Vetting standards for Afghan nationals need to be revised

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I wasn't so glad you're there. I hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We're back in action now. And, of course, the news is not slowed down that got to get used to out in the Trump era. Jim Gilmore is going to be with us today, former governor of Virginia, also U.S. ambassador to... the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. We're going to talk about that, especially with the Wall Street Journal story, that most of the drugs coming from Venezuela is going to the Caribbean and then go into West Africa, where it is used by al-Qaeda and affiliates in order to make money to do terrorist operations as cocaine flows into Europe. Isn't that interesting? And Lawrence Jay Jones is actually in studio, fresh off Fox and Friends. And we're going to get to Lawrence in a second. First, let's get to the big three. Number three. I hate the city. I hate the bachelorets. I hate the pedal taverns. I hate country music. I hate all of the things that make Nashville, apparently, and it's city to the rest of the country. But I hate it. Yeah, isn't she the worst? Afton Bean is the Democratic nominee for the 7th District in Tennessee. We'll get a true read on next year's midterms, judging by these results, unless it's the GOP double-digit win. Dems have a reason to celebrate. We're going to look at that and talk about it with Lawrence as we look at affordability in the economy because this woman has done everything wrong. She should be routed, but the polls show she's not. Number two. The New York Times reported that you had a phone call with Maduro. Did you? I don't want to comment on it. The answer is yes. And can you tell us a little bit about it? No, I can't do that. Mr. President said, would you say it went well? Would you say it went well or badly? It was a phone call. Well, the Miami Herald tells us what's in at Maduro. You're done. A conversation between Trump and the Venezuelan leader makes it clear he's illegitimate and has to go. We will make him go why this could be Trump's most magnificent. But risky move to date, we have the details. Number one. I think clearly vetting standards for every person who's been admitted in the country, especially from countries of concern like Afghanistan, need to be revisited. Yeah, it's Senator Tom Cotton with me a half hour ago. Murder in D.C. The National Guard loses her life and another clings to his as we unwind how this Afghan got into our country, got asylum, but now is known to have stopped functioning as a human being. A couple of years ago, Lawrence Jay Jones joins us now. Lawrence, that's one of the revelations I found most stunning. People around him said this guy basically checked out, lost his job, his five kids were really left out in money. And then they say in 2023, when he would be in charge of his five kids, they'd go to school hungry, in clothes that they wore the night before, all unwashed. And then when they looked into it, they said, there's a problem with the dad. Yeah, there's a problem. He was festering to, he was en route to becoming a killer.

So it was totally visible for everyone surrounded him. And it looked like they sounded an alarm. But the most critical part of the report, Brian, is that he wasn't showing up to his check-ins. The whole point of a check-in is to keep tabs to prevent something like this from happening. What's the point of having it if you're not going to enforce it? And I talked a little bit about this on the show this morning, about a lot of them feeling these, they say he was radicalized once he got to the United States. And many people were saying a lot of these people that were helping us over. are upset that they're not getting, you know, money and resources and all that. Guess what? Welcome to our U.S. veterans as well. They're not getting resources either. Right. Not as much as they could, but they know where to go. And I think we're doing a pretty good job at the VA under Congressman Susan Collins. Made a lot of changes. Yeah, made a lot of changes. But you have to go seek it, number one, number two. But when you come here, there's got to be outreach to people, almost like they're on parole. Right. So you're on parole, ankle bracelet, whatever. I'm not saying to humiliate. But we know they helped us. We know there's a lot of people that we both know that one... 100% paid a lot of money to get their fixers out. But then they've got to be shown how to be an American. That's right. So you've got to come here just because you help me in Afghanistan. It doesn't mean you're eligible to be my neighbor. That's right. And it's a different culture, Brian. It's hard to acclimate into something that is polar. opposite. And it's different when you're working with the U.S. government on a military base living in your country. America's totally different. So. The whole system needs to revamp. Also, Brian, as it goes to all people talking about, it's vetting, vetting, vetting, vetting. What are you vetting? What intel are you getting? Are you talking to the neighbor that was on the street? Are you getting information from that foreign government? You're not. And you're also not talking to the neighbors there. And the thing is, there's nothing wrong for a country to have a criteria to get into your country. The president said right now we're freezing all migration from third world countries. So what he's trying to say is, you come here, you come in our system. We're paying for everything. We're paying for your transition. We're paying for your work training. We're paying for your food. Since when? And then we have $37 trillion in debt. And we're arguing over subsidies for Obamacare. Well, imagine if we weren't paying for everybody else's third refugees. I would take it to a step further. Not just third world countries, any country that poses a threat to the United States, whether it be drugs or suicide bombers or anything like that. You got to make that very clear so people understand. Now, of course, when the president had that sound bite, the media is running with it. He doesn't care about brown people. It's not about that. Excuse me. We got people that are trying to commit attacks. We just had an attack in Washington, D.C., but one in my home state in Texas that was prevented. And there's going to be more of these as well.

Yeah, I think people see through it, but it didn't stop Senator Mark Kelly from saying this, cut eight. When I heard the secretary say that they're going to pause immigration from third world countries, I mean, I take that as a message that they don't want brown people coming to the United States. And I find that disturbing. We are a country that has always welcome. individuals that are struggling, that are fleeing famine and violence. And it would be a fundamental change to the fabric of our nation to change that. Everything changes when we gave everybody that came here, this social safety net. We weren't doing that in the 20th century. So when people came, they knew they were solely responsible. That's why one of the questions was, when you got to Ellis Island, was do you have family here? What kind of job? What skills do you have? What kind of job do you want to have along with... And they'll say, what kind of diseases have you had? We've got to make sure you're healthy. Well, Brian, also, if you remember the president as well as the vice president, has been very critical of the UK as well, saying that we may need to change our visa standards and traveling standards with there as well because they're letting anyone. in their country right now. And they got a huge problem there. So he hasn't just been critical of these other countries as well that the congressman, I'm sorry, the senator may say brown people. He's talking about the UK as well. So a couple of things. They're making a lot of news about this. So evidently, the National Guardswoman who lost her life, she has had an ex-boyfriend who said that she said that that she did not like the job. She said, people spit towards us, they cursed us, they throw things at us, and we can't do anything. She says, I can't detain anyone. She couldn't stop them from doing all this. It was they told them to call the cops that she was upset with the rules of engagement almost with D.C. and how they're being treated. And that's what Congresswoman. When Jasmine Crockett said she didn't want to be there, felt like she wasn't making a difference. Well, her presence was making a difference. But you're right. If you're National Guard people, you should speak up and tell us what goes on there. Right. Well, there's limited authority that National Guard has. But they are trained to deal with those type of situations. And I think one of the things that the Secretary of War made very clear that he was going to make sure that they were armed. We're getting reports now that they were armed. But it's a complicated matter when you're dealing with... U.S. troops having to deal with law enforcement matters. I think the partnership is working, honestly. I understand on the ground, it may not be pretty for them to be spit on. But the same thing is happening to the cops as well, Brian. The cops are being spit on, too, and they're not arresting people as well. Yeah, she felt frustrated. She goes, I want to stop the crime, but I'm not able to. She told him. Meanwhile, in Venezuela, she volunteered, though, to work over through holidays, which is incredible. In Venezuela, things are really heating up. The president's got a lot of dis... huge naval assets in the area, 15,000 service members are there, aircraft carriers. Now they have ports over in Trinidad, Tobago, as well as Puerto Rico. So the Venezuelan airspace, going to the president, he told airlines and pilots on Saturday that the airspace around Venezuela was closed in a phone call with the leader, Maduro. Maduro asked for it to be exonerated from any crimes. The president said no. He said, number two, is I want to stay and just work with the military. He said no to that.

He says you and your family will be allowed safe passage from Venezuela. Now, the word is, over the weekend, Turkey would be in the most likely landing spot. What are your thought about the Miami Herald Report? Well, his days are numbered. It's becoming very clear. Brian, I think the one thing that some are missing... is how big of a deal the drugs that they are allowing passes through Venezuela, as well as TDA being in the United States. Now, TDA is working directly with Maduro. It's a fact. The cartel, he's bought and paid for. He allows them to do that. And I think when you have China and Russia saying, Okay, we can't help you. I'm sorry. We got to stay out of it. That shows you that this is coming to a head. You've got to take the head off the snake right now. Now, Brian, once Maduro is gone, who becomes the leader of Venezuela? I'm not sure. Well, it's very easy. The party that won the election. Well, that could be Maria Maria Corina Machado. But the question is, is do we guarantee that? Right? Because just because Maduro is gone, there's still a cartel that is still there that is operating. that is torturing people in the little towns as well. So unless the United States is going to do a ground operation and get rid of all of those, we don't know. I hope the CIA is working with the military to get loyalty with the military to find out, you know, you guys aren't going to be prosecuted if you show loyalty to the incoming government works on back and tries for a smooth landing. It's never pretty, but every day is, every day that Maduro's in power is bad for us. So he'll be out by Christmas as Congressman Carlos Jimenez, a Miami Republican. And evidently, they're really exercised in Miami. There's so many Venezuelans there because if Miami, the Venezuelans of Miami get what they want, their country back, they think Cuba could be next. But we've heard that before. Well, we already know from intelligence that we're already getting that the Venezuelan gangs and the American gangs are going at it right now for territory. Because, you know, when you got one game that comes over that was selling drugs and taking over blocks, it was happening. But we were told that it was just a few apartment complexes, Brian. So we got to get ahead of this. I know some people don't see the long game here. But if we want to directly impact the kids that are dying on a day-to-day basis because of the drugs there, the first step is taking out Venezuela. All right. When we come back, I want to talk about the special election. that it's coming up in Tennessee 7th District, a district that Congressman Mark Green had won by 20 points. The President won it by 22. But yet this is a very tight race. When I describe in detail the Democrat running, you would think this would be, she'd be decimated. And she might still. But the polls say it's neck and neck. It is scary, I think. Back at a moment. Diving deep into today's top stories. It's Brian Kilmeade. Cheers to America's 250th birthday. Get 20% off your first purchase at Fox Newswineshop.com with code FNRadio 20. 20% discount excludes wine club offers and cannot be combined with any other promotion. Expires July 31st, 2026. Must be 21 order to order. Please drink responsibly.

