenses and missiles, Iran remains a threat in this war.
George.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: Martha Raddatz, thanks.
I want to go to Britt Clennett in Jerusalem.
And, Britt, one of the things we’ve seen, even as this rescue operation is underway, an expansion of the attacks by the United States.
BRITT CLENNETT, ABC NEWS FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, George, frankly, this conflict only seems to be escalating with all sides exchanging intense fire on a daily basis. Iran and the U.S. vowing to send each other to hell with threats of more strikes on infrastructure. President Trump posting this video on Saturday showing heavy bombing inside Iran while thick plumes of smoke are seen rising from a petrochemical complex in Iran’s southwestern region. Israel taking responsibility for that, saying the facility makes critical components for ballistic missiles. Five people killed in that attack according to Iranian state media.
Now, the Iranian death toll now at 3,540. That’s according to HRANA, a U.S.-based human rights group. Iran also saying a U.S.-Israeli airstrike landed in the area near its Bushehr nuclear power plant, killing a security guard and damaging a support building there. The International Atomic Energy Agency voicing deep concern. But so far, no reports of increased radiation levels have been reported. However, we did hear from the WHO, as well, warning that such strikes ultimately could trigger a nuclear accident that would devastate generations, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And Iran is retaliating against energy sites in the gulf.
CLENNETT: Yes. Well, Iran, you know, as it strikes all corners of Israel, as we’re seeing, you know, dozens of daily drone and missile strikes on gulf nations too. Kuwait, Bahrain, both reporting attacks at their petrochemical and energy sites. Bahrain’s Bapco Energy is confirming a tank fire at one of their storage facilities as a result of Iranian drone attacks. They say the fire has been put out and there were no injuries.
But also in Lebanon, you know, saying seven people, including a four-year-old girl, have been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon, in Cafa Eta (ph). The death toll there in Lebanon now at 1,422, as Israel, as we know, is trying to expand its offensive, create a buffer zone there against Iran backed Hezbollah.
The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, is expected to vote next week on a resolution aimed at, you know, really getting commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. But the U.S., you know, is at odds with other global powers on how far to go in confronting Iran’s blockade there of that critical waterway, of which a fifth of the global oil supply flows through, George.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: There don’t appear to be any direct talks between the United States and Iran. Any progress on the diplomatic front?
CLENNETT: Yeah, look, both Iran and the U.S. do say publicly that they’re open to talks, but there are mixed messaging on how well these potential talks are actually going.
Iran’s foreign minister, we heard from Abbas Araghchi saying that the Iranian position is being misrepresented by U.S. media, and that they’ve never actually refused to go to Islamabad.
Pakistan says efforts to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table are on the right track.
But look, frankly, there doesn’t seem to be any real progress anywhere in sight, George.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Britt Clennett, thanks very much.
Now, I want to bring in the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries.
Congressman, thank you for joining us this morning.
Your reaction to these developments overnight?
MINORITY LEADER REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES, (D) NEW YORK: Well, I'm thankful that a second U.S. airman has been rescued heroically by our Special Forces. And we, of course, continue to pray for the safety, the health, the wellbeing of all of our men and women who are in uniform in a very dangerous theater of war.
Of course, Donald Trump has gotten us involved in this reckless war of choice without any plan, any strategic objectives and no clear exit strategy. Instead, billions of dollars are being spent every day to drop bombs in the Middle East, when Donald Trump as a candidate promised to never get us involved in this type of conflict.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you've made it clear you're opposed to the war, but what should the exit strategy be right now?
JEFFRIES: Well, that's the challenge that, of course, Donald Trump has gotten us into this reckless war of choice without ever clearly laying out the strategic objectives, the plan, how this is designed to actually make life better for the American people. We've seen the exact opposite, particularly as it relates to the dramatic increase in gas prices when we already are dealing with an affordability crisis here in the United States of America.
Donald Trump purported to deliver a speech to lay out a case to the American people a few days ago, but he failed dramatically.
STEPHANOPOULOS: He is expanding -- he's threatening this morning to expand again. He says the Iranians are going to be living in hell if they don't -- if they don't open up the Strait of Hormuz by Tuesday.
Is that possible without U.S. ground troops?
JEFFRIES: Well, certainly, there's no circumstance where U.S. ground troops should be sent over to the Middle East. This war is already deeply unpopular for obvious reasons amongst the American people, and the American people are not going to accept ground troops being put into harm's way in this war of choice when there's no clear evidence that it actually is designed to improve our national security interests.
