6/29/2026 THE SIMON CONWAY SHOW Hoiur 1

All across the great state of Iowa, it is the Simon Conway Show 408 on this Monday, June 29th, kicking off a brand new week together. And in the state today, well, the FBI director Kash Patel was here. We've been on this show many times, but he didn't have time for us today. But he was hanging out with the Attorney General, and she is in studio with us as well. How are you doing, General Bird? Good. To give you your proper title? Well, you know. You can call me Brenna, too. That works. I know. It's weird with titles and people who become friends. I'm really weird about titles anyway. So anyway, so what was he doing here? What are you guys up to? Well, we asked him to come in and have a meeting with our law enforcement, all kinds of law enforcement leaders, whether it's a... Police chief, a sheriff, state leaders, federal leaders, small towns, big towns, you name it. So we could talk about some of the issues and how we can work together with the FBI and how the FBI can help us with some of our important cases that we're working on. Okay. So he came and he addressed those who, can you tell us who was there? Who was in the room? Oh, yeah. Police chiefs and sheriffs from all over the state. So leaders from the law enforcement organizations, we probably had, gosh, over 100 people there who were there. It was a big group. So talked about human trafficking. Of course, that's something that we work on and care a lot about. And that really helps to have the FBI helping with that. And then also some of the scams and the scam centers that are in Southeast Asia and what the FBI is doing to try to shut those down to interrupt the scammers who are stealing our money. I got a great one today. I think it was a text message. No, maybe email. And they were very, Apple were very concerned that someone in California had used my account. money and they wanted me to confirm whether or not, you know, I had actually authorized that. And they're so worried about it, they sent it to me from a Hotmail account in Germany. That's right. And all they need is your username and password and other important information, right? Who knew Apple would be using Hotmail? Right, exactly. Exactly. So you've got to pay attention. I mean, really, you've got to pay attention. It just made me laugh. But then I thought, okay, they send 100,000 of these out, and people are doing what they're being told to do because they're not paying attention to where it's from and everything else, right? They're just not. They're not. And then some of these scammers are pretty sophisticated, too. So they can catch people who would otherwise be very careful about checking to see where it's from just by kind of sneaking in and building a friendship, and then the money comes later. Okay. You didn't really have to check. too far see if I can find it and you'll see you'll see why because it's very unsophisticated I mean really very very unsophisticated so I will see if I can find that for you because as I say it's kind of funny but so we had that happen today and then there's stuff like almost weekly I put one up on my social media last week as well and I don't know if I'm just really good at spotting them or they're really just bad Well, it's a little bit of both, right? You're attuned. You know what to look for. And once somebody knows the red flags to look for, you'll start to see that in more and more places. Where it gets really tricky is where they start to impersonate your local power company or bank. You've probably seen lots of messages from various banks or various companies. But when it's yours or somebody calls you and said, hey, we didn't get your payment. I don't want to shut off your electricity. I wanted to give you a call. What can we do to help you?

people that in that moment will panic a little bit, worry they haven't made the payment and not check, not pause. So that pause is really important. They're never going to call you. That's the other thing. Well, sometimes they do, though. We have them calling, too. Yeah, I meant your bank is not going to call you like that and say money now. Right. Your bank will not do it that way. Absolutely. Absolutely. Scammer sure will. Yeah. All right. And remind me to show you something about, you mentioned human trafficking. I was in Florida not that long ago, and I saw something, and I'm like, man, we need this. It's not that complicated, but it really, I think, is a really good thing for us to get. Okay, so he was not here very long. Did he get questions? He did. Were they a Q&A? We had some Q&A time, so we had county attorneys there, prosecutors, we had police chiefs, we had sheriffs and others, and they had some questions. Some of the things we talked about, of course, with methamphetamine and fentanyl and what we're doing there to stop that. We also... spent a lot of time talking about human trafficking and how we can work together to stop those transnational organizations that are engaged in human trafficking. And then one of the good things he talked about too was all the ways that he's cut red tape in the FBI. And one of the big benefits for that, it means that a local law enforcement person who wants to go to the FBI Academy. That's something that after they've already been an officer for quite a long time, it's really a great leadership tool. There's a special academy they can go to for 10 weeks. opened up more spots and took away some of that red tape so that it would be easier for Iowa leaders to get into the academy. That's really very cool. Yeah. Okay. So that's good as well. All right. So obviously very important to get someone like him here. Did he talk about the room, the kind of hidden room and the burn bags they found? No, he didn't talk about that one. Oh, man. Nobody asked him. No, I guess that question got left off the list. Wow. Oh, there was a list? Well, yeah, we had a whole list of topics we were going through. Okay. Man, I want to know about how they found the secret room was full of burn bags. Yeah, no, I don't know that story. Can't help you there. So we were probably more focused on some of the current crime. crimes we've been working on. I think a lot of the questions really did focus on that. And it was very encouraging. Another thing they talked about was how local law enforcement can come out to the FBI office for a few months. And it helps the FBI learn how to better work with local partners because they see what we're doing, how we do things, and it makes a big difference. So hopefully some of the folks in that room, a few of them can come out and represent. Iowa law enforcement so that we can work together with the FBI and help fight violent crime. If we are to believe crime dramas, then jurisdictionally challenged people are in the FBI and local detective.

