A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, July 19, 2026 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.JONATHAN KARL: Energy Secretary Chris Wright joins us now.Secretary Wright, thank you for being here.We saw U.S. forces struck Iran for the eighth night in a row last night. Is the president planning any further retaliation for the killing of those two U.S. service members?CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: Yes, look, the president’s mission is essential for peace in the Middle East and peace in the world. And that is to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons and to degrade their ability to terrorize their neighbors and the world and global commerce. So, yes, this mission will go on until the mission is done.KARL: But I’m asking you, does he plan retaliation for the killing of those U.S. service members?WRIGHT: It’s tragic to lose American lives, but this is a mission that will save countless lives going forward. His focus is on degrading the Iranian ability to terrorize the world, to hold world commerce hostage, as they are doing right now, and to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That is unchanged.KARL: You were on this show back in March. And I want to play a -- something of what you said about how long this war would last.(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)WRIGHT (March 15, 2026): I think that this conflict will certainly come to the end in the next few weeks. Could be sooner than that.(END VIDEO CLIP)KARL: So, you said it would certainly come to an end within a few weeks. We are now nearly five months into this war. How does it end? When does it end?WRIGHT: Well, the plan -- we needed four to six weeks for military actions. They went for five and a half weeks. We did a pause to try to get an agreement with the Iranian people to allow oil to flow without them attacking it. They’ve proven unwilling to do that. And we’ve pivoted.Now what we’re doing is assuring that -- that oil and gas and other products can flow through the Strait of Hormuz, with or without Iranian cooperation. And we’ve continued to degrade their offensive military capabilities. The president is always looking for the diplomatic off ramp. President Trump wants to end it with a peaceful agreement with Iran, but it takes two parties to do that. If they’re -- if they’re -- if they’re ready to do that, that’s the way it will end. If not, we will continue to assure flow of traffic through the Strait without Iran’s cooperation.KARL: But we’re not seeing flow now, right? I mean, hasn’t flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz effectively stopped over the past few days?WRIGHT: Oh, absolutely not. Absolutely not. I get the data on that every day. The seven-day trailing average right now is just under seven million barrels a day flowing through the waterway and just under seven million barrels a day additional flow through the bypass pipelines. So, we’re at a little under 14 million barrels a day from the Arabian Gulf region. That’s two-thirds of pre-conflict traffic, dramatically up from where we were back in March when I was last on your show.KARL: I mean --WRIGHT: Not 100 percent yet, but two-thirds of flow right now.KARL: And that’s over the past few days. When’s that average? We saw the numbers from Thursday were simply eight ships going through the Strait of Hormuz. That’s far below.WRIGHT: So, almost all the public -- almost all the public data I’ve seen is incorrect. There’s flow through two routes through the Strait of Hormuz. There’s up near the Iranian islands that’s flow complicit with Iran, but that’s not nothing. And then there’s flow through the southern route that’s protected by American infrastructure. And we count the volume of oil that goes through. The ship numbers are down more dramatically. But, of course, we’re flowing larger tankers now to keep the world markets as well supplied as we can.Gasoline prices today are more than one dollar a gallon cheaper than they were four years ago under the Biden administration. And we’ll do everything we can to drive them further down in the weeks and months ahead.KARL: And we’ve seen over the -- over the past week the price of oil go up, the price of gas go up. The Iranian IRGC is now saying that if the U.S. strikes continue, they will go to what they are calling full scale assault and annihilation and try to smash infrastructure, specifically energy infrastructure, in the region. What are they capable of doing, and what are the implications for the price of oil and the price of gas?WRIGHT: Well, clearly, as we’ve seen, decades of focusing their entire economy on armament has made a very prickly Iran. They’ve continued to attack their neighbors, shamelessly civilian targets, at least as much as military targets. We don’t have any reason to believe they will stop that, but we are continuing to shrink their ability to execute those attacks. And we are doing this in coordination and in partnership with all their neighbor countries that they are assaulting.KARL: OK. Mr. Secretary, while I’ve got you here, a different topic. The president