President Trump returns to discuss Lindsay Graham, Iran, and more

Well, there's no question that Lindsay was one of the great champions of the U.S. Israel relationship. You know, they've been our best ally now, so really since we're over two in the fight that we've had against Iran and that we're having once again now. But I'm very confident that whoever replaces Lindsay will share his views of the close relationship we have with Israel and you're right that Ted Cruz and I have been outspoken advocates to that as well. That's for one reason it's because our voters in Arkansas and Texas and so many other states. are themselves deeply pro-Israel. And they want their elected representatives to support Israel because they know that Israel supports the United States. So I'm hopeful that President Trump will find a time to call the program this afternoon, next hour, in fact. And I want to talk to him primarily about Iran. What do you make of the developments with Iran over the weekend, Senator Cotton? I know you're shocked that Iran is not upholding the bargain. I just couldn't have imagined that. President Trump has poured out many times that he was skeptical about as well. And I think we've all been proven correct. And as President Trump has indicated in the past few days, he's had it. He knows these people aren't serious, even about this modest temporary agreement. Therefore, how can you ever expect them to strike a much larger, more comprehensive agreement about their nuclear program? As I've long said, I think we need to finish the job militarily to leave their military in a total shambles as we've already left their nuclear program. We need to get the blockade back in place, which President Trump has announced he's going to do. We need to keep the straight open militarily so it doesn't hurt Americans in their pocketbook, which we have the capability to do. And then we can consider the matter closed. No ships will be coming in or out of Iran's ports. Iran won't control the strait of her moves, and they'll be weakened. each and every day. And the people will get more and more frustrated with their own government that has been impressing them for 47 years. Now, I noted today that Central Command posted a video of Corsairs, three Corsairs, which are autonomous vehicles that drove into an Iranian harbor, blew up a submarine and submarine pens around. Is that the future of warfare? I mean, that's a remarkable bit of video. I've seen that video as well as you. Unman autonomous vehicles are, of course, not just the future, but the present. But you're right that they're going to continue to be used in ever greater volume. I think, you know, there's always going to be men fighting in combat and to include fighting on the ground, as we see in Ukraine. But these technological advancements are just, you know, one more example of how combat is the...

mother necessity when necessity is the wellspring of an engine. And our allies like Ukraine and Israel have been on the front edge of us, and frankly we've learned a lot from him and benefited a lot from them. Are you hopeful that the IRGC will realize there is no game? There is no endgame for them other than, if not a complete surrender, then relinquishing of ambitions beyond their borders. That's really what we want them to do. We would love to see the Iranian people free. But at a minimum, they've got to stop screwing around with the world. You think they've learned that lesson, but they're revolutionary fanatics. So I don't anticipate they will. But what we can do is to eliminate their ability to interfere with the United States and our friends in the region and around the world. They may still have the intention, but we can largely eliminate their ability. And we do that by finishing the job militarily against Iran, by keeping the straight open militarily, and by imposing the block A that's bringing Iran economically to their news. From your lips, Senator Cotton. Thank you for joining me today. I am sorry on the loss of your friend, Senator Graham. I know the Senate's a small club and very close, and I know that you and Senator Graham shared the same agenda. So my condolences to you and everyone in the Senate who works with Lindsey Graham. Thank you, Senator Cotton. Welcome back to America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. Pleased to welcome back to the program, Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, former ambassador to Japan for... the Biden administration. Before that, Chief of Staff, President Obama, before that, senior member in the House leadership, and mayor of Chicago, for two terms, I should add. Ambassador Emmanuel, welcome back. I'm going to take to calling you the formidable Rahm Emanuel, because I listen to you and Dan Cienor arm wrestle today for an hour. I'm already tired. Are all of your interviews that way? Only when I'm on zero sleep. Okay, okay. I want to go right to your speech last week at Tel Aviv University. I listened to it and I read it. Number one observation. You mentioned Iran once in the context of the JCPUA. I'm a supporter of Israel. I'm not Jewish, but I always think if there's no Iran, there's no Hezbollah. If there's no Iran, there's no Hamas. If there's no Iran, there's peace in the Middle East. It's not really Israel that's the problem. It's Iran, isn't it?

