JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Nancy, I want to talk about another event that seems to be brewing next week, in addition to a potential government shutdown.

Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, has called to Quantico, to Virginia, hundreds of generals and admirals.

It's not clear what the purpose of this fairly unprecedented meeting is.

What's your best understanding based on your reporting about what's going on here?

NANCY YOUSSEF: I mean, it really is unprecedented now.

We started to see reports that this was a rallying meeting to tell people about the warrior ethos that he speaks so frequently about.

I think it's hard for some people to reconcile that because, put aside the fact that, you know, when generals are called back to Washington in this way, and they don't know the reason, it's usually to be fired, and so just the approach of it sort of creates a little angst within the rank and file.

And on top of that, to have them put in this room where you have hundreds of people from all over the world pulled off of key battles and frontlines to be in the same room, it poses a huge security risk.

I think while they're saying this is about sort of sending a message to the troops, telling them about their way forward, I think it's reasonable to ask if it's really -- if it really stops there or whether this is part of a broader effort to let them know sort of expectations of them going forward under this administration.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Is it linked in some way to what's going on with press freedom within the Pentagon?

ALI VITALI: And I think that's an open question, right?

Like we actually don't know what this meeting is about.

And kudos to Jimmy Kimmel, right, because in that night that he came back on the air, he pointed out the kinds of press infringement that places like the Pentagon are doing, press corps that Nancy is a part of that all of us participate in various ways.

And I think that that is the larger question over this week.

You're seeing a crackdown not just on critics of Trump, in terms of Comey.

You're seeing crackdowns that we've seen in the education space, in the legal space now trickle to the comedy space.

I actually think that the way Kimmel ended up handling it, I thought his tone was spot on in recognizing the comments that he initially made around Charlie Kirk's assassination that landed him in a controversial place to begin with, but then the way that he was able to leverage this larger message of freedom of speech while also, I think, making the administration look small for going after him because they can't take a joke.

I think all of that was packed in.

But, yes, I mean, when you look at what's happening with the Pentagon this week, if journalists can ask questions about it, which is exactly what they're trying to get the Pentagon press corps to sign on and do, how are you ever to know what these kinds of massive, unprecedented meetings are about?

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: So, it's -- right now, hundreds of generals are planning to come to Washington, that they don't know if they're coming to a pep rally or the red wedding.

KAREN TUMULTY: And we'll see how many are still generals when they leave that.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Right, that's another question.

I want to get to this.

Well, there's so much to talk about.

I can't get to everything.

But I want you to watch President Trump talking about Tylenol this week.

As if the week wasn't busy enough, there was the president as a healthcare provider to America's women.

Listen to this.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S.

President: Taking Tylenol is not good, all right?

I'll say it.

It's not good.

For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary.

That's, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever that you feel you can't tough it out, you can't do it.

I guess there's that.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: What's going on here?

ALI VITALI: I think that there is, once again, just a striking difference between the way that Trump talked about that, saying, don't take Tylenol.

It's very bad.

And he said it because I feel it to be true.

And the reason he says he feels it to be true is because the science behind it is not actually as firm or as hard as he is making it sound.

Even his own FDA, when they put this out, they allowed that there is -- and this is a, quote, that it carried significant -- including a causal relationship has not been established between acetaminophen, which is the central thing in Tylenol when you're talking about that, and pregnant women taking this and it spurring autism or other things like it.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Right.

ALI VITALI: Even the vice president told women, I would tell them to talk to their doctors.

And every doctor that I've spoken to has said, this is not backed in science.

You should just talk to your doctor.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Steve, very, very quickly, is he doing this because he's doing it to please Robert F. Kennedy, or does he believe in himself?

STEPHEN HAYES: I mean, I don't know.

We don't know what he believes, but he has never been shy about embracing conspiracies.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Right.

Well, it's a very busy week.

It's going to be a busy week next week with the looming shutdown.

And we'll talk about that next week, but we're going to have to leave it there for now.

I want to thank our guests for joining me and thank you at home for watching us.