New York City's socialist era has begun

This show proudly sponsored by Real American Freestyle Wrestling. All right, everyone, so glad you're there. Back in action today on January 2nd. Hopefully, 26 is off to a great start with you, and you enjoyed your holidays. This hour, I'm going to be joined by Cliff May, founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, as well as Ambassador Bill White joins us.

He's U.S. Ambassador to Belgium, and we get a perspective on Europe. And, of course, we'll be taking your calls too in about a half hour.

So, 1-866-408-7669.

So, we have a lot to discuss today.

So, before we get to the Ambassador, let's get to the big three. Number three. We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. Really?

Warmth?

Socialists' era in New York City has officially begun. I could say again, as Zoran Mondani becomes Bernie Sanders' first mentee to gain power, my prediction. Bike Rocky III. Pain. Number two.

I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it. I don't believe he's going to be doing it. Nothing worries me.

Well, that's talking about what's happening in China, and that is China has just harassed Taiwan and had exercises in and around that island saying we'll take it by 2027. Enemies line up. China harasses Taiwan and protests in Iran now on his seventh day. As the president says, do not kill these protesters. We know that's how you do it.

Number one. I love President Trump's attitude about the economy, but people are concerned about it. And so rather than saying, you're wrong, we have to say, you're right. The affordability is an issue and here are the things we're going to do about it. And there it is, the extremely successful Marcos Limonis weighing in on Fox business, ready to go in 26.

The Trump team primes the economic pump for the new year. Tariff relief, tax refunds, and healthcare having to be addressed. What do you expect to get done? Your opinion's the right opinion, so I just want to hear from you.

Now let's bring in Ambassador Bill White, the U.S. Ambassador over to Belgium. Ambassador, how are things going by you? Oh my God, Brian, great to be with you. It's, I don't know, I think we've been doing this together for over 20 years.

First time you're being in Belgium. Yes, that's right. It's an incredible experience. We'd love to have you come over and do a show here about the incredible experience. Uh opportunity we had a couple of weeks ago to visit Bastonia.

Which was the Battle of the Bulge site, and we had 10 US veterans, you know, the guys I used to bring on the show with you from The Intrepid, and the youngest guy was 100 years old, Brian. And he was here talking to the young members of the 101st. There were about 5,000 people that showed up and paid tribute to these great American veterans. And it's a bond that brings America and Belgium so close as friends for all those years, right on that battlefield, is a spiritual experience, really, to be there. And it's tied our nations economically, culturally, historically, politically.

We now have a government here, Brian Bartovers, the prime minister. He was the mayor of Antwerp for 20 years. And he is as aligned as we could get of a European country with President Trump and our administration to bring us safer, stronger, more prosperous policies. And he gets the whole free, fair, reciprocal trade aspect because Belgium actually we have a trade surplus with Belgium. We have a one hundred fifty billion dollar trade relationship with Belgium.

So we're doing really well. And I have some good news to announce. I haven't said this on any show, but I'll say to you, we've talked about this over the years with our business relationships: is that I am about. Ready to secure almost fifty billion dollars in deals for the United States from Belgium. These are companies that want to open up in New York and Georgia and West Virginia.

Yes, the investment from Belgium is significant because these are the real entrepreneurs of Europe. They want to do business in the United States. They like President Trump's policies. You know, they wish they didn't have to pay the tariffs. Belgium actually has a trade surplus with us, so if they were not part of the EU, they wouldn't be paying any tariffs.

So all that's been rebalanced and focused, and they've baked that into their pricing, and they want to invest in America.

So now the big question with Belgium, of course the EU and the U.S. have a more favorable deal for the U.S. than it has been in the past, but the tilt has been heavily with the EU. The President says they're a competitive economic, you know, somebody we have to deal with competitively, even though we're allies. When it comes to Belgium, we think about all the money that they have from Russians, who they basically have frozen in their accounts.

Your thoughts about Belgium's reluctance to turn over some of that money over to Ukraine. They're worried about the banking system in general, where people can't feel secure about their deposits, even though Russia is obviously the aggressor in Europe and threatens peace in the region. Do you understand both sides? Yes, no, it's very interesting. It is the center of where assets were frozen.

In that nanosecond of how sovereign wealth money flows through, central bank money flows through this operation here called Euroclear. Euroclear actually closes on forty five trillion dollars worth Of business a year. They do a combined global GDP every month. Through their systems.

So, if the money was to be taken out of Euroclare, it would have catastrophic consequences for Belgium. They estimated that Belgium could go bankrupt if there was liability to the nation of Belgium.

So, this other problem is- Just for somebody like me who doesn't have the international banking experience that you have, so it's Russian money. That got frozen. Right? They froze in banks. And the question is, can you pull that out?

If it's Russian money. And if that money is pulled out. You worry about the Belgium worry about Russian lawsuits that could destroy them? Is that what they're worried about? Russian legal action?

Yes, yes. And also, other sovereign nations have expressed grave concern. We have bankers like Jamie Diamond, Christine Lagarde, who runs the European Bank, she's declined to support this proposal. Georgia Maloney has written a proposal not to support this. But there is a better proposal on the books right now, Brian, and that is to take the headroom of the European Union's budget.

This is money they have in case of emergency, break glass in case of an emergency. And they've agreed as a European Union to spend that money on supporting Ukraine. The other piece to this, too, Brian, is President Trump and Steve Witkoff You couldn't have two better dealmakers working on this deal right now to bring an end to this horrible war. President Trump has solved. At least seven of these global wars.

The most difficult one, as he said, is this one. He wants the killing to stop. And to not have that $212 billion in sovereign Russian assets here and in basically the West's control for President Trump to use in these negotiations, I think is a big mistake. He's actually voiced that. Steve Witkoff has told me that would be very dangerous.

And I believe this is a better pathway forward because this gives President Trump another tool in the toolbox to bring these two to the table for peace.

So in other words, just leave the money alone, knowing that there's really two aggressive powers in the world, three, Iran, Russia, and China. And Russia obviously showing that they have not worried about any ramifications. They said that sanctions don't affect them. This got their attention, though.

So, do you think that for people who say, well, if you freeze Russian funds, that's not going to be a precedent for anything? Because you're not going to do it to France or others. They're not going to be invading other countries. Yeah, no, it's very true. And the school of thought is that Japan has about $30 billion of sovereign Russian assets.

They are following the same policy that Belgium is. During World War II, you know, we historically seized Emperor Hirohito's money, Japan's money. We actually seized Adolf Hitler's money from Germany, and we did not take that money and use it for our own devices.

So I think this would set. A pretty cataclysmic precedence of how sovereign wealth funds are moved around the world every day safely and securely. And the better proposition is to have that money sitting there for President Trump so he can use it in the negotiations to resolve this war. And also that Um Consequences for Belgium would be catastrophic, so we have to respect that. You know, Belgium is a great ally of ours.

They are doing all of the right things. They're up their NATO spending to five percent. We have an incredible trade relationship with Belgium. Our ties, because of our veterans' support here in Belgium, saving Belgium twice. World War One, World War two is a very sacred thing.

So it's good to listen to the Belgians when they're saying they're concerned about this because they are doing everything else we asked them to do. And then some.

So do you think anti-Semitism is a problem there like it is in so many other places in Europe? Yes, it is. I actually just met with several rabbis who were very concerned after the incident in Australia. I went to one of the major temples here, Brian. These are wonderful, sweet, amazing people and families.

I met over 200 of them at a Shabbat dinner that evening. Brian and I, my husband, went and visited them. We went to the temple. We lit one of the last nights of the candle for Hanukkah together. And I'm going to Antwerp over the next couple of weeks to visit with all of the rabbis and community leaders in Belgium.

We have several problems here with the rise of anti-Semitism. It's a focus of the government, so we're working together with them, but we want to go speak to the Jewish community here in Antwerp and make sure that they know that President Trump and Secretary Rubio care about them and that America cares about them and that we will not tolerate anti-Semitism. If you're not watching, you see the Stream, but Ambassador Bill White joins us. He's a U.S. Ambassador to Belgium.

Ambassador, there's a sense, if you listen to the German leader, that the U.S. is changing its relationships with Europe. And maybe it's overdue. I think so. For the longest time since World War II, we have been their defense.

And that very few were spending even 2% when it came to NATO or others in Europe on their own defense. And Spain still won't commit to doing that. But they're trying to get the message to Japan and Germany, and I think Japan gets it: that, guys, you got to start picking up the pace with your own defense. We can't watch your back. Whether Russia is an aggressive period or not, you know, us being your defense, we would love to spend less money on defense and put into different programs, but it's not possible.

Do you understand? Are the Europeans taking it in the right way, or some of them feel as though we're letting them down by changing this relationship? Yeah, I think there's an incorrect appreciation of what President Trump is saying. He loves Europe. He cares about Europe.

He wants them to be successful. You know, their GDP was equal to ours about 10 years ago. We were around a $30 trillion economy. And today, Europe's GDP is down 50%, Brian, from 10 years ago. Germany, which was the industrialized nation in all of Europe, has a GDP less than West Virginia.

And West Virginia, by the way, is Belgium's second largest trading partner.

