Deal. I mean, people have been on strike for almost five months. And so what were learning from my colleague oliver darcy and his sources is they are in the final stages of negotiating that deal. So it is essentially the final phase. They are at the table today. We learned that the big bosses of the studios, they were not at the table. Really its just the negotiators now working through those final details before they can strike a deal. And sources telling my colleague oliver darcy it could happen by the end of the weekend. Really it could happen at any point. There are so many people here in los angeles and really across the country who are waiting for this deal to go back to work. Many people who have struggled for months to pay their rent or put food on the table because they have not been able to work due to this strike. I mean, there are many things theyre trying to negotiate, among them pay, residuals when it comes to streaming, and also artificial intelligence. That has been extremely difficult because really we dont know a lot about artificial intelligence, and these writers say they want to be the ones writing the scripts and not machines. Again, this has had a huge impact everywhere in the nation. Estimates are that the Economic Impact is more than 5 billion. So a deal is essentially a very big deal because many, many people are waiting for this. Jim . Absolutely. And its really just paralyzed things in hollywood and l. A. For so many months now. We know youll stay on top of it. If there are updates well bring you back in. Kamila, thank you so much. Back here in washington, theres a new deadline looming, and were counting down to one week from today. Next saturday, the federal government will face a midnight shutdown unless some funding bill can be passed in congress and signed by the president. With every passing hour, resolution seems more and more unlikely. Now federal agencies have been told to begin their formal process of preparing for a Government Shutdown. That means that millions of federal workers and Military Personnel are getting ready, too, their paychecks may be cut off for weeks. Today House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy conceded he has to win over some republican hardliners who continue to defy him. He says hes hopeful that they will fall in line and pass some kind of a Stopgap Spending Measure to prevent the shutdown. Heres what he had to say crunch time. Holding off and blaming Everybody Else. Shutting down is and with so much at stake at home and overseas, we turn to former defense secretaries, former white house Chief Of Staff leon panetta. Great to see you as always. You know, you were the Chief Of Staff for bill clinton when there was a Government Shutdown back in the 90s. So i think youre a good person to go to on this. You know the speaker, Kevin Mccarthy, has said that some of the hardliners in his own party want to quote, burn the place down, not something i it upically hear from a House Speaker speaking about members of his own conference. How do you negotiate in this situation, and at the white house do you have to sit back and watch this unfold . Theres not a whole lot you can do if members of mccarthys party are bucking him. No, listen, the ball is in Speaker Mccarthy and the republicans lap right now to decide what happens. And what they have to be careful of is making exactly the same mistake that Newt Gingrich made when he was speaker and bill clinton was president. Gingrich continued to try to get his way, refused to negotiate and compromise on a budget issue with the president , and ultimately shut the government down for about five days in november. They thought they could work something out, didnt happen, and then they shut it down again in december for 21 days. And the result of that was that the republicans were blamed for the shutdown. And what it did, frankly, was it gave bill clinton what he needed was the issue of saying that we stand for protecting the United States, protecting america, and the republicans stand for tearing it down. And with that, he won reelection. So i think the republicans are on the verge of making the same mistake that gingrich made. And if youre trying to manage the situation down at the border and Border Agents arent getting paid because theres a Government Shutdown, not to mention Military Personnel around the world not getting paid or having to wait for their paychecks to come in because of this, that makes everything much more difficult for the administration, especially down at the border which is dealing with such a big influx of migrants right now. How might that become an even bigger problem if this shutdown hap happens . This is not a good moment for a shutdown of the federal government. Number one, were trying to support with weapons and Military Support Ukraine in a war against russia. Were trying to deal with other Danger Points in the world, but were trying to deal with a crisis on the border with immigrants, were trying to be able to deal with problems in the economy because of the strikes that are taking place. If you have a shutdown, its going to hurt the economy that much more. And so i think both the president and the leadership in the congress have to focus on doing whats right for the country which is passing a continuing resolution, fund the government, and then move on to negotiate on the budget in the future. And one quick final before i move on to ukraine, if youre advising the president now, do you advise him to get involved or to sit back and let the republicans duke this out . Well, i think the speaker knows that the president is always available if he really wants to turn to the president. But right now mccarthy is trying to do this on his own. His problem, though, is hes trying to do it through appeasing a group of nuts on his side of the aisle. And you know, my experience is that when speakers or any leaders for that matter start appeasing their enemies in one way or another, they weaken their own position and make it even tougher to be able to find a solution. So i think hes in a tight spot right now, and im not sure hes going to be able to find a way out. And secretary panetta, i want to shift to ukraine. Today at the u. N. A journalist asked russias foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, at what point the u. S. And other western countries become directly involved in war against russia versus a proxy war. Obviously, you know, some people might have problems with that question. Lets listen to what Sergey Lavrov had to say about that. Translator so you can call this whatever you want to call this, but they are directly at war with us. We call this a hybrid war, but that doesnt change the reality. What do you make of that comment that hes saying theyre directly at war with us, Western Nations . Well, you know, i think lavrov is basically a mouthpiece for putin. He always has been. And he continues to be. And what hes trying to do it to put the blame not on russia, not on his boss, putin, but putting his blame on the United States and putting his blame on the ukraine. And so by basically saying that everybodys at war with russia, hes basically blaming Everybody Else but putin and russia for whats happened in ukraine. And thats just something we have to understand takes us nowhere with regards to trying to resolve this war. And mr. Secretary, i had to get your take on whats going on with these Military Nominations. This week the senate voted to approve three