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Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. These particular drugs were probably headed to Trinidad or some other country in the Caribbean, at which point they just contribute to the instability these countries are facing.
So the President's been very clear that he's going to use the full power of America, the full might of the United States. To take on and eradicate these drug cartels, no matter where they're operating from and no matter how long they've been able to act with impunity, those days are over. Those days are over. That was Secretary of State Marco Rubio talking about the strike off the Venezuelan coast, taking out that Venezuelan drug-running boat. This is Griff Jenkins, your humble D.C.
correspondent, filling in for Brian Kilmead on the Brian Kilmead show. And we are so lucky right now to have my colleague, my friend, and actually, we share an office next to each other, correspondent Lucas Tomlinson joining us to talk a little bit about this. And, Lucas, I don't think our listeners really know what I know about you, which is not only did you graduate from the Naval Academy, not only did you honorably serve our country in the Navy for six years, but you actually, at one point, were deployed on a missile-guided frigate in the Caribbean on a drug interdiction mission. Talk to us. I sure was.
First of all, it's great to join you, Griff. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, in 2003, we did a counter-drug deployment to the Caribbean, went through the Panama Canal, just like some of these warships that we're seeing sent by the Trump administration. You saw the USS Lake Erie, the guided missile cruiser crossing the ditch, as they call it, the Panama Canal. A lot has changed, I'll say, between that deployment back in 2003 and today.
Back then, we had a law enforcement detachment on board. And the idea was to disable these go faster speedboats, the drug boats carrying cocaine from South America. And even though the Secretary was saying they're going to Trinidad, ultimately, the drugs, of course, are going to make their way to the United States. We're seeing the Pentagon issue shoot to kill orders. When that drug boat was destroyed, and President Trump shared the unclassified drone video, that was destroyed by a Hellfire missile.
It's not clear whether it was from a drone or perhaps from a helicopter. Uh that's a different Marching orders. Back in 2003, it was about disabling the vessel. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on board would detain the individuals. They were chained to the mast, essentially, on the O-2 level, and they were.
You know, put on a Coast Guard vessel back to the United States to stand trial. We knew something was up back in February when the Trump administration put Trende Aragua, the Venezuelan gang, on the foreign terrorist organization list. That's essentially the kill list in Pentagon Argo. Those groups, those terrorist groups, are now, first of all, they're now terrorist groups, and they're also ripe for assassination.
So what we're seeing now, we heard it from Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth this morning on Fox and Friends. The mission is to kill these terrorists and to stop the drugs from coming into the United States. And that's what we saw. We also heard from Secretary Rubio, you played a clip there. He says they're going to wage combat on the cartels.
He didn't say wage law enforcement. I think our listeners know when you wage combat on somebody, that means to kill them. You know, that's such a great insight and such a unique perspective. And by the way, I was telling Lucas that I was channeling him as best I could yesterday when Fox and Friends asked me to do a wall walk, as we call it, where I've got to explain that these now four missile-guided destroyers are in the waters off Venezuela and using acronyms like the helicopters, as you mentioned, the LAMPS. And I had to explain on the air, these are the light airborne multi-protocol systems.
No one calls them that. They're called LAMPs, and it's really remarkable stuff. And, you know, you mentioned Secretary Hegseth talking this morning on Fox Hem Friends. I do want to play just a little bit of that for you, Lucas. Cut 17, listen here.
I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence. I watched it live. We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing. And we knew exactly who they represented.
And that was Trende Araguay, a narco-terrorist organization designated by the United States trying to poison our country with illicit drugs. Last year, under the United States, Under the Biden administration, all four years, 100,000 Americans died from drug-related, from drugs, from the use of drugs, many of which poured in from Central and South America through our southwest border.
Now, we're sealing the border, but President Trump is willing to go on offense in ways that others have not been. And to send that clear signal to Tran de Aragua, Cartel del Sols, and others emanating from Venezuela, we're not going to allow this kind of activity. You're poisoning our people. We've got incredible assets, and they are gathering in the region.
So you want to try to traffic drugs? It's a new day. It's a different day. And so those 11 drug traffickers are no longer with us, sending a very clear signal that this is an activity the United States is not going to tolerate.
So a lot to unpack there, Griff. He is, in essence, saying the orders were to shoot the kill. The 11 are no longer with us. The president is going on offense. They didn't say go on defense.
This isn't about arresting and detaining the drug smugglers. And typically, I'll just walk you through one interdiction I was a part of. What they do is they set the boat on fire, 30 bales of cocaine. They jump in the water knowing the U.S. military is going to fish them out of the water.
But then you're spending hours on the high seas trying to put the fire out. Kind of ironic because it's sitting there in the career. But I think in my service record, it's documented that I've ingested like 30 bales of cocaine in my life.
So I don't know if that explains a few things, Criff, or maybe to our viewers. But everyone is put in there. Anyway, this is just, I cannot stress enough, a completely different. Different Modus operandi. This is a complete change for the Pentagon.