So these are significant numbers, and they also beg the question on why is GDP down? And this is because of woke policies Compliance, regulation, rules. This is something our ambassador to the EU, Andy Puzzer, is working on successfully to try to reduce. Regulations regarding NATO. Matt Whitaker, our mutual great friend and buddy of ours, has done a great job getting all the NATO countries up to 5% with President Trump's goal of that.

Belgium is. Rising to the occasion, they just announced another billion and a half for 11 new F-35s here in Belgium.

So, yes, they understand that shared burden sharing is very important. They also understand that our focus in Asia is something that we have to deal with as a country. These are the priorities that the President just specified in the national security policy. And Europe understands that they have to take more of a responsibility for defending Europe. And I think President Trump is the greatest supporter of NATO.

He's helped to raise. This will be trillions of dollars at the end of the day that he has raised for NATO's defense of Europe.

So, lastly, real quick. How much does Europe's Economic slump has to do with their obsession with failed green technologies and an overreaction to global warming.

Well, you hit it right on the head, Brian. You should be ambassador over here coming up next, because you understand these issues. I say that as a compliment more than a lot of the folks in the media look at these issues. And Europe understands now that these policies have been failed. It's tough for them to swallow the pill and admit it, but they are working on changing some of these laws.

And the rise of political powers in all of these great countries are bringing new, fresh blood to the EU, which I think will be helpful to get a lot of these. They call it simplification, Brian. This is what we call deregulation. They have to get rid of a lot of these policies so that businesses can flourish again in Europe and so that Americans can come and do business as well. A lot of companies I know have pulled out of doing business in Europe because of regulation and compliance and the cost of ESG, you know about this policy, ESG, the environmental, social, government policy, and a lot of the woke policies, those have been.

Pretty much revoked, but there's still some lingering, and that drives business away from Europe. Yeah, absolutely. They got to go back to nuclear overreaction of what happened in Japan. Ambassador, stay safe. We're lucky to have you over there, Ambassador Bill White.

He's now with Belgium, but he's very much a foot in America. Ambassador, thanks so much. Have a great weekend. Brian, thanks so much. Happy New Year.

And you please come visit. We'd love to do the show here local and live from Bastonia with our veterans next year. Oh, that would be great. Thanks so much, Ambassador. I appreciate it.

All right, when we come back, we'll take a short time out and come back and I'll update you on what else has been happening around the country and around the globe. You'll listen to Brian Kilmeet Show. It's Brian Killmeade. This is Ainslie Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52-episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus.

A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmeade. I love President Trump's attitude about the economy, but people are concerned about it.

And so rather than saying, you're wrong, and the Democrats have done a nice job and we need to correct ourselves pretty quickly, we have to say, you're right. The affordability is an issue and here are the things we're going to do about it and here are the things that you can do about it.

So saying that it doesn't seem right is, I think, probably the thing that's causing Americans to be most frustrated. Right.

So I think that Marcus Limonis, as you know, from The Prophet, and he now has a series on Fox, which the network as well as here. He is a self-made multi-millionaire. He does Camper's World, got so many businesses across the country. He just bought Bed Bath and Beyond.

So he's in the real economy.

So when you talk about tariffs and impact, you don't have to tell him, give me the charts. He said, Well, I'll tell you exactly what's going on, where my profit margin is.

So, I love that the president marched back, he pushed back on tariffs. It doesn't mean tariffs. In my view, are failing. You know what it means? It means what the goal is to bring manufacturing back here, like for example, furniture, kitchen cabinets, vanities, and things like that.

But until that happens, we have to bring it in from outside.

So we bring it in from outside, tariffs hit, and then you go to the store to buy them or you order them on Amazon or whatever you do. Go to Home Depot, let's say, and you go, whoa, whoa, what's going on, Pray? Hey, don't blame Home Depot. That's the tariffs. Why?

Because it's not able to bring manufacturing back by snapping your fingers. Where autos, they really do do it. They can do it relatively quickly, relatively quickly. When it comes to fruit and things to that nature and coffee, we don't make a lot of coffee here. But now that they know the tariffs are coming, there now will be a profitable business in a year.

The whole thing, for example, with marijuana. I'm not for it, nor will I ever be for it. Maybe I'm the last one. But now that they know that marijuana is going to be legal here and they think it's changing a different schedule now, then people say, the money's not there yet, but it's about to be.

So what the President did is a one year delay on planned tariff increases on upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, keeping rates at about 25% while officials continue negotiating with trade partners. You know what I also think that happened? I think the USMCA is going to be redone, and I imagine if we put egos aside, we'll get a deal done with India. That will certainly help, in my view.

So we'll see. When we come back, I'm going to be joined by Cliff May. I'm going to talk about some of the challenges. Uh, some of the challenges in Iran, which is with the six days of unrest, which China did around Taiwan, and we're going to talk about Venezuela, and believe it or not. The latest on Ukraine and Russia.

The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Killmead. We are back. In about 15 minutes, I'll be able to take some calls, whatever's on your mind. I want to see what you expect on the economy. I gave you the numbers, but I want to know how you feel and what you predict for this year, and we'll get to that.

But there are so much, so many critical things going on around the globe. I mean, you could always dig stuff out and say this is critical, but you don't have to read Foreign Policy Magazine to see it. I mean, just walk by the headlines anywhere. See what happened in Taiwan with we pledge $11 billion and China basically has war exercises over that island and pledges to take it in 27. Then in Venezuela, Maduro does what I think is car karaoke, carpool karaoke in a car, does an interview where he says America could have what they want.

If they want oil, if they want to stop the drug problem, I want to work with you, you want political prisoners out, you can do it. And then we see Russia and Ukraine. We see a delegate from the Russian side and the Ukrainian President come in as well as the Prime Minister of Israel over in Mari Lago. Please don't tell me that this President is losing steam. Not going to work.

Let's bring in Cliff Bay, founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Cliff, thanks so much for joining us. First off, when it comes to Iran, six straight days of protest, we've seen this movie before. I give these people so much credit because they don't have guns, they don't have weapons, but they have numbers now. Is this going to be different this time than the last times when the Iranian regime just cracks down?

All those are good points, Brian. Look, when we saw this in 1979, and I was there as a young reporter in 1979, the Shah was not going to kill like 10,000 of his people in order to stay in power.

Now, the present regime in Iran, will they kill 10,000 people to stay in power? I think that's perfectly conceivable that they might. The numbers of people in the streets are huge and it's mounting. At some point, if this is to succeed, I think. What you have to have are some of those who have the guns, the military, the IRGC, which is separate from the military, the besiege, kind of like brown shirts.

They have to do two things, which they've started to do the first. One is say, we're not going to fire on our brothers. We're not going to do it. Two, they have to say, we're going to support our brothers. In other words, they have to switch sides and stand with the people.

If they don't, Look, usually those with the guns are the ones who end up in power. Tell me if this is different. They're running out of water. When it comes to inflation, $1 equals 1.4 million rials.

So inflation is through the roof. I mean, it's up 46%.

So now they find out that one to two billion dollars is going to Hezbollah since the ceasefire, and what is it, 25 million to 50 million going to Hamas since the fighting stopped there? I mean all this stuff Adds up to maybe putting this the whole population over the top. The population is over the top, very likely for good reason. They have been ruled since 1979 by Islamists who are incompetent, who are oppressive, who have made the country poorer and less free. That's not what they hoped for back in 1979.

Again, I remember they hoped for a free country back then. It didn't happen.

So that's very important. But again, Brian, I would just say. Guns are Consequential. True.

So the President put out in Truth Social: if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. Wow. We're locked and loaded, ready to go. Ali Larajani, the former Parliament Speaker, said this: Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. and the domestic problem correspondence to chaos.

corresponds to chaos in the entire region. And the destruction of the U.S. interests. Largiani wrote that on X. He said the people of the United States should know that Trump began the adventurism, they should take care of their own soldiers.

Trump didn't begin the adventurism, and we now know that those people, Laranjani, or frankly people like Tucker Carlson, who said, if we do anything to the Iranians, it's going to mean a world war. No, it didn't. What happened was a 12-day war. Israel, for 11 days, fought it successfully, cleared the way for B-2 bombers. Fordo was taken out.

Nuclear weapons facilities were set back, if not obliterated. All that worked out very well. Could you have something like that again? You bet you could. Israeli intelligence in Iran is very good.

If you wanted to destroy this leadership, I think it's actually very possible to do.

Now, what President Trump will do, I don't know. No president has ever been on the side of the Iranian people during protests before, like President Trump is now. You remember in 2009, during the Green Movement, Obama did nothing. The people in the streets were yelling, Obama, are you with us or with the dictators? And he said nothing because he was with the dictators because he wanted his Iran deal.

Remember that, the JCPO. Away.

So, who knows what this unpredictable president will do, but he has a lot of cards he could play.

So, I asked that to General Jack Keen on Fox and Friends, and a few hours ago, here's what he said: cut 17. The backdrop for this is when the Twelve Day War ended, And the Iranians were really shook by that, particularly by the fact that the first shots that were fired killed all their senior military generals. I'm not talking about some of them, I'm talking about all of them. As we know, the senior nuclear scientists as well. They did not kill any of the civilian leaders.