Instead, we see a war that continues to escalate. More than a dozen countries are involved and billions of dollars of taxpayer money are being spent overseas when this administration refuses to actually spend a dime to make life more affordable for the American people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And the president has sent a request for $200 billion in supplemental spending to the Defense Department as well. It's pretty clear Democrats are going to oppose that.
But are you concerned that that will undercut the war effort?
JEFFRIES: Listen, the Department of Defense has been given over a trillion dollars within the last year. They have more than enough resources, as far as we can tell, in order to do what is necessary.
At the same period of time, Congress has to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. The cost of living in this country is out of control. And Donald Trump promised to actually lower costs on day one.
That hasn't happened. In fact, life has become more expensive for the American people because of decisions made by Donald Trump and extreme Republicans in the Congress. The Trump tariffs have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year, as well as on small business entrepreneurs and on farmers throughout this nation.
Republicans have refused to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. And that has resulted in tens of millions of Americans experiencing dramatically increased health insurance premiums.
And now, this reckless and costly war of choice is increasing the cost of living on everyday Americans, particularly through gas prices and soon through food prices all across the country, in ways that are hurting the American people.
STEPHANOPOULOS: The president said this week that the United States is considering withdrawing from NATO, a sentiment that was echoed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Are you confident that Congress can keep the United States in NATO?
JEFFRIES: Certainly, I hope that there will be a bipartisan effort to convince this administration that withdrawing from NATO would be a reckless choice. This is a dangerous world. We need more friends, not more adversaries.
And we should not walk away from an alliance that has actually kept the world and the United States as safe as possible in the aftermath of World War II.
And the president should stop issuing these threats and attacking our allies while coddling up to people like Vladimir Putin and Russia, which is a sworn enemy of the United States of America. He's got our priorities in terms of our friends and our adversaries all wrong.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: Let me switch gears now to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE funding. As you know -- as you know, the Democrats have been pushing for reforms in ICE as a condition for that funding, but now the Republicans are -- say they're going to try to circumvent that by going through the reconciliation process, which means they could get the funding just by having a majority vote. So, does that moot your efforts?
JEFFRIES: Well, the first thing that needs to happen is that the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Johnson and Republicans need to bring us back into session so we can actually reopen the Department of Homeland Security, stop creating chaos at airports all across the country and forcing people, including what happened to TSA agents for weeks, to work without pay.
There is a bipartisan bill that has been sent over from the Senate, not once, but twice. Every single Democrat, every single Republican in the Senate supports that legislation. House Democrats support that legislation. So, we can reopen every other aspect of the Department of Homeland Security, including TSA, Coast Guard, FEMA, and our cybersecurity professionals, while continuing to work on the effort to get ICE under control.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's look ahead to the midterm elections. We saw the president sign that executive order this week on mail-in voting. I know you believe it's unconstitutional, but what is your message to Democrats who are concerned that the president and his party are going to be able to find ways to subvert the elections?
JEFFRIES: We're going to work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a free and fair election. That executive order is unlawful and unconstitutional. We've already filed litigation and we expect that it will be declared so in short order by the courts. We've won victory after victory in terms of even this very conservative Supreme Court, most recently, of course, in connection with the unlawful Trump tariffs.
I expect that this executive order, which is designed to try to suppress the electorate, alter the landscape in order to artificially keep control of the House and the Senate, will be rejected.
At the same time, George, we're going to continue to articulate an affirmative vision to the American people of what we, as Democrats, will do if they give us the opportunity to lead in the majority. We're going to fight hard to lower the high cost of living, to fix our broken health care system, to get ICE under control, to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East, and to focus every single day, every single week, every single month on actually making life better and more affordable for hardworking American taxpayers.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Why isn't that breaking through? The Democrats in Congress are almost as unpopular as the president right now.
JEFFRIES: Well, one of the things that I will say is breaking through is that consistently, for the last 15 months, Democrats have been winning elections all across the country, up and down the ballot, including most recently in deep red states like Texas, like Louisiana, and, of course, a few weeks ago in Florida, particularly in Mar-a-Lago.
So, at the end of the day, when the American people evaluate who's going to push back against Republican extremism, who is going to actually make life better for them and focus on the issues that matter, consistently they're choosing Democrats.
