here to discuss is marc caputo, senior editor -- i should say reporter at axios.t to accuse you of being an editor. marc, remind me about this rare earth deal. >> reporter: there are number of rare earth minerals whether it is lithium, aluminum, there also might be rise to gas and the like in ukraine. and the united states in the trump administration wants access to half of that or a one point did in order to essentially recoup some of the money spent in ukraine so far, and to recruit some of it going forward. >> john: has president trump is making the negotiation with the russians, how does this work in the context of that deal for the ukrainians who have to rely on him to basically have their interests in mind in these negotiations with russia? >> reporter: initially had in it. russian -- or better said ukrainian president zelenskyy was opposed, and according to the trump administration sort of sand bags them or surprise them with this opposition by voicing a publicly and not privately. however, he has at the negotiating table and as you just said, it looks as i

communications aide to senator lindsey graham, rt aurigae and senior politics reporter for axios marc caputo. good evening, gentlemen. thanks for being here with us. marc, let's start first with you. trump and his aides say the president is in charge of doge. we just heard them lay it out. but when you take all of the facts that musk hired, the staff held a presser in the oval office that he is posting about alleged fraud almost daily. how do you square that? >> well, i don't really square it. i recognize that because it's subject of a lawsuit. the trump administration wants to say that elon musk doesn't really have this role because democrats and plaintiffs in lawsuits are claiming this is such an important role that elon musk operates in, that there needs to be more oversight. he might even occupy a cabinet level type position, and therefore he needs to be voted on or confirmed by the senate. and so the way for the trump administration to sort of avoid that is like, no, he's not really in charge, but he is. >> he's not. but he is. t.w. tonight, hannity asking musk to respond to all the vit

but according to marc caputo from axios, president trump ended up saying f it, and he gave clemency to all 1500 or so of them. now, if the trump team had taken any care, he might have seen that among those he was pardoning, he was showing compassion and clemency to were, per a fascinating piece by tom dreisbach at national public radio, peter schwartz sentenced to 14 years in prison, separate for four separate assaults on police officers. on january 6th. prosecutors noted his, quote, jaw dropping criminal history of 38 prior convictions going back to 1991, including throwing a lit cigarette at a victim and striking her near her eyes. also, terrorist threats against police in 2019, assaulting his wife in 2020, quote, including by biting her on the forehead and punching her multiple times. hope he's enjoying his pardon. then there's theodore middendorf, who had yet to be sentenced in his january 6th case, but last may pleaded guilty, according to prosecutors, to committing an act of sexual penetration against a seven year old. he's in prison for that charge. hope he's enjoying his pardon

let's bring in right now white house reporter for axios marc caputo, who broke the story on the jfk recordsbviously jumps out to everybody and jumps out in your reporting, work. 2400 new records that were never reported to the appropriate board. you say they are, quote, closely held secrets. what, based on your reporting, what should we expect to see and what should we not expect to see? >> i think the thing that we shouldn't expect to see, whether it's these records that come out or the remaining batch of jfk records. >> that. >> have yet. >> to. >> be released and should have been released. >> in 2017. >> as there's probably not a. >> smoking gun memo. >> from some sort of conspirator saying, hey, here's how we're all going to get together and assassinate president kennedy. now, that's every expert i talked to say, it's not going to show that. but the totality of the evidence that's still out there, that's still pending. and that really hasn't been uncovered, or at least released by one government entity to another to be released to the public, shows that the official narrative that peopl