bureaus. Yeah, I got to say, I still haven't ever seen the feds and the locals ever fighting over a body. I think that's only on TV that that happens. But, you know, we try to work together as best we can. And sometimes it's best if a case goes federal because if you think about drug trafficking, human trafficking, those will cross state lines. And so if it's a Midwest trafficking activity that's going on, we want to make sure that we're getting all the traffickers, if they're in Nebraska or Missouri or Illinois, wherever they might be. we want to make sure that no stone is unturned and that when we do it we're rescuing all of the trafficking victims that we are making sure we're getting all of the traffickers and bringing them to justice. Okay, so one of the things, one of the most visible things that you will find in terms of combating trafficking is actually in the bathrooms at the airports. But the stickers that are put on the inside of the doors are ripped off very frequently, which is what I want to show you. I was in Florida. This is a sturdy plastic right here. It's two feet high, and it's everywhere. It's inside the stalls. It's next to the sinks. I don't know what they cost, but they're very effective. Well, that's smart to have something that can't be defaced or removed in any way. Right. I mean, if you're defacing it, you're defacing it in front of other people. That's right. Get in trouble for that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think this is a great idea. What is it made out of then? I don't know. It's some plastic thing. That's Orlando Sanford Airport. So, you know, call them. Yeah, good idea. That's a good one. Yeah. And if you're wondering what we're talking about, oh, look, you managed to get onto my grandson with the mullet. Oh, that is the cutest. I don't know how you did that. But you did. Anyway, yeah, those things are, here we go. They're really good. And if you're listening right now, it says, help stop human trafficking. And then there's a Florida phone number, report suspicious activity in Florida. And it's essentially exactly the same thing that you have. And it's also in Spanish. But it's, yeah, it's one, two, three, four. It's two feet high. Yeah. It's in white and yellow on black. It's two feet high. And I guess about a foot wide. And there's two of them next to each other side by side, one in English, one in Spanish. Yeah, you can't deface those. Yeah, I think that's a great idea. That's good. You want to get the word out. All right, there you go. Well, now you know. Orlando Sanford International Airport. All right. We'll tell you. Yeah. Brenner Bird, our attorney general, thank you very much for coming in today. We really appreciate it. You bet. It's good to be here. How did you get cash? You just call the FBI and say, hey. Well, I knew him before he was appointed, FBI director. And so I asked him, I said, we would love to have you come to Iowa to meet with law enforcement. We had a big meeting out in Omaha a while back at the big office there. And I just said, would you possibly come and just meet with all of our law enforcement leaders? And he came. It was great because you can just see the level of how people work together in Iowa to solve things. And it was wonderful. All right, there you go. Well, thank you very much for coming in today. We appreciate it. It is 417. We will take a quick time out right now. And then we will continue the conversation straight ahead. We're all across the great state of Iowa. This is the Simon Conway.