Now, as it relates to the parties being perceived as unfavorable across the country, we understand that dynamic because the American people want to see action. Things haven't been working out for them over the last several decades. Far too many people are struggling to survive and certainly can't thrive paycheck to paycheck in this country, which should not be happening in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.
And so, we're going to continue to forcefully push back against the extremism being unleashed on the American people, push back against the chaos, while at the same period of time convince every single American that it's us who are determined to do the things that are necessary, bring about the bold transformational changes necessary to support working-class Americans, everyday Americans, and middle-class Americans in a manner consistent with who we are when we are the best version of ourselves here in America.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman Jeffries, thanks very much for your time this morning.
JEFFRIES: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And we are joined now by Republican Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio, a member of the Armed Services Committee.
Congressman, thank you for joining us this morning.
President Trump has coined the rescue of the airmen an Easter miracle this morning. We’re all grateful that they are safe. More broadly, is the United States winning this war?
REP. MIKE TURNER, (R) OHIO & ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE MEMBER: Well, George, first of all, thank you for having me. And Happy Easter.
The -- and it is good that we’re remembering our service members around the world.
What’s important here is that the inevitability of this conflict, as we look from the beginning, which was the issue, of course, Iran pursuing its nuclear ambitions. And from the beginning of the president saying that we’re going to truncate those, as we had, you know, Obama step in and say with his nuclear enrichment deal, we’re just going to step back and watch as Iran continues to get closer and closer to a nuclear weapon, this president saying, no, we’re going to take military action to stop them from doing so.
Now, with this intervention, the president saying, we’re going to intervene to stop their ability to have a military in which they can project force against the United States and our allies. In that you’re seeing Iran’s ability to be able to project force, their ability to be the, you know, state sponsor of terrorism, their ability to hurt our allies in the United States to be diminished and their -- certainly their ability to continue to pursue what they were on the verge of being able to become a nuclear power, stopped. That is incredibly important.
STEPHANOPOULOS: It is important. At the same time, what we’re seeing with the Straits of Hormuz closed, American gas prices going up, oil spiking around the world. The president suggested that the Straits of Hormuz could open naturally. Is that realistic or is it going to take ground troops?
TURNER: Well, George, in any conflict, the certainly, you know, Iran is going to have some things that they’re going to be able to do during the conflict. But if you don’t undertake the conflict, if you just step back and watch as the Obama administration was going to do while Iran became a nuclear power and they became North Korea, we wouldn’t be looking at the Strait of Hormuz. We’d be looking at what’s, you know, host -- you know, having Europe be at risk. You’d have the United States being at risk. You’d have all of our allies. And ultimately the continental United States at risk from Iran and the whole world being held hostage by a terrorist state. In this as they -- as they, in their last throes, you know, begin to do whatever they have left as a state militarily, they still are being significantly diminished and their ability to be able to be, marching toward a nuclear state is being eliminated.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Right. But what I asked you about was the Straits of Hormuz. The Straits of Hormuz are still closed to most traffic right now. Can it be reopened without American ground troops?
TURNER: Well, I think, you know, certainly you’re seeing that even as this conflict evolves, that that is being put in place. And I don’t think U.S. ground troops are going to be necessary in any direct conflict.
The -- in this instance we’re seeing that the conflict is continuing with the president beginning to, in conjunction with Israel, significantly diminish Iran’s military capabilities, both their -- their navy, their missile capabilities overall are continuing, and certainly their nuclear capabilities are being continually diminished. And that was the goal. And that is an incredibly important goal for the safety of the United States.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, I guess, are you saying that, as long as the nuclear capability is diminished, it doesn’t matter whether we open up the Straits of Hormuz?
TURNER: No, the Straits of Hormuz -- the Straits are going to be open. And it’s -- and it certainly is important to occur. But you can’t say, well, as long as the Straits are open, we don’t -- we can let them continue to be a power that marches toward being a nuclear power that continues to develop missile technology that can threaten the United States and threaten Europe and continue to perfect long range missile technology. You have to be able to address this, you know, great sponsor of terrorism, this -- the global power ambition that Iran has. And as you do so, you know that they’re -- that the conflict will have them both attack our allies, attack the United States, attack Israel, and, of course, attack the Straits. But this will be a diminishing regime as they’re -- as they’re doing so.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Will it take ground troops or not to open up the Straits?
