• Negotiators announced Wednesday that Israel and Hamas had reached a temporary ceasefire deal to pause the 15-month war in Gaza and return some Israeli hostages. President Biden celebrated the news of the deal in comments at the White House, though it still has to be ratified by Israel’s government. The ceasefire is set to go into effect Sunday, but it doesn’t guarantee a permanent end to the war. Ultimately, it will be up to the incoming Trump administration to make sure both parties uphold their end of the agreement. Crooked’s Tommy Vietor, co-host of ‘Pod Save the World,’ explains what happens now.
• And in headlines: Confirmation hearings continued for President-elect Donald Trump’s clown car of a cabinet, South Korean officials apprehended and detained the country’s impeached president, and the Supreme Court signaled it might be OK with a Texas law requiring age verification to view online porn.

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TRANSCRIPT

Erin Ryan: It’s Thursday, January 16th. I’m Erin Ryan filling in for Jane Coaston. And this is What a Day, the show asking if we can’t even trust gay disco legends, the village people, not to perform at Trump’s inauguration, who can we trust? YMCA used to mean something. [music break] On today’s show, confirmation hearings for Trump’s clown car of a cabinet continue. And the Supreme Court considers a First Amendment case that could leave Texans with some uh extra free time. There are so many above the fold headlines today that in order for all of it to fit on a physical newspaper, they’d have to either make the font really small or the paper really big. But let’s start with the biggest headline on a day of headlines, a temporary deal between Hamas and Israel. The 42 day deal involves the release of hostages and a cease fire in Gaza. And it puts a pause on the 15 month war. President Biden spoke about the deal at the White House on Wednesday, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] As at long last, I can announce a cease fire and a hostage deal has been reached between Israel and Hamas. 

Erin Ryan: The Israeli government is expected to vote on whether or not to ratify the deal on Thursday morning. But as news traveled, war weary Gazans celebrated what might be the light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. [chanting and cheering] Some Palestinian kids celebrated when they heard the news. [kids shouting and talking] Hearing that really brings home how affected they were by all of this. By now, most of us are familiar with the Israel Hamas war by the numbers. Fighting began shortly after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israeli civilians on October 7th, 2023. More than 1200 people, mostly Israelis, died in the attack. Around 250 were taken hostage. Israel responded by waging a devastating military campaign in Gaza. Palestinian health officials say more than 46,000 people have been killed in Israel’s ground and air assaults, more than half of them women and children. Analysts say the death toll is probably an undercount. The International Court of Justice is currently weighing whether Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute genocide. Both Israeli and Hamas leaders have arrest warrants out against them from the International Criminal Court, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Throughout this, the Biden administration provided nearly $18 billion in aid to Israel. U.S. officials vetoed multiple cease fire proposals at the United Nations. But now, finally, it seems that all parties have reached an agreement to end the fighting and release some of the remaining hostages. All of this is happening as the sun sets on the Biden administration. Literally, the deal is set to go into effect Sunday, just hours before Biden’s term ends. But the outgoing president made it clear who he believes deserves the credit here. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] Thank you. 

[clip of unnamed reporter] You do you think deserves credit for this, Mr. President, you or Trump? 

[clip of President Joe Biden] Is that a joke? 

Erin Ryan: Still, it’s not like the Trump administration will be able to waltz in and sit back and let the unearned accolades roll in. Although President elect Donald Trump has a long history of pretending to do things that he didn’t do and disavowing things he definitely did. His administration now faces the daunting task of making sure both parties uphold their end of the agreement. So what does this mean? Is the war actually over? To get into it, I sat down with Crooked Media’s own Tommy Vietor, co-host of Pod Save The World. Tommy Vietor, welcome back to What a Day. 

Tommy Vietor: Great to be here. 

Erin Ryan: Great to have you. Big picture. So what’s in this deal? 