All across the great state of Iowa, it is the Simon Conway show. You are very welcome in. It is 422 appropriately. It is the International Day of the Tropics. I'm surprised our news department isn't reporting that on the basis that it is feeling a bit like the tropics outside right now, which is bringing me to my next point. First of all, check on people who are older, who maybe live on their own. You need to check on them. You need to check on them, particularly if you think they don't have money for air conditioning. And maybe you need to get them out of that house and get them somewhere cooler. So check on your neighbors. You need to make sure none of your neighbors have a dog chained up outside. Mm-hmm. And if they are leaving their dogs outside, you need to make sure that the dogs have shelter and water. And under no circumstances on a daylight today, with a heat index of 109, I believe. Give me a thumbs up, Dave. Is that right? 109 heat index. Yep. Okay, so we're in the 90s. Heat index is 109. Oh, 103 right now. Okay, 103 right now. It really doesn't matter. If you leave your dog in your car or your kid in your car, the cracking of the window does nothing. Nothing, okay? And unless you leave your car running and it will turn itself off if you do that for too long, then you are literally, they're going to die. The dog's going to die. The kid's going to die. Do not do this under any circumstances. If you're worried that you might forget your kid, I freely confess I have no idea how that ever happens. You know, I'm told there are psychological reasons. Okay, I've got your answer. If you think that is even a remote possibility for you, okay? Take one shoe off and stick it in the back. next to the kid slash dog. Just take one shoe off. You're going to remember who's in the back the second you step out of your vehicle. That is the best solution. I've heard, oh, if you leave your phone in the back, you won't forget that. You might forget your kid, but you won't forget your phone. I actually don't believe that. If your brain is that focused on whatever it is that you could forget your kid, you could easily forget your phone. And by the way, I have never left a kid in my car, but I have been like, where is my phone after I haven't got home, right? And I have found it in my car. So I have often left my phone in my car in the front, but I have never left a kid in the car. As I say, if you think that's remotely possible, take a shoe off. Put the shoe in the back of the car next to the kid slash pet. There is no possible way that you can forget it. Okay? So those things are all very, very, very, very, very important on this International Day of the Tropics. It is very important that you keep those things in mind. All right. By the way, apologies for my voice. I'm not really sure what's going on. It's a little scratchy and that's okay. And I feel like I need to clear my throat, but when I do, nothing changes.

Ah, um... I promise you nothing changes. It's so weird. So anyway, apologies for my voice, no idea what's going on, but all we need it to do is keep going for another two and a half hours and we'll be good, right? Plenty going on today. Rob Sand is going to join us live in studio. We're looking forward to that. We were going to be talking to the United States Department of State about the United States response to the absolutely appalling tragedy that took place in Venezuela. And frankly, is still going on, right? So that is happening today as well. Also, also today we are loaded for bear as we very often are. Also today, we will be talking about the decisions at the Supreme Court of the United States today. Mixed bag for the president. Some seem very odd. Very odd decisions. Others, you can say, okay, I can see how they got there. If you're Zohran Mamdani, though, apparently you don't need to obey the Supreme Court. You are just going to ignore them. As mayor of New York, I think that comes with that power. The question is, if he ignores them, what's going to happen? He's particularly referring to immigration enforcement. So if he is going to ignore the Supreme Court decision, what happens next? Mm-hmm. What happens next? It's really important that we get an answer to that, right? That's what I want to know. So we'll see what happens with regards to Zohran Mamdani as well, but he has been very clear. He intends, fully intends, to ignore the Supreme Court. It's very, very strange. Anyway, that's pretty much where we are. The table has been set. By the way, it's also Camera Day. Camera Day, who has real cameras with film anymore. Dave, I'm suspecting if anyone does, you do. No. The typewriter man does not have a film camera. What the heck? Dang. Well, anyway, he needs one. We should start a camera collection, maybe. Do Polaroids count? Because we have one of those. No. Because it's modern. It's film. It's modern. Ask any of our kids if a Polaroid is modern. And they'll tell you no, because that's what mom had when she was a kid. Uh-huh. No, what you had when you were a kid and what I had when I was a kid was way better. Yeah, our camera didn't wind up. They're way better than what these kids have, right? Hey, come out of this little teeny tiny picture. We used to get full-sized photographs in color, by the way.