TURNER: I don’t believe so. I think that certainly that this is going to be, again, a diminishing regime as it on -- you know, is ongoing.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Congressman, thanks for your time this morning.
TURNER: Thank you.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Up next, the president’s latest effort to influence the midterms. An executive order to limit mail-in ballots. A flurry of lawsuits have already been filed to block it. And we’re going to speak to Republican election experts from two key states when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I’m very happy to be signing the Voter Integrity and I think it’s going to be really great. So if you don’t mind, I will take some time and I’ll make the signature absolutely perfect.
I don’t see how anybody can challenge it. I don’t see how they can challenge it. And remember, it’s about voter integrity. We want to have honest voting in our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: President Trump signed an executive order to limit mail-in voting, his latest move to subvert the midterms, sow doubt about the results as his party faces political headwinds.
I’m going to speak to two Republican election experts after this report from chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY BRUCE, ABC NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With just seven months until this year’s midterm election, President Trump this week attempting to crack down on mail in ballots.
TRUMP: I think this will help a lot with elections.
BRUCE (voice-over): The president signing an executive order directing his administration to create a list of confirmed U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state and to ban the postal service from mailing voters ballots unless they are on a state’s official absentee voter list. That list must be given to USPS at least 60 days before an election.
TRUMP: I believe it’s foolproof, and maybe it will be tested. Maybe it won’t.
BRUCE (voice-over): But it’s not clear the president has the authority to do this. The order already facing at least four legal challenges, including one filed by the Democratic Party’s campaign arm and top congressional leaders, and another filed by 22 Democrats Democrat-led states, plus D.C. Those states writing, “Neither the Constitution nor any act of Congress confers upon the president the authority to mandate sweeping changes to states’ electoral systems or procedures.”
ADRIAN FONTES, (D) ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE: He’s trying to pick his own voters, and that’s not how we do it here in America.
BRUCE (voice-over): For months, the president has railed against mail-in voting, claiming without evidence that it leads to, quote, “cheating”.
But cases of fraud involving mail-in ballots are extremely rare. And just last month, the president himself cast a ballot by mail to vote in a Florida special election, even though he was in town when early in-person voting was available.
Trump defending his decision.
TRUMP: You know what? Because I’m president of the United States, and I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn’t be there because I had a lot of different things.
BRUCE (voice-over): The president has increasingly sought to sow distrust in the nation’s elections ahead of the midterms, as he’s remained fixated on his 2020 defeat. The administration actively investigating Trump’s baseless claims that he beat Joe Biden in Georgia and Arizona in that election.
Trump also recently called to nationalize elections, and the Justice Department is attempting to force at least 29 states to turn over voter data.
All this as the president pushes Congress to pass the Save America Act, legislation that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote, and a photo ID to cast a ballot in federal elections. But the bill has no clear path forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thanks to Mary for that. We're joined now by two Republican officials who've overseen elections in battleground states. The Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, Al Schmidt, and the former Recorder in Maricopa County, Arizona, Stephen Richer. Thank you both for joining us.
Secretary Schmidt, let me start off with you. A series of lawsuits have been filed, including one from your state. Are you confident that the courts are going to strike down the president's order? And what happens if they don't?
AL SCHMIDT, (R) PENNSYLVANIA SECRETARY OF STATE: I am confident of an outcome in our favor. Americans should rest assured, despite all the back and forth in the courts that we will inevitably see, despite all the back and forth in the press, that Pennsylvania, the birthplace of our republic, and Governor Shapiro are going to stand up for our voters and know that the Constitution is on our side.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And Stephen Richer, you made the point that in your state, it isn't even necessary.
STEPHEN RICHER, (R) FORMER MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ RECORDER & CATO INSTITUTE LEGAL SCHOLAR: Well, in some ways, it's not, because we have some of the underlying features that President Trump aspires to have in all elections, which is that we have documented proof-of-citizenship requirements in Arizona. We have a mail voter list that you have to be on in order to receive a mail ballot. And of course, we, like 46 other states, have intelligent barcodes that allow voters to track their ballots and allow election officials to track those ballots, too.
So, while I agree with some of the elements in the executive order and some of the aspirations, the form does matter, and I agree with Secretary Schmidt that this is probably going to be enjoined very quickly. I think someone on the Internet said this will be enjoined faster than a cheat-on speed or something like that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You guys seem pretty confident of that. Mr. Schmidt, so what is your biggest worry going into November? The president has taken several steps to sow doubt about the election returns.
