Video

A boast by Donald Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the effectiveness of the president trade war led CNN's Dana Bash to correct him on Sunday morning.

Appearing on "State of the Union," Lutnick launched extensive explanations about the upside of Trump's tariff threats, and butted heads with the CNN host, repeatedly replying," No, no, no," when she attempted to fact-check him.

In one exchange, he asserted, "Look, we published our rates on Liberation Day, negotiate with us, bring those rates down by opening your markets to Americans who can export. So what's going to happen is we're going to have imports. Of course, our ports, we are the consumer of the world! I mean, we consume $20 trillion worth of stuff. The world wants to sell us stuff."

ALSO READ: ‘Pain. Grief. Anger’: Families heartbroken as Trump backlash smashes adoption dreams

"But it's not happening.right now because of the president's policies," Bash interrupted.

"No, no, no, it's only stopping," Lutnick protested.

"Look," he attempted, "We are in a negotiation with China, we agree. We're in. It has stopped 145 percent on China. Of course, that stops it, but that –– they're negotiating that right now, we are optimistic that that will open."

"But what the president's tariff policy is, is let's open all the markets in the world that have been closed to us. Let's get that opportunity for Americans to export to them, let's really, really help Americans export," he continued. "And of course, those people who import are going to have great businesses. We are the greatest economy in the world. Everybody wants to come here, as the president likes to say, everybody likes to shop here with our consumers and it's going to work out great. "

You can watch below or at the link.

During an appearance on MSNBC on Sunday morning, the former deputy press secretary in Donald Trump's first administration expressed alarm that conservative gadfly Laura Loomer has the president's ear on hiring and firings.

Speaking with the hosts of MSNBC's 'The Weekend," Sarah Matthews claimed she was told that there would be a firewall around Trump in his second term to keep him from following his worst instincts because of outside advice.

Asked by co-host Eugene Daniels, "I've heard a little bit of rumblings of some of the staffers around President Trump, who are actually supposed to have power and influence, getting a little frustrated with this happening with the Laura Loomer's of the world with definitely Elon Musk?" Matthews expressed dismay.

EXCLUSIVE:Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE

"Well, you know, I was told that Susie Wiles was going to make sure that these kinds of clown-like figures weren't coming into the Oval Office or weren't getting on the phone with the president and having that kind of access to power," she replied.

"Obviously, it seems like you can only do so much; I think she has to kind of pick and choose her battles," she conceded. "And so with Laura Loomer, obviously she's still getting through to Trump, still being very influential in these hiring decisions or firing decisions."

"That is very scary to think that a far-right conspiracy theorist has the president's ear," she added. "And, unfortunately, she has a lot of power and some of these bad actors do too."

You can watch below or at the link:

The panel on CNN's "Table for Five" laughed off Donald Trump's habit of making bold –– and distracting –– proposals when things are not going well for him and noted they all seem to be designed to raise his profile among all presidents.

Speaking with host Abby Phillip, longtime D.C. insider Chuck Todd noted that the president was doing all he could earlier in the week after he created a firestorm by telling an NBC host he wasn't sure if he was supposed to follow the Constitution.

That, in turn, led the embattled president to propose re-opening the Alcatraz prison despite the fact that is has been falling into disrepair for decades.

ALSO READ: Trump's top spy chief blasted as Raw Story exposes 'crazy' cash grab

Pointing out that the NBC interview with host Kirsten Welker "didn't go well," Todd added, "Suddenly, instead of that being the thing, 'Oh, let me throw up this Alcatraz thing.'"

"I do think sometimes –– I’m with you guys –– it’s just, what do they call it, flak? You know, to distract the fighter jets, what are you shooting at? We cannot take the bait and I completely agree. But he’s obsessed with being in history. He wants, maybe he really is afraid that he is not going to be more than one page in the history book."

He then pointed out, "And I promise you, guess what buddy? You probably maybe will be two because you’re impeached twice," before adding, "No president ever lives as long in the history books as they think they will."

"You’re so right about that, because maybe it’s all these things at once, right? Trump wants to be a historical figure. And in his mind, it’s acquiring territory. It’s renaming things," host Phillip contributed. "He really would love to be on the Mount Rushmore. I think he’s maybe realized that that’s like a little bit tough of a sell. But this is important to him."

You can watch below or at the link.

On Saturday morning's edition of MSNBC's "The Weekend," co-host Jonathan Capehart expressed both dismay and surprise that Donald Trump selected Fox News personality Jeanine Pirro to serve as Washington, D.C.'s interim U.S. attorney considering her history.

Speaking with his co-hosts, he claimed it doesn't take much effort to dig up Pirro's sketchy background when it comes to law enforcement and offered some tips to viewers.

"Talk about failing upward!" he exclaimed before continuing, "She's not qualified."

EXCLUSIVE: Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE

Point out the longtime friendship between Pirro and Trump, Capehart continued, "They are such good friends that at the end of his first term as president, didn't he, yeah, he gave her former husband, tax cheat ex-husband Al a pardon."

