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The Five

Day 32 Of Operation Epic Fury

31 Mar 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is Operation Epic Fury and its impact?

0.031 - 33.115 Jesse Waters

The Five. Hi, I'm Greg Gutfeld, along with Emily Campagno, Jessica Tarloff, Jesse Waters, and she often gets picked up at the beach by seagulls. Dana Perino, The Five. Operation Epic Fury racking up epic explosions. President Trump telling the New York Post, quote, we're not going to be there too much longer. We're obliterating the bleep out of them right now.

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33.716 - 57.587 Jesse Waters

Case in point, a huge fireball erupting after a 2000 pound bunker buster bomb turned an Iranian ammunitions depot into a 4th of July finale. Pete Hexeth says there's more where that came from if the regime doesn't wise up. Tehran is wise. They will cut a deal. President Trump doesn't bluff and he does not back down. President Trump will make a deal. He is willing.

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58.87 - 80.278 Jesse Waters

And the terms of the deal are known to them. If Iran is not willing, then the United States War Department will continue with even more intensity. I didn't mean it flippantly when I said in the meantime, we'll negotiate with bombs. But Democrats don't want you to believe your lying eyes. We know Donald Trump is a serial liar.

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80.518 - 98.256 Jesse Waters

Of course, the big lie he told the country was that he was going to keep us out of foreign wars and not drag us into another war in the Middle East. We also know he's been lying when he claimed that we were in direct negotiations with the Iranians and that they're going to give us everything We wanted.

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Chapter 2: How is President Trump's approach to negotiations with Iran characterized?

98.477 - 107.053 Unknown

You said that the president's not really negotiating with Iran. Is that because you haven't been briefed as a member of Congress on the diplomacy or you think he's flat out lying?

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107.314 - 114.548 Jesse Waters

Oh, I think he's flat out lying. And if calling Trump a liar doesn't work, why not call our military Nazis?

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115.557 - 140.966 Jessica Tarloff

Our military, up until this administration, reflected, for the most part, our country. It represented all the various religions, all the various races, all the various ethnic backgrounds, all the different genders. And that is being dismantled piece by piece by piece. By making the military to be a white nationalist organization is absolutely reminiscent of Germany 1933 through 1939.

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141.086 - 143.809 Jessica Tarloff

And we cannot go there.

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144.025 - 148.429 Jesse Waters

Oh, man. Dana, there's so many people adding to the noise.

148.95 - 149.07 Jessica Tarloff

Yeah.

149.09 - 171.872 Jesse Waters

No one adds any information or tries to like. It was really extreme. It was extreme. I mean, I don't know where they found him. And Chris Van Hollen, he never said foreign wars. He said forever wars. So it kind of leads me to a general question. Who do you listen to in this situation? You know, you have people who are like Joey Jones.

171.852 - 183.506 Jesse Waters

or Rob O'Neill, but then you have Iranians with a firm grasp of this situation. But there aren't a lot because we don't hear from them. So who do you listen to when you're listening to the administration and you listen to these people? How do you gauge?

183.526 - 203.955 Jesse Waters

Well, I think if you are an omnivorous consumer of news and information, so you get a little bit of everything, then you certainly have your favorites or people that you trust. So like a General Jack Keane or a Joey Jones, right? And I would put, for example, there's some podcasts I like, like Call Me Back, which is by Dan Senor, has a lot of great guests on it.

Chapter 3: What are the implications of military actions in the Middle East?

253.813 - 274.725 Jesse Waters

It's very complicated. The solutions are complex and complicated. We are about two-thirds of the way through the six weeks that President Trump initially said. Now, he says a lot of things. We've won, we've not won. There's a lot. And also, there's a big delta between unconditional surrender and this negotiated deal that apparently the Iranians know the terms of. I don't know.

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274.765 - 293.94 Jesse Waters

And I think that the president, because he... likes to keep his cards close to his vest and keep everybody guessing, that's why people are guessing. So I would guess, from my standpoint, to just say, like, I don't know. Jerry Baker has a great piece in the Wall Street Journal where he says, if you think it's won or you think it's lost, you are not telling the truth. Yes. We don't know.

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293.98 - 310.046 Jesse Waters

And you're betraying your intelligence. Nobody, I don't think anybody knows. I'm really smart because I don't know anything. No, that's the sign of a smart person is the ability to say, I don't know, which is weird because Jesse never says, I don't know. But what do you know, Jesse? Well, it's so funny.

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310.086 - 332.914 Jesse Waters

So we know because we're in television, when you book a guest like that, that they're going to accuse the military of being Nazis. So there's only two options. You know what he's going to say because the booker pre-interviews the guest. So you want to put someone on the air to call soldiers Nazis. That's a programming decision by MSNBC or. And you've had this happen on your show.

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332.974 - 346.292 Jesse Waters

Guest just comes out and just says something. You're like, oh, my God. Either way, it's horrible. But we don't even listen to these people anymore. The U.S. air campaign is really starting to take its toll because whatever happened last night, this bunker buster.