There's no way those three got a missile destroyers, the gotta missile cruiser Lake Erie, that's brought in from the Pacific, through the ditch, through the Panama Canal. There's even an attack submarine, okay? The USS Newport News is lurking in the Caribbean. There's the USS Iwo Jima, that's an amphibious assault ship that carries over 2,000 Marines. I saw some video today.
They're doing some air assault training in Puerto Rico today. These forces are not there. That should be boots on the ground. 100%. Have you seen Clear and Present Danger?
I'm kind of dating myself. This is a 30-year-old. You did, too. I was saving that. I want to get it.
Well, no, when we first came in, Lucas gets credit for saying, It reminds me of this movie. I think we've got a little sound of that for you.
Some say the greatest threat to America. These drug cartels represent a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States. comes from other nations.
Some say the greatest threat to America. The course of action I'd suggest. This is a course of action I can't suggest. comes from within.
So you see a parallel. There is a parallel.
Now, where there is a striking difference, this isn't deniable operations. This is not the CIA going in there right now. This is the President of the United States saying minutes ago, we just destroyed, annihilated this drug-carrying speedboat carrying cocaine from Venezuela eventually to the United States. We heard the Defense Secretary. No one's denying this.
That movie, though, was from 1994, based on a famous New York Times best-selling book by Tom Clancy, of course, about the U.S. government putting special forces on the ground in Colombia. They fire a missile from an F-18 superhorn. I actually don't even think they had. Yeah, they had super hornets back then.
I think it was the Charlie version, but let's not get in the weeds. A missile destroyed a cartel leader. And I turned to Griff. Actually, weeks ago, to be fair, I called this. I said, the United States is going to start droning cartel leaders and certainly a start going after this drug.
Lucas, stay there. Griff Jengins in for the Brian Kilmead Show. We'll be back with him. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests.
Listen and follow now at FoxnewsPodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. It's the Will Kane Show. Watch it live at noon Eastern, Monday through Thursday on FoxNews.com or on the Fox News YouTube channel. And don't miss a show. Get the podcast five days a week at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
This is the great Brian Kilmead show, your D.C. correspondent, Griff Jenkins, filling in. But really, a special treat to have my colleague and office next-door neighbor, Lucas Tomlinson, joining us. Because if you're just joining us, Lucas not only is one of the finest correspondents in the Washington, D.C. Bureau, but also a graduate of the Naval Academy, served six years honorably in the Navy and was deployed on a missile-guided frigate in a drug interdiction operation.
And just picking up where we left off, Lucas.
So the point you're making is, I think, so significant, which is from what you were doing in 2003 is so different from a law enforcement perspective to now it is a shoot-to-kill mission. And Everyone watching this video is like, wow. And as we were saying, it's got this tie to, you know, what we see in that movie, Clear and Present Danger. But where does this go? Like, do you think we're going to see a lot more of this?
I do, and perhaps not just on the high seas. I mean, there's a lot of firepower. You don't put three guided missile destroyers, a guided missile cruiser, an attack submarine, also armed with Tom Hawk cruise missiles. By the way, each one of those warships I just mentioned could carry 30 plus, depending on loadout, 30 Tom Hawk cruise missiles. We've seen what those did to Iran's nuclear facilities.
Remember that God missile submarine fired 30 cruise missiles into Iran? We've seen the Tom Hawks over the years. I don't think we have to tell our viewers what a Tom Hawk is. Those carry a high-explosive warhead. Tomahawks are not for firing on the high seas.
They're for hitting targets ashore.
So What's coming? We don't like to speculate in our business. But we're on the radio, have some time. There could be strikes in Venezuela. You cannot rule it out.
I don't have anything in my notebook on that, but you don't assemble this armada. You have over 2,000 Marines aboard USS Iwo Jima. There's a couple other amphibs down there off the coast of Venezuela.
Some of them are doing air assaults in Puerto Rico, training. What are they training for? But clearly, as we saw with the drone strike in the Caribbean, this isn't just a show of force. The mission has changed. Not just 20 years ago, what I was doing in the Caribbean, up till last week, the goal was always to disable the vessel, sniper fires a bullet, disable the engine.
interdict, arrest the terror suspects aboard these uh boats, the the drug dealers, but then try them in the United States.
Now they're killing them.
Well, and you know, we don't speculate in our business as correspondents, as journalists, but you do try and read the tea leaves a little bit. And your point is so well taken that you don't put that kind of firepower down in that region if there's not some sort of stronger plan afoot. And also, you're hearing initially immediately after this one little boat taken out that killed 11 TDA guys, a little fast boat, you immediately heard very strong rhetoric from SecDef, Heg Seth, from Margovio, you know, not just the president talking about it. You saw this is a policy shift indeed. Hey, listen, so in full disclosure, just to shift gears for a moment.
So, in the hallways and in the offices, which are adjacent between myself and Lucas, we are often talking about sports. And in our Studio, if anyone can see on the stream, but if not, I'll describe it for you. There's a small replica helmet of the heyday, the great days of the Washington Redskins, now known as the Commanders. And while I could not be more ecstatic, as is Lucas, to see the Commanders and Jaden Daniels and Terry McLaurin, Scary Terry, now Debo Samuel, take the field and hopefully destroy the Giants. Fight for Old D.C.