Let's make the assumption they knew where the civilian leaders were as well as they knew where the military leaders were. That rocked this regime. After the war ended, and they were weakened militarily for sure, and certainly more economically, they knew full well they were weakened politically inside of Iran as well as outside of Iran. And what did they do? They arrested 21,000 Iranians on the desperate hope that they were trying to put away in jail the informants.

I think they were also trying to intimidate the population. And they feared reprisals because they're so weakened. Your thought. Jack is exactly right as he usually is. He's saying what I'm saying, that Trump has these cards to play.

He has the Israelis he can utilize who have a lot of knowledge and a lot of abilities as well. What Jack is saying is right. He's saying it better than I did. And he's extending it further. This regime has to know that it's in danger if Trump decides he's not going to let them kill protesters.

About four protesters have probably been killed by now. I think that's the best estimate I've seen. And a 37-year-old last night, and they arrested two dozen women who are standing up for having some type of semblance of life. The thing about the Iranian population, I understand, is they're so well educated. This is a well-educated population, and they know what their life could be.

They know what it should be. And can I just bring you back to 79 for a second? Yeah, sure. Is it true? That they thought the Ayatollah Khomeini was going to be a moderate leader and bring freedom?

Was he really mischaracterized that thoroughly? Brian, he was mischaracterized that thoroughly, not only in Iran, but in the New York Times. He was mischaracterized by American diplomats. I can show you things that Andrew Young said. I can show you things that others said.

They all thought that he was going to be a spiritual leader who would retire to the holy city of Chom and provide guidance. I remember there were people in the Communist Party. There were liberals and Social Democrats, some of which had gone to the University of Texas at Austin, who said, You don't understand, Cliff. He values all of us. He values the students, the Bazaris, the secularists, all of us.

This is a revolution for all of us. He turned on them and killed thousands afterwards. All that happened after the revolution in the months that came, women were had to cover up in chadors. I remember going skiing outside Tehran and seeing women skiing in shadors. And people got frustrated.

And that's why, in the fall, the American embassy was taken. The idea was to revive. The spirit of the revolution, which was in a malaise at that point. But yes, everybody thought that way, and the American press thought that way too. Yeah, and by the way, France, where Khomeini was, and then he was allowed to come back, they said positive things about him.

Though he was going to be a great guy, a great leader, right? 100%. That's 100%. They thought they'd have great relations with him. They had treated him so well when he was in France.

That's exactly how it was seen. Yes. And by the way, there was no need to think that because Khomeini had been writing exactly what he wanted to do for years. All you had to do was read what he had been writing. And a few people, Bernard Lewis, the great historian of Islam and the Middle East, he read it, but it appears our diplomats were not reading it.

So this is intriguing because I know you guys write about this all the time. Imagine if we had a leader get aggressive in this area and see what could happen. Understand that some people say, hey, we were burned in Iraq. We should keep our hands off everything, like some people you mentioned already. Let's talk about.

Venezuela, which must be really killing the podcasters, because the president said, I've had it with our hemisphere being infiltrated by China, Russia, Hezbollah, everybody, Iran. And he's taken action, steady action against Venezuela, turning the screws. It looks like Nicolas Maduro, who you got to picture this, he's in a car doing an interview. I think he's driving. And here's what he said through a translator: Cut 10.

Y el go bier estás unido lo sabe. The U.S. government knows, because we've told many of their spokespeople, that if they want to seriously discuss an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we're ready. If they want oil, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investment.

Like with Chevrolet, whenever they want it, wherever they want it, and however they want it. Read between the lines. Maduro is trying to preserve his position there, and he should understand the only thing he can do while he can do it is go shopping for a cul-de-sac on the block of Assad and Eric Snowden, go to Moscow, go to Turkey might be an option. What do you think is the likely scenario here?

Well, if the pressure keeps up, maybe Maduro does leave. He's being advised not to leave by the Cubans who are there, by the Iranians, by the Chinese, by the Russians. One of his generals, maybe the CIA has their cell phone number and is saying, look, Will be good with you if you want to take over. Do so. I don't know that Maduro has made up his mind what he's going to do.

He's an illegitimate leader. He lost an election. About 8 million of his people have had to flee the country, which is a burden elsewhere. And as you know, the national security strategy that Trump published last, I guess, in November, December came out, said very clearly: we're going to focus on Latin America in a way that we have not, that no administration has done in the past. And we're sick, as you said, of Chinese influence, Iranian influence, Hezbollah running Russia over the continent.

This is a priority for the president, and we'll see how hard he pushes. Maduro is trying to figure out: can I make a deal? This president likes to make deals. I'm not sure the president wants to make a deal. But, Cliff, the danger is.

is that if uh he withstands American pressure, he comes out stronger. And we are never going to dislodge him. I think if he look, if he withstands American pressure, I think he wins and President Trump loses. I don't think I can't see how to argue against that. And I don't think he wants to lose.

By the way, Russia is asking the U. S. to stop pursuing the third oil tanker. Uh because they they reflagged it. They might have reflagged it overnight.

Should we honor that request? I don't think so, no. And I think not only should we be putting pressure on Maduro, we should be putting pressure on Putin. Putin just lied to Trump's face. He said, you know, President Trump, Zelensky sent drones to try to kill me in my residence.

Not only is there no evidence that's the case, but the CIA has said it's not the case. Everybody has said that's not the case. Jack Keene's think tank has said, we've looked at it, it's not the case. This was a lie. It's one thing for Putin to tag the president along.

It's another thing to lie to his face. By the way, Putin has tried to assassinate Zelensky. Putin every day kills civilians on purpose. The Ukrainians do not kill civilians. They only target military, they use military targets thereafter.

They're trying to survive. And I think they deserve to survive.

So, China, over the last few days, In response to us selling $11 billion worth of military equipment, missile systems, naval platforms, radar upgrades, they have basically had severe war games over Taiwan.

So maybe like we not have seen before, they displayed the they also have been aggressively going back at Japan, who's got a new prime minister that's been aggressive with China, and we've shown support by s by for Japan by flying B two's over their country. Your thoughts about what China's up to? Because in the New Year's address, President Xi said by twenty seven, we're going to take Taiwan back. Yeah, we know exactly what Xi Jinping is up to because he's written what he's up to. He's said what he's up to in Mandarin, and that's been read and published by people like Matt Pottinger, who was the China specialist in the National Security Council under H.R.

McMaster. He's now affiliated with my think tank. First of all, he wants to swallow Taiwan, which is free, independent, prosperous, democratic. He can't stand any of that. After that, he wants to begin to intimidate Japan, the Philippines, become the hegemon of Asia.

But beyond that, he wants to displace America as the As the world's preeminent power, as the great global power. He wants a new international system where he makes the rules. in association with Putin and with Tehran and with North Korea, by the way, and lessers like Maduro. That's his goal. It's a grand ambition.

Does he do it while Trump's in office? That's a good question. I love that Trump's made this sale. $11 billion really got their attention. Yes.

What's the idea behind that?

Well, it's to make Taiwan into what's called an iron porcupine, very hard for a predator to swallow. Although there are other ways China can do it. And we've seen that in this testing phase. Blockades keep energy supplies out of the country. Cyber warfare, all kinds of other things.

But when you talk, you mentioned 2027.

Well, you know, President Trump is still in office.

Now, there's a possibility that he could say, okay, I'm young enough, I'm healthy enough, I'll wait till President Trump's out of office. Similarly, Putin could say, I'll take a deal that allows me to jab real hard and I'll wait against Ukraine. I'll wait for the right hook after Trump's out of office. All these guys are thinking about that. They all want to challenge American power, American greatness, American primacy.

All right, Cliff, we covered the world. I don't know if we can solve all the problems, but at least we can present them. Any other options? Cliff May, thanks so much. much.

Great to be with you, Brian. Thanks. Great. And man, we have a lot of challenges straight ahead, but all of them coming up now. It doesn't look like they can be avoided.

All of them need to be addressed, and the President knows it. Back in a moment. Don't go anywhere. Brian, Kill Mead. We'll be right back.

If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. All right, we are back, everybody. Just a quick note. We know about what happened yesterday as Ole Miss comes back and beats Georgia again in the last minute.

They came back, I think they were thrown by two touchdowns at one point. But here's the crazy thing: you know, Lane Kiffin, you don't have to be the biggest sports fan in all the stories. He leads Lane Kiffin, comes back. At one point, he was like a 34-year-old Raider coach. He's a really good coach, coaching Ole Miss, brings him to the playoffs.

They become a national figure. They're now in the semifinals. Do you know that he left? Ole Miss to take an LSU job.

Now, he would crush LSU this year, but long-term is considered one of the better jobs because you're going to get full support, but all the pressure. Do you know they structured Lane Kiffin's contract that he receives wins? He receives money for every win that Ole Miss has.

Now, he offered to coach through the playoffs, but they go, Why would I let you coach through the playoffs? You already decided that you're going to leave for LSU. You're not going to recruit players off the Ole Miss roster and bring them to LSU for more money.

