Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo 3/16/25 | FOX BREAKING NEWS TRUMP March 16, 2025

good Sunday morning everyone welcome to Sunday Morning Futures thanks so much for joining us i'm Maria Barturo today America on Offense president Trump launches strikes against the Iranianbacked Houthy rebels in another message to Iran stop undermining America or face the consequences coming up US Defense Secretary Pete Hgse is here on the flare up and the agenda to keep America safe plus Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton on Congress's next moves to cottify the Trump agenda into law then the interview that set the tone for global markets across the world the tariffs could go up as time goes by and they may go up and you know I don't know if it's predictability i think so that's not clarity no I think I think that they say that you know it sounds good to say but for years uh the globalists the big globalists have been ripping off the United States they've been taking money away from the United States and all we're doing is getting some of it back and we're going to treat our country fairly are you expecting a recession this year um I hate to predict things like that there is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big we're bringing wealth back to America and with and with that a global selloff in stocks this past week as corporate America worries about the impact of tariffs on their business clarity on the president's agenda two weeks before earning season with the White House press secretary Caroline Levit this morning then returning to crime fighting and away from politicking house Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan on Trump's new DOJ and FBI also here New York Post columnist Miranda Divine on left-wing agitators setting their sights on Tesla over Elon Musk's working with the Trump administration it's all right here right now on Sunday Morning Futures [Music] and we begin this Sunday morning with President Trump's new message to Iran with the commander-in-chief ordering a powerful and deadly attack against Iranianbacked Houthi rebels in Yemen over the weekend multiple rebels dead after the strikes hit the intended targets in Yemen's capital city on Saturday with President Trump writing on Truth Social "The Houthies have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy violence and terrorism against American ships aircraft and drones. " "Your attacks must stop starting today and if they don't hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before," writes the president trump also sending a direct message to Iran warning the Iranians not to support terrorist proxies the president following up after breaking news on this program last week that he sent a letter to the Supreme Leader of Iran asking to open up talks regarding Iran's nuclear ambitions i've written him a letter saying "I hope you're going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it's going to be a terrible thing for them. " You wrote a letter to the Kmeni when did you send the letter yesterday and you said you better negotiate or we want you to negotiate say you better i said I hope you're going to negotiate because it's going to be a lot better for Iran and I think they want to get that letter the other alternative is we have to do something because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon those comments sparking a response to the interview from Iran last weekend with the Supreme Leader saying Iran would not be bullied writing "The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiations is not aimed at resolving issues but rather at asserting dominance and imposing their demands the Islamic Republic of Iran will certainly not accept their demands," writes the Ayatollah Kmeni joining me now with more on the Yemen attack Iran and the president's agenda is the nation's Secretary of Defense Pete Hegath mr secretary great to see you this morning thank you for being here can you tell us how it all went down on Saturday well it all went down because an era of peace through strength is back uh just like in his first term President Trump had to deal with the weakness of President Obama and get rid of ISIS and he did it more quickly than anybody else we're sitting on four years of deferred maintenance from Joe Biden where in in particular when you talk about the Houthis they were allowed for over a hundred times to shoot at US uh ships to shoot at commercial shipping uh four months ago when we sent a ship through it was shot at 17 times ships haven't been able to go through for over a year without being shot at freedom of navigation is basic it's a core national interest and President Trump has said we will restore that and we will be unrelenting i want to be very clear this campaign is about freedom of navigation and restoring deterrence the minute the Houthies say we'll stop shooting at your ships we'll stop shooting at your drones um this campaign will end but until then it will be unrelenting we got the reports last night uh Maria uh there the Houthi capital felt like an earthquake dozens and dozens of precisionheavy munitions dropping precisely on the targets that we wanted to hit sending a very clear message and the message is clear to Iran as well and the president said it in his truth your support of the Houthis needs to hand uh end immediately we will hold you accountable as the sponsor of this pro proxy and I echo his statement we will not be nice about it this is not the Biden administration the message is clear we will come after the Houthis until they stop shooting at our ships and the Iranians better stay out of it and there's so many implications to this i remember last year when this was happening I basically every day or every other day that our ships would get harassed uh by by these rebels and what ended up happening from an economic uh perspective as well many commercial ships were afraid to even go into that route in the Red Sea they were going around the horn and it was costing much more money sending oil prices higher because it was much more expensive for the longer travel so it's not just a national security issue but an economic one as well 100% uh and the president understands that global shipping global commerce when it's threatened by effectively pirates and piracy and you have to divert and go an extra two weeks costing millions and then eventually billions of dollars you're being held hostage by a terrorist organization remember the B administration uh took off the foreign terrorist organization designation of the Houthies that's right president Trump restored it we're squeezing them economically we are pounding them militarily by the way to the Houthies this isn't a one night thing this will continue until you say "We're done shooting at ships we're done shooting at assets.