SCHMIDT: I would say my biggest concerns are twofold, one, that things like this cause some degree of confusion. We want voters to know that the election is going to be free, fair, safe, and secure, and that everyone knows what the rules are prior to going into this. So, confusion is never a positive thing, unless you are seeking to sow distrust in the outcome of an election.
Otherwise, our election administrators in our 67 counties in Pennsylvania and our Pennsylvania Department of State prepare for every conceivable problem or issue that might occur on Election Day or leading up to Election Day. It's just that, now, we're in a slightly different realm, where the inconceivable is something that is very much on the table that we have to prepare for.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Richer, the president is still investigating the state of Arizona, trying to investigate the state of Arizona, trying to overturn the results of 2020. What are the prospects for that?
RICHER: Yes, I don't think that's going anywhere. 2020 has been investigated up the wazoo. In Arizona alone, we've had 11 different independent investigations and audits. The attorney general of Arizona previously spent over 10,000 man-hours investigating Arizona, but this seems to be a trend, and I don't know what to end other than to sow further confusion, sow further doubt in the election process, which is why I'm very disappointed with what's happening in Riverside, California, disappointed with what's happening in Fulton County, Georgia.
A number of election officials and I have a report coming out this week about Fulton County, about how the underlying allegations that serve as the basis for the warrant are completely baseless. And so, we'll be putting that out with a group called States United Democracy Center later this week.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. Schmidt, are we heading towards another situation after these midterms, like we saw in 2020, where the results are going to be challenged and the doubt is going to be sown?
SCHMIDT: I certainly hope not. And I hope that we don't see or revisit any of the ugliness that we all experienced across the country in 2020, where there was an effort to undermine confidence in election results based on no facts whatsoever.
So again, it's all about us being prepared. It's not about us worrying. It's about us preparing. And that is exactly what Pennsylvania is going to do in the lead-up to this election.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And Stephen Richer, you took some heat for standing up in 2020 against the claims of fraud and against the doubt that the president ceded about the election. What's your message to Republicans today?
RICHER: That at the end of the day, the only person you have to be consistently happy with is yourself. And so, while there might be political pressures and while you might have political ambitions and while members of your precinct committee chapter might be yelling at you, you have to do what you know to be right because you have to live with it for the rest of yourself.
Fortunately, I've had some wonderful models and some wonderful companions like Secretary Schmidt, like the guys in Georgia, like Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney. And I hope that as more and more people do this, people will eventually see that there is no there, there because we've been saying fraud, we've been saying the time has come for about six years. And the fact remains that the president has not produced a single scintilla of evidence to suggest that the 2020 election was stolen. And so I’d suggest that this is more about ego, but that we move forward because the president is president now and he has the opportunity to do whatever he wants to do as president.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: Thank you both for your time this morning.
Roundtable’s up next. We’ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TODD BLANCHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The Department of Justice is working hard every day. It was working hard yesterday. And we’re going to keep on working hard tomorrow. And I’m honored that President Trump has asked me to step in as acting and also much appreciative for what -- for what Pam Bondi did for the past year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: The deputy attorney general, the president’s former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, now running the Justice Department. We’ll talk about that on our roundtable when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We can't take care of daycare, we're a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars.
We can't take care of daycare. It's not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can't do it on a federal.
We have to take care of one thing, military protection. We have to guard the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC “THIS WEEK” ANCHOR: President Trump this week.
Let's talk about it on our roundtable. Joined by Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey; Donald Brazile, former chair of the DNC. Also Doug Heye, who served as communications director for the RNC; and our senior political correspondent Rachel Scott.
Welcome to all of you.
Chris, when you look at that clip there from the president this week, it's pretty clear that he's sort of internalized now that he is a wartime president. That is first, last, and always.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think it's because everything else is failing, George. I mean, let's not pretend that Donald Trump, all of a sudden, has decided that he's a wartime president because that's what he believes in his heart. He's now concerned that the stuff in the economy is going so badly for him that he's got to divert attention away from it, and he's got to scare people to get them off of the things that they're concerned about at their own kitchen table.
You look at these numbers, George, he's now 31-69 on the economy, 27-72 on handling inflation, and his overall approval rating is down to 35-64.
No matter what else Donald Trump's talked to you about in these things, that's the only thing he cares about, are those numbers. He's trying to divert attention away from them.