"And folks, do yourself a favor just Google 'Jeanine Pirro,' 'husband,' 'FBI,' 'Bernie Kerik,'" he advised.

"See, there's a whole thing, a scandal from 20 years ago where she is caught on tape talking to the former New York police commissioner about bugging her husband's boat for reasons you can read in that story if you Google it," he continued.

You can watch below or at the link.

During an appearance on CNN Saturday morning where she was tasked with defending the questionable arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka by a mob of armed ICE agents outside of an DHS facility, a spokesperson for the agency stated there are plans to arrest more lawmakers in the coming days.

Speaking with host Victor Blackwell, Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at DHS and former advisor to failed GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, kept insisting that Mayor Baraka was arrested for "storming" the facility despite video showing him being taken into custody outside the chain-link gate.

After she grimly recited that the mayor and members of Congress who were also in attendance "put law enforcement at risk, this actually put the detainees, as well, at risk," she added more arrests would be forthcoming.

EXCLUSIVE:Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE

"Victor, I think that we should let viewers know there will likely be more arrests coming," McLaughlin claimed. " We actually have body camera footage of some of these members of Congress assaulting our ICE enforcement officers, including body slamming a female ICE officer. So we will be showing that to viewers very shortly."

'You say a video of members of Congress body slamming ICE officials?" a skeptical Blackwell asked.

"That's correct sir, it's disgusting," she replied.

"Okay, and so, if you have that video, are you suggesting that members of Congress will be arrested who were there yesterday?" the CNN host pressed.

"This is an ongoing investigation and that is definitely on the table," she shot back.

"Who has the video?" Blackwell asked.

"ICE does and we will be releasing that shortly," she replied before later adding, "We're not playing."

You can watch below or at the link:

During an MSNBC panel on recent proclamations from Donald Trump that have left observers baffled, "The Weekend" co-host Jonathan Capehart expressed dismay that there is not more attention being paid to the president's state of mind.

With former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) commenting on Trump's nonsensical tariff claims, Capehart couldn't contain himself and exclaimed, "I wrote down this note immediately: why are we not talking about his mental acuity? How?"

Co-host and former GOP speechwriter Elise Jordan offered, "The last interview he did with [NBC's] Kristen Welker, he did not look as sharp and he looked, at least at a minimum, tired. At worst case, he is not as sharp as he used to be."

EXCLUSIVE:Breastfeeding mom of US citizen sues Kristi Noem after being grabbed by ICE

Comstock then jumped in with, "I mean he's talking about how it's great that those, right the [container] ships coming over are empty, that means we're saving money, it is literally economically illiterate."

"His own people –– look at Steve Moore, Heritage Foundation, a guy who opposes tariffs has been saying to people behind the scenes, actually, he's been saying it on Fox News, this is insane," she added. "

"You can tell –– Ken Griffin who gave money, huge money to Republicans last year, including Trump, has said this has made us 20 percent poorer in a month done permanent damage to the American brand and this isn't going to be something we can turn around from now. You know, and what he [Trump] does is he burns down the house and then he comes in and says, 'Oh, the market went up.' Well, no."

Retired U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin didn’t hold back Friday as she tore into White House adviser Stephen Miller’s suggestion that the Trump administration could unilaterally suspend migrants’ rights to challenge their detention in court.

Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper hours after Miller made the eyebrow-raising comments, Scheindlin said flatly the suggestion is “ridiculous.”

In the past week, two U.S. Supreme Court Justices have spoken out to defend the legal profession. On Friday, MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace asked a former judge and Duke Law School professor just what that signals.

"How far outside of normal are we?" Wallace asked retired U.S. District Court Judge Paul Grimm of Maryland.

Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman is hearing from members of Congress that President Donald Trump's willingness to raise taxes on the super wealthy is causing a stink on Capitol Hill.

Speaking to MSNBC's Katie Tur on Friday, Sherman mentioned a Trump post on Truth Social in which he said that Republicans "probably should not" raise taxes — "but I’m OK if they do!!!"

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace began her Friday episode of "Deadline White House" discussing President Donald Trump's latest tease on tariffs from China.

"There are twists and turns today in the melodrama that is Donald Trump's handling of the U.S. economy," she said.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) told Clay Cane and Reecie Colbert on SiriusXM's Urban View that after Democrats' failure in 2024, party donors will seek "the safest white boy" they can find to back to avoid rocking the boat in 2028.

“It is this fear that the people within the party, within the primary system, will have about voting for a woman because every time we voted for a woman, we've lost so far," said Crockett, who has recently become a target for racially-charged invective from President Donald Trump.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt vehemently defended President Donald Trump as reporters questioned if his upcoming trip to the Middle East is related to the business dealings with the Trump Organization.

“Will any of the president's family members be joining him?” one reporter asked

A feud erupted between one of Donald Trump's top allies and the brother of Trump's choice for surgeon general.

Casey and Calley Means have both been tapped by the Trump administration. This week, reports said Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nominated Casey Means to be the surgeon general while her brother is working as a White House advisor, Axios reported.