" We don't want a long limited war in the Middle East i don't We don't care what happens in the Yemenes civil war this is about stopping the shooting at assets uh in in that in that critical waterway to reopen freedom of navigation which is a core national interest of the United States and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long they better back off and and enabling the Houthis but also Hamas and Hezbollah secretary assess the capability and the capacity today of these Iranian pro uh proxies i'm talking about Hezbollah having become weakened in the last several months hamas weakened as a result of the Israeli strikes what can you tell us about the capacity of these Iranian pro uh uh proxies Hamas Hezbollah and now the Houthis what is their state today well Maria Iran is in a very weakened state uh when you you mentioned it Hezbollah you mentioned it Hamas you look at what happened in Syria with the collapse of that regime which was a client state of Iran uh and ultimately they a lot of their uh insurgent groups in Iraq have pulled back as well but it doesn't mean they still don't have the desire uh their air defenses are weakened uh and that's why they're in a position where they're supporting groups like the Houthis because they've in some ways have to move to other options to try to agitate and instigate in the region uh this is a this is a critical moment for them and the president said it on your program he said it very clearly uh they should they need to they will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon we hope they do so that we give it up peaceibly uh through negotiations the president has laid out the trajectory for that um because the alternative doesn't look good for anybody i I I feel like we've been hearing that Iran is close to having a nuclear weapon we're a month away two months away we've been hearing this for years realistically speaking Secretary how close is Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in your view well that's that's something that's classified something we guard very closely we watch very closely and that's why the president has such urgency on this why he's leading on this nobody wants a military option as it pertains to Iran so he is through maximum pressure just as he did in his first administration maximum pressure bankrupt the Iranians well under Joe Biden what happened they took off that maximum pressure and groups like the Houthis were a wash in cash then they got arrogant started shooting at our ships we look weak not anymore not under President Trump that will stop the Houthies shooting at our ships will stop iran must get that clear message and negotiate the end of of their pursuit for nuclear weapons because as I mentioned President Trump has said clearly they will not get a bomb and I know that the Department of Defense sent a letter to the chairman Chairman Rogers uh recently about this 8% budget uh reook that you have called for Secretary and I want to get your take on that because President Trump was very clear with me last week he is not cutting defense spending here's the president with me last week right here you said you wanted to do the Golden Dome you've got a lot of ideas for America but then earlier you said you wanted to cut a trillion dollars in defense spending right i didn't say I was you not so I was like which is it are you cutting defense spending or are you building i never said defense okay cuz I think you were talking about denuclearization and that's where the cutting of the spending came in i never said cut no it's not in these days i'd love to cut defense spending but not now because you have China you have Russia you have a lot of problems out there so Secretary the letter that was sent to Chairman Rogers was talking about the fiscal year 26 budget request perhaps incorporating that 8% decline there if you're looking at an increase in defense spending Secretary how do you allocate that where are the needs in our military i know we don't have enough ships and uh the navy in China is actually dominating us when it comes to the number of ships but how do you allocate that increase in defense spending ships ship buildings uh the long range munitions hypersonics long range drones uh golden dome southern border the president has laid out very clearly his agenda uh to rebuild the US military he did it in his first term he's going to do it again uh this 8% has been highly mischaracterized Maria it's not a cut it's a reallocation away from Biden priorities uh toward Green New Deal stuff toward President Trump priorities so we have revived the warrior ethos inside the military we we're reestablishing deterrence and per the president's direction we are going to rebuild the military you're going to see a historic investment in the weapons and modernization required to stand up to our enemies president Trump has committed to that he's asked me to be a part of it we're going to work with Capitol Hill to do it uh we're but we're going to be fiscally responsible with taxpayer dollars Maria we're going to pass an audit we're going to work with Doge we're going to find there's plenty of waste fraud and abuse in the DoD and we're going to find it at the same time we're going to reinvest overwhelmingly in systems and rebuild this military because our kids and grandkids require it and President Trump's leading the way this is very important clarity that you just gave us this is a reallocation not a decline secretary it's great to see you this morning thank you sir thank you Maria defense Secretary Pete Hegath this morning and now turning to Trump's agenda into law to endure as the nation's energy secretary explained to me on Friday watch the president has issued a number of executive orders on energy they all seem very positive for America but will they be in place long term what can Congress do to make sure that those executive orders are codified into law oh I think once we swing back this pendulum to common sense on energy and focused on the American people first and not some sort of political agendas