Tommy Vietor: So we finally, after 15 months of brutal fighting, have a second cease fire deal. It’s a phased approach. Basically, the first phase is six weeks. They’ll the Hamas will release 33 hostages, mostly women, older men, people who are sick in exchange for hundreds, maybe thousands of Palestinian prisoners. There will be a cessation of hostilities and the IDF will pull back from population centers and allow Gazans to return home. And then during that first phase, they’ll negotiate phase two and phase three, which the short hand is a more hostage release. Uh. The IDF getting fully out of Gaza and then a very, very long reconstruction period. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. So why is it happening now? 

Tommy Vietor: It seems like the Biden administration has been pushing basically this exact deal for months and months and months. It sounds like what happened was Steve Wyckoff, Trump’s new Middle East envoy, had a meeting with Netanyahu where he applied some real pressure and said, you know, Donald Trump means it when he says there will be hell to pay if there’s not a deal by the time he takes office. And apparently that hell was offered up to both sides. It wasn’t just a threat for Hamas. It was a threat to the Israelis. 

Erin Ryan: Equal opportunity hell. 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah. 

Erin Ryan: Um. So this does have something to do with the fact that Trump is about to take office? 

Tommy Vietor: I think so. Yeah.

Erin Ryan: So, does Trump deserve credit for this? 

Tommy Vietor: He deserves some credit. Yeah. I mean. 

Erin Ryan: Wow. 

Tommy Vietor: He got it over the finish line. 

Erin Ryan: Yeah. 

Tommy Vietor: I think Joe Biden uh and his team worked really hard. They put together um the structure of the bill, the sequencing, the math on how many you know Palestinian prisoners get released per every Israeli hostage. But uh Trump gave it that final push and got it done. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. So it’s a short term deal. Only 42 days to start. What needs to happen to make it permanent? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, I think what hap– needs to happen in that first phase is they need to be negotiating phase two and phase three. And the good thing about this deal, I think, as President Biden said today is that as long as negotiations are happening in good faith, this cease fire portion will continue. And then one thing I forgot to mention, that’s arguably the most important piece, uh at least from the Palestinian perspective, is the international community will be able to surge humanitarian relief into Gaza as soon as the cease fire starts. They’re talking about up to 600 trucks of aid per day, including fuel and things that are really critically needed. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. Let’s go back to that fine print in Biden’s speech about how the cease fire will uh carry on if, let’s listen. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] The plan says if negotiations take longer than six weeks, the cease fire will continue as long as the negotiations continue. 

Erin Ryan: So what does that mean? Like, is there a chance that the Trump administration could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory here? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, I think Trump could do that. I think the Israelis could decide that, you know, that they don’t feel like Hamas is uh cooperating or negotiating in good faith. Hamas could decide the Israelis are not negotiating in good faith. Um. So, you know, these things are precarious. Um. I think it will require some work to keep it on track. But the U.S., the Egyptians, the Qatari’s are supposed to help make sure the deal is actually implemented. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. Okay. So let’s think optimistically for a second in the sense that maybe this could lead to something semi-permanent, although I think this is like the fifth war since 2008. 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah. 

Erin Ryan: So, you know, what is permanence in the Middle East? 

Tommy Vietor: Right, right. 