From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmeade. I hate the city. I hate the bacheloretts. I hate the pedal taverns. I hate country music. I hate all of the things that make Nashville, barely. And it's city to the rest of the country. But I hate it. So this is a candidate, the Democratic candidate, ATN being from Tennessee. She wants to win marks green seats and flip that seat. Crazy thing is, most polls, Emerson Poll has her only trailing by two points. She protests ICE, hates country music. You just heard it, not my opinion. Hates Badgeon Nashville's Bachelorettee Parties. Are you kidding? She's pro-teen gender surgery. Praises setting fire to police stations. Won't even endorse Hakeem Jeffries. She has no loyalty to leadership who are rallying to her side. In 2020, she was all for defunding the police. She was seen on video protesting against ICE. explanations are a joke. Well, I was a private citizen. Lawrence Jay Jones, I mean, how is she even close? I mean, Brian, that's the real question. I mean, is the polling inaccurate? I don't know. We're going to see on an election day. For me, it's too close for comfort. And I think it all goes back to the Republicans understanding the post-Trump era. When he's not on the ballot, it impacts the Republican race. They don't have the same gravitas and connection with the voters. And they have to be able to sell things. You know, the, I don't. see the Democrats actually offering, as I said this morning, a proposal for the affordability crisis. All the ideas that they have are just nuts and it's not going to work. But I think the Republicans have to, you know, this nine months is not enough, obviously, but they got to have a better pitch to the voters. Right. So here as she is getting scrutinized on CNN. Cut 32. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is holding a tele-rally for you. Are you in line with her ideologically? Like I said, I think that there is a strain of the Democratic Party that cares about holding corporations accountable and lowering costs for working families. And my politics are one. in alignment of that. I've been, as a state legislator, I've worked to eliminate Tennessee's regressive grocery tax. As an organizer, I work to make health care more affordable in the state of Tennessee. And so I think those are the Democratic leaders and candidates that I really resonate with are those that are trying to lower costs. So she does not answer the question, and the president called her the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of Tennessee. Yeah, but Brian, there's a... She was not going to like to in Tennessee. But the fact that it's within five points, two points in some polls, in Tennessee, Donald Trump won that district by 20 plus points. Something is working when it comes to this issue. And I don't know if it's the PR.

are surrounding the affordability crisis because the Democrats broke the economy and now they're putting her Republicans to fix it in nine months. Something has to change in the communication. It should not be hard to say these are things I'm doing to make it make it more affordable because the Democrats have done nothing to make anything more affordable. So you've got to say, well, the president promised and he's not doing it. So I think it's a little crazy to do that. But just a little bit more from her. She's getting pressed too on ice rates. Are you for them or not? What do you think? Cut 30. Cut 30. Do you think all these ice rates in Nashville should stop? I mean, it's been hard. I'm in my district. I represent a Hispanic community and I'm also a social worker. And so prior to that ice incident. I was out knocking doors in my district talking to Hispanic constituents who said that we are concerned about the overreach of our federal government. And so as a lawmaker, I represent 60,000 voters. As a congresswoman, I'll represent 400, 700,000 voters. And so I take into consideration the real issues that these voters and my constituents are living with, one of which is they don't want their federal government overreaching in their communities. Yes or no? Do we know? I don't know, Brian. I'm just saying that this is a vulnerable issue for us when it comes to the border. Not because the president has secured the board. He's doing the right thing. Targeted the worst of the worst. That's the right thing. But you see it in the polling. You see it in the election results. When people said they wanted the worst of the worst out. But when they start sending the Home Depot's... the people that are on the top of the roof, even if it's just 30% of the people that are targeting it. That's the numbers that are coming out. It's only 30% of those. Out of the 70% are criminals, it hurts us. Yeah. It just is. I am not big into the numbers. I'm not saying, like, we know that, I don't know what 12 million people came in during Biden years. I got it. But you got to find out who the criminals are. You got to get them. You got to divorce deportation. Absolutely great idea. 1.4 million people left on their own self-deporting, as Mitt Romney got ridiculed for saying. But I don't need to ask the ID for the roofer. But I also know this. A lot of these TDA members, they have jobs. 100%. They'll work in a car wash. It's because they need money. Right. And then they become a gangster at night. And, you know, do whatever the human trafficking in a night. So I understand that. But just have a reason. You can't just go, I hear there's a whole bunch of Hispanics there. that would be trouble. And I'm not saying it's happening, but I'm not saying it's not happening either. Well, it's not just Hispanics. I mean, you're seeing Chinese people that are doing it. It's all different type of people. Well, they got the Koreans. The problem is that, and I explained this before the president even took office, and I said, you've got to be careful with this. Because I know people, and people are fickle, and people are deeply emotional. And when you, no one ever thinks that their neighbor or someone in their family or someone that they have a personal connection with is going to be the person that is deported. Right. The moment that happens, people change. Right. Absolutely. I mean, if you hear illegal and they committed crime, I got it too. Thanks, Lawrence Jay Jones. Thanks, brother.

Hi, Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile. Are you looking for a beach read this summer? May I suggest your big wireless bill? It's got suspense, mystery, a slightly flat, emotional arc, and a shocking twist where you realize you've been overpaying the entire time. Fortunately, though, Mint's story is better. Every plan, $15 dollars a month a month. Every plan, even unlimited. That's it. Happy ending, zero tears. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Up front payment of $45 for three months, $90 for $1.20 for $12-month plan required to $50.com. See terms. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kilmeade. We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week. As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war. But it's more than just to end the war. We don't just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever. So never again will they face another invasion? And equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity. We want the Ukrainian people to emerge from this war. not just to rebuild their country, but to build it back in a way that will be stronger and more prosperous. Yeah, that's fine. That's Senator Marco Rubio. After meeting with the delegation from Ukraine, Minas Volodymyr Zelensky. Now it's going to be up to Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to get something done with Vladimir Putin, who's shown no signs of give. In fact, one of the things he said is, I look at the Ukrainian government, led by Volodymyr Zelensky, is illegitimate because there haven't been any elections. When... What does he know about legitimate elections? Number one. Number two is you can't have elections according to the Constitution of Ukraine while a war is going on, which they started. If they want elections, maybe they could stop the war. Jim Gilmore was the 68th governor of Virginia. He served as the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during the First Trump administration and joins us now. Welcome back, Governor. Good morning, Brian. Thanks for the chance to be with you. Hey, so first off, positive movement for the Ukrainians. Okay, I understand it. 28 points are down to 19 points, seem a little bit more balanced. Are you have confidence in Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner today in Moscow? Well, I think that I don't have confidence in Vladimir Putin and the Russians. I think that they have never relented on their ultimate goal, which is the destruction of Ukraine completely and then using that as a stepping stone to rebuild their empire. I think that's their negotiating position. And you just quoted it a minute ago that Vladimir Putin doesn't even think he has any necessity to even negotiate with the Ukrainians. Yeah, I mean, even though they had a devastating loss of their Navy, these drone submersibles that seem to have really done damage to the Russian Navy who have suffered over a million casualties. But for the most part, Vladimir Putin thinks he's winning this war. And he says, the longer I can do this, the better deal I'm going to get when it's over. Do you believe that in the end he's kind of concerned about what happens after this is over? Because domestically, he has shifted his whole economy to a...

war machine, not a economic machine? You know, Brian, you're making the exact correct point, and that is that Vladimir Putin has paid dearly for the mistake that he made. He thought he would be able to topple Ukraine in a couple of days. He's failed to do that over years. What's happened? Well, sanctions have been imposed, and that's making a big difference in the Russian economy. They've lost over a million people dead and wounded. The oil industry is under attack by Ukraine and is also under sanctions. The Russian economy is not in good shape. Personally, I believe that an unjust peace at this point is what would favor the Russians. And I don't think that we ought to be doing that. I think this is the time to press them and make them pay for the mistake that they made. One more thing, right? How would you press them? Would you press them with Tomahawks? Give them Tomahawks? Would you give them more? Patriots? I think they, yes, I would give them the weapons that they need to defend themselves. Absolutely. And that means that they have to strike into Russian territory where the Russians are marshalling their troops and marshalling their resources without any doubt. So, you know, but the most important thing is a message of resolve. That's the main thing. The United States and its allies need to send a message of resolve to Vladimir Putin and tell him he's not going to win this. And he isn't going to win this unless we basically brought up the white flag. Now, let me mention several things on the original 28, some of which I think may have survived, although I don't think there's been much transparency. But if you really look at this, we're going to ask the Ukrainians to cede territory. If you do that, That means that it's Katie Bar the door for the 21st century. At that point, anybody can invade anybody else and conquer their territory. That's in violation of the international law and international rules. No NATO, no big army. They can't have that. Basically, the Russians are setting this thing up for a further invasion, which is consistent with exactly what Vladimir Putin says he wants to do. So would you, security guarantees are going to be key. And the security guarantees the UK and France say, yeah, we'll put some troops on the ground. And that's a non-starter, they say, for Russia. Is there a third option? Because signing a piece of paper is not going to work that hasn't worked before. So what would be the other option in terms of a security guarantee? Well, first of all, I doubt any security guarantees are worth anything. After the Budapest memorandum where the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom guaranteed the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and then Russia went on and violated that. And so far, the U.S. and the U.K. have not done anything really significant to stop Vladimir Putin other than, of course, keep the war going, which helps Ukraine a great deal. But the point is this. Yeah, I think that the political decision has to be today.

that if you're going to grant security guarantees, there has to be an understanding and a political decision today that if Russia then pursues their goals and they will reinvade again, we're going to have to go to war. And I don't see very much taste for that right now. I think we think maybe on the cheap we can say, yeah, there'll be security guarantees. And then there really aren't any. And so I think Ukrainians have a right to be skeptical about this. And I think that stationing troops in Ukraine should be an absolute essential thing because that sends the strong message to Vladimir Putin that he can't invade again. Personally, I think that there's a lot of hazard here. in this negotiation for everybody. And I'm very skeptical about the whole process. Let's see what Steve Witkoff and Jerry come up with, but I suspect that Vladimir Putin's going to take a hot hug. Yeah, he will, or he'll say, I need all of the Dombos region, stuff that he hasn't won yet. And I talked to General Jack Keene, and he says, anyone who says Dunesk is going to fall, it hasn't yet, they've been trying to get it since 2014. And number two is it'll take three more years. at the current rate for them to get Donesk. Why would Ukraine allow that Dorness to go to Russia, which would be a highway right to Kiev, and we know they can't be trusted? Okay, maybe on Trump's term they won't try to invade again, but on the next person's term, they won't see the same strength or worry, and he'll do it. And I think on some level, Vladimir Putin does not want to make Trump look bad. It doesn't work to his advantage, but we'll have to see. Your just final thought before I move on to the special election tomorrow. Well, again, I think that this is a very hazardous process that we're in here. I think we have to draw a firm line on Vladimir Putin and his fascist aggression. Otherwise, you're going to get a lot more of it and a lot more people are going to get killed. And eventually, if the U.S. wakes up and says we can't allow the Russians to take over and pollute the politics of Europe and make Europe less friendly to us, we're going to at that point just make a decision somewhere up the road. We have to intervene. I think I'd like to avoid a big war, Brian. I think so, too. And the only way you do that is to strengthen, letting our allies start arming up. I mean, Germany's changing their whole focus on their military right now because they understand the Russian threat is real. It's not something they accuse America of trumping up. I think NATO's getting that message, too. I know you're very familiar with... that area. So if they stop buying our weapons and training their soldiers and we say there's a legitimate Russian threat, I think that's going to help everybody because they've got to learn to defend themselves too. We agree, and I listen to you every morning, Brian, so I listen to the comments that you've been making with respect to the Ukraine war, and I'm in agreement with you. This is not a time to send a message of weakness or moving around. We've got to be strong, or we're going to pay a big price in the 21st century and not necessarily just in Europe. Yeah. If we end up with a conflict in the Pacific because we're demonstrated that we're irresolute, then at that point you're really in the game.