that that don't work so well for the American people of course Congress has to get involved here congress will be involved here there will be changes in laws that'll codify some of this but a lot of the great damage to the American economy has truly been done by the deep state that's why it's so pernitious it wasn't passed by Congress it wasn't supported by the American people it crept in the deep state starting early in Obama's first term all of that stuff needs to be rooted out and that's energy secretary Chris Wright with me on Friday on Mornings with Maria on Trump's uh and turning President Trump's executive orders into longlasting law beyond the next four years so that another administration cannot undo it this week Congress averted a government shutdown after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer backtracked and threw his support behind the public Republican spending bill which will fund government through September schumer announced earlier in the week Republicans did not have the support to advance the continuing resolution but reversed course after a heated meeting with Senate Democrats in which Senator Kristen Gilbrand was heard screaming at her colleagues from down the hall now the work in the Senate resumes toward executing President Trump's agenda while the administration pursues brokering a 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine which Russian President Vladimir Putin claims to support with conditions joining me now with more on all of this is Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton he is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee senator thanks so much for joining us this morning thank you Maria first I want to get your take on what you just heard from Chris Wright the energy secretary where do you see the priorities in terms of President Trump's executive orders and what you can do as a leading senator in terms of codifying those into law so that they cannot be undone in four years well Maria first I'm glad we closed out last year's business on Friday passing spending bills that will keep the government funded through September chuck Schumer really has no one to blame but himself the Senate Appropriations Committee last year passed 11 of 12 spending bills half more than half of those were unanimous and he didn't bring a single one up for a vote so Chuck Schumer right now is reaping what he sowed last year uh by finishing out last year's business it allows us now to move on and focus on the big budget bill that we plan to pass that is going to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent it's going to improve on other tax cuts going to fund our military fund border security and as Chris Wright was talking about fund some of the president's energy initiatives it's going to unleash American energy production and lower costs for hardworking Americans and businesses not just at home and your electricity bill your heating bill but everything you buy at the store has to be produced and it has to be shipped there that uses American energy we want to make it less expensive so the prices you pay at the grocery store and in terms of the priorities in terms of which executive orders you believe Congress needs to codify well there's a lot of them Maria especially when it comes to the spending cuts that President Trump has identified with the help of Elon Musk and his team we can pass those at a simple majority level i hope that they'll be submitting a package that will make those permanent uh also as we move past the the major budget legislation that will cut taxes secure our border rebuild our military and unleash American energy production as we move into next year's spending bills I also expect that we'll be providing more of the resources that we need to keep Americans safe and prosperous while also cutting back on a lot of the waste that we've seen in the news over the last couple months since President Trump took office you know it it seems like President Trump's second term here I is different on the foreign policy front because you've got this intertwined relationship with Iran China uh Russia and North Korea what do you want to say about the uh last night's uh Yemen uh strikes uh and what that message is to Iran and how that intertwined relationship of the four hostile nations is different this time around well what all of those adversaries want is to upend the United States-led order that has benefited our citizens for so long by keeping America safe and prosperous uh the strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen last night was long overdue going back to the October 7th attacks against Israel they've been shutting down shipping in the Red Sea that's dangerous not just for America's sailors who are there but also it's bad for your wallet here in America it drives up shipping costs which drives up the prices you pay yet Joe Biden let our ships let our sailors just sit in the Red Sea like sitting ducks president Trump made it clear that it was long overdue we're not going to allow it anymore we are going to protect our interests and he also made it clear to Iran that we know what they're up to where did a bunch of goat herders in Yemen get one-way attack drones and cruise missiles they got them from Iran so while we're degrading those rebels uh power right now we're also sending a signal to Iran that they need to knock it off they also as President Trump said to you last week have to end their nuclear weapons program we'd love to have a negotiated deal in which they surrender that program but we can also do it as he put it the other way it it seems to me that uh it was a serious message to Iran but are you expecting retaliation well those rebels in Yemen have been striking shipping and been aiming at US naval ships for some time i suspect after last night they got the picture that Donald Trump is not Joe Biden he's not just going to have our sailors on the Red Sea like sitting ducks and if they continue these strikes then he'll hit back even harder than he did last night same thing with Iran you think