Erin Ryan: What would it mean for both Israelis and Palestinians? Like? It’s hard to believe that things would just go back to the way they were before the war. 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, And I think you’re getting at the most important part, which is this is a cease fire. Hopefully it will be permanent. But I think like 90% of structures in Gaza have been destroyed. There’s no infrastructure, there’s no water. There’s no roads. People don’t have anywhere to live. So we’re talking about a generational reconstruction process. And there has not really been any serious conversation about who will be leading in Gaza going forward. Is it going to be Hamas or what’s left of Hamas? Is it going to be the Palestinian Authority? Is it going to be some other organization or group of people? None of these questions have been figured out. So in some ways, as hard as it was to get the cease fire done, this is the easy part. Now we’re talking about a decades long project. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. Yeah. And on the note of a decades long project, is there any concern of bad actors trying to take advantage of the fact that Gaza has basically been leveled? Um. What does that look like? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, I mean, you’re right. I mean, there are the extreme factions on both the Israeli right and then Hamas have always blown up any opportunity to get to a peace agreement. And so you could see bad actors in Hamas or ISIS or other jihadi groups launch attacks into Israel with the hope of getting a retaliation and starting the war back up. You could see parts of the extreme Israeli right um that have talked about sending settlers back into the Gaza Strip and just basically just annexing it and making it part of Israel going forward. So, I mean, that’s the other piece of this. I mean, forever we’ve talked about a two state solution and then negotiated a set of negotiations that lead to a Palestinian state. We are so much further away from that being reality than we were before. Um. And things had not been close since, what, like 2009, 2014? So it’d been a long time since there were real talks. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. It also seems like there’s a lack of trust on both sides. On the Israeli side there seems to be zero trust for Palestinians. The political pressure for a cease fire seemed to mostly extend only to getting the hostages back. So how do you work to mend those fences? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah, I mean, I think there are unbelievably deep, you know, wounds on both sides. Um. I’m not sure either public will be ready for peace or coexistence anytime soon. I think it’s going to take a lot of work. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. And bigger picture. The Middle East looks very different than it did before this war started. You know, Hamas, Hezbollah, they’ve both been decimated. Um. That’s left Iran in a weaker position in the region because those were, you know, two of its biggest proxy forces. Syria could become a power vacuum, probably already kind of is, depending on how things shake out there. So what does this what does this mean for Donald Trump? Do you want to be the person coming in to like handle that? 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah. I mean, Trump 2.0 is handling inheriting a lot more uncertainty. As you pointed out, I mean, Lebanon just got a new president and prime minister in place after two years of a caretaker government. Syria, they just pushed out Assad, which is a great story. But now um they’re in kind of the remnants of HTS, this rebel group that uh led the uprising and the ouster of Assad. It’s trying to figure out what comes next. And they’re trying to work with the international community to get rid of sanctions and get aid and development money into Syria. And then you’ve got Iran, which has been weakened, but is also closer than ever to getting a nuclear weapon. Uh and–

Erin Ryan: Great. 

Tommy Vietor: And they uh, according to, you know, U.S. law enforcement, were trying to assassinate Donald Trump during the election uh and now he’s the president again. So they’re in a pretty precarious situation. So there’s just a lot a lot is up in the air right now. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. Yeah. And a lot of sporting events are about to happen in Saudi Arabia. So that’s uh– 

Tommy Vietor: Got some soccer games. 

Erin Ryan: Soccer games. 

Tommy Vietor: Got some World cup. 

Erin Ryan: On the schedule. All this is couldn’t possibly go wrong. Right?

Tommy Vietor: Yeah. You know, and then we can some other episode we’ll talk about all the right wing governments emerging in Europe and you know. 

Erin Ryan: Everything’s going to be fine. 

Tommy Vietor: It’s going to be good. Gonna be great.

Erin Ryan: It’s going to be fine. Um. Okay. So final question. What does this mean for Biden’s legacy? 

Tommy Vietor: It’s a hard question. I think that for me personally, I’m very grateful that we got a deal. I’m glad that Joe Biden never gave up. I’m glad that President Trump decided to use his leverage to get the thing over the finish line. But I’m pretty frustrated that we went so long without putting any meaningful pressure on the Israeli government, on Bibi Netanyahu to end the war and get to a cease fire deal, in part because, you know, you had these hostages rotting in in, you know, tunnels in Gaza for 15 months in the worst conditions imaginable. You had, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, 46,000 people killed. And I personally think that’s going to be a drastic undercount because there are so many bodies just under the rubble that have not been accounted for, you have–

Erin Ryan: Yeah, I’ve seen counts up to like 100,000. 