So I want to talk about this special election in Tennessee, their 8th district, the president won by 22, and I think Mark Green won by 20. You got Matt Van Epps against Afton Bain or Bean. I'm not sure which one. But she seems to be the stereotypical wrong candidate for Democrats. She is for praising, setting fire to police stations, pro teen gender surgery, protests, ice, hates country music, gets wants to win in Nashville, wants to fund the police. She also says, well, it was just because I was a private citizen. That's how I felt. I mean, this seems to be an ideal candidate just to run off the field. But it looks like she's only trailing by single digits. What does that tell you if the polling's correct? Well, I think it combined with the Virginia result, which obviously I'm familiar with here as the former governor of Virginia, I think it's a warning sign that President Trump needs to redo or complete review of the way that he's, you know, conducting himself because I think the Virginia election was loud and clear. If the Tennessee election is closed, it's a warning sign for the Republicans. But I think the Republican Party has got to reboot, Brian. I think that we're not in a good place as Republicans. Tell me what bothers you about what the party's not doing or is doing. Well, I think there's no independent policy of thought coming out of the Congress at all. The best senator, by the way, in my judgment is Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, but he's almost alone. I just think that there's very little leadership coming out of the Republicans in the House or the Senate in order to get the ship righted, and I think we have to do that. Well, give me an idea. For example, the Big Beautiful Bill combined almost every economic goal in one bill. So after a past, they said, okay, what's next? I'm not sure about health care because you know that any partisan health care package. Republican or Democrat is going to be a unexploded hand grenade because you need both sides to work on that. So I'm not too sure there anyone's in a bipartisan move. What else would you be pushing forward in terms of legislation? Where should the reforms be? There's no question that the people of the United States are concerned about their pocketbooks. They're concerned about high inflation. So if I were the president, I would be out there explaining carefully why increased tariffs do not add to inflation. And maybe it does, in which case the debate has to be joined. But right now, I think it's very important that the people of the United States believe the President Trump and the party behind him want to do something to control prices and cost of living in the United States. So I think that would be the major focus I would start with. And I think the elections are demonstrating that, Brian. But, you know, you know me. I'm a former ambassador. And I've been focused on foreign policy and the safety of the United States.

in this crisis, but that doesn't stop me as a politician from thinking about the domestic issues. So let's just lastly, before I let you go, in Venezuela, the details of the Maduro Trump call is coming out in the Miami Herald, picked up by the New York Post. And essentially, you told Maduro, you can take your family and you can go. But we're not saying you're not going to be charged for your war crimes or your crimes when you're leader of the country. And you can't control the military. Like you said, you just want to control the military. That's not going to happen. Your option is to go. At which time, you're not doing regime change because you have another group that won the election, 70, 30, that would move in. It's not that easy. I get it. But the benefits really could change the direction of the hemisphere and get Iran, China, and Russia out and put all types of pressure on a defeated mess of a country called Cuba. Where do you think this is heading? Well, first of all, I think that you're right to focus on the Caribbean issue, but we have to understand the United States is a global power and our national interests are threatened on all places on the globe. So there's nothing wrong with going back into the Caribbean and examining this chronic problem that we've got with Cuba and now Venezuela. I think that, you remember that Barack Obama announced that he had to leave, he had to go, and then he didn't do anything. So the president at this point is at least putting the military down there to send a strong message that he has to go. First of all, it's undemocratic. And second of all, he's dealing in drugs. And, of course, that's part of the issue that we're dealing with on the boats in the Caribbean right now. I might mention one thing before I have to go. I noticed this morning that Secretary of Defense or Moore has said that he did not give that order to kill those people in the water who had been survivors of that boat attack. He says he didn't do that. Okay, so who did? If the uniform code of military justice makes it clear that you don't have to follow illegal orders, but it's also very clear that if you disobey an order, you're going to be court-martialed. So the military will follow the orders absolutely, unless it's clearly illegal. By the way, I was a soldier, by the way, during the Vietnam War, and they trained us about the Miley Massacre. and taught us exactly this issue that you're not supposed to kill civilians as the United States because it is either a war crime if it's war, and if it's not a war, it's murder. So, you know, the point is that the secretary has said he didn't give the order. Okay, that's all right with me. Who did? That means that the admiral, I guess, did it on his own motion. And that's something that I think the Congress has to look at. Are you talking about the follow-on order? They hit the drug boat and the follow-on order when there were survivors to take him out if indeed that happened?

Is that what you're referring to? Yes, sir. That's exactly what I'm talking about. And I'm not making any positive conclusions because I'm not in the Congress getting ready to look at this. And I'm not a lawyer involved in the litigation on this. But, you know, it's something that's got to be examined. First of all, we need to have some military lawyers or others say whether or not this is the kind of conflict that would support that kind of attack. And if it is, then we need to tell the American people the foundation of it. But if we don't, then at that point, I think that this is a potentially either a war crime or a civil murder. You mean they're driven up drug boats? If there are survivors, we're supposed to capture them? Well, sure. That's the Geneva Convention, I think, that we are a party to. But look, I'm not in favor of drug boats. I'm not in favor of people. I'll tell you, Governor, let's say that is the letter of the law. Do you know that during the four years or eight years, President Obama's killed over 535 terrorists? Do you not think there were any follow-on drone attacks on a car full of terrorists? And we know for sure that these terrorists would travel with their families. Some of them were kids, you take them out because those guys were trying to kill us, working with al-Qaeda al-Shabaab or any of the affiliate ISIS or any of the affiliate organizations. So when that happened 535 times under Barack Obama, are you going to tell me there was no follow-ons to make sure they didn't finish the job? Look, I think that the key here is that we have made a decision that we're going and the Congress has authorized military use against people who are clearly terrorists who threaten this country and have a track record of doing so. I'm not in favor of terrorists. You know, I've been very clear about that in my public life and I'm not in favor of drug boats either. But I'm really addressing a different issue here altogether and that is what's appropriate under the law. Absolutely. Governor Jim Gilmore, always great. Thanks so much. We're going to have two things going to get resolved. One way or another, the Russia, Ukraine are going to keep fighting. Maduro is going to try to stay in power, or both these things are going to be solved very soon. No one could say that Trump's ignoring major world problems. He's taking them all on, maybe at once. Governor Jim Gilmore, thanks so much. Good. Thank you, Brian. Back in a moment. It's Brian Kilmeade.

A radio show like no other. It's Brian Kilmeade. People can tell the difference. Should be able to tell the difference between something that is unlawful and something that is lawful. And if I was ever given an unlawful order, I would refuse. If you have time, you can certainly go to the judge, advocate generals, the lawyers, and have a discussion about it. If you don't have time, you just say simply, I'm not going to do that. That's against the law. It puts a lot of burden on the troops to make a decision in real time. It puts a tremendous amount of burden on officers in the military, but that is their responsibility. And they can figure out. You know, a reasonable person can tell something that is legal and something that is illegal. So you idiot, Senator Mark Kelly, who is an astronaut, who he's got to be really smart, 34 military missions. I truly appreciate it. So he is saying, trying still to rationalize his ridiculous treasonous tape, still is trying to say, okay, I'm flying in a flight. And I see terrorists. And I'm told to take them out. Wait a second. They might be unarmed. Wait a second. That might be a wedding. Wait a second. I don't know if I'm for hitting Syria because I'm only supposed to do Iraq, but we have ISIS members there. So you could go disobey an order you think so legal. That's called being court-martialed. Or you could sit there and put doubt in a military man or woman's mind. Then might sit there and say, you know, the Venezuelan drug boats, I'm not sure about it. National Guard, I'm not sure if I should be in Chicago. In Syria, why do we have 400 people there in a government that's run by a guy from al-Qaeda? I'm not sure I'm for that. Or I'm working in Israel and I'm doing some operations here. Well, maybe I'm pro-Ghasa. Maybe I think of a two-state solution. I think that's illegal. I'm confused. What did you do this tape for? That's a terrible explanation.

Fox News headquarters in New York City. Always seeking solutions, never sewing division. It's Brian Kilmeade. All right. Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We're back in action today from 48th and 6 in Midtown Manhattan. Hope everyone had a good time to maybe, I guess, really downgrade your lifestyle a little bit, slow down and get ready for a long and hopefully fruitful. Christmas season. Now it's okay to play the Christmas music. I was not for it before. Now I think it's perfectly okay. I think we're in that scene. So far some good news. It looks like we got something like... A 8% increase on Black Friday from a year ago, and there's indications at Small Business Saturday also in extremely well. I'll go over those numbers shortly. This hour, I'm going to be joined by Corinne Hajar, the Steamote Institute Fellow, Washington Post editorial board member, and we'll talk about what's happening in Venezuela. But first, let's get to the big three. Number three. I hate the city. I hate the bacheloretts. I hate the pedal taverns. I hate country music. I hate all of the things that make Nashville, apparently, and it's city to the rest of the country. But I hate it. Special election in Tennessee will get a true read on next year's midterms, judging by these results. Unless it's GOP double-digit win, Democrats will have a reason to celebrate as we look at our economically, uneconomy, economy, affordability, and a possible reprieve for Obamacare. Number two. The New York Times reported that you had a phone call with Monroe. Did you? I don't want to comment on it. The answer is yes. And can you tell us a little bit about it? No, I can't do that. Mr. President said, if you said it went well? Would you say it went well or badly? It was a phone call. I love what he says. I won't comment, but the answer is yes. I have the details of Washington, the Miami. Herald has the details. We're going to get into it. This is really getting down to D-Day. Number one. I think clearly. vetting standards for every person who's been admitted in the country, especially from countries of concern like Afghanistan need to be revisited. And that's why the president wants a total ban on third party, illegal immigrants, and he wants it right away. Murder in D.C., a National Guard member, loses her life, another clings to his, as we unwind how this Afghan lunatic got to our country, got asylum, but is now known to have stopped functioning as a human being years ago. And that's we'll start. So I didn't want to repeat his name. And plus, maybe I'm bailing out because it's also virtually unpronounceable. But so he worked with the CIA Zero unit. And he's with this unit over in Afghanistan. And then when the whole thing falls apart, he becomes one of the members to get over here, gets through Qatar, gets over here. And in April of this year, somehow got asylum. even though we're finding out more details about his stay before he won thousands of miles to go to Washington, D.C., to shoot any National Guard members he could. Sadly, he's still alive, but maybe we'll get some answers. So he was in Washington State. He stopped going to social health services. He was so depressed. One community member said, I think this guy's going to commit suicide. Isn't that interesting? When his wife would go away, he had five kids, he was in charge of the kids.