So he's getting money for playoff wins. For example, when Ole Miss won in the first round, he got $150,000. By winning last night against Georgia, another $250,000 that they advanced in quarterfinals, I should say. If they advanced in semifinals, another $500,000, then $750,000 they win. This guy could get, I mean, I've never seen somebody so lucky for doing something I think.

I think it shows a total lack of ethics. You could never ever criticize a player for doing what they're doing. Would you have a hot coach like Lane Kiffen leave what he did? They should easily make this rule in football. You cannot entertain any offers in season, just like the NFL.

Coaches need special permission to intervene for head coaching jobs if your team's in the playoffs are during the season. They should have the same policy when it comes to that. And don't expect players to have loyalty if coaches don't. They should sit out a year.

So glad you're there. Hi, everybody, from 48th and 6th in Midtown, Manhattan. We're back with a live show.

So glad you hear so much going on around the country, around the world. And of course, wherever Donald Trump is, which right now is Florida. Nicole Parker coming up at the bottom of the hour, the best-selling author of the two FBIs, former FBI agent. I want to talk to her not just about Minnesota and the corruption there. I get it.

It's so much worse than anyone thought. And I all saw the reporting and what went out in the 42-minute video and how it's gotten. I mean, millions of views right now, and it has changed the conversation in that liberal city. But I think it's bigger than that. And I'm going to talk to Nicole Parker about what they say is going on in Maine, Washington State, and especially California.

And we'll talk to her at the bottom of the hour. Other surprise guests. But let's get to the big three. Number three. We will draw this city closer together.

We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. Really? You want to turn my stomach? Say something like that. The socialists are in power in New York City.

Mandame takes over. Bernie Sanders' mentee has gained power, and he's a bullion. I'm not. Are you? Number two.

I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it. I don't believe he's going to be doing it. Nothing worries me.

Well, I'm a little worried. Enemies line up. China harasses Taiwan and protests in Iran, now in its seventh day. And the President of the United States says to the Iranian government, hands off your people. How should we really respond?

Number one. And I love President Trump's attitude about the economy, but people are concerned about it. And so rather than saying, you're wrong, we have to say, you're right. The affordability is an issue, and here are the things we're going to do about it. And that's Marcus Limonis weighing in, a true expert who owns Bed Bath and Beyond, as well as the Campers World he founded.

Ready to go in 26. The Trump team primes the economic pump for the new year. Tariff relief, tax refunds are going to be big. Healthcare needs to be addressed. What do you expect to get done and what not to get done?

So I want to talk about first the economy, what the president's done. You might have missed it, and I think people are misinterpreting it. First off, when it comes to the ACA subsidies, put in place in 2021 during the pandemic, supposed to expire in 2025 to fuel Obamacare. Like it or not, Republicans have no blame on Obamacare, no credit, no blame.

Now it's. It's a mess. And guess what? Democrats are saying, well, you should provide subsidies. Really?

So it's like saying, I want to take out a loan to pay the overdraft of my checking account. That you're the one who put me into debt and overdrafted my checking account.

Now you're mad that I'm not writing signing off, co-signing a loan for your overdraft of your checking account. Republicans are guilty of one thing. They didn't come up with another alternative to Obamacare. Why? Because now about 51% of the people prior to this last crisis, they said they were for it.

Okay? Republicans say, okay, we're just going to touch it. We tried to repeal it dozens of times, didn't work. We're not going to touch it. Trump said we're not going to do it.

And then, four years not in power, and no one tried to reform it. They just threw more money at it.

Now that that money is expired by a law passed during Joe Biden's presidency, which I'm sure he doesn't remember any of it, now that the subsidies are gone, prices go up about 114% for about 4 million people. Significant. I'm not saying it's not significant, but you should know you're the one who is to blame for the health care program, the fact that none of this has worked out, like President Obama said he should be embarrassed. But now people are saying, I don't care whose fault it is, I can't afford my health care. Even though the health care you had had a six thousand dollar deductible, that means you break a foot, you turn an ankle, you have an accident, anything minor, you're not you're paying out of your pocket anyway.

You have catastrophic insurance.

So now a Senate bipartisan committee is coming together. Susan Collins, Bernie Moreno, Jean Shaheen convened a bipartisan group of about nine senators by phone on Tuesday. They plan to meet again next week. I know Brian Fitzpatrick got together with Josh Grottheimer of New Jersey. They think this should be extended one year outwards time.

They got to come up in this next year with another plan that's going to be working. If you want to call it Obamacare, call it Obamacare. But the principles of it. Whatever you thought, sincere or insincere, was it really in a hope to have universal health care and this is the way to do it? Or did you really think there was going to be a bidding process within these states among health insurance companies and that would force prices down as people went shopping?

You know what happened? People have nowhere to shop because all the health care companies are losing so much money they didn't want to stay in it. And what Republicans have to wrestle with is a guy like Chip Roy, who I respect. He's very conservative from a conservative district. He says it's time for Republicans to aim for a major health care overhaul.

Fine. Mike Lawler in a Battleground State, a district that Kamala Harris won. Said he thinks that it's a political disaster not to continue the subsidies. He says People should not have flown out before New Year, before Christmas, without doing that. Because he gets in trouble for it.

Republicans could get blamed, but they did not do a good job explaining whose program that needs emergency funding. GDP is at four point three percent. It was supposed to be three point two percent. Inflation was predicted to be three point one percent. It's two point seven percent.

This is good news. But what Marcus Limonis was saying is that don't tell people things are better than they are. That's what Joe Biden did. Cut one. And I love President Trump's attitude about the economy, but people are concerned about it.

And so rather than saying, you're wrong, and the Democrats have done a nice job and we need to correct ourselves pretty quickly, we have to say, you're right. The affordability is an issue and here are the things we're going to do about it and here are the things that you can do about it.

So saying that, you know, it doesn't seem right is, I think, probably the thing that's causing Americans to be most frustrated.

So The other thing the president did said, all right. I hear you. You want cost of living down.

So, you're going to, for example, Scott Besson came out and said you're going to get huge refunds on your taxes. You're going to have more in your paycheck. It's part of the big, beautiful bill that they put out there. Standard deduction increases for 26, single to married, filing separately, $16,000 and up from $15,570.

So you're going to be filing separately, so you're going to be making about another, you have another $1,000. Married filing jointly, $32,200 is going to be your new refund, up from $31,500.

So factors expected to affect the twenty six economy, the Trump tax cuts, less certainty around tariffs, uncertainty around tariffs, ongoing AI boom, the interest rate reductions, which are expected as we get a new Fed, even if they don't come through even if they don't come through in January. But what I want to bring back to is something that we found out this morning. The President of the United States, when it comes to tariffs, says I'm going to give you some relief for about a year. They have delayed planned tariff increases on upholstered furniture, Kitchen cabinets, vanities, keeping rates are 25%. They're going to continue to negotiate with Mexico and continue to negotiate with Canada, and I think India.

Pretty sure.

So we'll see where that goes.

So these are things it's not saying that Tariffs aren't working. What he's trying to say is, look. I said I want tariffs to bring furniture making back, to bring clothing manufacturing back. To bring back steel where we have the infrastructure for. Got it.

Just need the contracts and maybe some expansion, modernization. But he's saying it's not here yet.

So as we effort, I'm going to tell you it's on the horizon.

So there now makes financial sense to bring back the manufacturing here and skilled workers here and the training here. But in the meantime, I don't want you paying more. Here's what Robert Costa said on Face the Nation about the economy and the polling. This has got to concern people like James Blair, the deputy chief of staff. Cut six.

Democrats are looking at those numbers, and that's why they're making their whole argument to the country affordability. They see real vulnerability for this administration on the economy, but inside the White House, I would say the phrase is not affordability, it's self-confidence. This president behind the scenes is telling his advisors to stay steady, to not have alarm. There is frustration about press coverage. There's frustration about how Republicans in Congress seem to be so worried ahead of the midterm, some heading for the exits with retirement.

The president, again and again in private conversations with his top officials, is insistent that the trade policy is working.

So, President also is making other moves. President adjusted imports of timber. Lumber and their derivative products. He said, quote, the United States continues to engage in productive negotiations with trade partners. The United States will therefore delay the increase in tariff rates for upholstered furniture and things to that nature.

I think we should do The USMCA. Just updated. It's supposed to be updated. Evidently. People who are experts in this field said the USMCA was working good, needs to be modernized, changed, fiddled with.

It was supposed to evaporate in five years. This is the fifth year.

So that would bring certainty. And then India is the other one. India, unlike China, China can't get any of their people to buy anything.

So they have to export and make their money. In India, they are buying local. They are staying with India products. Modi's done as effective a job, if I'm to believe the numbers, in getting the Indian population to buy India products and kind of rally against America and this trade deal.

So, to me, it's a relationship that has good foundation, a bit of a fracture. I love for the president directly to get involved, and they start doing that, the market's going to respond effectively. That's what I think. Here's more from Alex Swoyer on the Sunday briefing. He's with the Washington Times Editor at Large.

Cut five.

So what can they do to help that kind of narrative, the affordability? They need to be specific. They really should do something with health care. That's been some pressure. People within the own party are like, what have we done?