made it clear this week that he views election security as a top domestic priority, yet we saw his budget has cut CISA, the cybersecurity agency, by $700 million. If he’s so concerned about possible foreign interference in our elections, why does his budget cut the agency that would be charged with preventing that?WRIGHT: Well, look, there’s many cybersecurity agencies across the government. We meet regularly on that topic, and our efforts have done nothing but ramp up. Sure, they’ve gotten more sophisticated and a different focus of them, but I wouldn’t look at the inputs, the money spent. I’d look at the outputs, the quality of United States cybersecurity. That’s never been higher than where it is right now under President Trump.KARL: Never been higher. And you’re including election security in that?WRIGHT: Across the board, we are looking at cybersecurity from threats from adversaries. I've not been involved in the election efforts, so I can't comment on them. But obviously, having trust in American systems of government and keeping our nation secure is top priority for the Trump administration.KARL: And one last question before you go, really simple one. Did Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election?WRIGHT: He was president for four years. Clearly so.KARL: He clearly won the election.WRIGHT: Look, I'm not an election evaluator, but it sure seems to me like he did.KARL: Okay. Secretary Wright, thank you very much. Appreciate it.WRIGHT: Thank you.JONATHAN KARL: Well, congratulations on winning the Mark Twain Award.BILL MAHER, COMEDIAN AND TALK SHOW HOST: Thank you.KARL: It seems like it's like the Nobel Prize for comedy.MAHER: There aren't a lot of awards for comedy and it's pretty overlooked like in movies. But for, for what I do it's yes, the award, I think, to get. And again, there's not many for this particular brand of show business, so I was very grateful.KARL: Now, the White House reaction to the news that you were getting this award was really something.[LAUGHS]I mean -- I want to read it exactly. Karoline Levitt, the press secretary, "This is fake news. Bill Maher is not getting this reward." Steve Cheung, the comms (sic) director, "literally fake news." What was going on with that?MAHER: I don't know, but it was lovely to see him at the awards.[LAUGHS]KARL: I mean, it's not the first time --MAHER: Actually, there were a lot of Trump people at, you know, people in the administration. Pam Bondi came, you know, and I'm glad. But it was not a conservative crowd. It was, it was a mixed crowd. And they both liked me. So to me, that was like, there, boom. That's what I've been doing.KARL: But what do you think was going on? Because he controlled -- he's the chairman of the Kennedy Center, it was the board that chose you --MAHER: He was just mad at me because I went to his house for dinner with no guarantee that I would leave -- guarantee? It was never in the cards that I was ever going to come over to their -- his side. But you know, it was set up as rather than just screaming at each other, all these insults... You know, the first thing I did that you saw on the special, the page that he signed with the 56 different things he's called me. I love stuff like that. You know, it's better to just talk and go through this. But, you know, I mean, those people, they really have no argument for not doing it.MAHER FACED BACKLASH AFTER HE TALKED ABOUT THAT MARCH 2025 DINNER AT THE WHITE HOUSE ON HIS HBO SHOW, ‘REAL TIME’MAHER: - REAL TIME NAT: so meet up in person, maybe it'll be different. Spoiler alert, it was.Popular ReadsMAHER: I reported honestly that it, no, it wasn't a terrible experience at all. From a guy who has done some terrible things.KARL: Right, right. And he -- and then you kept on doing what you do on your show. You didn't change, you didn't become, you didn't become MAGA.MAHER: Thank you for noticing, Jon, because that's what the haters pretend didn't happen.KARL: I mean it did and then he starts, I think that some of his attacks on you after the dinner are harsher than the ones that were before the dinner.MAHER: Yes, because now he feels betrayed, which is silly because there was never a deal. It was only set up as, instead of shouting at each other, talk to each other.IN MAHER’S “CLUB RANDOM” PODCAST STUDIO, HE HAS A FRAMED LIST OF ALL OF THE WAYS TRUMP HAS INSULTED HIM, A LIST THAT HE HAD THE PRESIDENT SIGNMAHER: Just the idea -- this many different ways, off the top of his head, over years!...KARL: And that list of 56, or whatever it is, insults. It would have to be longer now.MAHER: Exactly. There's an addendum. And it's available for $9.99. BillMaher.com. It is on my website.MAHER RECENTLY HAD VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE AS A GUEST ON ‘REAL TIME’MAHER REAL TIME: Here's my deal breaker for your side. VANCE: Okay, okayMAHER: under Trump, you guys have two outcomes than an election can be. Either we win or they cheated…MAHER: This stuff that's going on now, as I said to the vice president, this [BLEEP] has to stop.KARL: Yeah. Yeah, you were specifically talking about this, like the sore loser