they would have learned a lesson over the last 18 months after what Israel has done to Hamas and Hezbollah and Lebanon and directly to Iran with the United States support but if they don't get the if they don't get the lesson then of course I believe President Trump will strike back even twice as hard and once again the most important threat is the threat of Iran's nuclear weapons program it's not just a threat to Israel or our friends in the Middle East they're also building intercontinental missiles under the flimsy cover of a space launch program that could strike the United States in just a number of years so this is a direct and imminent threat to the United States that's why President Trump has said repeatedly "We're in the final days of this dispute over Iran's nuclear program it's really up to them how it ends. " And and and Senator what is China's role how much of China's uh participation do you see here well well China has been supporting Iran in numerous ways for instance for four years under Joe Biden China bought Iran Iranian oil in violation of sanctions against Iran joe Biden looked the other way donald Trump has not he's imposed maximum pressure back on Iran that's squeezing both Iran and China but as I write in my new book Seven Things You Can't Say About China their ultimate goal is to replace the United States as the world's dominant economic and military superpower and that's why they continue to show up around the world supporting countries like Iran or North Korea or Russia because they are trying to keep America on the back foot all right we will leave it there senator it's great to see you this morning thanks very much for being here thank you Maria senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton thank you quick break and then up next the tariff storm from President Trump's remarks here last week setting off a firestorm of talk of recession retaliation and the cost of tariffs to come on April 2nd white House press secretary Caroline Levit with a message from the White House when we come back stay with us have you ever paid a tariff because I have they don't get charged on foreign companies they get charged on the importers and ultimately when we have fair and balanced trade which the American people have not seen in decades as I said at the beginning uh revenues will stay here wages will go up and our country will be made wealthy again and I think think it's insulting that you are trying to test my knowledge of economics uh and the the decisions that this president has made i'm now regret giving a question to the Associated Press and that is an Associated Press reporter challenging White House press secretary Caroline Levit this week on the president's tariff policy in what has become a regular push back from AP which is also by the way refusing to call the Gulf of America by its newly changed name joining me now is the woman herself in this Sunday Morning Futures exclusive White House press secretary Caroline Levit caroline thanks so much for joining us it's great to see you Maria thanks for having me how would you characterize the quote unquote resist and the challenges uh from I guess AP has been uh pushing back on on on your press conferences uh pretty often sure well first of all with that individual reporter from the Associated Press who tried to test me on tariffs he clearly fails to see President Trump's long-term economic strategy which is to bring in so much revenue so much wealth into our country through tariffs that we can give larger tax cuts to the American people to put more money back into their pockets he clearly didn't understand that very simple idea but as for the greater mainstream media's coverage I think that example proves that they are continue to double down on their failing ways they focus on sensationalism on trying to get a viral moment rather than asking tough questions with honest integrity and journalistic curiosity wanting to know the answers they want to make a name for themselves and that's why the trust in the mainstream media has fallen to record lows and that's why at the White House we are very proud of the changes that we have made to the briefing room and also to the press coverage of this president welcoming in independent voices and new media who truly care about the truth honesty and accuracy yeah but you know it's more than AP it's basically the Washington press in terms of resisting President Trump you also have these judges who who are who are resisting we're going to talk about this most recent federal judges uh move with Jim Jordan coming up uh but what do you want to say about the general resistance to this president's policies that you are witness to president Trump is not shy of resistance he has been facing more resistance than anyone who has ever run for office in American history and the mainstream media is part of that but also as you mentioned we have judges in our judicial branch who are acting as activists not real arbiters of the law and there has been 15 injunctions in one month of President Trump's agenda the Biden White House only faced 13 injunctions in the entirety of his presidency and so clearly there are left-wing activists who sit behind a bench in a courthouse who don't like this president and his policies but the fact is everything President Trump is doing is within his executive authority to do it he is acting within the bounds of the law all of his actions are constitutional and our White House and the entire administration are prepared to fight back against this resistance don't bet against President Trump i think his epic return to the Oval Office proves that he is going to win against the this the weaponization of our justice system yeah let's get to some of the president's wins and of course you have to note the border as a major win the d average of migrants crossing the border illegally and escaping into the interior of the country has plummeted to just 77 compared to an average of over 1,800 gotaways under Biden's fiscal year 2023 that's a decline of 96% of those gotaways from record