Yes and no. That's in the Talmudic version, yes and no. And what I mean by that, Iran is clearly an existential threat, not just to Israel, but to our other allies in the Gulf region and to Europe. You have a story today. I mean, the UK just announced the IRGC was clearly assassinated somebody on their land and festering anti-Semitic attacks and synagogues, etc. So yes, sir, a threat. I said what I said out of care for the country. As you know, as I mentioned in the speech, my uncle died in the underground in Israel. My father fought what worked in the underground for the Ergon and fought for the creation of the state of Israel and the war of independence. I have been there and I support the ally. The status quo as exists today is an unsustainable path. Israel has allowed the other three aspects of its national security tools in its toolbox, diplomacy, economic state craft, cultural attraction, to totally atrophy. Since you listen to it, I gave an example, and it's not just the Palestinians, but I gave an example on Syria up front, which has had multiple wars, specifically 67 and 73. You have a president, a non-Bashar al-Assad president, said that we have, said about Israel, we have a common enemy in Iran. That's the trade route from Iran to Hezbollah. He wants to do in a security agreement. You get peace to the Galilean security in mind to the Galilei resident. Even the President of the United States has been there. The late Lindsey Graham, I think, just last week said, we need to recalibrate the way we approach Syria. Here he has called for a security agreement with Israel. I'll give you my AT&T calling card. Call them. Okay? My point is, my point is, Israel, you know, the old Joe Q, which is even paranoid people have enemies. Israel has real enemies. You could not only neutralize an enemy. You don't have to have resources and intelligence dedicated there when you have a problem with Hezbollah. You have a problem with Iran. And you can be focused. other ways, and B, it would project Israel to the rest of the world that it is not knows just how to fly an F-35. But actually, you made peace. You made many great points. And I quote Yitzhak Rabin. The Yitzhakabin always said this, and I think it's true. You make peace as if there's no terror, and you fight terror as if knows peace. And the prime minister has only done one of those two, and he's made Israel a pariah around the globe. Well, that was one of the objections, the prior around the world, from the commentary podcast. And I really hope you sit down with Pod Horst and Seth and with Abe Greenwald and with Matt Contetti because they did an entire hour on your speech last week. Let me run through some of their objections, and I'll come back to my commentary. Let me say this. Not even my family would give me 20 minutes of objections, an hour. That's a lot. An hour. Oh, and they could have kept going. Number one was Israel's not isolated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was just there. It's the world's largest democracy. They're tight. UAE is a friend. Of course, Bahrain is a friend. Egypt has a cold peace. Jim Jordan has a semi-cold peace. There are countries around the world that deal with Israel, so you were overstating that. Number objection, number two, from J-Pod.

You said that the United States has blindly supported Israel. He said, what the hell is he talking about? In 48, his father had to fight with Czech weapons. In 56, I basically hit him with a hammer. Clinton was back and forth. Biden Harris said the bar hug, and you remember Kamala Harris saying, I've read the maps, don't go into Rafah. It hasn't really been unqualified support until maybe Donald Trump, and he's beaten up on BB now. Objection number one about isolation. Let's just deal with it. Yes, India-Mohdi was there. 60% of Israel's exports are in Europe. Your scientists can't go to any conferences. They have more Nobel science winners in any other country on a per capita basis. They can't go. Israel feels isolated from traveling in capacity to go around the world and financially there. The United States has an allies in NATO, which is above 60%. I just came from Japan, as you noted, as ambassador. Japan is very popular in the United States. This is the only ally at the low 30s and among kids under 30 in the 20s. That is not a sustainable political path for the state of Israel. And it's not a financial state path when you've lost Europe. Remember, while 4% of the economy or staff Israel's population is in the tech community, 60% of their exports go to Europe, which is hostile. And if you think that's sustainable, then you are not listening to how the Israelis are talking about it. Because they do feel isolated. Now, wait a second, you ask me a question. I'm going to go through it you. That is a political and economic and financial isolation. You're not going to survive yourself just on Bahrain or Guatemala. No disrespect to Bahrain and no disrespect to Guatemala. Israel has problems in Australia, Canada, United States, and Europe. They picked up Somaliland. And if you want to sit there and put your head in the sand, not you specifically, the other people on the podcast, go ahead. But the Israelis, if you listen to them, feel pushed upon and isolated around the world. I am trying to give a plan outside of the status quo to break out of the pariah status. Your people, businesses, scientists, cultural institutions cannot participate in the global economy that they feel they're a part of. One is I gave a political strategy on the 23-state solution that gives you 21 nations that would all have automatically recognized Israel. Second, with the IMEC on the economic corridor between India through the Middle East into Europe, your technological prowess would be accentuated and it would put you in the most, at the dead center of the most important trade route in the world. That is a breakout moment that has huge economic, political, and strategic value for the state of Israel. Nothing I said was that the harm of Israel was how to address the problems that have occurred specifically under this prime minister. And I have been consistent in that observation.