So how would they know it would be going badly? Because the kids would show up with dirty clothes. They'd show up starving. And they would show up unclean. So the family, the school, alerted social workers. They noted the family, but nothing's ever done. So this guy continues to descend. That was back in 2023. He becomes one of 1.5 million asylum cases that were still up in the air that Joe Biden put into the lap of Donald Trump. They try to set up new standards. They never checked on social media, never did biometrics on who these people were. And then in turn, we have a bunch of ticking time bombs, another one that was just stopped over in Texas because, thankfully, he put on social media his evil intentions to go out and kill Americans. So when we see this happen, the day before Thanksgiving, on the streets of Washington, D.C., as our National Guard walked there just trying to clean up crime, you can imagine how alarming it was to the American people, to me, to you, to everybody. Pam Bondi said this. Cut five. The one that you talked about that happened days before the Thanksgiving shooting, that one, he was, had been here through Operation Allies welcome program, minimal to little vetting. I was on the phone last night with Secretary Kristi Noem at length. They did not do biometrics. They did not do social media. They did very little, if minimal, vetting on all of these people. And now to take a step back, we have a 1.5 million backlog of people that have come into our country. And look, this guy work with us in CIA. But the enemy of my enemy is, that makes it okay. And your enemy was the Taliban. The Taliban took over. Maybe we're enemy number two. So he comes here. He obviously could be as susceptible to anybody who's been at war for a long time. Evidently, he was some of the horrible things that he seen or did were coming back to haunt him. And he was going needed some. Health care. Now, look, do I want to give the country all these other refugees, health care and psychological care and follow-up that should be going out to us? Well, in certain circumstances, yeah, if I find out if a fixer was helping Steel Team 6 or Pete Hegseth over there or Chad Robeshow and others, and they say these fixers and their families are people they got to know and they want to come over, yeah, but those things are rare. Just grabbing every one of those cargo jets and bringing them over and hoping for the best doesn't work, especially when he screams this in front of the National Guard. Cut six. We're catching these people. We're vetting these people. And this administration, because of Donald Trump, we are working hand-in-hand with Secretary Kristi Noem, Homeland Security. Director Kash Patel has already arrested 500 suspected terrorists since January 20th. We're working hand-in-hand with Pete Hegseth. And yes, we are bringing in our National Guard to every city we possibly can. Who needs our help? And that's a lot of them. We're tied up, as you know, in a lot of court.

hearings right now. These young men and women in the Guard, they want to help our country. They want to be here. They are patriots. Yet they will not be attacked by a radical Islamic terrorist who screams by reports, Ali Akbar, before shooting two of our Guard members and almost killing more. Yeah, if a guy didn't come around the corner, one of the guardsmen with a gun and the other with just a pocket knife, I don't know why they don't have the rifles. I guess it was disturbing people to see the rifles. Now, there are reports from the slain national guards' guards' woman's family that she wasn't happy with the rules of engagement in this city. It turns out her ex-boyfriend came out and said at a memorial for her life. saluting her service, she said to her ex-boyfriend, people spit towards us, they cursed us, they throw things out of us, we can't do anything. She couldn't detain anybody. She couldn't stop them from doing wrong. They told them it was they have to tell the cops if they saw anything wrong. She wanted to make a difference. She wanted to be extremely helpful. She was happy with her service in National Guard. She said, oftentimes, why am I here if I can't do anything? Where they limited us so much, she's like, it's point. She's like, I get, I get why we're here. Crime is bad, but it's pointless that we can't stop crime. That's a legitimate thing that National Guardsmen should speak up about. What can you possibly do or what can you be free to do to really help out at Chicago and Memphis and now soon to be in Orleans and, of course, Washington, D.C. So, yeah, she was. willing to serve on Thanksgiving. She wanted to help out as a guardsman in, as a guardswoman in West Virginia, which I truly appreciate, but frustrated, like many people, that she wasn't able to do enough and wasn't free to do enough on the city streets. And her presence wasn't stopping a lot of these idiotic, this idiotic partisan behavior. So Senator Amy Klobuchar sees that the president wants to stop all entry from Afghans and third world, third world countries until we can get a hold of this. said this, cut 10. What the president has done here is taken a horrific crime that occurred in Washington, D.C., where one beloved guard member is still struggling for his life, another was shot and killed, and the perpetrator, the murderer, is behind bars and being prosecuted. He took that case, and then he went 2,400 miles away to Somalia and somehow indicted an entire group of people, 80,000 of them in my state, as well as later all naturalized citizens, 24 million people in the United States of America. This is what he does, and he tries to stoke division and make people hate each other. See, a couple of things. Senator, this is a person that takes action when there's a problem. There's a huge problem with Afghanis here. There's a huge problem with the screening of refugees. He's addressing problems. Now, in your state of Minnesota, there was this problem where you have hundreds of Somalis.

stealing from our federal government in the guise of pandemic aid and sending the money to al-Shabaab and al-Qaeda affiliate back in Somalia. That's a little bit of a problem. It's Somalis who come here not to assimilate, but to take over wide swaths of Minnesota. That is a problem. Now, more than 400 employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, which says it consists mostly of Somalis, wrote on X that Waltz is 100% responsible for the massive fraud. We let Waltz know of the fraud early on, hoping for partnerships. This according to the... I wouldn't think partisan employees of the Minnesota Department of Human Services employees. I'm pretty sure that's not a MAGA group. We let him know the fraud was going on. Walt systematically retaliated against... Whistleblowers using monitoring threats and repression. Now who's the guy abusing his power? Is it that idiotic vice presidential candidate, this embarrassing governor from Minnesota who can't control his left wing views or his left wing family? The Minnesota Department of Human Services was told to they went out of his way to discredit the fraud reports. In addition to retaliate against whistleblowers, whilst disempowered the office of the legislative auditor, allowing agencies to disregard their audit findings and their guidance. That is the worst governor in America. And there's a lot of terrible ones. I think Gavin Newsom might be worse. But with their finding out through this Manhattan Institute City Journal, Not a MAGA publication, citing unnamed federal counterterrorism sources that said some stolen funds were transferred to Somalia and might have ended up in the terror group al-Shabaab, though none of the federal charges in the fraud cases included that link. Walt addressed the fraud at a press conference and says it undermines trust in government. You clown. You're the one who undermined the trusted government by aggressively going after whistleblowers who were putting up with your, who are not going to put up with your fraud. Quote, if you're committing fraud no matter where you are, you'll go to jail. But you were going out of your way to make sure it wasn't discovered. Am I correct? Governor Waltz? Absolutely. So your community in Minnesota almost elected. A mayor from Somalia who was campaigning with the Somali flag, which is an interesting tact, considering he almost won. Why would someone campaigning with the Somali flag be successful in Minneapolis unless you overrun the entire town with illegal immigrants? So, Governor Walts was not pressed on Meet the Press. Cut 37. One after the president.

This president has cut a lot of inspector generals. He's cut programs that could help us tackle this on. So we are. We'll take it on. We'll put folks in jail. I don't care what your nationality is. I don't care your religion is, your color. If you're committing. Just so important. Unfortunately, she didn't have the information or chose not to bring it up. You do care. because illegal immigrants are first on your priority list, and whistleblowers are the first to be targeted. So if you say you go to jail, I don't care of your heritage, you're lying because you went after the whistleblowers who tried to save you hundreds of millions of dollars from your city coffers. So I don't need to hear anymore. He was not pressed. And you're on Trump for failing getting rid of his inspector generals? He wants to get his own people there. He learned the hard way. You have these people turn on you. listening in your phone calls and leaking to the Washington Post when you're talking to world leaders, like that Vindman guy who's still talking, now he's in Congress. So he's not going to take that. And he's going to get rid of Inspector General who may be a partisan. Let's say they are. But I know he hasn't filed a whistleblower. And he didn't file whistleblowers. It alerted you to the fraud. You don't care. You didn't care. Because if the money flows to minority communities, you're happy. Illegal immigrant minority communities, you're happy. Yet he's running again for governor and considers himself a presidential candidate. It is so detached from reality. It's scary. When we come back, I'll take your calls for the first time. 1-8-6-6-6-9. I want to talk about that special election. Talk about that. And what's at stake? If Republicans don't do double-digit well. They have a huge wake-up call coming their way in the midterms that they have to address now. There's plenty of time. You'll listen to the Brian Kilmeade. Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmeade.

The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Kilmeade. Look, I think he's got a very tough choice to make. He's got to get out there himself. He's got to get out there not sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office. He's got to get back out into the country and make the argument. He is always best when people see him out there up close. That's better for him. They feel the excitement. So, yeah, they didn't want to hear that on the panel on ABC, but Chris Christie is 100% right. You cannot deny the president's charisma ability to command a room and create momentum. And he creates news. And even though he says he's not in the ballot, he is on the ballot in the midterms. And I think he should be as busy as possible. He can be a president from everywhere. He's already shown that. Marilago, you think he slows down there? Are you kidding? So just put him on the, if he knows the circumstances, he will do it. You saw how hard he worked to become president again. He wasn't mailing it in. All right, let's go to Ryan in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Hey, Ryan. Hey, how are you, sir? What's on your mind? You know, you were talking about the Afghan incident that happened the other day. And I can relate to that a little bit. Like, I've been a United States Marine Combat Veteran and my interpreters back here in the States. And I don't know what he was promised. I don't know what he was told. he's very disgruntled like I've been on the phone with him frequently and he's going through like a mental hiatus and I I've been you know worried about him a lot and and I'm not surprised it's happened at all well let me ask him is he just having trouble adapting to the culture here is he not getting a job I mean, he's complaining about everything from taxes to he, you know, his wife was incarcerated for, um, uh, abusing their children. And he doesn't understand how that's a problem here, like the culture. Yeah. They're not used to it. And. He's like, why won't they let my wife out? And I'm like, well, buddy, this is what you signed up for. This is what you came over for. Like, this is why you're here. And he can't go home and he knows that. Like, he's got a, he's got a target on his head if he goes back home. Like he knows that. His family that is left over there, they've got ransoms on their head. And he knows that. And, but, and now, so what? used to be, he was so thankful to get here. Now it's turned into anger. And it's almost sounds like the same pattern from this shooter. Yeah, I would think so. So, I mean, what is your answer to that? I mean, do they get services? Do you think it's him going somewhere? Like, you would go to the VA for help? Do you think there's a place for him to go? Not that I think we should be spending money, but, I mean, is this guy going to be the next suicide bomber? I don't know. I don't know. I'm like, yeah, I'm legitimately worried about it. I don't know what the answer is. I don't know what they promised these guys. I don't know what they, or these individuals. I don't know what they called them. I know that when we were over there, he was treated like me, but.