highs the number of illegal Chinese crossings the Chinese crosshairs also plummeting with just 130 Chinese migrants apprehended by border patrol last month that compares to over 3,500 the year earlier under Biden what do you want to say about the border crackdown and here too the pressure and the push back that the president is getting from some of these judges in just one month President Trump has used his executive authority to secure our southern border it proves that everybody who claimed we needed a border bill was wrong we just needed a new president who actually cared about securing our homeland and enforcing our immigration laws you mentioned daily gotaways 77 that's an astronomical decrease from the previous administration there's been a 99% decrease of illegal migrants crossing through the Darian Gap if you talk to Border Patrol agents and ICE agents they will tell you the camaraderie in these agencies is at an all-time high because they are actually being allowed to do their jobs in breaking news this morning Maria the president signed a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act against Trend Ara members who have invaded our country these are the most violent heinous criminal monsters you could ever imagine they have taken the lives of innocent American women like Joselyn Nungre and Lake and Riley and the president invoked this authority to deport nearly 300 of them who are now in El Salvador where they will be behind bars where they belong rather than roaming freely in American communities this is a massive win for the American public and it is going to save lives yeah it's a great point and we're going to get into it right uh soon after this short break uh Secretary Caroline Levit great to see you this morning thank you so much thanks Maria white House press secretary Caroline Levit quick break and then cracked eggs SWAT stickers and even Molotov cocktails hurled at Elon Musk's Teslas and its dealerships sparking President Trump to buy a new set of wheels in a show of support a red-hot Tesla he actually is a real patriot he This is something that's really not good for him and yet he's doing it but he's opened a lot of eyes new York Post columnist Miranda Divine on the incoming that Elon Musk is facing from government bureaucrats and their proxies but first House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is here on the Trump administration's efforts to return to the DOJ's core mission that's next this four years there will be no more sanctuary cities no way no way no more sanctuary cities i wouldn't even say four years i'd say give it to the end of the year sanctuary cities are over there are no more sanctuary cities as far as the federal government's concerned what a sanctuary city means is they are harboring criminals they are harboring illegal aliens and if you're tipping someone off when there is going to be an ICE raid DHS raid we will find you and we will prosecute you that jeopardizes the lives of our great men and women in law enforcement not going to happen anymore it's a new day and we're coming after you and that's US Attorney General Pam Bondi with me on Friday on Mornings with Maria on Fox Business with the Trump administration's plans to crack down on sanctuary cities protecting illegal individuals committing crimes but late Saturday a federal judge put a temporary block on President Trump's use of the 18th Century Alien Enemies Act this act would allow swift deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members ordering all flights in route to Venezuela to return gang members to turn around and head back to the United States joining me now with more is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan mr chairman thanks so much for being here um you back good to be with you are these flights now on their way back to America with all of these Venezuelan gangs yeah that's my understanding this judge says "Don't send the hardened criminals back to where they belong bring them back to the country so I can evaluate. " And again this is the same judge by the way Maria who a few years ago when there was information taken to the FISA court that was false the guy who falsified that information this lawyer Kevin Kleinmith basically Judge Boseberg gave him a slap on the wrist so this is that same judge don't let the hardened criminals leave even though the head of the executive branch article 2 section one says executive power shall be vested in a president of the United States this is his prerogative he followed the law he did this this judge says no no no bring the hardened criminals back bring the gang members back and we're going to have a we're going to have a hearing on it i think it's set for next Friday so yeah this is kind of ridiculous but frankly we probably should have suspected this from a judge who did what he did with Kevin Kleinmith and that whole FISA court stuff back during the fake Trump Russia collusion baloney well I'm glad you brought it up i was going to bring it up judge Boseberg sat on the as the presiding judge on the FISA court it's the judge who gave the FBI lawyer Kevin Kleinmith a slap on the wrist for for and basically what did he do he manufactured evidence used in the Carter Page FISA application that defrauded the court so should we just expect constant push back and resistance from this judge because he doesn't like Trump and has been trying to undo Trump for years well well remember what what he did the guy Kevin Kleinmith actually altered a document he falsified a piece of information taken to the court and made it made it mean exactly 180 degrees opposite of what what the actual uh email said and the whole case was here the Clinton campaign went to the Perkins perkins Kuey hired Fusion GPS who hired a foreigner Christopher Steel who put together a fake false document in addition to what Kevin Kleinmith did this dossier that Jim Comey took to the court so they could go spy on President Trump's campaign so that's the background and now this guy is saying "Oh let the hardened criminals come back to America.