So John's answer to that was he suggested that your plan was a noble attempt to come up with a new way forward, but that it's not dealing with reality. And I've got to go to the break here and we'll talk during the break and we'll come back with Ambassador Emmanuel. I will set the table, though, for you to think about it. He said, actually this is Matt Contennetti saying. Rahm Emanuel wants to be the Secretary of State in the next Democratic administration if he doesn't get the nomination, but he is not Graham Platner, he's not El Cyan. He is calling for the ending of Middle East military aid, and he wants to sanction West Bank Israelis. When we come back from break, I want to give you five minutes to answer Matt, because his bottom line was the 23-state solution is great, but where's the Palestinian state? They've rejected it. Your boss offered it to him, and they rejected it. Twice. So where is the fabled Palestinian state? I'll be right back with Rahm Emanuel. He'll tell us the answer to that fable. Stay tuned. So, Rahm, Emmanuel, where is that fabled Palestinian state? Well, first of all, let me just go through this as, since President Clinton was quite, on our conversation, quite complimentary of he says, you finally got figured out the political equation. I wish I had thought of this. Wait a second. I'm not going to let you guys sit there and change what I said. The first half was about the corruption, not first half. First paragraph, I mentioned the Palestinian corruption. The first quarter of the speech is that you were offered three separate times. 98% of what you wanted, and the Palestinians not only rejected it in Camp David, you returned with violence and killing Israeli civilians. 2007, Ethel O'Mart. offered you the same kind of plan, and you're not only rejected by Abbas, you're terrorism. You actually, after Jon Ossoff, responded with terrorism, Dizzing off street, Ben Yucid Market. That was the beginning part of the speech. And to those that was celebrated on October 8th, what happened to both the murder and the sexual abuse and violence and raping of women. You are morally bankrupt. That was the first quarter. You heard the speech. Am I saying anything that I did not say? Okay, number two. Okay, wait a second. And I mentioned the Palestinians had rejected, not just politically rejected, but then responded with violence. I put that on them. Number three, what's difference if you don't learn your lesson between 1990s? And now is that for the first time the Gulf nations and the rest of the Arab world are part of the global economy, which wasn't true back then. They were just petro states. Today, Dubai is a financial center. Saudi Arabia is trying to catch up and replace both on the cultural side, the sports side, and the financial center piece of it. They have a vested strategic and economic interest for stability. They offer this plan. early 2000 and 2013, they reiterated Saudi Arabia was the sponsor of this Arab League plan of 21 nations diplomatic relations with Israel. I called them out. I said, stop offering lip service. It's your plan. You get on the field and you produce a Palestinian partner. They don't get us delivering Israel and get to fold their hand and wait.

You want a Palestinian sovereignty? You want quiet and stability in your backyard? Sweat equity, baby. Pick up the oar. Let's go. I'm calling you out. Your plan, good plan. And I think the Arab League would come because they want stability more than they want anything else. And they want this quieted down. No, wait a second. You asked another, wait a second. You got another minute to the break. Okay, on the weapons, 2021, Ambassador Michael Oren from the State of Israel, 2021, five years ago, called for the end of U.S. financial aid on weapons. Number two, the Prime Minister just called for it. Number three, I mentioned in the speech, you keep the qualitative edge. What is it that is so bad about what I just said, that it was good enough for the Israeli ambassador and good enough for the Israeli Prime Minister, but not good enough for the panel you just listened to? Maybe they should think a little. I really hope you do their... Maybe they should observe the fact that Donald Trump just did a military package and he didn't go to the Senate because he can't get the vote. I hope you do the commentary podcast. I'm doing a political reality, not a podcast. When we're coming back on the broadcast, though, I'm going to go to my objection. Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. I continue talking with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel. Ambassador Emanuel, I host on this program weekly, Dr. Oren. I often have on Aviv Redi Gour, Nadavial, Amit Segal. I cover journalists from Israel, and they all agree with you about settler violence. It must be punished. It must be ended. However, when an American goes to Tel Aviv and does that, even an American who is born of an Ergun fighter or a resistance underground uncle. and says too much West Bank violence, and you've been the mayor of Chicago. You had 451 murders a year in Chicago. You had between 19 and 20,000 violent gunshots when you were mayor of Chicago. Where do we, and I don't mean just you, I mean any American get off, arguing about Israel's violence, which they do try and police, when we've got a much bigger violence program. Well, we do have a violence problem, and I dealt with it every night. When you join me next to the side of a parent who's got a child wounded or a family who has an officer that's in the hospital and I've been by their bedside, I dealt with it. I made my mistakes, but I fought it every day to make sure that every neighborhood and every community so a kid can walk to school safely, not thinking about their safety, but thinking about their studies. It doesn't mean that if you're waiting me to basically have a perfect record. Before I accept the fact that you said that they oppose it, not true. You have government officials, members of the cabinet, members that have controlled the Israeli police that are actually perpetuating in the spirit of a greater Israel. That is just not true what you just said. And they are, it's not a government that is turning a blind eye. Actually, they're complicit in advancing the settler violence. And there is members of the Israeli security, a hundred former generals, a hundred members of the both the Mossad and Shimbab, called on the government to stop this. Nothing I said has not been said directly, as Michael Orrin, I just said to you about the weapons and the prime minister, or on the violence in the West Bank.