With 38 bills, we should have addressed health care. Housing is a big issue. I think they need to get specific. We talk about tariffs. I think President Trump's idea of tariff checks might help boost their chances in the midterm.

I'm not sure what it would do long term for the economy, but it might help them politically. I did think I've talked to two people in the military over the weekend and they said The $1,776 really helpful because they're not making a ton of money, but some stuff is paid for, including the great health care. But if you'd give someone an extra $1,776 in their paycheck in January, coming off what likely could be credit card bills, that's a huge thumbs up from the military.

So when we come back, I'll take your calls for the first time: 1-866-408-7669. Brian Kill Me Cho, bottom of the hour. We go inside the scandal. In Minnea Minneapolis. It's going to spread to Maine, Washington State, and California when it comes to these social programs.

And when we come back, with the Washington Post put in their editorial section, not Mark Thiessen's editorial, a conservative, but the Washington Post editorial board. You'll be surprised. I was. From breaking news to big name guests, Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to the Brian Kill Meat Show.

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If you have a Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. The Taiwan issue is interesting because, yes, I mean, the President said some nice things about Chairman Xi there, but what has he done recently? He sold a massive arms package to Taiwan.

Now, nobody thinks Taiwan's going to invade China. It's the reverse.

So these are all defensive weapons. This is no threat to China, but they're reacting hysterically to it with these live-fire drills.

So I think the President knows exactly what he's doing there.

So what it what I love So the President of the United States got this tactic, and I hope people are beginning to get it.

So When he was in Russia, you're too tight with Vladimir Putin. The president's too tight with Vladimir Putin. But if you look at the president's actions, He is aggressive, defensive, aware. Cautiously, I think it's a very good thing When his first term, if you think about everything that he did, for another, he got at that Missile Treaty that the Russians were treating on. Number two, he upped the sanctions on Russia since this whole war started.

It was Barack Obama who pulled the missile shield coming into office out in 2009. And it was Barack Obama that did nothing with Georgia. What he this President did, he walked into office the first term and said, what's going on here? Ukraine is this this whole fighting is continuing in the Donbas region and Crimea basically has just been given away, even though Obama said, You're going to have to eventually give it up. He never did anything about it.

So he gave him javelins. And then he put Western, then he put USP guys on the ground and NATO people on the ground to train the Ukrainian army in Western ways.

So when the invasion happened years later, when he wasn't in office, they had a foundation there. And it was Joe Biden who said, well, they're going to lose in 48 hours. Do you want to ride out? He goes, I don't want to ride. I want weapons, Veselensky famously said back.

Now the President is putting the hammer down. On Russia in our hemisphere. He's putting the hammer down on Russia by giving those Himars and Atakums, continue with the High Mars and Atakums, as well as the Patriots, gave them all to Ukraine.

Now they're paying for through NATO, understood. Working out deals when it comes to rare earth, working out deals when it comes to drones with Ukraine. forcing NATO to bulk up.

Well, he talks down NATO. No, no. He's got a method. What he says is, guys, I'm not going to watch your back anymore. You gotta learn to protect yourselves while he's leaving NATO.

No. He's trying to get Germany. to actually understand that we trust you enough to build up your military.

So instead of 1.4% GDP, they are now saying we can't count on America anymore. And Chancellor Murs is now training his people. And you know who did this? Watch 60 Minutes. They don't credit Trump, of course.

But what he did with China is so emblematic of the president's ways. He doesn't say, He came in hard with China and said, Here's eufentinyl is coming in, and here are the tariffs, and we're going to up tariffs on you, and you're going to go back and forth. Then they walk it back, and now they're in trade negotiations.

Now, while. He continues to praise President Xi and accept his invitation to go over there. He sent $11 billion, more than anybody else's worth of equipment and deals, are heading over to Taiwan.

Now with Japan, he's friends with the really respectful, the new conservative leader of Japan, who said, I don't, Japan came out and they were critical of China. And they said, what are you doing around Taiwan? We're really concerned about what you're doing in the Taiwan Strait. China says, how dare you speak out like that? And they'll start sending and doing some military exercises and trying to send some brushback pitches to Japan.

And Japan kept up the rhetoric.

So China calls up the U.S. and says, you better, can you rein in your ally? But at the same time, we make some statements. Let's guys, let's be cooler heads prevail here. At the same time, we send B two bombers through and across the whole Japanese coast.

Don't have to trumpet and say, hey, China, this is in your face, because they got this pride issue and this inferiority complex that they've had since the opium wars. And maybe since the West even went over there and took advantage of Chinese society, whatever. But the president doesn't go out there. Yeah, with Greenland. He has a different approach.

When it comes to Iran, a different approach. When it comes to the big powers, act, go ahead and show through demonstration the toughness, but through the rhetoric, he doesn't go aggressive. I absolutely love it.

Now, we have to be prepared tactically. In order to fend off Taiwan being invaded.

Now, you might be thinking, what do we care? You know, Taiwan, historically there is no Link between the island of Formosa and China. No link. It was Shang Kai-shek who was in power right after World War II, who lost power and fled to what was Formosa, now they've nicknicked him Taiwan. But that's it.

Yeah, those people that now are in charge used to be in China, but the land itself was never China.

So we have to be ready to defend that island, and if you don't think it is important. Understand too. That they are our number one and one of the world's number one supplier of chips that run everything from our military to our iPhones to our satellites. We can't let that go and let China control 99% of it. It's not in our national interest.

Number two, a democracy in that area, an island of stability. If they were able to use that as a launching site and a staging area, we might as well give up the entire Pacific. It's within our interest.

Now, you wouldn't think that and listen to a lot of the podcasters. but it's in our interest. We can't just worry about Fortress America. It's not the George Washington era anymore. Yeah.

And most of the people that we were worried about are now our allies. We're going to unwind some of the corruption in Minneapolis and more with Nicole Parker next. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. A lot of the journalism that's been going on the last couple of days has been really dishonest.

I don't want to point fingers at anybody, but I do feel like what was done was someone came to our building outside of operating hours. There's a specific sign on our door that says our days and our hours. He came outside of those hours and then claimed, hey, they're closed and they're still making money. They're using taxpayer money to work. And it's like you don't come outside of outside, outside of operational hours, and then say they're using taxpayer money.

That was completely false. Yeah, it's not completely false. Nice try. They also staged a break-in, in my view, my word. They staged a break-in when they had to turn over records on the daycare, who came in, who came out, how long, who's getting paid.

Suddenly, there was a break-in the night before, and they showed a door being... Broken down and all the records stolen. Does anyone believe that? A person that got trained to be skeptical, former FBI agent, the author of The Two FBI's. Nicole Parker, Fox News contributor Nicole Parker, joins us now.

Nicole, as you watched Nick Shirley put out his forty two minute tape of going through these daycare and health care centers, uh 42 minute tape showing what what you saw And then you see the denials, the walk backs, and the blaming Trump. As an investigator, what are your thoughts? Deflection doesn't work. It just does not work. The truth shall always make you free.

And you know what? The truth can also make you not free and put you into prison. And let's just see what happens. Let's let. Nick Shirley, who opened up Pandora's box for these individuals.

And drew attention to it. Rightfully so. He has every right to do that. And let's put this into the hands of the investigators, the FBI, HSI and trained investigators who have the legal power to do subpoenas, search warrants, gather records, let them do full Investigations with the OJ and let's see where the chips fall. Because we all know that you're innocent until you're proven guilty in the court of law.

But it's amazing to me, Brian, how this is Trump's fault. This is Trump's long game, according to Governor Tim Hall. This is what he always had planned. You know, Tim, it's actually not Trump's fault that your state is being accused of bilking up to a billion dollars. And again, I think it's important for Americans to realize that when the FBI or a law enforcement agency gets a case, do you know how it typically starts?

Well, the way that it's supposed to start, not under the last administration, those were all predominantly political investigations, frankly. But typically how it works is that there's a tip line. And that normal American citizens or individuals in society can see something and say something, and they contact the FBI or someone in law enforcement, someone at DOJ. They get the information, they provide it to law enforcement, and then they run through, law enforcement takes over, and they do a full force investigation. And that's exactly what happened here.

Someone obviously spoke to Nick, and he's been working with his cohort, David, amazing individuals.

Someone saw something that didn't seem right. They reported it to someone. And that's how we got to this point. And that's exactly how investigations begin.

So for them to think, why are they picking on us? Why are they picking on the Somali community? How did this even happen? Why are we being targeted? They think they're never going to get caught.

And that's how fraudsters live and operate. They take the chance that they will never ever get caught because frankly, there's a lot of fraud going on in our nation right now, and many times people don't get caught. But you know what? When you have nothing to hide, Brian. I would say, come on in, go and do a full investigation, and I will be free because the truth will make me free.

But when you know that you're doing the wrong thing, that you are bilking money, that you are stealing from the taxpayers, Then people start to panic. And all of a sudden, there's a break-in, and they stole important documents, allegedly.

So let's just let the investigation work itself out. But this is not going away. And frankly, this is just the tip of the iceberg, in my opinion.