Yeah, I don't have an answer. So, Ryan, I think you got to tell somebody. I think you got to get a hold of, you know, the military pathways of communication, especially with the VA, and say, I'm just concerned about this happening again only in a different city and a different state against another innocent person. So, again, this is a bigger problem. I appreciate the candor, but it is alarming. This was a guy you knew personally, not generally, personally. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmeade. As long as Nicholas Maduro is in power in Venezuela, you're going to continue to see the risk not only of violence in Latin America, but the drugs that I've heard so much about from Arkansas sheriffs and police chiefs that are threatening our communities and that are killing our kids. Nicholas Maduro needs to go. That's what President Trump has made clear. I think that's probably what he told him last week on the phone. And they did have a conversation last week that Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of Armed Services Committee, talking about how Maduro's got to go. Essentially, the president said, reportedly, according to the Miami Herald, you can take your family and you can leave. And we're not going to say you're exonerated from any of your crimes. And you can't take the military as you ask for it. It's not going to happen. You can't stay. And I think one landing spot logically might be Turkey. And it looked as though he does have a relationship. over there, so maybe that'll work. We'll see. Corrine Hajar joins us now, Steamboat Institute Fellow, Washington Post editorial board member, and Corrine just graduated a few years ago from Harvard, and is part of the new movement on Washington Post to try to get different points of view in their editorial section. But it was special focus on Venezuela. Why does Venezuela matter to you? Well, for me, personally, it matters because I have a lot of Venezuela and family. And I had visited the country and, you know, I grew up with it being a really important part of my life. But you see that in one generation, socialism effectively destroyed what was an amazing country, continues to be a beautiful country. But it only took one generation for a pernicious ideology to really screw it up. This is a country with the biggest known oil reserves in the world. There's really no excuse for squandering that type of wealth. The president's pressure, do you think it would result in him leaving? The only, the only... a smooth way to do this for him to leave on his own. He lost an election. You're not, we're not doing regime change. Right. We're demanding, helping them get justice for their election. Yes. And you've brought up a point that seems to continue to get lost in the coverage, which is Maduro is not the legitimate leader of Venezuela. He lost his election. He stole his election. The opposition led by Maria Corina Machado, they put forward a candidate at Muno Gonzalez and all of, Gonzalez, and all of the data shows that he won. So this is something that keeps getting lost as people fearmonger about regime change. That's not really what's happening here. And the other point that I think that continues to get lost is that just sheer national security threat that Venezuela is in our hemisphere. Just off, I mean.

a thousand miles away from Florida in our backyard. They work with the Iranians. They work with the Chinese. They work with the Cubans. They work with the Russians, non-state actors like Hezbollah. This is like a serious threat to our country. You know, it's interesting. The Cubans are providing his personal security, I understand. Right. So if you have a situation where... this country with all these natural resources, not just oil and gas, but a ton, but allowing themselves to be, I guess it's a Columbia cocaine that goes through Venezuela, it goes out through the Caribbean. They said that finds its way into West Africa. From West Africa, terrorist organizations get involved and they send it into Europe. But it's Europe that has a problem with our operation off the coast of Venezuela where we're taking out drug boats. Do they understand that this technically helps them more than us? Well, I... Look, I think that the drug posts in particular are tricky because it's sort of a different issue from the democracy angle in Venezuela. But it's all part of putting pressure on the majority. It's all part of the same pressure campaign. I think for the Trump administration, you know, as big of an issue as you bring up this drug trade is, it's not, Venezuela isn't the biggest offender in that part of the world. They certainly have their problems and they need to crack down. The biggest issue in Venezuela is the socialism, the crime, the lawlessness, and just like the lack of democracy. I think for the. president if this is going to be a part of a pressure campaign it has to be very transparent uh and it has to be carefully done we're already seeing a lot of reports about you feel is so he's not transparent enough about this i i don't think so honestly and i think we've seen this on some of the strikes that are being contested right now whether or not they went too far um one strike at september that sort of started the salvo uh it was supposed to be a lethal strike and then two were left and and it seems that they were struck as well and killed that's up for debate Right. A couple of things. We had no problem when President Obama, and I still don't. was taking out terrorists, whether as Al-Awaki, who was an American citizen, I think it was in Yemen, he was taken out because he was exercising and radicalizing jihadist here and around the world. He was really more popular at one point than bin Laden in the Islamic extremist world. So when he was taking these men out, a lot of times they were taken out with their families in the car. Obviously, their families were, in most cases, innocent. But look, you have the war on terror, the alternatives another 9-11. I fully supported it. Some people didn't, but didn't hear much about it. But the Venezuelan drugboats, I think that if you had no problem with Obama, it's the same concept here. In fact, a lot of the hits, I never saw a video of that Obama took out. I'm seeing everyone, and they're put online, so we all see it. I think that a difference that you bring up, though, is that you can name who Obama struck. In this case, there's still, look, if the Trump administration has genuinely a narco-terrorist in the...

obtained and they've gotten this person, then I don't see what holds them back from giving us all the details that they can. It will help them and it will legitimize what they're doing. If they can't do that, though, I mean, this isn't a talking point from the left. You have Roger Wicker asking for more information in the Senate about these strikes. You have Republicans asking for more information. So I think that people just want to make sure that the American people understand who is being implicated in these strikes. And if they, you know, You can say that these are narco terrorists and go after them. And I think people have a lot of sympathy for going after lawless drug traders. But it still all has to follow the laws of this country. I did have a chance to speak to someone higher up was doing the briefings, bipartisan briefings as of two weeks ago. And he said, everybody left that room. Nobody had complaints. They fully understood. And he was kind of shocked when he saw Democrats getting front and start talking as if they didn't learn enough when they had a totally different idea, including. the senator from Connecticut after they were briefed, and some will never be satisfied. But you're right. If you have a great story to tell, tell it. Trump's refusal, this is what Medora wants. He wants global amnesty of all his alleged crimes. He would like to leave with his family, and he also would like to maintain control of the Venezuelan military. And Trump refused on both those accounts. He said, you're allowed to leave with your family. And that is it. So they say that we're not going to charge him, but if the global community wants to charge him, perhaps he will. Evidently, he has a son and a wife. They'd be allowed to leave Venezuela safely, at which time, I hope the CIA is working with the military to find out people they can work with in order to make the transition. That's the hope. Sounds like it's already happening. I mean, hopefully. CIA's is there. And Maria Corina Machado Maria Corina Machado, she laid out in our pages, she did an interview about, you know, her. democratic and economic vision for the future of Venezuela. And something really important about it is that she's not just looking for a transition here to the legitimate government. She's trying to build a more market-oriented, freedom-loving country. And that's good for everyone in this hemisphere, us included. There had been talks early on about a trade deal a couple months ago in the Trump administration with Maduro going after critical resources. You know, socialism is always going to hold an economy back no matter what. Having a free, prosperous, Democratic Venezuela is good for them, but it's also good for us, less of a security risk. And trade will help unlock their natural resources, the wealth that they have in that country. And I think that that's an important part that keeps getting lost in the debate as well, is like how important capital, the return of capitalism in Venezuela will be not just for them, but for us. Yeah, here's Congresswoman Maria Salazar of Florida, cut 23. This is what we did with Iran, that we gave ample notice to the commercial airlines. Do not overfly the Venezuela. That's exactly what the president has done. And now this is not going to be hard. 80% of the Venezuelans voted for the opposition. You have 8 million Venezuelans in exile. We're talking about the largest reserves of oil in the world that will be doing business with the American oil companies. And that is something that I have made very sure that they understand American companies in Venezuela for the next 100 years.

So that's a sentiment there. I know Congressman Yemenes says they'll be out by Christmas. Do you talk to people over there now? I mean, I've kept up with folks that I know overseas in Venezuela. And first of all, I have to say there and here, the Venezuelans that I know in the diaspora here are some of the most America-loving people because they know the price of freedom and they know what it's like to live without it. You know, there's a lot of hope right now because there's a lot of pressure. And I'm glad to hear that the president is holding a red line with Maduro and not in telling him you cannot take your military. It's your family and you get out. I mean, that's already winning for this guy. Again, he stole an election. He's not owed anything. And I really hope he takes that deal because nobody wants this to become a messy armed conflict. But, you know, I commend the pressure that we're building up. I just hopefully something, I mean. With Christmas as a deadline, if something doesn't happen by then, if a change doesn't happen, my question is, do we lose the strategic ambiguity that we've set up around Venezuela? And does that water down our deterrent at all? Well, he could come out stronger. If he's able to stare us down with all the firepower that we have in that region, he could look like a guy that scared away America. Right. And right now we know that some of our adversaries overseas that have connections with the Maduro regime are sitting this out. But, you know, God forbid that. If this gets drawn out, anyone gets involved. Right. So you're 27 years old, graduate of Harvard. Yes. Were you always somebody who leaned towards being conservative? Always. And I think one being, you know, knowing the cost of or socialism and part for my family in Venezuela, I have family from the Middle East and knowing what freedom deprivation looks like, it was always a central part of my identity. So now you live in New York City? I do for now. So socialism is following you. You have an announced socialist who is now New York City mayor-elect. Yeah. What do you have to say to people who are worried about that? Look, I think I was so surprised because I went out and did some interviews on the street, like in places like East Village where... People your age. My age, people that really like to go around Zohran Mamdani and were voting for him. And when you talk to them, you realize that they don't... They either understand the policy and don't really care that it's not going to work. They sort of understand it's not going to work. It's more of a middle finger to an establishment vote. And then you find another group of people who are dealing with really high costs in a very expensive place here that they're going to get cheaper groceries, cheaper rent, and they're like, okay, sign me up. I think that, one, you know, it's on voters to think critically about how these policies are going to affect them. But it's also on... people who know the value of free markets, who know the value of capitalism, I think we need a renewed push to do a better job explaining why. Our side is better and why our side is more effective. When you hear you're going to put a freeze on rent, that's a very intuitive way to understand that, oh, rent's going to go down easy peasy. It's less intuitive when you're talking about why free markets help increase supply, bring down prices in the housing market, for example. So you say that they say don't use the word capitalism, use the word economic freedom.