There is members of the Israeli security establishment and retirees who have called out the government for being exactly what I said, complicit. Now, they may not go as far as the sanctions piece that I went through, but they understand how it undermines the Jewish democratic state and in a time in which Israel is under international pressure of which the podcast you called for doesn't seem to think that it's isolated, which would be news to the Israelis. They have a sense that, in fact, their own government has perpetuated this type of violence on farmland, on families, and on other territories. And never have you had this level of settlements that would undermine not only the potential for a two-state solution, but actually would actually advance the idea of a greater Israel. Now, look, you don't like my plan? I'm okay with that. But everybody you just quoted and yourself, you're just giving me more of the status quo. And that's going to lead Israel over the next 22 years over a cliff. No, no, it's not in my defense. My defense is not sustainable. You can't, it's not sustainable. You have to defeat Iran. You have to destroy the Islamic Republic. That's doable. Okay, now let's do something here because I've been thinking about this says I can't sleep on a plane. Get away from just the straight of her moves today. A couple of titanic shifts are happening that I think are valuable that look around the corner, both immediate, rather mid-time and long-term. Iran's proxies, Syria. Gone. Hamas. Massively degraded. Hezbollah cornered and feeling the pressure and the degradation. And in Iraq, I don't have everything, but based on my reading, something is going on as relates to the central government and the proxies. So one of the big components that way Iran projected power was using those proxies and every one of them are now less than they were. And some of them are totally gone like Syria. Two, the Gulf countries that used to be a United Force are breaking. You have a Saudi-led Saudi-Turkey Qatar, excuse me. And then you have a Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait. And you can probably add Pakistan and Egypt to the other one. To me, those titanic plates shifting. And both between the proxies, what's happening in the Gulf, really impact how you approach Iran. The leverage we have today on Iran, which I happen to think this war was a massive mistake, and I can go through the pluses and minuses, but also compared to JCPOA, is the fact is we have financial leverage over a broken government financially and an economy that's literally on its back. That's the leverage we have and we have to use it to advance our interests. Well, I've got you. If I can keep you for six more minutes, I want to hear you expand on how we do that because I don't think there's a massive mistake. I think it's finally cleaning up with a massive mistakes of 25 years vis-a-vis Iran. But stay tuned. Rahm Emanuel may or may not be on the other side of the break.

Welcome back, America. Here's the conclusion I interview with Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, which we did during the break because he's on a hard out. Here's the conclusion I did during the break. So Ambassador Emmanuel, President Trump has obliterated three out of the four nuclear sites. He's coming up after you, by the way. He's on next hour. I'm going to ask him about the fourth nuclear site. Pickax, by the way. He's on next hour. I'm going to obliterate that, too. How is that a mistake? That thing he's done as president. Okay. One thing, Hugh, you've been in government, I've been. Look, the only decisions you get in the Oval are bad and worse. You don't get good and bad. I do a line down the middle of the page. On the JCPOA, you had Russia and China on the American side enforcing something. Now they're on backing up Iran and supplying the weapons and the intelligence to kill Americans. Two. You had international inspectors on the ground in JCPOA. They're out here. Three, you had the uranium out of Iran. The uranium is in Iran. Four, the uranium was at 3%. Today, it's up to 90%. Five, you had an open straight of Hamos. Today, you have a closed rate of Muz, and Iran has a nuclear option, not just nuclear material. I go through each of those pieces, and when you evaluate the JCPOA over this piece of that is a military effort, which George Bush, Barack Obama, Trump 1.0, and Joe Biden all rejected. While JCPOA had, as I said in the speech, it had its pluses and minuses, was a better option, and in fact, members of the Israeli security establishment saw its value. And see this, and Israel today sees this. You think it's the greatest thing since we started this conversation about Israel? Israel sees many elements of the Israeli security. You see it is a disaster for them from a security standpoint. You have an emboldened Iran that was in before fighting with its own people and killing them to stay in power. You have an emboldened, confident Iran with control the Strait of Hermuz. And Israel's northern border is determined by whether the Strait of Hermuz is open or not, not by Israel's own ability to defend itself. Mr. Ambassador, they murdered 40,000 people before we got involved. And the inspectors that you brought up in the speech and that you brought up with Dan Cynor, they weren't allowed into Pickax Mountain. They weren't allowed into Fodor. They were crippled by the JCPOA. It was a sham agreement. I want to give the last word to you. Okay. They did kill 40,000 people. They've had five uprisings in 12 years. In each uprising, they had to kill more people. In the last uprising, they killed the most people, 40,000, 50,000. But it was the first uprising where the youth and the merchant class were combined. One thing I know about politics, when your opponent is involved in a knife fight with themselves, don't get in the middle of it. You're going to get regime changed from the streets of Tehran, not from the skies of Tehran. And if you want to see the end of this administration, you don't do it from bombing. You let them basically, there was no legitimacy from the Iranian society with the Iranian government. That's how you get regime change.