Tommy Vietor: Yeah. I mean, The Lancet, which is a prestigious medical journal, said they think the accurate count is at least 40% above what the Hamas Health ministry says. Um. And then you just have, you know, like a generation of people on both sides completely traumatized. So look, after October 7th happened, like everyone knew that something awful was had been unleashed and it was going to take a long time to end. But uh I think the US could have used more leverage on the Israelis to try to end the war faster. And I think that’s going to be a big piece of Joe Biden’s legacy. 

Erin Ryan: Well, Tommy, thank you so much for joining me to talk about this. I’m sure there will be more to say about this as events continue to unfold and more details come to light. Tommy Vietor. Thank you. 

Tommy Vietor: Thanks for having me. 

Erin Ryan: That was my conversation with Tommy Vietor, co-host of Crooked’s Pod Save The World. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment. But if you like the show, make sure to subscribe. Leave a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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[clip of Pam Bondi] Politics will not play a part. 

Erin Ryan: Senate confirmation hearings continued in D.C. on Wednesday. The president elect’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, was up first. Bondi and Trump go way back. She previously served as Florida’s attorney general in 2013. She declined to investigate allegations of fraud against Trump University. Days later, luckily, Donald Trump made a $25,000 contribution to her reelection bid through his foundation, which led to an ethics investigation into Bondi. Since charities are not supposed to make political donations. Whoopsie. Trump’s foundation blamed a clerical error. She later would go on to work on Donald Trump’s 2016 transition team, defend Trump in his first impeachment trial and has been affiliated with think tanks and businesses closely associated with Trump and his family. Democrats naturally had a lot of questions about her personal ties to the president elect. Bondi promised, however, that she would be a nonpartisan attorney general, but she would not acknowledge Biden won the 2020 election. Even when asked by Democrats like Dick Durbin of Illinois. 

[clip of Dick Durbin] Are you prepared to say today, under oath without reservation, that Donald Trump lost the presidential contest to Joe Biden in 2020? 

[clip of Pam Bondi] Ranking Member Durbin. President Biden is the president of the United States. He was duly sworn in and he is the president of the United States. There was a peaceful transition of power. 

Erin Ryan: God. It makes them short circuit to ask them that question. It’s like asking Rumplestiltskin to say his own name. He just goes up in a puff of smoke. Anyway, she also did not rule out prosecuting Trump’s political enemies like former Department of Justice Special Counsel Jack Smith. Bondi was asked by California Senator Adam Schiff. 

[clip of Senator Adam Schiff] The president has said Jack Smith should go to jail. Will you investigate Jack Smith. 

[clip of Pam Bondi] Senator. I haven’t seen the file. I haven’t seen the investigation. I haven’t looked at anything. It would be irresponsible of me to make a commitment regarding anything. 

Erin Ryan: I don’t even have eyes. I can’t even read. I’ve never been exposed to the light. What are these squiggly things on this white square in front of me? And Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono. 

[clip of Senator Mazie Hirono] How about Liz Cheney? 

[clip of Pam Bondi] Senator. 

[clip of Senator Mazie Hirono] How about Merrick Garland? 

[clip of Pam Bondi] I am not going to answer hypotheticals. 

Erin Ryan: Aren’t all questions like kind of hypothetical. What would you do? You know what? I’ve got a headache. Senators also held a confirmation hearing for secretary of state nominee and their colleague, Senator Marco Rubio, on Wednesday. The Florida Republican faced tough questions from Democrats about his loyalty to the president elect. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut in particular pressed Rubio about Trump’s financial ties to authoritarian nations like Saudi Arabia. 

[clip of Senator Chris Murphy] Do you see how this fundamentally compromises your diplomatic efforts? Um. Do you have an issue or will you raise an issue with the president about his growing financial connection with the governments that you’re going to be negotiating with? 

[clip of Senator Marco Rubio] Well, first of all, I am not neither authorized nor in any position to give you sort of any insights into any of these arrangements you’ve pointed out. 