Because that's the phrase. Right. So you should explain both. For some reason, even in a school like Harvard, that you would think would have this coming and going, you say that capitalism was not really looked at favorably. Not always. I mean, look, I think on any college campus, there's always this socialist zeal that seems to be kind of fashionable and attractive when you're young. And you don't understand the, you know, the practical real world implications of this ideology. And I sort of wonder some of my classmates that were more drawn to that side. What are they thinking now as they look across the world and see the effects of socialism? I mean, it feels like they're so detached from what actually happens on the ground. And again, that's an education issue. Like we need to do a better job. Those of us that are arguing for freedom and economic freedom, we need to do a better job getting across why it's so valuable. Right, because we never thought you had to. Right, exactly. I never thought that would be one of the arguments would be, hey, what do you think about Obamacare? What about our defense buildup? Totally. You know, who's going to, what are we going to do about Social Security? Those are things we used to debate. But now we've got to go back to the fundamentals of a free market and what it does. And even though there are times when people feel as though it's not fair, this is an opportunity economy. It isn't a guaranteed outcome economy. And I just went and I asked these people, just show me how. You're going to get free buses. How are you going to freeze the rent? What is that going to mean? I think they've said this, I read this thing this weekend. They were between 50 and 70,000. apartments that are open in New York City. You know why they're closed? Because they're rent restricted. And they say it cost us more to fix up that apartment and then rent it. For the price you make me, it is easier for me. I save money if I just keep it dark and let it rot. Yeah. And it's stunning how this idea is coming back into fashion, even though it's failed so many times. And even though it's actively failing to your point about the vacancies. But if you look at blue states across the country, in Massachusetts right now, they're trying to get rent control on the ballot again. There was a reason that the state got rid of rent control decades ago. So, yes, it just needs to be better education about these issues. Right. And the thing is, the people should understand, too. You don't have to look at the owner of a building as a hero, but he's the one taking the risk. Most have to go take out loans. They have to convince lenders to give him this money, and they show him the business plan. And when you go ahead and blow up the business plan, then you're blowing up the bank. You're blowing up that guy destroying him. And all he was trying to do is build apartments. And yes, you are supposed to make a profit in this world. Gouging, there's rules against gouging. But freezing rent on people that invest just destroys the whole. I guess, chain of trust. Yeah. I think that the other part of this, though, is also acknowledging the pain that people are going through and the high cost that people are facing. And for a lot of young people, you keep hearing the phrase, we think we're doing everything right, but we're not getting the same outcome that our parents got, that our grandparents got. And that's a legitimate frustration. And I also think that there needs to be more time spent on giving a legitimate answer to young people on why they're not getting the same outcome as their predecessors did.

And, you know, Costa, even if you look at just voters more broadly, they were promised lowering costs and that's not happening yet. So I think that's creating a lot of frustration. Right. So you're saying that the costs haven't come down and that they could do a better. description of affordability. What Republicans, what that looks like? What is affordability? And how to get there. And here's how it's working. Right. But in nine months, I think it's really tough to tame inflation, but instead of getting it 2%, it's 2.8%. But he's also taken over economy that had the inflation, so the numbers are high, is just increasing at a slower rate. So we're telling someone they're not going high as high as they were is not making things more affordable. So they have to figure out a way to do that. Yeah. Deflation. Yeah. Or getting wages up. Better messaging. And also, I mean, look, I think policies like tariffs right now, you know, at some point, if prices keep going or if input prices keep going up for retailers and distributors, eventually those could be passed on to consumers. So that's also something that we really get into. Read her editorials in the Washington Post. She's now a new editorial board member at just 27 years old. How exciting. Corrine, great to see you. Thanks for having me. Thanks so much for coming in. Back in a moment. From breaking news to big name guests, Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to the Brian Kilmeade.

that makes you think. This is the Brian Kilmeade. This still goes back to the Biden administration's failure to hold the Taliban to the conditions-based withdrawal, because as I've told you previously, I would rather fight them over there than have them here on our shores and have... you know, American citizens have to be concerned about everyday life. And that is Lieutenant Colonel C.J. Douglas, who had multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. It was also called back to help out in Doha as they emptied out these cargo planes full of Afghans. And then was asked to write an after-action report on what went wrong in the explosion at Abbey Gate that he could not get President Biden to sit for a briefing. And then after a while, he said, well, it's too long. He can't give him a half hour. He said, what about 15 minutes? And they said, okay. And then they said, no, just leave it for him. I don't think he ever read it. So he's obviously seeing the vetting issue, saw him up close and personal, saw the procedures that didn't happen and did happen, and joined me this morning on Fox & Friends. But that's just it. This was conceivable. And you just heard from that great caller we had who served our country over in Afghanistan and brought his fixer back. And now the guy is so angry. He doesn't like it here. He can't get a job. He's upset. His wife got arrested for beating up his kid. This guy could be the next jihadist. Maybe it's too much to expect even the most well-meaning Afghan to adjust to American life. That's why the prison was right to freeze everything.

News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan. It's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmeade. Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. Hope you had a good break, but we're back in action now, and I'm sure you are too. This hour will be joined by Sebastian Lai and his lawyer. His dad is being held against his will in Hong Kong for writing, for being a self-made success story and writing a newspaper that the people have... in Beijing don't like. So they put him in jail. We're trying to get him out, and I think the president's trying to get him out too. Roger Zachheim is standing by, Washington director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Institute, and he has some great insight on the conservative line of thought, especially with the president doing so many things to remind me of Cold War-esque and trying to clean up our hemisphere at the same time, try to stop the expansion of Russia. So before we get to Roger, let's get to the big three. I hate the city. I hate the bachelorets. I hate the pedal taverns. I hate country. I hate all of the things that make Nashville, apparently. And it's city to the rest of the country. But I hate it. And can you believe that could be the next congresswoman from the 7th district in Tennessee that is in charge of Nashville? We'll get a true read on next year's midterm midterms, judging by these results. Unless it's a GOP double-digit victory, the Dems will look at it as a victory for them, which shows they are going to take back the house. November. Number two. You were times reported that you had a phone call with Maduro, did you? I don't want to comment on it. The answer is yes. And can you tell us a little bit about it? No, I can't do that. Mr. Perkinson, would you say, if you would you say it went well? Would you say it went well or badly? It was a phone call. Maduro, you are done. A conversation between Trump and the Venezuelan leader makes it clear he's illegitimate and has to go and or will make him why this could be Trump's most magnificent, but most risky move to date. We have the details. Number one. I think clearly vetting standards for every person who's been admitted in the country, especially from countries of concern like Afghanistan, need to be revisited. That is the Chairman of Armed Services, Tom Cotton, murder in D.C. A National Guard loses her life while another clings to his, and that is Andrew Wolfe. Will unwind what happened, what took place, how it could be stopped, and how it all goes back to the disastrous exit. by one other, none other than Joe Biden. That's not blaming other people for your problems with your administration. That's a fact. Thousands upon thousands came here. They couldn't possibly have been screened effectively. And even the ones that were screened effectively are not adjusting to a radical culture compared to what they're used to. And that's causing a lot of frustration, anger, depression, and in this case, someone to be a double murder or perhaps a double murder, we hope not. Meanwhile, we're getting reports about what he was like. They said as early as 2023, there were signs that he was detached from society. His wife would leave for a week, they would say, and he's got five kids. Those kids would go to school hungry, dirty, and they would go to school unkept. He would raise concerns with the school system. We'd raise concern with the social services, but nothing got to do, nothing led to any action by anybody beyond that school system.

The killer got asylum in April of this year. He stopped all, the president stopped all immigration from third world countries. We'll see if that legally can stand up. There's a backlog right now of 1.5 million asylum cases that were left in the lap of this administration. Let's bring in Roger, Zachheim. Roger, welcome back. Thanks for having me back. Good to see you. It goes good to see you. Roger, your thoughts about Democrats and Republicans are saying, hey, when it comes to a lot of these situations, especially when it comes to Venezuela, we just need to know more of what you're doing. We know President Ronald Reagan was worried about Nicaragua and the whole Iran-Contra thing. We've pretty much had administration after administration ignore Central and South America. This president isn't. Do you like the way he's approaching it? How would you approach it differently? I think the pressure on the Maduro regime is sound. And it's really a continuity between his first term in office and today. This narco-terrorist state that the Secretary of State has designated and emphasized is responding to a mandate that the American people gave. to President Trump. The targeting the military strikes, you know, there is an OLC memo. The Department of Justice, apparently, it's classified memo, has determined that it's within the president's authority to carry out these strikes. And that's what the Department of Defense done under Article 10 here in the, in U.S. Code. So, you know, the president has a framework. It's one that clearly the U.S. Congress wants to focus on and carry out the oversight, which is their prerogative under R.O.1 of the Constitution. But overall, the emphasis of the Western Hemisphere is sound. The issue that I want to emphasize, Brian, and we've talked about this before, is that we can focus on the Western Hemisphere, deal with Venezuela, and at the same time, deal with the other challenges facing the United States, be it the PRC and Xi Jinping and China, which you opened up talking about. in this segment, as well as dealing with Ukraine and Russia in Europe. These are things that one impacts the other. If we lead with strength across the board in each region of the world, I think we're better off. And President Trump's certainly doing it in the Western Hemisphere. I mean, we're seeing a lot of the power play. Don't you think it plays a role in? why Iran is a little wary about showing its influence in Venezuela or doing anything. The only thing it has a lot to do with Russia and China sitting back is a little bit about what they think the president might do or how much power he's looking to wield and how much leverage he has. They're saying, is it worth poisoning our relationship with America further by getting involved with this dead man walking in Maduro? There's no question in my mind that the axis of authoritarian is undermined when the President of the United States and this administration makes clear that they're a rogue regime and that you will suffer consequences if you go ahead and cooperate. And that's economic consequences, political consequences, and of course military consequences as well. It increases.

the United States standing in the world. It makes the thugs and regimes that would do us harm elsewhere on the world think twice about doing the same because they see what the President of the United States is willing to do to keep the U.S. people secure in our hemisphere in the United States. These things are, of course, connected. And people lose sight of that. They think, you know, you can do one thing in one area and one impact the behavior of others in other parts of the world. And, of course, they are absolutely integrated and they're watching and we're better off when we're strengthening ourselves in our region. Which is why I do believe Russia is related to China and the taking of Taiwan. We'll get to that shortly. The New York Times reported that Medoro offered Trump a significant stake in the country's oil fields. Trump said, no thanks. And the Miami Herald says, and Maduro says, He would like relief of any type of crimes. He wants global amnesty from all alleged crimes against him. And he also wants control of his military. The president was refused on both counts and said he'll be swift as he followed up with an offer that Maduro may not be able to refuse. That is, you can leave your country with your family safely. And I believe the landing spot might be with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey. I don't know what you have heard, Roger. I don't know where the landing spot would be. Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, you know, that's probably better off some of the other places. We've seen this before. Panama would be an example with Norega. You guys remember the Bush 41, H.W. Bush administration. Sure. I think what's essential here to remember is that the people Venezuela elected someone else. Right? It's not regime change. The people elected somebody else. There's someone winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is standing ready to lead the Venezuelan people. That is who they chose. The question is how will Maduro exit? And I think the president is exercising a bit of gumboat diplomacy here, making clear that. We're going to apply some pressure. We have significant military assets. There's no other countries, commercial aircraft, are not going to be able to fly in the area. It's putting added pressure, but it's going to go short of the sort of regime change from military occupation that so many don't want, rightfully so. But there's a way to get an outcome that benefits the people of Venezuela and benefits our security short of that operation on the ground in a country like Venezuela. Yeah, and just so you know, the Wall Street Journal chronicles where the drugs are going. And they go from Colombia to Venezuela, Venezuela puts them on those boats through the Caribbean who get to West Africa. At West Africa, they believe that's when terrorists, not just people who want to make money, but terrorists use a lot of their financing for their operations because they get customers in this place called Europe. The Europeans are the victims of this cocaine influx from Venezuela, from Colombia, to their individual countries. Roger, they're the ones who are critical of Trump and say, we're not going to cooperate any intelligence in that area in the Caribbean because they think America's acting unlawfully when they're the beneficiary of most of this action.