Formidable Ambassador Rahm Emanuel. Your new nickname is the Formidable Rahm Emanuel. Thank you for joining me. Keep coming back. I enjoy it. I love you. Thank you. Thank you. Join now by President Donald Trump. Mr. President, welcome back to the Hugh Hewitt show. Thank you. I want to begin by saying, I'm sorry you've lost your friend, Lindsey Graham. I want to congratulate you on the 250th anniversary of the country on the mall and your speech. And I want to especially thank you for raising with General Secretary Xi Jinping, Jimmy Lai and Pastor Mingri, the pastors in the United States. Do you think it would help get Jimmy Lai out if Pope Leo spoke up for Jimmy Lai? I don't know. I don't think so. I had a long talk with President Xi Jinping. And he expressed great dislike. He said, very nicely, he kept me up at night. You know, they had a lot of problems there. And I guess at some point I'll speak to the sun. But he... You got a lot of dislike there. I got the other one out, as you know. Yes, you did. And that was good, but I'm having a little problem with Jimmy. We've gotten a lot from China. China's been good. We got TikTok approved, as you know, and it's good. I was number one on TikTok this month, which was very good. But I got a lot of things from China, including we're taking it a lot of money from China. But Jimmy, I didn't do as well with, frankly. Well, you don't give up. I hope you keep trying. No, I'm not going to give up. No, no, no. I'm not going to give up. You know, look, they did have a little problem with Hong Kong. Let's face it, you. Yeah. We had a, that was a pretty nasty situation. So we could also understand the other side a little bit. But nope, I never give up. All right. Let me talk about Iran. Iran broke the first ceasefire. They broke another one over the weekend. You have obliterated three of their nuclear sites, but they got a fourth site maybe at Pickax Mountain. Yeah. Before you enter into another deal, will you insist that IAEA inspectors get down into that deep, deep, deep tunnel and find out if they got a doomsday machine down there? Absolutely. They don't have it because we have eyes, you know, with the... Space Force and everything else. We have a lot of eyes on it. But pickax is a possible, you know, a possible target for a nice big fat shot right into the front door. And I think maybe you'll see that. I'll tell them right now. Look. The fact is they have no Air Force, they have no Navy, they have no nothing. All they do is talk and they have fake press. They do very well with the fake press. Yes, they do. Because the fake news wants us to lose. It's not even – I mean, the New York Times, they actually said a week ago – I can't imagine they say it now, but think of it. They have no Navy, have no Air Force, have no anything. They have no military. They have nothing. And the Times said – and their inflation, by the way, just hit 301%.

from 5%. They said, oh, they're in better shape now than they were four months ago before I started. Yeah, but the fake media always brings up Pickax Mountain, and I don't think it's not on your list. I think it's on your list, and you're telling me it is. We're watching it closely. We see no activity there. They're not doing well with their nuclear situation. Every time we hear about it, we blow it up, so they don't like talking about it, but we'll probably give Pickax a shot. relatively soon. Good. Now, you know the Iranians will never, this regime, the crazy people, and they are fanatics, they're religious fanatic. They will never stop trying to kill you and your family and blow up your library. Do you think you've got to get that regime out of there in the next 30 months? Well, I think they're a little cuckoo. I think they all are. We knocked out the first regime. We then knocked out the second regime. We then took out about 25% of this regime. And they're wired a little bit differently. We had a deal yesterday and it was like going to be 100%. And then all of a sudden they got a phone call and they all ran out of the room. These people are crazy. We had a deal where we won everything. And they basically break the deals. You know, they make deals, and to them, deals are made to be broken. They are extremely unreliable people. And frankly, if they ever had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it within one day. Amen. Can you, or the American military or the Israeli military, get to what's left of their third string and their four string and their fifth string? Do you know where they are? Can you kill them? Yeah, I do. But we don't want to talk about that. But we certainly are watching. Yep. I know a lot about that subject. I know a lot, but I don't think it's appropriate to talk about it right now. But we will see. As an example, we're going to hit them very hard tonight. And we're going to hit them hard tomorrow. And there's not a damn thing they can do about it. They have nothing. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths. Keep it up, Mr. President. It's very good that I did because I got to know them. The MOU buckle. And it's a lot better. You know, people say I was at least reasonable. But I got to know them, and there's stone cold crazy people. Yes, they are. Fanatics. Now, the MOU buckled, and I thought of that high rise on 42nd Street where the columns buckled. By the way, what did you think when you saw that story that high-rise columns are buckling? So I know a lot about buildings more than anybody in the presidency by a factor of about 2000. And I looked at that structure. That structure was not meant to have that much weight added to it. Not only that, if you look at it, because I looked at renderings, and the structure was added on the side. It was the craziest thing. And, you know, that was probably a Uris building. And I knew the Uris family well, but they were known for... light structures, as light as they could do it, not to fall down, but they weren't designed for putting 10 stories of building on top. But the building wasn't even on top of you. Do you know what I mean? It was like side saddle. Right. It was a side saddle. All that weight, and they're lucky it didn't come down. I don't know what they're doing right now, but they should not be allowed. I don't know the people, but they should not be allowed. I can't believe they had a structural engineer.