So you write too. And the thing is, it's so much bigger than Minneapolis because we even have the editorial section of the Washington Post. Calling on Donald Trump. Saying this, there's waste when it comes to food stamps and the SNAP program. Quote: As the American welfare system has ballooned to more than 80 major federal programs, they've become a target-rich environment for alleged scam artists like those in Minneapolis.

Waltz's boondoggle underlines the need for serious reforms across America. Too bad that too many progressive leaders are lackadaisical at best about cracking down on fraud and errors. lest it curtail social services. I expect that from the Washington Free Beacon or from Fox News, but I didn't expect it from the Washington Post. Might it show that the wind might be at the back of investigators?

Right, and I commend that because, again, I don't care what your news network is, you should be speaking the truth and you should be addressing real issues. And I do agree with you that this is just the tip of the iceberg. And just looking at the child care systems in Minnesota, this is just the beginning. Looking at it from the state level, this is just the beginning. I can tell you that I knew agents that were working out of the Columbus office for the FBI, and they were seeing Somali fraud in Columbus, Ohio, and the same issue is going on in Washington.

And it's going on probably in every state. And it's not just child care issues. I worked in FBI Miami. We were number one in the country, sadly, for health care fraud. We had three squads that were dedicated just to working health care fraud in FBI Miami.

And securities fraud, number one in the country in Miami. I mean, the fraud is everywhere. But, Brian, this is why it's so important for the FBI to get back to doing real work and real investigations. Because if you think about it, for the last four years, the number one priority. And they are very proud to say that DOJ under Merrick Garland was proud to say that the number one effort in the largest investigation in DOJ history was January 6th.

And so when you're going after political opponents and focus on going after conservatives, things of that sort, rather than focusing on real crimes, That's how this happens. And when you're hiring the wrong types of agents who are not interested in working these complex financial crimes. I'll tell you right now, people are complaining and saying, you know, where is Pam Bondi? What is she doing? Why aren't these people in handcuffs?

I think it's important to note that they have already arrested 92 individuals. Um in in Minnesota, 80 of them are Somalis. But Pam Bondi and Cash Patel, they walked into an absolute firestorm.

Okay, they've only been in office for less than a year. These investigations take time and it takes patience. And having work-complex white-collar crime investigations, you've got to put records, you've got to schedule them, your forensic accountants. It is a long, laborious process to get it done right. But I'm so grateful that attention is being drawn to this, and it puts everyone on alert across the country.

If you're doing fraud, You better watch out because this administration, they're going to be all over it.

So people want to say it's racism because you're targeting the Somali community, excuse me. They also have a Somali community that is under scrutiny right now in Maine, in Washington State, and in California. It's not all. But you write that Columbus, Ohio is the number two office for fraud in the country. And this fraud is also very heavy in Washington State, as I mentioned.

So this investigation's got to be widespread. I got it. But here's what worries me as a non-investigator, speed. We already saw, well, we have no records. We were broken into last night.

Oh, you came in the wrong hours. We have kids there from 12 to 6. Are you worried about... Because we're not moving at the speed that Nick Shirley was moving at when he kind of surprised them, that there's going to be a lot of covering of tracks?

Well, let me tell you first, there's a lot more going on behind the scenes than it has been going on behind the scenes. It's just that the FBI and DOJ don't talk about their investigations openly when they're ongoing. I mean, they're working thousands of investigations behind the scenes. Yes, of course, speed is always important, and that's why you always want to obtain evidence as quickly as possible to avoid destruction of evidence. But at the same time, I am not worried about that because these individuals, you cannot hide when you've been feeling that much money.

The bank records do not lie. And that's one thing that I always learn. Follow the money. The bank records do not lie. You can run, but you cannot hide.

And the truth will come out. I think the most important part is that they're focusing efforts on this. And I know that Cash Catel has been sending tons of rate sources right now to Minnesota, but this is going to have to happen nationwide. This Somali network, Brian, it's a network nationwide. These individuals, it's a tight-knit community.

They're not just compartmentalized in different states. There's a full network, I'm sure, going. On behind the scenes across different states. I'm sure a lot of these people know each other. They probably talk to each other.

How did you do it for your state?

Okay, well, this is what's worked for us, and we haven't been caught. But again, Tips matter and when you see something, say something because that's how all of this likely began and good for Nick Shirley to be an independent journalist and to draw this much attention to it. We'll take all the help we can get. The FBI and DOJ, HSI, they'll take as much help as they can get from really honest Americans who want to do the right thing. Congressman Mike Plolos is with in Florida, and he said, This is how he thinks we should handle it, CUD 31.

Well, as a son of an FBI agent, this is nothing short of organized crime. This is what the mafia does. They steal, they lie, they cheat. And what's happened here is nothing short of that. And the federal government has to use the full powers that we used to destroy the mafia back in the 1960s.

Nothing short of it. This undercuts the fabric of America. People work hard to pay their taxes, and they see the dollars thrown away in an organized crime method. Is it like the mob? That's exactly what I was just trying to explain.

I believe it's very highly organized, very orchestrated behind the scenes, and I do believe that it's a form of the mob. And again, it's not the Somalis that are doing this. You're gonna see that there's other groups and ethnicities that come from different places and they formulate these networks. And that's how they're going to approach this. And it will be approached very aggressively.

But again, it's so important that you have the FBI agents who have the intellect and the background to work these complex crimes. Because a lot of people and even prosecutors. You know, they go for the low-hanging fruit. That's why they did the January 6th misdemeanors because you know how easy it was to get a statistic of accomplishment for a January 6th misdemeanor? You could do that overnight.

That's not a real investigation. These actually require a lot of background work. And so it takes time. But I agree with that assessment that he just stated. I do believe it is organized crime that's happening and it's.

Again, not just child health care, it's not just in Minnesota, it's across the nation. But I'm just, I appreciate what is going on right now because these individuals thought that they would never get caught. And they roll the dice when they do this. Think of how many years this has been going on. And I want to see if it goes back to Longar.

I want to see if it goes back to Elon Omar. I mean, she's at the restaurant where all those thousands of meals were charged, where they only have 30 tables in this restaurant, and they evidently charge for 18,000 meals. She's having her fundraisers there. I'm wondering how much direct link she could have. You say that Nick Shirley, as much as you salute what he did, he says that that's not going to hold up in court.

That's not the type of thing that holds up in court. In what respect? Can you break that down for us? Because you actually have to have hardcore evidence. You can't just have, you know, oh, I went in with an iPhone and I took some video.

Yeah, I mean, that's interesting and that can be used to corroborate facts, but you've got to have facts that are legally obtained that can stand up in the court of law.

So, for instance, bank records that are through a, you know, a federal grand jury subpoena. That's the type of thing that's going to stand up in the court of law. You have to have evidence that's permissible in court. And again, there are always witnesses. You can have witnesses across the board from all different various backgrounds.

I think Nick Shirley absolutely could come in and be brought in as a potential witness to be interviewed and utilize his information and what his videos do is they actually provide Where the FBI, okay, you know what? You discovered this.

Now let the FBI go in, and we're going to do the actual. Investigation legally and gather all the legal evidence that we have to have. But they'll take all the tips that they can get. And what he's done is absolutely phenomenal, but it is a huge task and it is daunting because think about it. The FBI has only about 13,000 agents worldwide.

Okay. And if you look at all of the fraud that's happening, it's pretty rampant across the country. Frankly, sometimes I would see things and I was surprised at how well our country did function knowing what you know.

Sometimes it's better to not know what you know. But going back to Ilhan Omar, They'll look into that. They're going to be looking at it from a complex white collar crime perspective as well as a public corruption. Those are in public office, abusing their power, doing the wrong thing. Those investigations take time.

Yeah, and lastly, you just say that the last few classes of FBI agents you say they are lazy and not that bright. Yeah. I mean, there's always good individuals everywhere, and there were some really amazing new agents that I worked with at the FBI. But I'll tell you, overall, the seasoned FBI agents were a bit concerned because of the lowering of the standards that appeared to be taking place across the board. And that's detrimental to the success of the agency.

And when you get agents in there who are not hired for the proper reasons, are hired to fill quotas, are not hired based on their credentials, and then you ask them, Hey, can you work this complex white-collar crime on this investigation in Minnesota? And they kind of look at you dumbfounded. That's a problem. And so the FBI historically had been known to hire individuals who were attorneys, military, law enforcement background, accountants, you know, financial backgrounds. And it kind of shifted quite drastically, Brian.

I was very shocked to see that they were interviewing people that had literally worked at Costco. And I have no problem with people that work at Costco. I think that's phenomenal and I honor hard work ethic. But The FBI had historically been hiring people that this was their second career.

Okay, they had already done something phenomenal, and this was their second career. It shifted drastically. They were hiring almost students who were almost straight out of college, who had no substantial work experience, and they were shifting what their priority was. Rather than a diversity of work backgrounds, it was more a diversity of ethnicities, races, and genders. And frankly, I don't think that's what's going to solve these investigations.

You need agents that work hard. You know, there were some agents that would come in and they would whine and cry, Oh, I want the new bureau car. Why do I get this old bureau car? Oh, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to work overtime.