Yeah, we have to make a distinction here. There's this notion of international law, which, of course, is debated in the halls of the United Nations being the Security Council or the General Assembly. The United States can make arguments there that explain their actions militarily where they're justified under international law. But most importantly, for the American people, Brian, the president is acting under his authority in the Constitution, Article 2, where he can go ahead and take action to defend the lives of the American people, which clearly. The threat posed by narco terrorists is real. It's impacting American lives. And I agree with you. I think the Europeans, you know, they're a briefing away from understanding where the president is on this and to certainly knock on the way and should be supportive for the reasons you outlined. But fundamentally, it's not about Europe. It's about the American people, American security in our hemisphere. And that's why I think the president's overall objective is sound. So, Roger, let's pivot over to Ukraine where Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are going to meet with Vladimir Putin over in Moscow. And it looks like they had a good meeting with Marco Rubio leading it over at Mara Lago with the Ukrainian delegation. Here's a little of that review from Marco himself, Cup 47. We had another very productive session, building off Geneva, building off the events of this week. As I told you earlier this morning, our goal here is to end the war, but it's more than just to end the war. We don't just want to end the war. We also want to help Ukraine be safe forever, so never again will they face another invasion. And, equally importantly, we want them to enter an age of true prosperity. We want the Ukrainian people to emerge from this war, not just to rebuild their country, but to build it back in a way that will be stronger and more prosperous. So yesterday looks like the Ukrainians drone strike on a Russian forces in the Black Sea. They think it's an underwater drone submersible in the Black Sea, and they've destroyed some Russian ships. I don't know how they've done it, but they've really destroyed a huge portion of the Russian Navy, along with inflicting over a million casualties. But who has the leverage in these conversations? Doesn't he have Vladimir Putin, to me, hasn't shown any indication that he wants this war to end? I think you're spot on, and I commend you for the way you've been talking about this issue, directly to the President of the United States in terms of, hey, there's a good actor here, there's the right actor here, there's a bad actor, the wrong actor. The latter, of course, is Vladimir Putin in Russia. He's demonstrated no interest in coming to an agreement here that is workable to accomplish the things that Marco Rubio in that clip just said. We can't exit this war without Ukraine being secure. Right? And giving them a pathway to being prosperous. Otherwise, we'll be back where we are right now. And you know what, Brian, as I reference elsewhere, we have a poll, a survey with American people's views on Ukraine. And just came out. We were in the field just the beginning of November. Over 45% of Americans want to see Ukraine's territory restored. 22% would say, okay, we can come to some sort of ceasefire, but we're not going to go ahead and recognize land that's been occupied the Russians as their sovereign territory.

So overall, you're looking about 67% of American people not wanting to do Vladimir Putin's bidding. I think Secretary of State Marco Rubio has it, right? The measure for success in ending this war is, is Ukraine secure? Do they have the guarantees? They have a path to prosperity, right? Are we going to set up something here where Vladimir Putin won't do this again? There's been articles. Right? I mean, it's coming out a lot in terms of what Vladimir Putin is seeking to do across Europe, across NATO countries, in terms of drone invasions, right, holding up airports, sabotage efforts in Poland. You've reported on this as well. We need to demonstrate out of this conflict, bringing peace here in a fashion that Vladimir Putin understands that his aggression, right, his appetite for. invading other countries and taking more territory has come to an end. It will not be supported. It will not be something the United States will stand by and allow. Absolutely. And I think how this ends really decides how much, how long it's going to be somewhat peaceful. The one message we got, Roger, is all our European allies have to get armed up. We're willing to sell them, get the maintenance contracts, but they all got to understand that they've got to learn to defend themselves. The Russians have helped us in this. We no longer have to sell NATO on the need to arm up. They know it. And they can use it to sell to their own people. Guys, you saw what happened. I see the Germans are reconfiguring their whole army, their whole approach, their whole defense. Now, if we asked them to deal it, they never would have done it. But then they realize, wait a second, we're going to be forced to take responsibility for ourselves. So grow up. And now you could actually tell the people that put you in office. I'm doing what's necessary. I'm not just doing what America wants. And they're not going to say, I understand why they got to take some. of the socialistic programs that they're used to and put it into defense because they've got to be personally responsible. And I think that'll bring up their national pride. I completely agree. It's pretty remarkable what President Trump has done with respect to NATO. And we're going to see it in our survey. We'll come out soon. But I fully expect the American people to be more enthusiastic, more supportive of NATO because they see NATO is actually... playing ball with Trump's approach to diplomacy, which is we will back you, but you need to lead on your sovereignty and protecting and defending your sovereignty. You need to lead on protecting and defending your continent. And it's happened, both in terms of the investment that you referenced, 5% GDP committed to defense, right, which is just a huge. amount of progress from where we were for years, as well as some of the things you've referenced, getting more serious, getting in terms of their planning and posture in terms of providing for their own security in Europe, including their industrial base and collaborating with the United States. Think about how much does this transform. Ukraine right now is looking to get U.S. support. on a security guarantee that will involve European countries. They're looking for your support so the United States, right, will allow European countries to buy U.S. weapons.

So those European countries can then give them to Ukraine. I mean, this is very far from where we were 18, 24 months ago, and it's reasonable, and it's a recipe that can work for protecting Ukraine and stability in Europe. Right. And lastly, real quick, would you create some leverage? Would you at all sign on to Tomahawks and Patriots will come in if Russia doesn't show us sincere effort to bring this to an end? I think Tomahawks should be part of this game. absolutely something that President Trump should allow the Ukrainians to purchase via the Europeans and using this war. It won't be escalatory. It's already part of the fight in terms of targeting those logistics hubs. It will put the Russians on their heels and make sure that they negotiate in good faith. And as you referenced at the outset, Brian, the Ukrainians have developed tremendous autonomous technology, right? The types of things that... frankly, United States, a little behind on relative to what Ukraine did. No kidding. And that's what's actually having an impact, both in the Black Sea, as you reference, and in some of those areas within Russian territory. All right, Roger, thanks. The second biggest army and pound for pound may be the best in Europe and around the world. That's where the Ukrainians are going to be left with when this war comes to an end. Roger Zachheim, thanks so much. Always great. Good to see you. And he's also, he's the director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute. Back in a moment. Don't go anywhere. Brian Kilmeade will be right back. Breaking news, unique opinions. Here it all on the Brian Kilmeade. We now have hard data for Black Friday. and even for Saturday. And the online sales were up almost 10%. In-store sales were up 4%. It was really a blockbuster weekend after Thanksgiving. And so I think that the folks who were saying, wow, maybe people are going to be anxious about going back and getting presents for the kids and so on. They've been disproven this weekend. And I think the reason is that people, incomes are up this year. We had a great jobs report with strong income and the government shut down over so that people preserve. we have a little pent-up demand as well. I think that we're looking at a great recovery from a week, few weeks because of the shutdown. Well, maybe. I hope so, but it looks like we did have a great Black Friday, but 84% of the shoppers said they used a credit card to cover their expenses on the holiday. They also say they took a thousand, a survey of a thousand people. 30% plan to use buy now, pay later platforms such as afterpay or insure. 14% said they'll take out a personal loan. That's how much people want to celebrate. We'll see. Hopefully it'll go well today on Cyber Monday.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmeade. Welcome back, everybody. As you know, tensions are extremely high in Taiwan. As China tries to take back Taiwan, they said they never belonged as a separate. It's a part of their country. Never belongs separate as it thrives in free markets and chips and everything else. It's just sitting there as what China could be if they ever allow their people a degree of freedom, and they want to end that, just like they did in Hong Kong, where they basically took all the freedom away from that financial juggernaut. And part of the reason why it's been able to stay under Beijing's thumb is because they got rid of all the freedom-loving newspapers and journalists as well as activists that were standing up and demanding their rights. One is Jimmy Lai. whose son, Sebastian Lai, is trying to do everything possible to get him out of prison. He's a self-made multimillionaire who wrote an editor of a newspaper, an owner of a newspaper that always was the voice of reason and freedom. That is not welcomed by Beijing. I'm sure you know that. And he's been in solitary confinement most of his time in jail for no reason. And they're trying to get him out. And President Trump is letting the Chinese government know it would mean a lot for us to get him out. Sebastian Lai joins us now and Caliphant Keelan Gallagher also joins us his attorney. Welcome, guys. Thank you. Thank you so much for having us. Thank you. Sebastian, why don't you tell everyone what got your dad imprisoned? Sure. So my father was the founder of the biggest newspaper in Hong Kong. It was a newspaper that was based on the idea that with information people had choice and with choice, people had freedom. So for the last 20, 30 years, he's been advocating for democracy. And with the passing of national security law in 2020, they decided to use that law, weaponize that law and arrest him. They arrested him. They arrested his colleagues. And he's, you know, he decided to stay in Hong Kong to defend his values and his people. And for that, he's now in prison and has been the last five years. How's he doing? Unfortunately, given his age and given the prolonged solace confinement, more than 1,700 days, he's turning 78 soon. His health has gone much worse. He's got diabetes. As you know, solace confinement for more than 14 days is considered prolonged solace confinement and can be considered tortured. And he's done 100 times that. So we're incredibly worried about him. So Callie, what can you do? Well, at the moment, we're very, very grateful to the White House for its support and to not just the US government, but other governments who are calling for Jimmy Lies immediate and unconditional release.