Just saying. Okay. You want to tell him to get off your lawn now, too? Yes. Get off my lawn immediately. We are going to pause now for some news and then we're going to have a kind of weird bottom of the hour because after the weird bottom of the hour, we are going to be talking to... Rob Sand, and so we have a strange timing thing about to happen, but that's okay. We've, you know, dealt with that before. Anyway, it is coming up to Time for Day Bowl, who does not have a camera collection, but who knows, that might happen before the week is out. This is the Simon Conway Show. It is the Simon Conway Show. We have the Republican candidate for governor on tomorrow. We have the Democrat candidate for governor on today. In fact, he is coming up straight ahead. Also, today we'll be talking to the U.S. State Department about what happened, the awful thing that happened in Venezuela, and plenty of other things as well, not least of which will be what happened at the Supreme Court. today and what might happen at the Supreme Court tomorrow. All that is about to kick off. We'll take a very fast turnaround time out and then we'll get on with it. This is the Simon Conway Show. All across the great state of Iowa, where it is the Simon Conway Show. You're very welcome, as is the Democrat candidate for governor whose microphone needs to be on. Rob San, there we go. How you doing, sir? Better with the microphone on. Thank you. Yes, it's good to see you. Always good to see you. I want to start here because, you know, throughout the months leading up to all this, now we have two candidates from the two main parties. One of you is going to be governor. I think that's clear to everybody watching. It's like you want to be positive. It's not Democrat or Republican. It's what's best for Iowa. Man, you came out at the gate negative as all. Right? Factual. Factual, though. Well, he would deny that. And he's on tomorrow, so he'll get the opportunity to answer you. We are using records that don't lie and his own words. Okay. Now, I do think it's important to not lie about your opponent. I think it's important not to exaggerate claims. We're not doing those things. Meanwhile, he's running an ad that is so manipulative that the TV station, when they saw their own clips. literally made another news piece being like, you may have seen this ad, it's taking all the things we said out of context. Well, we're going to talk to him about that negativity as well, but you could say you wanted a positive campaign on the issues. The first thing you did is you went after him for something he would say is not really true. I have always talked factually about my opponents. Okay. And I will continue to do that. All right. Well, we wanted to talk about it. The other thing I was surprised at, to be honest, I've got to be honest with you, because you said, I'm not really a Democrat. You said that to me a bunch of times on the air. Why didn't you pick a Republican to run with you? Wouldn't that have been the unity ticket that would have been unstoppable? We thought about it.

It is hard to find folks across the divide where you have agreement on some of the fundamental issues that do make the divide. And at the end of the day, I picked a guy who... is a bridge builder. Dave Mulbauer gets elected as a county supervisor. He's won twice in Crawford County. That's a county that has gone 75% for Donald Trump. Dave Mulbauer sees past that. He listens to people. He knows how to make things work. And he's a bridge builder to people that are not in his own party. And I think that's not the same thing as someone that's outside of your political party. But it is someone who still at the end of the day works on bringing people together. All right. Again, I see a lot of negativity in a lot of what you're saying. I was the worst at this. We're 48th at that. I'm not seeing anything positive about our state. Is our state that bad? You know what's funny? Have you ever come to one of my town halls? No, I don't do that. Okay. I don't show up because if I show up, people start making assumptions. You could say right now I'm only coming because of curiosity. You get plenty of people who come. We don't require people to sign a support card. I just got asked by a reporter who was at three of our town halls today. You don't talk a lot about your opponent in your town halls. Why is that? And I said, well, there's a lot of stuff that I do believe in that I want to talk about in terms of what I think we can accomplish if I win. Okay. Are you going to have to raise taxes to do some of those? I don't think so. There's a lot of stuff that I want to do that is free, right? A huge centerpiece of our campaign is accountability focused. Now, my guess is that you and I disagree on this. I do think that we should treat cannabis the way we treat alcohol in Iowa. And so do you call that a... tax increase or do you just call that a different source of revenue i think it changes the place so uh we uh we have a daughter um our youngest one she's uh in college now in uh co she's playing basketball um but before that uh she was on a traveling basketball team and the places we went where they have done what you want to do well no hold on Because I don't want to have public consumption. Uh-huh. There are people who don't like this idea for many reasonable reasons. Right. They don't want to smell it. I agree. I don't want to smell it. You shouldn't have to. You shouldn't have to. I promise you, every time we got out the car at the hotel when we arrived at the new city, that is all we can smell. Which is because nobody has... a ban on public consumption. When I say we should treat it like alcohol, I mean that pretty precisely. We should regulate it. We should have age limits on who can have it. You shouldn't have public consumption and it shouldn't be marketed to kids in a way that's attracted to kids. Well, we have public consumption of alcohol. In fact, they're just going to start selling it at Iowa State. In certain places. Yeah, I mean, you're not going to be doing this in a sports arena.