Erin Ryan: Bondi is scheduled for another round of hearings on Thursday. Chris Wright, Donald Trump’s pick to head the Energy Department, was also grilled by some Senate Democrats in his confirmation hearing Wednesday. The oil executive had to answer to previous comments that he made, claiming climate change hasn’t caused more frequent and severe wildfires, which is a wild thing to say during a time of climate change anyway, but is extra wild when America’s second largest city is currently on fire. If only we could harness the power of the audacity as an alternative energy source. On the Petro Nerds podcast in 2021, won’t be adding that one to my cue, Wright spoke about the connection of warming and wildfires and said, quote, “It is not because of climate change.” Wright continued this rhetoric in more recent LinkedIn posts, also will not be reading those, during the 2023 Canadian wildfires. He wrote, quote, “The hype over wildfires is just hype to justify more impoverishment from bad government policies.” California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla had some issues with that and asked Wright about the comments during his hearing. 

[clip of Senator Alex Padilla] Do you still believe that wildfires are just hype? 

[clip of unknown speaker] I, sir–

[clip of Chris Wright] It is with great sorrow and and and fear that I watch what’s happening in your city of L.A. and in those fires. 

[clip of Senator Alex Padilla] And you think it’s just hype or not? 

[clip of Chris Wright] Climate change is a real and global phenomenon. 

[clip of Senator Alex Padilla] Is it hype or not? 

[clip of Chris Wright] I stand by my past comment. 

[clip of Senator Alex Padilla] So you believe it’s hype? You know. 

[clip of Chris Wright] Climate change is a re– 

[clip of Senator Alex Padilla] Tell that to the families of the more than two dozen lost in these fires and counting. 

Erin Ryan: At least 25 people have been killed and thousands of homes, schools and other buildings have been destroyed in the fires across L.A. As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 120,000 homes in California were without electricity. The impeached president of South Korea was apprehended, questioned and sent to a detention center near Seoul Wednesday on potential rebellion charges. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s capture comes after he tried to impose martial law last month, which he justified by citing his opposition’s, quote, “legislative dictatorship.” After cutting through barriers at the presidential residence Wednesday, the police detained Yoon. It was their second attempt to arrest him. In a video statement, Yoon said he decided to comply with the summons to prevent any unfortunate incidents or bloodshed. [clip of Yoon speaking in Korean] Yoon is the country’s first sitting president to be detained. South Korea’s anti-corruption agency now has 48 hours to request a court order for Yoon’s formal arrest. If it doesn’t make the request, Yoon will be released. Note to self, next time you wish for a presidential perp walk, make sure to specify which country. The United States Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday over a Texas law that requires users to verify their age to view pornography online. The law, which was enacted in 2023, is aimed at keeping minors from viewing sexually explicit content. But free speech advocates argue that the law is unconstitutional because it requires adults to submit personal information like a government issued ID in order to view content online, which means, hypothetically, that Texan’s pornography search terms would be associated with their government issued ID’s? Now from a free speech and privacy perspective this is troubling, but from the perspective of someone who, like me, loves mess. This is kind of funny. The justices seemed to agree that states should be able to shield kids from adult content. But they were also sympathetic to concerns over how the law could infringe upon First Amendment rights. More than a dozen states currently require age verification on porn sites. The court will likely issue a decision by June, a decision that will greatly influence the summers of people across the country and the amount of free time that they have. And that’s the news. [music break] Before we go, California is racing to contain wildfires as weather conditions improve, but MAGA leaders are blaming diversity, equity and inclusion for the crisis instead of focusing on real solutions. And this isn’t new. Many companies are also rolling back DEI programs as the new Trump administration approaches. That’s why this week on Assembly Required, Stacey Abrams and NYU law professor Kenji Yoshino tackle the myths, legal arguments and share why DEI isn’t the problem. It’s the solution. Listen to this episode now, on the Assembly Required feed. [music break] That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. Leave a review. Don’t stare at Pam Bondi’s veneers for too long. You will go blind and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading and not just about the intersection of the First Amendment and porn like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Erin Ryan and everyone should have been meaner to Marco Rubio. [music break]

Jane Coaston: What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Fohr. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, Greg Walters and Julia Claire. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. 

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