And it's more important now than ever that Jimmy Lai's case remains at the top of the international political agenda. Speaking very frankly, Brian, we're extremely worried that unless action is taken now, we may see this brave, brilliant man die in prison for no more than the crime of standing up for values the American people hold dear. And if you have to be callous about it, that doesn't work for China. If Jimmy Lai was to die in prison, right, Kieland? Absolutely. And that's such an important point, because if he dies behind bars, it will turn him into a martyr. And what we are trying to make very clear to Beijing now is that it's not in their interests. We, of course, would love to see President Xi Jinping release Jimmy Lai because President Xi Jinping agrees with us on the points of principle and the importance of a free economy, freedom of expression, democratic values in Hong Kong. But if nothing else, President Xi Jinping should see that it's actually in China's own self-interest. to release Jimmy Lye and to allow him back to Sebastian, back to his family before it's too late. We see him die in prison and become an international martyr. Sebastian, have they offered you any conditions for his release if he doesn't do this or if he promises to leave the country and not speak out or anything like that? You know, I personally haven't had any contact from the Chinese. But, you know, just going back to Keelan's point, you know, it's been five years. You know, at this point, he could die at any moment. And to many people, you know, him staying in Hong Kong, standing for freedom, standing up and defending his people, he's a hero to many people around the world. And I don't see how it's in Hong Kong and China's best interest to have him die there. It'll be tremendously devastating for its legal system, for its reputation. And most of all, it'd be incredibly devastating for a lot of international relationships where a lot of countries have called up for my father's release. So why do you think your dad thought it was worth the risk? He had to know things that Beijing at one point was going to crack. down and they're going to go from the most high profile powerful person there was. So he knew the risks, didn't he? Yeah. He, you know, and that's something I'm incredibly proud of him for. And I think, look, it's, he knows that freedom and democracy is, is the right path forward. And that's what he campaigned for for the last 20, 25 years. And when push came to shove, when he had the opportunity to leave and leave his spot people behind, leave his journalists behind, well, it was a very easy choice in some sense. He came there with, he came to Hong Kong with nothing, and now he had all these people looking up to him. So he knew that he had to stay and act as a lightning rod and protect all these people. And for that, I'm incredibly proud. And for that, he's being tortured in prison. Keeland, what's the game plan to get out? I know President Trump has a lot of cards. If he can go in there, they don't seem to want to budge on it when he does bring it up. Have you started negotiating it at all? Are they trying to engage you guys at all?

So, well, at the moment the position is that the US government's support has been a real game changer for us. We're hugely grateful to President Trump for the support. Our view is that this is a deal which will be done at leader-to-leager level. We think it needs to be done at a high political level. That's why President Trump raising it. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the UK also raising it. And the US and the UK working together in order to secure Jimmy Lye's release is so critical. I've got to say also, Brian, that while this case is in part, about Jimmy Lye essentially being accused of conspiracy to commit journalism and by running a newspaper with a viewpoint which stood up for key values which the international community and the US public holds dear. It's also worth... pointing out that one of the things that Jimmy Lye has been wrongly accused of is accused of violating national security by speaking to US politicians, people like President Trump himself, other members of this administration and bipartisan politicians from across the political sphere. So at the moment we're seeing the US government and US politicians weaponised against Jimmy Lai. And it's why we're so grateful to now see those same politicians standing up for him in his time of need. So he already had a trial. I guess they're going to get the verdict soon. I mean, it's a sham trial. They're not looking for a counter, they're not looking for counterpoints. But on his 78th birthday is next month, what do you expect the verdict to be, Sebastian? Yes. Go ahead, Sebastian. Yeah. So the person's having good time. But as you stated, look, he's been in there for five years, right? And his trial still hasn't finished. I mean, this is a trial where there's allegations of witnesses being tortured. There's obviously no jury. There's three national security law judges. So, you know, in terms of the verdicts, you know, in a few weeks, could be a few months. They've been constantly delaying it. But this is a farce. I mean, this whole trial has been a complete and not to fast. And if I could just add, Hong Kong has now become a place where running a newspaper with a viewpoint, running a business which stands up to the Chinese Communist Party, even wearing a T-shirt or singing a song which the authorities don't like, has become criminal. That's what Hong Kong has become, such a long way from the beacon of freedom that it was in the region, even 10 years ago. And what we now have seen in the last number of months is the US government, UK government, the Italian government, also, the Australians. the Canadians and United Nations experts all calling for Jimmy Lai's release. We now need to move from that point of principle calling for his release to a concrete plan to secure his release before it's too late. Sebastian, have you talked to your dad? Unfortunately, because I advocate for him, the decisions I have to make is that I can't go back to Hong Kong. So I haven't seen or spoken to my father in the last five years. Oh, wow. So can you write? Yeah, yeah. I mean, he still gets letters. He still gets letters. But, you know, it's, yeah, I haven't seen him. So I, you know, all I hear about him is the same as everybody else. You know, it's this sort of how he looks in court. And here you have a man who, though obviously close to 80 and physically frail, is still mentally and spiritually strong. And it's this kind of bittersweet thing for a son to see his father.

breaking down physically, but knowing that he did the right thing and still championing these freedoms even in his old age. Is there any freedom left in Hong Kong? I mean... It's very hard to say. It's one of those things where I, look, they will still tell you they have their free press, but can they have the free press that they send 500 people to raid the largest newspapers, have my father and his colleagues in prison, have more than a thousand political prisoners in jail. I mean, that, you know, it's action speaks for themselves. Absolutely. I think the freedom. Freedom's in Hong Kong dwindling fast. And I should say, Brian, during that five-year period, Sebastian, who's a young man, has become a father himself. And Jimmy Lai, as well as being a brilliant businessman and a brave and principled journalist, is also someone who's a father and a grandfather. And at the heart of this case is a man who needs to come home to his family. And that is really what this case is now about. Yeah, I can understand. It's frustrating, but hopefully this will be brought up soon. I know the president's going to go there in April, and I think they're supposed to come back. And that would be a nice way to start that trip, the release of your dad, Sebastian. Thanks so much. Kelly and Sebastian, thanks so much for your time. Thank you so much, sir. And I just wanted to also thank you from the bottom of my heart for managing it to the president. I know you said it last time that you would and we're just so grateful that you did. And thank you. Yeah. And he knows what's going on. So it's the least I could do. And I'll bring it up next time for sure. Sebastian, thank you. Thank you. Keely, thank you. Back in a moment, we're going to finish up with some phone calls from wherever you are, 1-8666-9. We're also talking about this special election tomorrow. It's got a huge impact. If the Republicans are going to be a disaster in the midterms unless something changes dramatically. If it's not a double-digit win for Republicans, I also think that is a wake-up call. What do you think, 1866408-769? I'm talking about Tennessee 7th District. It's Brian Kilmeade.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmeade. Once again, I was a private citizen. National is my home. Do I roll my eyes at the Bachelorette parties and the pedal tavern that are blocking my access to my house? Yeah, every Nashvilleian does. But this race has always been about something bigger. It's about families across Middle Tennessee that are getting crushed by rising prices while Washington politicians and billionaires argue about this type of nonsense. That is the candidate from the Democratic side. She's trying to defend her anti-cop statements to fund the police. She's trying to defend that it's okay to burn down a police station. She's trying to defend the transgender surgeries for teenagers, maybe without telling their parents, trying to defend her ICE protests, trying to defend the fact that she's on tape saying how much she hates Nashville, country music, as well as all the tourists. Jimmy over, I don't know how she's even in contention, but yet Emerson says she's within two points of winning. She's running against a veteran of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Jimmy in North Carolina, hey Jimmy. Hey, Brian. How you doing, man? Good talk to you. Listen, I'll keep it real short. So as far as everything is going overseas, I'm all about it. I'm all about what Trump is doing. But the problem now I have, and if I have a problem with it, you know, I'll just imagine what everybody else does that just didn't vote for Trump is the economy. Make it make sense to me. Continue to understand, make me understand. Not even so much the votes in Venezuela because it's actually a, to me, it's like a... It's real practical. So, and where I'm living as a plumber, I mean, man, I want to make this thing. Make it make sense. So if I'm defending these policies, you've got to continue to make sense to me. So, I mean, make what you're saying home to the people here, not to leave everything else alone, but don't make me feel like you don't forget about me. Yeah, I mean, usually the one thing I would do, Jimmy, and you also say you told Pete, you want to see him out there more. explaining all this stuff. So you go to UAE. Why is he a UAE? Why does that matter to me in North Carolina? And what he's got to say is the investments are going to be in, they bring in these power plants and these data centers to the area. And the investment's going to be when you go over to Japan, you cut this trade deal. Okay. Now they're going to be able to buy Chevys over in Japan for the first time ever, the F-150. You know, those factories that might be in North Carolina. I think some of them are to avoid the unions. They are. That's going to affect it. people say there's going to be investment here. Well, is it going to benefit anyone except Silicon Valley? The answer is absolutely yes. We'll show me how. And then when you get other people to invest here and build here, and then they say, okay, I want to avoid the tariffs. I'm going to build a factory here. But don't talk generally. Tell me where they're building the factory. Tell me when it's going to be ready. Are they going to hire Americans? Are they going to just bring Koreans, South Koreans over to work in a Hyundai factory and give them special passes? Well, are you going to bring them over to train? Americans, I'm in. So everything he does relates to our economy. He's not doing it to build another Trump Tower. I hope that's clear by now. But I think it's a very valid point. Show me what you're doing in these countries on these visits. And then show me how it's going to benefit the theory is to benefit here in America. Christopher in Florida, you want to talk Tennessee? I think that Tennessee is just another.

head fake by the Democrats in terms of the affordability issue. I think that's a made up word that they've, you know, battle tested and realize that it's got some traction with people. I think... What the Republicans need to do is two things. First of all, we have to get our voters out. That's been a big problem for years. We don't mobilize in these off-year elections. I mean, the second thing is we need to proudly embrace. what is going on in terms of the big, beautiful bill, and all of the other things that the Trump administration has done. I mean, I run a large business, and there's a lot of opportunities to build your business without the interference of government that's going on right now, and that is going to create more economic wealth. Yes, regulation. for everybody. What makes things unaffordable is that we had a hyperinflation spike that raised the total level at a very high level of prices, and wages have not caught up. However, if we keep boosting the economy, the wages will catch up. Where we were before COVID with Trump was probably the best economy I'd ever experienced in 45 years in the business world, where there was basically no inflation. And when people got wage increases, those were actually real wage increases. And every level of society was seeing their lot in life improved. So I think Republicans have to embrace. The program be out there every day telling it hard. I mean, don't just say we're making it affordable. Don't say Biden's terrible. We know that. We don't want to hear it anymore. We just want to hear what's going on. Tell me the game plan and tell me when we're going to start seeing benefits. And that's what Kevin Hassett did yesterday. Thanks for the call, Chris. These are excellent callers. Chris Christie put it perfectly. Cut 39. Look, I think he's got a very tough choice to make. He's got to get out there himself. He's got to get out there not sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office. He's got to get back out into the country and make the argument. He is always best when people see him. out there up close. That's better for him. They feel the excitement. And here's what also happens. When he is out there, he hears things. He knows what lines work. And that's going to be a policy. Tax on tips was a trial.

You know, he found out when he was talking about Operation Warp Speed. People didn't like it. Even though it saved a lot of lives, and I know I'm counterintuitive to a lot of Republicans when I say that, but the way it was mandated was the problem. So he changed some policies. He listened to the people by, even though he's got supporters, he could tell with their enthusiasm. Then he puts his ear to the ground and he changes. So that's why he needs to get out. He's working really hard. But also, go back and do some of those rallies.