STEPHANOPOULOS: As I said to Hakeem Jeffries, though, Donald, the Democrats' numbers right now aren't that much better.
DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTTRIBUTOR: We're not in power, and the American people are not really paying attention to us. So we're still stuck in the numbers that we sort of generated after the 2024 election, despite all of the victories that we've seen over the last year with the special elections and the fact that Democrats are making up new ground.
Look, I want to add to Chris, the president misery index, and this is Easter, I shouldn't be adding to anyone's misery. But let me just say this: even his handling of the war is not going well.
We all expected on Wednesday night that the president would just give us some strategy, some endgame. Instead, he seemed bored, he wasn't able to get his words out the way that he typically tried to, you know, project himself.
The president doesn't have a strategy. All he -- what is -- what is he carrying around? He's carrying around a bag of tricks.
“Oh, the military has done a great job.” We all agree. We're very happy this morning that that pilot was re -- was found and returned.
But the president needs a strategy, and the strategy is not just bomb the living hell or bomb Iran to the Stone Ages. It is how do we open up to, reopen the strait, how do we bring our allies with us to end this war, and how do we find a diplomatic solution? Our military, they've done their job.
STEPHANOPOULOS: That was a question, Doug Heye, that Mike Turner really didn't seem to want to answer this morning about how you can open up the strait without ground troops.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST & FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Right, Trump has said it's basically going to happen organically. Things in war do not happen organically, and it's a challenge for the president and ultimately goes back to where his approval numbers are.
And I was in Charlotte, North Carolina, last weekend. A voter came up to me, we chatted for a little bit, and I said, “What's most important to you?” And he said, “Gas prices”. I said, “Okay, what else?” He said, “Gas prices.”
That is the number one issue for the president right now.
STEPHANOPOULOS: For any president.
HEYE: For any president.
It all ties in together. And ultimately, it's why he has to address a strategy and also go to voters and say, “I understand what you're dealing with. Here's my answers for solving this.” Whether you're talking about Iran or the economy, it all ties in.
It's why the State of the Union, I think, was a missed opportunity for the president and the speech the other day as well.
They'll give you some latitude if you tell them that you have a plan of action. That's what voters still want to hear from the president.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Now, Rachel, the President has sent up two huge requests to the Congress for defense spending, both this $200 billion supplemental, $1.5 trillion increase in this budget. Can't imagine that's going anywhere on Capitol Hill.
RACHEL SCOTT, ABC NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, no, it doesn't seem like that is going to go anywhere on Capitol Hill.
And look, to your point here, even Republicans are back home in their districts. They're hearing from voters who are seeing prices go up on everything at this point. They're paying more for gas. They're paying more sometimes at the grocery store. We're seeing shipping costs increase.
I mean, this is having a tremendous effect. And so the White House is not oblivious to this, of course. But I think there’s a sense among Republicans on Capitol Hill of whether or not the Strait needs to reopen for the president to declare victory, whether or not the president should declare victory, get the United States out of this conflict, and then come back to focus and concentrate on these domestic issues that are going to be front and center for the midterm election.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC ANCHOR OF "THIS WEEK" AND FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Your point, Doug, if the Strait doesn't reopen, gas prices aren't coming down.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST & FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: No, and it's also the prices on everything, everything that's delivered on a truck. So people go to the grocery store and they say, I spent too much on fill in the blank. Every time you go to a restaurant, you get the bill and you say, what just happened to me?
(LAUGH)
HEYE: Voters are feeling that every day of their lives. And the president and Congress, you don't have to have every answer, but you need to let them know that they -- you understand what they're dealing with and you're trying to solve it.
Then they'll give you the latitude. And unfortunately, the president just hasn't done that.
STEPHANOPOULOS: We always --
DONNA BRAZILE, FORMER DNC CHAIR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: People forget fertilizer. Maybe because I'm from Louisiana, you cannot just put a seed in the ground without fertilizer. And the price of just fertilizing our crops, putting them in the ground, we're going to have trouble making sure that America can feed itself if we don't get this damn thing right.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Chris, we get a couple of months worth of news every week --
(LAUGH)
STEPHANOPOULOS: -- and during the second Trump administration, including the firing in midweek of the Attorney General, Pam Bondi. You had some tough words last week for the acting attorney general, but the president was pretty clear he didn't get what he wanted from Pam Bondi, which was even more retribution.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, when he selected Pam Bondi, he made the choice of compliance over competence and he thought that would be fine. She'll be compliant with whatever I demand she do.