You can't be doing it. How are you going to stop that, though? Once you cross that legalization thing, you're asking a lot from law enforcement. No, I don't think we are. You're right tickets. All right. I think we're asking. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like smelling it. And I promise you, every single place we went where they'd legalized it. I'm using my air quotes. It was awful. I would like to hear the plan from anybody who's been making decisions. in the capital building for how we're going to fix our one point three billion dollar annual budget deficit all right um okay well of course they would argue with you that that doesn't actually exist i'm aware of that argument right okay so well one of you's like here's the thing for us in the middle ear out here uh trying to listen to who maybe we might want to vote for yeah one of you's clearly lying well Let me be abundantly clear. Let me be abundantly clear. We have a $1.3 billion annual budget deficit. We have a surplus that we are presently using to cover that deficit. That surplus will disappear very soon, maybe a year and a half, maybe three years. It depends on how the economy does. When it is gone, it will be gone. And there is no plan from anyone that I have heard of on how to address that issue or to make sure that we don't. hit zero because the idea of a rainy day account is that you have some money for is your answer pot that's one piece of a many piece answer how much will that raise we shouldn't do uh that'll get us a couple hundred a million dollars okay another couple hundred million if we if we end the sales tech exemption for equipment that is sold uh for data centers okay uh and why would we do that Why would we do that? Well, why are the richest companies in America not paying sales tax when they're putting stuff in their data centers in Iowa? Do we not want these data centers in our state? We want them if they are contributing to our state. Are they not contributing by employing people? Not enough. So you need them to employ more people? Well, they don't deserve a sales tax exemption. Okay. And I think they need to be... I think that's a different conversation. Every state in the union does this. I don't think they all do it. None of them would do it. I don't think. Oh, no, they do, Rob. There's like, hey, come to our state. You tell me 50 of 50. Wait, four data centers? You told me 50 of 50. I'm talking about across the board companies. If you come to our state, we're going to give you A, B, C, D, and E. Yeah. Right? In fact, Des Moines just did that with a soccer stadium literally today, 16 million. We're going to give you a grant of 16 million so you can pay us your lease money. I'm trying to get my head around that. Here's what uncomfortable saying. Because we talked about balancing the budget. That's how we got here. I'd like to stay on that. If we treat cannabis the way we treat alcohol, if we end that sales tax exemption for data centers, if we quit providing hundreds of millions of dollars to pay the wealthiest Iowans to send their kids to private school, that would get us... at least about half the way there for where we need to get so the last thing you you did that that's a political point because there's some very poor people that have taken advantage of this school voucher system i haven't what i have said is that we should put a income limit on it we should have audits for how the money gets spent right and in addition to that if you take public money you should take the public

