Politics and views in the United States.

White House says decision on Iran strikes will come in two weeks. Conservatives in Congress demand answers on former President Biden's mental acuity, and a new lawsuit could change Maryland's primary election process.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

They had an opportunity to make a deal.

They should have made a deal.

President Trump's word means something.

The world understands that.

And at the Defense Department, our job is to stand ready and prepared with options, and that's precisely what we're doing.

Although Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon has military options ready for use against Iran, the White House says President Donald Trump will decide whether to use them within two weeks.

Iran and Israel are still exchanging missiles, and Israel's defense minister says Iran's supreme leader "should not continue to exist."

Israel lacks the bunker-buster bombs that might be able to reach Iran's underground nuclear facilities, but military observers say making sure those facilities are destroyed might still require on-the-ground troops.

In his first term, Trump pulled out of the multilateral disarmament deal reached under President Barack Obama.

Intelligence officials now disagree on how close Iran may be to getting nuclear weapons.

Hegseth blames Joe Biden's administration for not reining in Iran's nuclear program.

Conservatives in Congress want an investigation into Biden's mental acuity.

The book Original Sin accused members of his inner circle of covering up his decline.

Although presidents have used auto pens to sign documents for decades, Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley says he wants proof Biden authorized its use.

Show us the documents where the president authorized the use of the pen for every single pardon, clemency, and stay application.

Let's see it.

Let's see all of it.

If we don't do it, we should subpoena those documents, and we should find out the truth of who was really running the White House.

Trump has argued without citing support, documents Biden signed with an auto pen are invalid.

Democrats walked out of a congressional hearing on Biden's mental state, calling it a publicity stunt.

After being arrested at a Homeland Security press conference, California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla is describing how he came to be there.

Padilla says he'd been trying unsuccessfully to get answers from Secretary Christy Noem's office about why the Trump administration sent troops to Los Angeles.

Padilla says he was down the hall for an unrelated meeting when he heard about the press conference and decided to ask her in person about policies he calls shocking.

United States Secretary of Homeland Security said that the purpose of federal law enforcement and the purpose of the United States military was to, quote, "liberate Los Angeles from our governor and our mayor."

He adds when Governor of North Dakota Noem said if Biden federalized the National Guard, it would violate states' rights.

A new lawsuit challenges Maryland's closed primary system, which bars nearly a million unaffiliated voters from the Democratic and Republican primaries.

The Open Primaries Education Fund, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, argues general elections would become more competitive when candidates are selected by a wider electorate.

And Jeremy Gruber with the fund says open primaries are more Democratic.

This lawsuit is meant to address a situation where publicly funded and administered elections, which primaries are, are shutting out American citizens.

Voters of the closed primary system argue it ensures only dedicated members of a political party vote for a nominee and it prevents an opposing party from influencing another party's nomination process.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacific Network and Public News Service.

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