And when that didn't hit 100 percent for him, he then had the problem of competence, which was most clearly displayed in the Epstein files, where she couldn't get out of her own way on that. And he ultimately decided, I need someone more competent. That's why I think, you know, Todd Blanche, who I did have some tough words for last week, but what I did also say was that he has a reputation of having been a very good prosecutor in the Southern District of New York.
He seems to have forgotten about what he did to get that reputation. But he, I think, will certainly be more competent than Pam Bondi. Whether that will make --
STEPHANOPOULOS: But the competence the president wants is to more effectively prosecute his political enemies.
CHRISTIE: That's what I was just going to say, George. But if that competence then displays itself, either great, even more effective compliance with an agenda that is contrary to what the American people want and contrary to the word 'justice,' then he's going to have the same problems just in a different package, a male package as opposed to a female package.
STEPHANOPOULOS: This may not be the end for replacements in the Trump cabinet.
BRAZILE: Well, of course not. There are several other cabinet members who are probably looking over their shoulders right now and say, I hope the president don't invite you to get in the car, because clearly that's the way to fire you now.
HEYE: That was like Clemenza in "The Godfather."
(LAUGH)
BRAZILE: Yeah, yeah.
CHRISTIE: Leave the gun, take the cannoli, you know?
BRAZILE: Right. Right.
CHRISTIE: That's what happened to Pam Bondi this week. In Jersey, we understand that stuff.
BRAZILE: Well, in Louisiana, we do it a different way.
(LAUGH)
BRAZILE: Well, let me just say this. It was somewhat -- I mean, she should have known last September. He basically said, I'm going to get rid of you because you're not doing what I want you to do. Hurry up and go after my enemies.
Hurry up and make this the Department of Retribution. Hurry up. And Ms. Bondi could not please the king. So therefore, she has been ousted, and she begged for a job. She should have said, oh, am I am I free to go? She should have ran out the door.
Now, Mr. Blanche, Mr. Blanche is going to try to please the president. We all know that. I mean, at CPAC, he basically said we purged the Justice Department of anyone who had anything to do, basically, public service during their job.
So the president is going to have a hard time finding someone outside of his current group of lackeys to replace Ms. Bondi.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And is it going to be difficult for the president to actually get someone confirmed? More difficult than it has been?
CHRISTIE: You know, 100 percent. Thom Tillis has said anybody who has not -- said on January 6th, that that was absolutely an insurrection, he's not going to vote for him.
Listen, I'm here for the gumbo versus cannoli wars all day long.
(LAUGH)
CHRISTIE: But Pam Bondi is just the latest to learn the lesson that everybody who says yes to Donald Trump learns, that Donald Trump, no matter how much you try and score points with him, Donald Trump doesn't give points. He only takes them away one at a time.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And Rachel, when he sends that up to Capitol Hill right now, do you expect he'll go with Blanche or try to find somebody else?
SCOTT: You know, I'm curious to see if Blanche stays in this acting role for the 210 days that he is technically allotted to stay there. I mean, remember the first administration, there were a lot of people serving in that acting position for quite some time. If Blanche is actually nominated to be attorney general, he would face a tremendously tough confirmation hearing.
I mean, remember, this is the president's former personal attorney. He met with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's convicted co-conspirator, for hours. I mean, Republicans on Capitol Hill were not happy with how that was handled.
So he would face a lot of questions. I imagine that it may not be Blanche ultimately, if the president decides to nominate someone. But I think he could serve in this acting role for quite the time.
STEPHANOPOULOS: All right. Chris, we only have about 30 seconds left. We saw this report this week that Justice Alito had spent some time in the hospital earlier this month. Do you expect that he’s going to retire and give the president another choice this year?
CHRIS CHRISTIE, (R) FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR & ABC NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: I know Justice Alito really well. He’s one of my predecessors as U.S. attorney in New Jersey. He loves that job. And I think unless he makes the decision that he can’t do it the way he wants to do it, I don’t think he’s leaving.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Thank you all for your time this morning.
Up next, report on the increasing number of deaths in ICE detention. We’ll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. YASSAMIN ANSARI (D-AZ): Every time I visit these detention facilities, it brings me to tears. It’s sickening, it is traumatizing, and it is deeply un-American.