Military Nominations in the face of senator Tommy Tubervilles continued blockade including the new head of the joint chiefs of staff. But as you know, more than 300 nominations are still in limbo. You know, we asked General Wesley Clark a week ago about this, and he was saying it was time for somebody, somewhere to Start Playing hardball with senator tommy tuberville. What is your sense as to how you get through this logjam and how in can be overcome . Or does everybody just have to i guess placate tuberville while he backs himself into a corner on this . Well, hes already backed himself into a corner. Mitch mcconnell doesnt support what hes doing. Most of the republicans dont support what hes doing. The democrats certainly dont support what hes doing. But hes kind of like we see a lot in the congress these days are individuals that kind of do their own thing and to hell with the country. And what hes doing is shameful. Hes really hurting the military and our ability to have a Command Structure in the military. So yeah, i think it is time to get tough with this guy. I think Chuck Schumer did the right thing to try to push through at least the approval of the chiefs. In addition to that, i think a clear signal needs to be sent to this guy that the longer he continues the more Defense Money hes going to lose for his home state as a result of what hes doing, period. All right. And does it shock you at all to this this a senator can have this kind of power . I mean one senator can hold up all of these nominations. If youre Family Member of some of these senior Military Officers waiting to move somewhere, thats being held up. One senator can do that. Isnt that a little strange . Well, were seeing a lot of that in washington these days as individuals play their own game and forget about the country and forget about the importance of the nation. And i think there is just another this is just another example of irresponsible leadership. All right. Secretary leon panetta, always appreciate your time. Thank you so much. Good to be with you, jim. Good to be with you. Coming up, were continuing to follow the breaking news, writers and studios are in the final phase of negotiations to end the months long strike. And later, my conversation with Actor Sean Penn about his documentary on ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy, his views on u. S. Aid, vladimir putin, and the 2024 republican field. Youre going to want to stay tuned to listen to what he has to say about that. He weighs in on donald trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, and more. Stay with us. please dont go by harry casey, Richard Raymond finch ping please dongo please dont go please dont go please dont go dont goooooo dont go away please dont go subways now slicing their deli meats fresh. Thats why theyre proferred ,by this pro who won the superbowl twice. And this pro with the perfect slice. And if we profer it, we know america will too. What about spaniards . And i guess spain. 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Joining me to discuss, conservative lawyer george conway. George, what do you make of all this trouble that bob menendez appears to be in right now and the fact he is hes digging in his heels, he is not stepping down sounds like. Well, its just stunning. I mean, the allegations in this indictment are just its just raw corruption of sort. Its classic kind of new jersey kind of corruption. But you know, with a Foreign Policy overlay. I mean, the man apparently was selling secret information about, you know, about of the governments to representatives of the eeliot spitzer government egyptian government. The gold bars, cash in his jacket. Even tony soprano had sense enough to bury the cash in the bac backyard. Its crazy. How difficult is it going to be for menendez to fight these charges . And i suppose getting back to the political question, his decision to really reject these calls from fellow democrats to resign, and i suppose we were talking about this with others earlier in the program, i suppose theres this new school of thought in washington, the olden days Something Like this might compel a senator or member of congress to resign. But these days with trump and George Santos and others digging in and riding it out sometimes is the strategy. It sounds like bob menendez may be going down that road. Absolutely. Hes obviously going to try to stick it out. And that is something unfortunately that weve seen in recent years. Although on the other hand, someone whos willing to sell his office in the way that he is alleged to have done in the indictment is not going to be someone whos going to be public spirited when it comes to resigning that office. So in that sense, its not terribly surprising. I want to switch gears and ask you about the Sexual Harassment allegations against rudy giuliani. Getting over to some of these accu accusations in trump world. Former white house aide Cassidy Hutchinson claimed giuliani groped her backstage during the January 6th Rally at the ellipse here in washington. Giulianis political adviser says its a disgusting lie. But i mean, this just add to the growing list of problems for rudy giuliani. Its stunning. Yeah, it is absolutely stunning. This mans fall from grace from the time from, you know, September 11th To today just continues in an amazing free fall. And the his problem is here he has no credibility. We saw the crazy stunt he pulled in the borat movie where hes trying to trying to make nice in some way to a girl who a woman who is basically a third of his age. And then you have, you know, hes a man with very little credibility. And theres no Cassidy Hutchinson has no reason to lie about this. So you know, its just its just another blow to his credibility. But he doesnt really have any any anymore. Its another example, even though we feel like we know just about everything we can know about the events that took place on and around january 6th, more and more disturbing allegations come out. And i mean, one of the other things that hutchinson says is that john eastman was there when this happened with giuliani, when it allegedly happened with rudy giuliani, and was flashing a leering grin. Its absolutely disgusting, makes your skin crawl. And weve just seen that pattern of behavior by these highly narcissistic individuals who think that they own everybody around them, particularly the women. And you know, thank good not for Cassidy Hutchinson and the other women who are speaking out not only about this type of thing but about the overall abuses and corruption in the trump administration. Yeah. George conway, always great to talk to you. Thank you so much for your time. Well have you back soon if youll allow it. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Byebye. Good to see you, george. Coming up, my oneonone conversation with sean penn about his documentary on ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy. Why he took on the project and more. Thats coming up next. The secony enough to enjoy it. So i started preparing physically and financially. Then you came along and made every mile worth it. Hi mom. At vanguard youre more than just an investor, youre an owner. Helping you prepare for todays longer retirement. Thats the value of ownership. With wet amd, sometimes i worry my world is getting smaller because of my sight. But now, i can open up my world with vabysmo. Vabysmo is the first fdaapproved treatment for people with wet amd that improves vis