I'm going to be working with the Republicans. You and I have had this conversation before. No, they're not. You want to control the, you want to control the curriculum. The word curriculum did not come out of my mouth, Simon. So you, but you understand that people want a different curriculum. I understand that that's why they choose them. I didn't say that. Okay. So what do you want to do? What public part of it do you want? I want accountability for public money. Okay. So just the money. That's what I'm talking about. That's the only thing you want to look at is money. That's all I'm talking about. All right. But it's a talking point because you just said, richest Iowans, we should stop doing this. Yes. So, but what you didn't say is, what's a position? But what you didn't say is we're going to income test it. What's the income limit? What they had in the first year. Okay. Whatever that was. I think it was poverty level. Okay. So the only people that get vouchers are people who are at poverty level. Whatever it was in the first year. It was what the Republican legislature said today. What about the middle class like me? I would need help to send my kids to private school. So here we are. You and I are having this conversation. If I am elected, I'm not the dictator of the state of Iowa. No, I know. I'll be working with a Republican legislature. Sure. I am proposing that we put income limits back on the program that we used to have. Am I going to be the dictator? Well, but you must have a plan. You must say, hey, legislator. I just told you what my starting point is. I just told you what my starting point is. So poverty level. If you're below poverty level, well, what I said specifically was, whatever it was in the first year of the program. So my kids wouldn't get it if I had kids that I wanted to send a private school. Maybe not. Okay. Middle class. Here again. I'm sorry, man. That's what I'm outside. If you think taking a handout away from the wealthiest Iowans is somehow going to be. Well, you can call it what you want. The money follows the kid. We are subsidizing. We are subsidizing. No, it doesn't follow the kid. This is one of the biggest fictions by the people who support the program. Okay. Because they don't want school choice unless it means the schools choose the student. If you want school choice, then the schools should have to say to the student, yes, you can come here just the same way a public school does. But then you are changing the dynamic in the school. Well, you want school choice, don't you? I do want school choice. I want parents to be able to pick the school they want to send their kids to do. Well, then private schools shouldn't be able to tell students you can't come here. But they've always said no. They've always said no. Well, now they're taking public money. Yeah, but it's the same money following the kid. But anyway, we'll move on from that. All right. You are running a campaign where you want everybody to believe you're a moderate. I'm running as myself. Yeah, okay. But that's the reality. You want everybody to think you're in the middle. I mean, look, they just elected some actual communists in New York. You're not that, right? I'm not that. You're not that. I am proud to have put people in prison, Simon. I put them there because they belong there. Right. Okay. I also put people in prison in a treatment facility after their prison term ended.

because they belong there. I am confused as to how you can do that and then campaign or do fundraisers with Virginia's governor. uh because she did the same thing she said i'm a moderate you can vote for me you could be relaxed and she comes in and she's like doing uh gun control laws and all kinds of stuff right she is she is absolutely far left which party controls the virginia legislature she is far left which party controls the virginia legislature she's not a dictator which party controls the virginia legislature okay republicans do no democrats uh-huh she is doing all of this because it's one party control i know which is what i'm advocating against but she said she wasn't going to do that i am not her okay i am me so why are you campaigning with somebody who lied to her people She did. She said I'm a moderate. She's not governing as a moderate. Simon. Yeah. At 100 public town halls last year. Yeah. And at 100 public town halls this year. Yep. I have said one party control is bad. Yes. Okay. Yes. I can't tell you about why what's happening in another state. I don't think that any of us have a clear picture from here in Iowa of what's happening in another particular state. I always tell people, if you think that the answer is to give the other party total control, please visit California or New York. There you will find problems. If I win this election, I'm working with a Republican legislature. That is what we had up until the last 10 years for 30 of the first 34 years of my life. Right. We also sent a split delegation to the U.S. Senate, Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley. It forced elected officials from Iowa to work together. That is what we will get if I am elected. Okay. All right. Well, it still doesn't explain why you're working with somebody who clearly lied to her people. Would you campaign with the mayor of New York? I know. No, I would not. That's a no. Okay. Well, that's a solid answer. That's good. Will you, if you were to become governor and had the power, would you authorize our law enforcement to cooperate with ICE? If it's the right thing to do, sure. What does that mean? I don't want people with a criminal record here. I don't want people who have committed acts of violence here. Okay. But if you just break the law by breaking into the country, you can stay? My attitude on that is you've got to take your medicine somehow. That could be, and this is a federal question, right? Maybe it's a fine. There's got to be some level of accountability for it. But let's look at this kid.

from west i think it was west liberty maybe it's north liberty his dad brought him here and he's 12 he's working road construction no criminal record they deported him We got a lot of work in the state of Iowa. If you are here, you are paying your taxes. What do you say to people like me who stood in line, who came in the front door, who paid all the fees, and you're just going to let this guy come in, who broke into our country and stay. I just said what I would say. There has to be accountability for it. All right. My music's playing. You can't hear it, so give out the website because we don't want any candidate not to get to do that. Robsand.com. Not complicated. RobSand.com. All right. I enjoyed that conversation. We're going to have a similar one tomorrow with the candidate from the Republican Party. What'd you make of that? This is the Simon Conway show.