Excuse me, when you're a new agent, you pay your dues. Like, that's what you do. Like, you get in there. What can I do? I'm here to help.

I'll help with anything that I need to do. You're pretty much working 24/7 as a new agent, and as a violent crime agent, that's the pace I was going my entire career. And so, that should be the expectation at the FEI. No more of this, oh, you know. You check a box to fill a quota, that's unacceptable.

And so I appreciate that Cash Patel is working. Feverishly to get the FBI back on track, raising those hiring standards so that you have agents that are capable of working these cases if they're important. Nicole, thanks so much. Nicole Parker, pick up her book, The Two FBIs. Thanks, Nicole.

My pleasure. God bless y'all. Have a great weekend. You got it. Nicole's going to be joining me Sunday night on One Nation, 10 p.m.

We're going to be live. Don't move. Real talk, real guests, real insight. Where curiosity meets conversation. It's the Brian Killmeat Show.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. I went to a lot of effort to get the cleanest copy of the laptop data, the same data that was provided to the FBI, because I didn't want to have any professional journalistic risk for CBS News. I wanted this thing to be totally locked down. When we did the story, we did it after the midterms.

I argued against that because it was ready before the midterms. And my training is that you should always do the story when it's ready to go. You should not be dictated by the political cycle. Once we got the laptop story on the morning news, I felt that. there was so much there that we could still do.

For example, in the text messages, there's unfortunately the use of the N-word, the liberal use of the N-word. And I thought this was worthy of a story, but I was told that it was not something that interested CBS News. Yeah, I wonder why. That was Catherine Herridge, formerly a Fox one at CBS, and they basically were spiking all her stories, including the Hunter Biden laptop story. And that's really why I think it's great that you have a total change in CBS.

And it's unbelievable the arrogance of the people that work there at 60 Minutes, Scott Pelly and company saying, how dare you not air a story? Or how dare you come in with your new philosophy? Or Connie Chung coming out and saying you've ruined CBS. Really? She's been there for about a couple of weeks taking over, trying to infringe some balance into CBS, and you have all hell breaking loose.

Catherine Herridge now on the outside, now reporting for X, telling the truth about how they spiked a story.

So don't tell me they're not a flagrant bias there. We'll see if anything changes. Tony DeCoppol, who I think works the same time as I do in the morning, now gets the evening show. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead.

Hi, everyone. Aaron from Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world. We're moving ahead for 2026. First live show back. Thanks so much for listening.

This hour will be joined by a Republican gubernatorial candidate over in California, Steve Hilton. And standing by is Congresswoman from upstate New York, Claudia Tenney. She's on Ways and Means Intelligence. We'll get to all that, but also about the intelligence of New York City for putting a socialist in charge. The new citizens, many of which showed up hoping to see a block party yesterday, but showed up and found out there was no tent, there was no music, there were no bathrooms, there was no food, there was no drinks.

That's not a block party. That is a get together in freezing in the winter, which usually doesn't happen.

So before we get to that, the content of the speeches, let's get to the big three. Number three. We will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. Really?

You mean individualism that fords the country? The socialists are in charge. In New York City, Mondami becomes Mayor Mandani, and Bernie Sanders has his first disciple with success. My prediction, pain for us. Number two.

I have a great relationship with President Xi, and he hasn't told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it. I don't believe he's going to be doing it. Nothing worries me.

Talking about invading Taiwan. Enemies line up. China harasses Taiwan and protests in Iran now in its sixth day. How should we respond? I'll tell you what President Trump has already done.

Number one. I love President Trump's attitude about the economy, but people are concerned about it. And so rather than saying, you're wrong, we have to say, you're right. The affordability is an issue, and here are the things we're going to do about it. And Marco Subonis knows because he owns Bed Bath and Beyond.

He owns Campers World. He's very much involved in the economy. Ready to go in 26. Trump team primes the economic pump for the new year. Tariff relief and tax refunds, along with an attempt to do something on health care, are on the agenda.

What do you expect to get done? I ask you that, and I'm going to ask Congresswoman Claudia Tene that. Congresswoman, welcome back. Great to be on. Thank you, Brian.

What a wonderful day. Yeah. First off, what do you expect to happen on healthcare? Yeah, look, this is a huge problem. Obviously, you know, the Affordable Care Act was passed 15 years ago on a lie.

The founder of it, the guy who is the architect, this Jonathan Gruber, famously said, you know, if it weren't for the stupidity of the American people and the lack of transparency, we never could have gotten this through. The CBO wouldn't have scored it in a way that would have been beneficial, and we couldn't have gotten the votes.

So guess what we have? We have a disaster created by the Democrats, and we continue to subsidize the failure of Obamacare. And that's what worries me as we go into. We have about 30 days, about 29 days left until this continuing resolution comes up. And I'm guaranteeing you that the Democrats are going to use this issue again to justify shutting down the government, using it as a hostage situation to make us give more money to insurance companies to continue to make the Affordable Care Act even more expensive for the small businesses that are the ones that are suffering the most from it.

And I can tell you this from personal experience, our family business has only been a very good thing. Only paid even more, and it really threatens even the stability of all of us. If we continue to subsidize insurance companies and the middlemen, we're going to continue to have a very unsuccessful insurance program without health care, and that the relationship between patients and doctors, which has been eviscerated pretty much by Obamacare, is going to continue to get worse.

So, I know it's hard for people to vote against these subsidies, but it's the only way we're going to put sanity into the system. We have got to stop the insanity which is hurting our small businesses. It's counterintuitive to many, and we feel like we need to placate the Democrats, but it only makes it worse.

So, right now, the House this week, I guess next week, will bring a vote on a three-year clean extension? Is that going to get Republican support?

Well, the clean extension that we're looking at, I think you're referring to, is part of what was a resolution that was signed by the Democrats on the floor, and some of the Republicans got it out there. I can't vote for a clean reauthorization if it's part of a continuing resolution. I've got to see some reforms. We have to have some kind of fraud, abuse, and waste in there, some age limitations. I mean, right now, people are making $700,000 a year are getting Obamacare subsidies.

You know, this was intended to be a program for everyone. And what we're dealing with, Brian, what people need to know is only about 7 million people in the entire nation are benefiting from these subsidies. And most of that is the insurance companies taking most of the benefit, and the costs aren't going to go down. The rest of the country has to pay even more.

So the Democrats want to protect their $7 million because they don't have any other issue. They want to just talk about health care. But the real problem is the rest of the country is going to pay for this. And that's the rest of our constituents, and it's particularly acute in places like mine in upstate New York, where 95% of the people every day go to a small business to work. And those are the people that are paying the highest costs in a state like New York that does not offer association health plans, health savings accounts, and things where people have a choice in being able to buy affordable care.

And you have huge deductibles, they say on average $6,000.

So I don't know, you know, good to have catastrophic. But I saw Josh Gottheimer as well as Brian Fitzpatrick said, what about a one-year extension that would allow us to negotiate the next year and try to figure it out? That seems to be the most practical. Have you seen that? Why can't we do a one-year extension with reforms in it?

Why can't we put in an income cap? Make sure that we retain choice, make sure that some of the things that aren't being done are done even in a one-year extension, then we can finally get to the problem, which is a huge problem, of trying to fix this disaster that was started 15 years ago. I mean, we've destroyed the health care system. I don't think you can talk to a credible doctor that thinks that this is a good thing, especially small practitioners who've been forced out of business, forced into being hospitalists. They can't even operate independent practices where the insurance companies and the middlemen are all in this.

You don't see this in veterinary practices because they don't have mandatory insurance. They don't have the government in the middle of it. They can actually have direct patient care when they deal with their animals that people are having issues with.

So, I mean, I hate to use that as an example, but I deal with the veterinarians all the time, and they go, we don't have that problem. It's a lot cheaper to get an MRI if you're a dog than if you're a human being. All right, so let's talk about what happened yesterday. The mayor of New York City takes over. Zohra Mamdani swore in on a Quran.

Interesting choice. No Bible around. But he did talk about being a proud democratic socialist and not being radical. Listen to what happened when Bernie Sanders, who is his mentor, was talking and how he gets interrupted. Cut 24.

Lastly. And maybe most importantly, Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes. They were chanting Tax the Rich. Maybe we should tell everybody in New York State. The top 1.9% pay 50% of the state income tax, top 25% pay 90%.

Of the state income tax, people below the 50%, 0.2%.

So, what are they even talking about? Tax the rich. Why would that even be something that came out of an educated person's mouth?

Well, gee, Brian, I thought that they were saying go bills. Isn't that what Kathy Hochl said when they were screaming catch the rich last time? Yeah, insane. I mean, this is like this is just part of the Democrat false talking points. You know, I look at this thing, and I lived in a communist country.

I lived in the former Yugoslavia. It was a little bit of communist light. I know what the outcomes are. I know what it looks like. We've seen this.

It's so dangerous that history is repeating itself. And these young people, here we are again, fighting back communism. And yet, everything Mandami sounded like, he sounded like a combination of Stalin, Mao. Mussolini, and now all these things he's talking about, condemning the individual, talking about the collective. I mean, these are the kind of stuff that you would have had a McCarthyism investigation on.