Because they should not be allowed to do. It's called the side saddle. They should not be allowed to do that on that building. That building is a weak structure. It's designed. It's designed. It's a very light structure. Was the MOU design that way? Was the MOU a light structure? You have some structural engineers. They put you out of business with a heavy structure. The good news is it'll never fall down. The bad news is you go out of business because it's good. This guy gave you a minimal structure to hold up the existing, not a structure to hold up another 10 stories of building. But the fact that the building wasn't even balanced, it's amazing that it didn't come down. Well, was the MOU that your negotiators brought back, was that side saddle MOU? Was that built to fall apart? It was built a test. It was a test. We didn't know. Look, memorandum of understanding when you're dealing with sleeves bags don't mean much. And they don't mean much when you're dealing with honorable people, too, because it's a memorandum of understanding. It doesn't mean much. And I said, why are we even, you know, it's a standard tactic in the U.S. that you go to a memorandum of understanding and then you go to the deal. I said, just go to the deal first. But you know what? It was sort of a test. And they weren't there. They didn't honor the test. We had this deal settled numerous times. I said, watch. I guarantee watch. And they never followed it. A bunch of Israeli journalists are saying that you've undercut, BB, you've thrown them under the bus. Have you? No, not at all. No, I get along with them very well. Sometimes I disagree with them, and I let it be known, and I've been right. But no, I think he's good. Look, he's a wartime prime minister. He's done a good job. If I wasn't around or if BB wasn't around, especially the combination, Israel would not exist today. We wouldn't have hit him with the B2 bombers. You know, they were going to have a nuclear weapon. Within two weeks, had I not hit them with a nuclear, within two to four weeks, they would have had a nuclear weapon. And once they had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it. And you wouldn't even have Israel around. No, BB's good. Is there anyone in Israel better than him to do the job? Is there anyone better than Benjamin Netanyahu? Well, I don't know most of them. I know some of them, obviously, but I don't know most of them. But I think that Benjamin Netanyahu and I've had a very good, if we weren't working together, if I had a weak person, a president or prime minister over in Israel, you know, you have a president there too. Right. If we had somebody weak over there, Israel would not exist today. So Hamas is still standing, so is Hezbollah. Should Benjamin Netanyahu order that those be done away with just finish the job in Gaza and in Lebanon?

Well, a lot of progress was made with Hamas, and they are disarming. That doesn't mean they're going to, but a lot of progress was made. And don't forget, I got all the hostages back, and Hamas did a lot of that work. You know, people are amazed, but we had 28 dead people, dead, you know, children, because they call them children, the moms and dads. And it always made, it shouldn't amaze me, but. The people that had a dead son and they knew the son was dead, they wanted that boy back just as much or even more as the people that were trying to get their sons out who were living. It was amazing. And we got all 28 back, every single one of them, and everyone's amazed. And we got Hamas to do much of that work. So let me ask you about the Iranian people. You said help was on the way and you sent it. 40,000 of them got mass cured before your help could get there. Is it time for them to go back into the streets? Well, you can't do that because they don't have guns and the other side has guns. And the number is 52,000 people killed so far. Wow. And these are thugs. It's very hard for people to go back. They can have great bravado. They can hate the regime. They can do everything. But when you start seeing people dropping a little bit left and right, you know, they have snipers. And the snipers are up in building, four or five of them. And let's say they form 100, 200,000 people. And they see one go down with a bullet between the eyes. And then they see another one go down with a bullet between the eyes. And then they see a third, like with the women. They had 300,000 women. All of a sudden, one goes down, two goes down, three, four, five. And you know what happens you? They say, let's get the hell out of here. It's very scary. So let me switch to domestic politics. I would say this. I think people were wrong. I never thought, unless they could be completely armed, I never thought they'd have that kind of an uprising because these people are violent. The so-called leadership is very violent. They're killers. They killed 52,000. How about the wrestler? You know, the wrestler is one of the best wrestlers in the world. They killed him and his two friends just because he spoke not even that badly about the regime. They're crazy. Keep killing them because they're going to kill their people until you do. Domestic politics, Mr. President, you run, or at least the RNC listens to you very closely. 2028. Do you think there ought to be one? Yeah. Do you think there ought to be one, many, or a lot? of debates, and would you moderate one or more of those debates? I'd sort of like to do that. Nobody gave me that one. You always have a unique way. I'd love to do it. I'm sure the Democrats would be thrilled, but I would certainly moderate. You're talking to the debate between a Republican and a... Oh, yeah, because the numbers would go through the ceiling. We'd get 100 million people, and you'd ask them about Iran. Yeah, I get good numbers. No, I like the idea about it. I would absolutely do it. Now, find the Democrat that's going to do it. I always complained when that loser from ABC did the, you know, did the debate. And he was so biased. And I was basically, it was him and an unknown woman, but who was a radical left person. And I said, well, this is two and a half against one.