It was my colleague Lucas who put it on the map, the first guy to ask President Trump, hey, Mr. President, what about going back to the Redskins' name? You asked him. I did. It was.
Fourth of July weekend, we flew on Air Force One with the President up to New Jersey, where he was spending the weekend after the fireworks display at the White House. And we were on our way back. We were sitting there on the ramp. The turbines are spinning under the wing there on Air Force One. The president comes and we got through the news of the day.
But as you know, Griff, the president, he'll sit there and take questions forever.
So you better have a deep bank of questions to choose from. And for the life of me, everything that was asked, news of the day, was asked, and then I just. Asked him if the DC City Council doesn't vote to approve this new stadium, which at the time they hadn't, will you step in? Which maybe also a little foreshadowing taking over Washington, as we've seen recently, with the police force and crime. The president said he's looking to do that.
He credited Josh Harris, owner of the Redskins, or the commanders, excuse me, and then without even thinking, like I just did. I just blurred out. Mr. President, should the commanders change the name back to Redskins? And he just looks at me and goes.
Do you want me to say something controversial? And I just gave him a Yeah. Sure. Yeah. We ask the questions.
It's easy, right? Yeah. And he goes, I would. And then he probably had one of the most political answers of his time back in the White House. He goes, But winning changes everything.
Commanders are winning, doing very well. Obviously, we were one win away from the Super Bowl last year, playing for an NFC title. But then he circled back to, but I would. He goes, it just doesn't have the same ring to me. And I think most Redskins fans, Commanders fans, would probably say the same thing.
Yes. Although he did make a point, not to sound political myself, but winning does have a way of changing things. And certainly the season we saw last year with Jaden Daniels at the helm, new coach Dan Quinn, new general manager. Adam Peters and what he did to get Terry McLaurin re-signed, I thought was brilliant. Not only did they get him back and extended him, but you notice they gave him a day of big press, big headlines, this massive extension, $96 million.
It wasn't until the day later, though, that the details of the deal came out. It's actually just two years guaranteed and only, if you don't mind me saying this, and nobody breaks their radio, only $44 million guaranteed. Only $44 million. But the two-year-old, I could live off that. Oh, my God.
Certainly in Loudoun County, in Leesburg. Yes, look. You know, the fact that we got only two years guaranteed, $44 million.
Now there's space to obviously got to extend Jaden Daniels, our star quarterback, eventually. Oh, yeah. No, he's not. We're keeping him. Right.
So you can't just spend all the money on everybody else. We're excited. At the Giants this weekend.
So, you know, I have no inside knowledge, and neither do you, but I would not be surprised if there is a return to the Redskins' name. I really wouldn't, because not only did you put that into play for our listeners, so I built upon that. Griff, you brought it back. Can I just say? About it on Five.
And what happens? President Trump goes on a tweet storm on True Social. And Charlie Hurt as well. Charlie Hurt mentioned the Indians completely. Indians, and now that's in play.
We shall see. And you know, to the point, to the President's point about you. Thank you for that green because it gave me elements all Sunday when I was at the White House where I saw these things fired up. I'm like, that's our story now. Shift fire.
We shall see. Shift your rudder. But winning does change everything.
However, I think the through-and-through, lifelong Washington fans would love to win and also return to that Redskins glory. We shall see. In the final moments I've got, what do you see as the commanders' season? You think we really are going to get back to possibly playoffs, possibly win? We'll get back to the playoffs.
That's not a bold prediction, of course, but it's going to be tough for this year. You know, last year we played a four-win schedule. Every year in the National Football League, your schedule is based on how you did the year before.
So last. Last year, we played a four-win schedule. This year, we play a 12-win schedule.
So, we are playing Green Bay. We're playing Detroit. We have some tough competition. We play the Chiefs.
Now, we're playing on primetime a bunch, which is nice. But again, in this spotlight, Thursday night games, Monday night games, it's going to be a much tougher schedule. I'm still going to make a bold prediction here. You can run this back: 11 wins. 11 wins.
Small step back to the Super Bowl. Super Bowl's going to be tough. Super Bowl is a little bit more than 200. Super is going to be tough. I'll just leave it there.
All right. I bet you 20 bucks we make it to the Super Bowl. Oh, you're making me root against the Commanders. We are putting this on record. It is September 3rd.
You heard it here. Griff Jenkins. I got to give Lucas Tomlinson 20 bucks. I see. A couple pints at Martin's Tavern.
Make it to the Super Bowl. We'll play this back on February 3rd and see what sort of result we're going to do. We'll see you next year, Griff. I'm not going to root against the Commanders. This will be the happiest money I ever donate.
That's right. If I have to. It'll go straight to pints at the Devil's Commission. Lucas Tomlinson, D.C. correspondent with a lot of experience in so many stories, particularly what we're seeing with the president and the Trump administration taking on the drug cartels and Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.
It's Will Tane Country. Watch it live at noon Eastern Monday through Thursday at FoxNews.com or on the Fox News YouTube channel. And don't miss the show. Listen and follow the podcast five days a week at foxnewspodcasts.com or wherever you download your. favorite podcasts.