346.272 - 362.396 Jesse Waters

on this underground missile city may have changed the course of the war because now all of a sudden the Iranian president comes out and says he wants a ceasefire, and the market rallies 3%. So this Pentagon press conference today, I took away a few things. Pete says morale is sky high.

362.777 - 387.749 Jesse Waters

He says the intelligence is starting to show you're seeing mass desertions among the IRGC, and the next few days will be decisive. Then Cain comes out and says the targeting has changed. We're now doing dynamic targeting so you can refuel the B-52s. As they're over the target, they get a new target, new intel, keep dropping, and we're starting to hit nuclear R&D sites, storage facilities.

387.769 - 408.471 Jesse Waters

We're really starting to step it up. And the bombing runs and the tempo has increased as we're bringing the Marines and some of these paratroopers into theater to give the president more options. and also tell the Iranians we have these options. Now, Greg, I don't understand what's going on with the Strait. The president is being very cagey.

408.831 - 423.805 Jesse Waters

You have to think before you send in men to do raids on the coastline or the island and ships, you have to make sure the Iranian targets are destroyed so they can't threaten that operation. That hasn't happened yet.

Chapter 4: How do different perspectives shape our understanding of military actions?

424.065 - 447.49 Jesse Waters

That could be another week, maybe two. Trump's probably thinking once the Iranians are so vulnerable and weak and we have the ability to conduct a raid like that, they may sue for peace to stop Karg from getting taken. I don't know. And we also have 40 foreign navies who've signed up to join, but they don't want to come in during hostilities.

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447.87 - 467.958 Jesse Waters

Trump may also be goading these foreign navies to get off their you know what's and get in on the action because we don't use a lot of the oil that comes out of that street. I have no idea what's going on. Or he could raid when the market closes after Friday. Who knows? But I know he's frustrated with the negotiations. And the New York Times reports it today.

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467.978 - 487.688 Jesse Waters

The regime is so fractured, they don't trust each other. They're all underground. No one's on the phone. And so they can't really propose a counterproposal soon enough for Trump to be happy with the timeframe. I think that's what's going on. Interesting analysis. I kind of zoned out during it, but I think it was good. It's OK. Most people didn't. Yes.

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487.808 - 509.119 Jesse Waters

All right, Jessica, I have a thoughtful question for a change to you. So I I don't know what's true. So I try to fill the gaps between the facts with hope and faith that this will work out. It will work out effectively because I have faith in this country. I have a faith in the president. I'm curious because I don't think you believe you know everything either. You're like me.

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509.519 - 514.966 Jesse Waters

What do you fill your gaps with? If you don't know the truth, what what do you rely upon?

516.107 - 530.904 Dana Perino

I rely upon reporters who have had long careers in foreign policy, who are based in the region or have excellent sourcing in the region, because, as Dana pointed out, can't really talk to many Iranians at this point.

530.964 - 533.487 Jesse Waters

Who's in there, by the way? What are the reporters? I mean.

533.956 - 548.557 Dana Perino

What there are I mean, in the region, there aren't I mean, I would not be at a Tehran bureau right now. But the New York Times, The Economist, the FT, they're all over there. We have great foreign reporting coming in. Our coverage out of Israel is top of the line.

Chapter 5: What factors influence public perception of military decisions?

548.577 - 553.344 Dana Perino

And you see it. You see Trey Yinks splattered all over the other networks, too, where they're taking his reporting.

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553.365 - 566.278 Jesse Waters

So I would say that falls in the fact area. What about the things you don't know? How do you how do you when you come here, you sit down, how do you talk about something you don't know?

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566.298 - 584.803 Dana Perino

I think that I admit that I don't know things and that I want to err on the side of optimism where there's opportunity to do that. But I also want to be clear headed based upon the things that I do know from the reporters who have experience in this and know better. So that's how I prepare to come here on a daily basis, too.

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584.783 - 589.968 Dana Perino

address, loosely speaking, the same question every day because we have been doing this in the same framework.

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589.988 - 591.109 Jesse Waters

Yes, that's why I asked the question.

591.129 - 605.804 Dana Perino

No, I understand that. And I just wanted to pick up on what Jesse was saying about the Strait of Hormuz because last night, the Wall Street Journal, who knows better than I do, was reporting that President Trump was open to leaving the Strait closed with a U.S. withdrawal.

605.884 - 614.895 Dana Perino

And then this morning, he had his Truth Social post where he basically said, you know, the rest of you, this is going to be your problem. We may go, and you've got to figure it out.

614.955 - 635.468 Dana Perino

And then throughout the course of the day, the Italians, the Spanish, the Polish have said, we're not really interested in getting involved in this, and they're not showing up right now to escort these tankers through or to help us secure the strait, which leaves Iran in a very powerful position. They are charging whatever they want for this oil. Russia is making more money.

635.508 - 655.152 Dana Perino

We have been working very hard to hurt them economically. They're having a good time. China's getting what they want and everyone else is getting squeezed. Europeans are talking about, you know, taking a break from air travel all over Asia. There are shortages. And that's a really big problem and something that we have caused and I think have a responsibility to deal with.

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