They said, who's the half? I said, Kamala Harris is my half. I got two people plus a half against me. No, I would love to do something like that. I can't imagine they do it, but if they would do it, I would do it. Oh, you'd get the vice president, Marco Rubio, you'd get Ted Cruz. You'd be a great moderator. I really urge you to do that. Okay. Now, if the Democrats win the House, they're going to impeach you. And I don't care what the argument is. They're just going to find a way to impeach you. You know, JD Vance could represent you, and he can be in the Senate doing the same thing. Have you thought about that? He's a good lawyer. Well, I don't like to think about it too much because I think we're going to do well. In fact, a man just walked into my office. The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, is great. He's doing a great job. Don't forget we have a majority of two, three. If we hit four, we're like, you know, we're like we don't know what to do. We have so many. And we've gotten all this stuff done. We got the great, big, beautiful bill done. And, you know, I'll tell you, I'm just a fast story. Yesterday, we had a lot of people. They're building a heliport. Because for years, they should have had it built at the White House. You know, they're landing in the mud all the time. And they were building a little heliport, not that little, actually, but a heliport. And they were working on Sunday. And I went out to see the men. I said, remember this, no tax on overtime, okay? Think of it. They're working on a Sunday, no tax. And they all cheered. I said, who voted against Trump? They said, nobody. So, you know. I got three suggestions for you. Number one. There was an essay in the Washington Post, make American the official language of America, not English. I think you ought to look at that because it's a good idea. Number two, the ruthless podcast gets more people than any other podcast. You ought to have them to the White House and do the ruthless podcast. Do you know them? Karoline Leavitt did it. The ruthless podcast, I did hear of it. I mean, you know, I'm not afraid to do any of these things. Oh, they're the best, and they're pretty rollicking. Then we'll tell you about it. Okay with me. And then finally, you... We've got an AM radio law up on the hill, and you've got Speaker Johnson there. I think Steve Scalise doesn't like the bill. Maybe you can break the speaker on a little bit to get... No, I like the idea. Look, AM is the home of Rush, you know, the favorite Rush. Remember when he used to go Barack Hussein, and he'd scream the word who said Barack Hussein Obama? No, a lot of our people are on AM radio. The answer is I'm very much onto it. We're pushing it hard. Mr. Speaker, could you just say hello? This is you, Hewitt. I love you, Hewitt, and Hugh. I used to be a broadcaster on AM radio, so I'm with you. Well, Mr. Speaker, thank you. Get in there and get Mr. Steve Scalise to go with you and get that thing to the floor, because we need it to keep. Well, I think we can handle Steve. I do. He's actually a very good guy. Will you please work at that? Yes. We'll be working. Oh, I didn't know that we're having a problem. I know we're back into it 100%. Nothing's going to happen to AM radio that's.

man, okay? All right, I'm looking forward to your speech Thursday night. You want to give us a preview? It's just going to be a speech like a lot of my speeches. I tell you, we got a lot of good reviews between, you know, we went out underneath the most beautiful structure you've ever seen, carved into the mountain, and there's never been such a beautiful. You know, the Radical F wants to take it down, right? They want to rip that down. We did the three of them, and then we did on July 4th. It was exciting because we had 425,000 people, and there was a little lightning, so some brilliant person said, everybody got to have to go home. So the place goes from packed to empty. And then I heard about that. And I said, have them come back. We had 150,000 people come back. And I said, I thought I was going to make this speech at three in the morning. Somebody said, some genius you said, no, we'll make it a couple of weeks. I said, are you kidding? But I ended up making the speech at 1130 and it was well received and people loved it. And we had a tremendous crowd. You saw that. And so we. We do pretty well in that regard, you. Great speech, Mr. President. Go get Pickax Mountain, and don't keep the speaker waiting. I appreciate your time, sir. Okay, and we will do that. We're going to take out Pickax Mountain. Tell the Iranians to be ready. Let them know we're coming, okay? There's not a damn thing they can do about it. All right. Thanks a lot, you. Bye-bye. Bye. My friends, you've probably seen the headlines are worse. Your latest bill. Big wireless is raising rates again. That means you could be paying more for the same service or getting pushed into a price here plan you simply do not need. That's not right. You can switch to consumer cellular right now and save an additional $50 when you go to consumer cellular.com slash you and use the promo code Hugh 50. And if you happen to be over the age of 50, listen to this. You can get a single line. with unlimited talk, text, and data for just $355 a month. Remember, their numbers, $8004114454, 8004114454. Consumer Cellular ranks number one for network coverage and for customer satisfaction according to ACSI. And when you switch, you'll talk to an actual human being based right here in the United States. No long-term contracts, no hidden fees. You can keep your phone or choose a new one. Get an additional $50 off when you switch today using promo code Hugh 50. And do not forget, if you are over 50, you get a single line, unlimited, talk, text, and data for $35 a month. Visit consumercellular.com slash hue and use promo code Hugh 50. Or call 1-800-41144 and use promo code Hugh 50. Before America was America, Roger Williams argued that conscience must be free. This weekend, Salem News Channel's America 250 film series presents church and state. Roger Williams and the founding of freedom of religion. Discover the story behind one of America's most consequential ideas. It's the America 250 film series, Saturday and Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern this weekend on Salem News.