syndrome. It's, the election is only, I won or you cheated, which is -- perfectly summarizes the way Trump is, has done this.MAHER: Thank you. Exactly, there's only two outcomes. I won, you cheated.KARL: And you, you, you pushed J.D. Vance on this, he did not ...MAHER: No, that's what I love about those Republicans. The first thing I said to him is, it's so odd, isn't it, that I didn't vote for you, and yet you guys come to the show and take your beating like a man. The Democrats don't come, and yet they got my vote. It's just odd, isn't it?KARL: Yeah, why is that? So what is that all about? I mean, by the way, you get some Democrats, but...MAHER: Democrats are cowardly, they're cowardly. Their party is being taken over now by, you know, every day I hear about a new very radical. I feel very good about, like, 10-whenever years ago, like, I did lose fans because, you know, I wasn't gonna go along with some of this crazy stuff on the left, too. I didn't change really on what I thought about the right, but just, I can't sit and just not notice stuff, which people seem to wanna do because it's all about my team or your team. But yeah, there's some crazy stuff, you know, when we're cheering for the Intifada, I gotta cut, I'm out.KARL: Well, I don't know if you saw it, Jay Clayton is nominated to be the head director of national intelligence, had a hearing, just had a hearing --MAHER: No, I’m on vacation…KARL: And he was asked, who won the 2020 election? Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election? And he can not answer. Now, Jay Clayton is a very serious guy with serious credentials, serious lawyer, former prosecutor, and he can't say who won the 2020 election.MAHER: Neither could Vice President Vance...KARL: On your show.MAHER: Yeah. They can't because they know he's watching. They know where their bread is buttered. What's important to JD Vance who, by the way, we had a good time. I had a good time with him, too. You know, these are people. I always say it. You know, everybody's a monster until you talk to them. You can disagree with them a lot. But, you know, he has to do that. Trump is watching. And there's a kind of a winking thing with those kind of guys. You know, it's like, you know he's crazy. I know he is crazy. I know you're saying this because you have to because he's watching. You know I know.KARL: Yeah, yeah.MAHER: And let's just not, like, pretend this is the end of the world because this is just what the world is. Now let's move on to something substantive.KARL: But it is a problem if you have an entire political party, an entire movement that doesn't recognize the legitimacy of elections.MAHER: Of course, it's been my big issue. From the beginning, before he was elected even the first time.KARL: You told JD Vance you're open, your vote is up for grabs.MAHER: Yes, my vote is in play because it can't be Trump running, so. I'm not living in communist America. I mean, I know that the talking point is, it's not communism, it's socialism. Okay. I've read the quotes from the DSA.KARL: Yeah.MAHER: -- platform from their own mouths. Don't tell me I'm now seeing what I am seeing. And DSA, again, they say things like, you know, take over of key industries, government take -- that's communism. You know, there is a definition.KARL: By the way, Trump's doing that, too.MAHER: Of course. Yes.KARL: And, and, and, and to a degree that we haven't seen any other president, Democrat or Republican, do.MAHER: No -- that's crazy, too.KARL: He's got a piece of Intel.MAHER: Right.[CROSSTALK]KARL: -- a piece of the AI companies.MAHER: He treats everything like it's a real estate deal, or, I don't know, he's an agent or something and he always wants 10 or 15 percent.KARL: So you want to see Democrats win in the midterms?MAHER: Absolutely, and they will, because it will still be a referendum on Trump. So I think the Democrats will do very well in the midterms. 2028 is a different story because by then, this wing of the party, this new wing with all the energy, and it's not just a few people anymore. I read, every day I read about a new person in some Colorado and Wisconsin, somebody who is saying some variation of not defund the police, abolish the police. No prisons, no police, like what world do they think we could possibly live in under these conditions? It's just a level of nutty that I'm so glad that whenever it was I was like no, I'm not going along because this is where it ends.KARL: Could you see yourself voting for JD Vance?MAHER: Yes. if this is the, the Democratic side, yes.KARL: Now, you have interviewed several of the possible Democratic candidates for 2028. How do you assess? Who do you like?MAHER: Oh, I'm not going to... ruin future guests by telling you that, Jon? How ridiculous. They're all great.KARL: Especially the ones you haven't talked to yet. See, they got to come on the show.MAHER: I hope we can have an eight-person presidency next time because I can't pick between this crop of geniuses.[LAUGHS]No, there's some very talented people. And my problem is, like I told you, the people, a lot of people on the left won't come. Everybody on the right comes.