I will keep fighting until the American people know the truth about what is happening in ICE detention centers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANOPOULOS: Arizona Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, after the death of a Haitian immigrant in an ICE detention facility, the latest in an alarming rise in detention center deaths during the second Trump administration. Matt Rivers reports on this dangerous trend.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GLORIA RAMOS, DAUGHTER OF JOSE GUADALUPE RAMOS: What happened to my dad was very inhumane.
MATT RIVERS, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Jose Guadalupe Ramos Solano was arrested by ICE on February 23rd and brought to a processing center in Adelanto, California. A month later, on March 25th, he was dead, becoming the fourteenth Mexican national to die in ICE custody or during enforcement operations during the second Trump administration.
VANESSA CALVA RUIZ, MEXICAN FOREIGN MINISTRY OFFICIAL: Mr. Ramos Solano (ph), his (ph) case is not an isolated case, but rather a reflection of an alarming, unacceptable trend.
RIVERS (voice over): Ramos Solano had been living in the United States for more than 28 years according to the Mexican consulate, and had a wife and two children who are U.S. citizens. ICE says that Ramos Solano entered the country illegally and had previously been convicted of possession of a controlled substance and theft. But attorneys who represent Ramos Solano are pushing back, claiming he was never convicted and would have had all charges dropped in August if he complied with a diversion program. They also say federal agents detained him while he was leaving his latest court check in. According to officials, the 52-year-old Ramos Solano had several health issues, including diabetes, identified in a medical screen upon arrival at the ICE facility. ICE claims, quote, “he received constant medical care while he was in custody, including daily medication to treat his illness.” But no cause of death has been provided.
RAMOS: I think my family and I deserve to know the truth of what happened to my dad.
RIVERS (voice over): Ramos Solano is the latest migrant to die during Trump’s second term. As of April 1st, 45 people have died in federal custody since Trump’s return to the White House. Two of those fatalities were victims of a shooting at a detention facility last September.
The increase in deaths has coincided with a staggering rise in federal immigration detention, with the number of people held recently climbing to a record 70,000, the highest level in the agency’s 23-year history.
According to an ABC News analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement data, the first fourteen months of Trump's second term have been the deadliest period at federal detention centers since the coronavirus pandemic contributed to detention deaths.
ABC's analysis found the death rate per 100,000 admissions currently at 11 compared to seven last year and just one per 100,000 in 2022.
ANDREA FLORES, FORMER DHS OFFICIAL: Too often, detention centers have had very limited staff, physician assistants, or just not proper medical teams. And what I am seeing is that probably because of the growing numbers of people in detention, that problem is much worse.
RIVERS (voice-over): The announcement of Ramos-Solano 's death came on the heels of new details about the death of Emmanuel Damas, a Haitian immigrant who died in ICE custody in early March.
PRESNER NELSON, BROTHER OF EMMANUEL DAMAS: Emmanuel was a loving, loving man. He cares deeply about his two sons and he's a people's person.
RIVERS (voice-over): Emmanuel's brother, Presner Nelson, last spoke to his brother on February 16th when he says his brother complained of a toothache he'd had for weeks. He said Emmanuel had been denied requests to see a dentist and that the tooth pain was more pronounced in a call with his mother two days later.
NELSON: On Wednesday the 18th, he had called, but he could not really talk. It was really, really hard for him to express himself.
RIVERS (voice-over): According to ICE, Damas was taken, quote, "Immediately to a hospital the next day after reporting shortness of breath, before being transferred to an Intensive Care Unit at a hospital in Phoenix."
By February 20th, Damas was intubated. On February 25th, Damas was transferred to another hospital and the family says it would be another three days before they were told they could visit him. On March 2nd, Damas was pronounced dead.
NELSON: He asked for help for two weeks. They said that he was faking. He was not serious.
RIVERS (voice-over): In a statement, ICE says Damas refused tooth extraction on at least two occasions and had claimed his toothache had gone away, adding that, quote, "It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an individual enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental and mental health services, access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care."
NELSON: We are in 2026. This is not 1800 or 1700 where a toothache can kill someone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC ANCHOR OF "THIS WEEK" AND FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Thanks to Matt Rivers. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
STEPHANOPOULOS: That is all for us today. Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with us. Happy Easter to all those celebrating. I'll see you tomorrow on GMA.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
Popular Reads
ABC News Live