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Welcome back, America. I'm Q. Huah, joined for the first time by Senator Allen Armstrong, representing the great state of Oklahoma. Senator Armstrong, he took over when Markwayne Mullin went over to DHS to do his duty, and you were a very successful oil and gas executive. Why in the world would you want to leave where you're in charge to go and join a body of 100, sadly now 99 with Lindsey Graham's passing, but you're the rookie for a while. Why'd you do it? Well, you know, it's been obvious to me for quite some time here in the U.S. permitting is an issue that a lot of people have tried to tackle, but it's just been getting worse and worse, be so critical to our future, particularly as we think about things like AI and advanced manufacturing, that we have to be able to supply the energy for that, to continue to be the great country that we are. And so it was just very evident to me. It was my time to... do what I could to give back. And I didn't want to be the guy sitting around later in my years complaining about what wasn't getting done if I wasn't willing to throw myself into the ring as well. And so that's about how simple it was in my mind. That's a great answer. And given that you've got expertise on pipeline, pipeline permitting their utility. Are your colleagues listening to you? Because it's been my... My experience is sometimes senators think they know a lot more than they really do about arcane stuff. I did pipeline permitting when I was a lawyer a thousand years ago. Are they listening to you? Talk to them about pipelines. You know, I would say for the most part that my message has been pretty welcome. The good news is I think that people from both in the U.S. that we're able to continue to build it out. It stopped electric transmission projects. It stopped a lot of big mining projects that people understand we have to have. And it certainly stopped pipeline projects, which in some states, in a lot of blue states, people are starting to recognize. is the reason that their utility bills are going so sky high, and therefore it's become a political problem in states that have blocked infrastructure. And so the answer to your question is yes. I think that people from both sides of the aisle understand how important it is that we tackle this issue. So tell me what you think of the Senate. It's an arcane institution. It's been my joy to know a bunch of them pretty well over the years. Senator Cotton began the show today. Late Lindsey Graham was on 59 times on the program over its 26 years. How do you like it? Is it enjoyable?

You know, I find I love a good challenge, and I wake up in the morning trying to figure out how we're going to get something done in terms of getting a bill passed. So I find it as a really interesting challenge. And a lot of, I learned something new every day. And so I was CEO for almost 15 years at the Williams companies. And that had gotten, well, I was never an easy job by any stretch of imagination. You know, a lot of the problems came in every day, and they might just have a different set of shoes on, but a lot of the same problems here, all new set of skill sets required. And so it's been very invigorating to me to come at this and tackle a whole new set of challenges here. I would imagine the CEO says, do this, do that, and that and this get done. In the Senate, that doesn't really work that way, does it? No, not at all. Not at all. People don't really, all they want to remind me is that I've been the most junior senator. So I'm very well aware of that. Well, there's some joshing as well. Do you have to stand for re-election in the fall, Senator? No, I will not be standing for re-election in the fall. And so this is my very short time period to get something done on permitting. And I came in here kind of with a singular focus. to tackle that. And I've made that, you know, extremely clear. I don't think there's anybody of my Senate colleagues that don't know what I'm focused on. And I'm blessed to have a fantastic staff that really knows the issues as well. And they've really been doing a great job of getting our message forward on the importance of permitting reform. Well, last word, I hope you succeed because up in New England. They're dying from oil and natural gas prices during the winter, and it's because New York will not allow permitting. It's all blue up here. It's all Democrats. Do any Democrats talk to you about permitting reform? Absolutely. And, you know, the good news is a lot of them really do understand the impact of it, and a lot of the New England governors. finally have, you know, really been pushing to try to get natural gas pipelines into that space. But there's also a lot of need for new power transmission lines, which are going to get blocked by some of the same problems that have blocked natural gas pipelines across our country as well. And so I think people are unified on this issue. It's a question of something that is. not as popular, if you will, because the American public doesn't really understand a lot of times how bad the lack of infrastructure hurts them and keeps them cut off from some of the lowest price energy resources in the world in places like Pennsylvania to some of the most expensive cost of natural gas in markets like Boston during the winter. And it's as simple... as getting a pipeline built. But yet we can't get that done. So the good news is people are starting to raise enough cane about it, that it's starting to get the attentions of the Democrats as well. And so I'm counting on that to become a noisy enough issue that it motivates parties to get something done on permitting.

Well, preach Senator and come back in the fall. If you're getting close to the goal line, you want to push, let me know. I like making your acquaintance and enjoy your time in D.C. though, in the summer, it's never much fun. Alan Armstrong, Senator from Oklahoma. Thank you, friend. In 2025, the FBI reported that Americans lost more than $21 billion to fraud and identity theft. Identity thieves can steal your Social Security number. Open credit accounts in your name. take over online accounts, and create financial headaches that can take months to fix. Most people don't realize they've been targeted until the damage is already done. That's why more families are turning to Aura. Aura helps protect your identity with fraud alerts, credit monitoring, dark web monitoring, and up to $5 million in identity theft protection. If something does happen, Aura's 24-7 U.S.-based support team can help guide you through the recovery process. You also get a VPN. Antivirus Protection, password manager, and scam protection, all in one app. Don't wait until you're a victim. Protect yourself and your family today. Start your free trial at Aura.com slash safe. That's Aura, A-U-R-A-com slash safe.