This is the exact opposite of everything our Constitution stands for, everything he's doing, reversing the executive orders. When you look at our U.S. Constitution, the founding principles are freedom, individual rights. And the concept that's mentioned the most, not directly but indirectly in terms of preserving this right, is the right of individuals to own private property. He's trying to reverse that in New York City.

You know, once the bastion of capitalism and prosperity, he's turning this into this. It's going to be a communist collective hellscape if he's able to do a lot of the things he wants to do. And what worries me is a lot of this is going to come under the state law, but his election emboldens these so-called Democrat Socialists of America. I think they're communists, anarchists, they're everything in one. It will embolden them, and there's many of them in the state legislature, and we have a weak, feckless governor that is not going to stand up to them.

This is the defining moment for New York. If we don't change New York City and New York State, New York State is going to collapse. Upon its own weight with what we're doing. I mean, we are chasing the wealth of these communities. And I'm talking relative wealth, Brian.

It could be somebody that has $20,000 or $5,000 in their bank account to people who have millions. The wealth is being just diverted and taken and given to the state, and it's just going to be this communist, authoritarian, anti-Semitic. You saw all the things he was doing yesterday. We're going to be living in subsidized, or we're living in housing that's owned by the government. They're asking people to turn this over.

This is going to be, if he's able to accomplish what he's trying to do, it's very dangerous. And they say he's charismatic. I find him to be a big fraudulent charlatan. I mean, AOC, she's charming. She doesn't do a darn thing for her district.

I mean, what is wrong with the American people? How do we, we as Republicans have to realize this is the Democratic Party. This is who they are. When you go to the ballot and vote next year for governor or assembly or senate or congressional races or You are voting for communism, the destruction of our state. And I think the Republicans have to get very bold right now and get out there and say, this is an either-or.

You either leave the state or you have them take everything you and your family have earned, whether it's a small amount of money or a small piece of property or whatever it is. They are coming for it and they're going to take it. Here is what, try to read between the lines here, cut 18. Their hopes and dreams and interests will be reflected transparently in government. They will shape our future.

And if for too long these communities have existed as distinct from one another, we will draw this city closer together. We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism. If our campaign demonstrated that the people of New York yearned for solidarity, then let this government foster it. Unbelievable. I mean, collectivism, yet the fragility of the frigidity.

fragility of rugged individualism that we they used to be a source of pride. It is a source of bread, and how is collectivism warm? I can tell you about the misery index from collectivism. I can tell you about going into grocery stores in communist Yugoslavia back in the 80s when you could, in the 80s, you know, when we were, the United States was beginning to thrive, and going in and being able to, there's one tube of mustard on the shelf. You have to wait in line to get bread.

I mean, this is what the Soviet Union was. This is what happens in Cuba. This is when you have these authoritarian communist regimes. I hope we can stop this. I got to tell you, Brian, I'm a member of the intelligence committee.

One of the most interesting things I've done all last year was I was an observer to the Honduran election down in Honduras on the weekend after Thanksgiving, their national election, and watching a third world country do a better job of verifying voters than we actually do. And there were three candidates, the communist regime in power, plus two other candidates. The guy, Asfura, who President Trump endorsed, won that election. These people do not want communism. They see Nicaragua and Cuba and Venezuela nearby.

They want what we have. And that's why people come to this country. They're not coming to this country to get what Zoran Mandami is selling. Yeah, and the anti-Semitism taken off the website. They said, oh, we're just archiving it.

Yeah, you know, it's really dangerous. I mean, Israel's fighting the war for Western civilization and they're an important democratic ally where everyone in Israel has rights, regardless of your party, regardless of your ethnicity, regardless of your religion. The only country, by the way, in the Middle East where that is happening. It's unbelievable. And the thing is, I don't think there's anything stopping it.

Do you think Bruce Blakeman's got a shot against Governor Hokul? I do. I think Bruce seems to be the person, he seems to be, I don't know him well. He's focused on the issues. He's not focused on attacking Kathy Hochul personally.

I heard him in an interview a couple days ago saying that. He's focused on saying to the American people, do you want to vote? And I think he should run on the couple things. He should run on, is this what you want? And this is where the Democrats are.

Is this what you want for your families? Do you want? Anarchy, lack of enforcement of law. The rule of law is critical to individual rights and the things that we stand for in our Constitution. I think he has a chance.

Run on that. And I'll tell you what I'm running on, Brian. I'm going to start giving out flashlights around the state and saying, make sure we keep the lights on. Vote for Claudia Tenney and Bruce Blakeman or whoever. They're going to shut our, I mean, we are having huge weather events up in upstate New York right now, multiple feet of snow, difficulty getting around.

You're not going to be driving electronic vehicles. We also do not have the infrastructure to support that. And the Democrats are shutting the lights out. They're shutting our freedom out. They're shutting our individualism out.

They're creating anarchy and lack of rule of law and crime on our streets. That's the choice. It should be a very binary choice. And if Bruce Blakeman can get around the state and get the money to get that message to enough people and we get Republicans motivated to get out and vote and moderates and like-minded Democrats, I think he has a shot. I think for the first time we may actually get a chance to win.

A statewide election, which we haven't seen one since Governor George Pataki won. And do you think Mike Law is considering getting back in? Will he? I don't think so. I think we need Mike Lawler to run in that seat.

I think he's a strong candidate, and I think he's going to do that. I mean, I've heard possibly, I think if he were going to do that, he would do that now. I think he really is a great advocate for his district, and I think that President Trump needs him there. Obviously, we need to keep the House, and Mike Seed is critical in New York, and I think that's going to be an important part of the team. Podiatene, running for re-election in New York State.

Congresswoman, thanks so much. Thanks so much, Brian Graham. All right, we come back your turn. Then, Steve Hill in the bottom of the hour, we talk about some of the scandals that are rising up and being exposed out in California and what Phil Mickelson had to say. It'll surprise you.

The headlines, the stories behind them, and the people who make them only on The Brian Kill Meat Show. Yeah. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. Hey, by the way, just coming up on Nation Sunday night at 10 o'clock, got a great roster of guests.

Sid Rosberg is going to be joining us. And Sid is going to be weighing in on Mondami, some of the people he named and what he expects. I know he's down on him, but I do want to see we can develop on what he's doing and what he's capable of doing. Of course, DeBasio, front and center at the inauguration, Eric Adams with dissed around the board on New Year's Eve and in person. And then we will also have Hugh Youitt with us to break down the political process and the chances in 26 and what it means for 28.

I don't know if you noticed, but on the Democratic side, they're starting to insult each other. I knew this would happen. RoConna going after Gavin Newsom, talk about corruption, talk about spending, illegal immigration. I was shocked by that, but I should not be. I knew it was going to happen.

I didn't think it was going to happen in 2025, but it did. We'll talk about that. I'm going to do a look at Nicole Parker, look at more on the men in Minneapolis, Maine, and Washington State investigation when it comes to pervasive corruption. Pretty amazing. We'll take a look at that.

We'll see what other surprises we have. That's all coming your way Sunday at 10 p.m., as well as what's happening on foreign policy with Danielle Pletka. And we talk about with Taiwan got buzzed over the weekend by China forces. And we see Iran unrest six straight days in the street. Daniel Pletka on that, what Trump's way forward could be.

Listen to the Brian Kill Me Chill.

So glad you're here. Coming up next inside the California race for governor with Steve Hilton on the Republican side. He is now locked in second place. Don't move. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin.

It's Brian Killmead. I don't think they should get one penny of federal funding till this investigation is completely over. We need to look at every single aspect of Minnesota and see why this keeps happening. You know, originally, the governor said it was $1 billion.

Now we could be upwards of $18 billion. And that governor spent the last year traveling around tacking Republicans when really he left a barn door wide open to fraud in Minnesota. He really should consider stepping down, probably today. And by the way, that's just one call in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I know what a clown that governor is, but did you know how much this really spreads?

I think people are going to find a lot of fraud in Maine, the Somali community big there and panicked. By the way, the governor now running for senator, that should adjust things. And now in California, we're hearing how big a deal this is from none other than RoCanna. He took a swipe at Gavin Newsom. This happened a couple of days ago over California spending, drawing the Democratic governor into a fight with him.

Newsome's camp hit back repeatedly this week against RoCanna, facing heat from tech heavyweights for endorsing a controversial billionaires' tax initiative that Newsom now opposes, which he was for for a while. He asserted widespread forward in California's public spending. Connor on Tuesday vowed to introduce legislation for a full independent audit of the state budget. Can't wait for that. The governor's office rejected Conner's claim and questioned his proposed solution.

And then, of course, RoConna is going to go to South Carolina, going to run for President, as we all know Newsom is. Steve Hilton just wants to be governor. He is a Republican candidate out there. A solid tied in third, just a few points out of the top spot. Hey, Steve, how big is this story in California?

Is it as big as it is in Minnesota? It's bigger. It's much bigger. Happy New Year, Brian. I'm actually leading the polls.

I don't know which one you're looking at. Most of the ones, so there's one just before Christmas I was in the lead, and that's been the case all along. I was actually looking at Emerson. Tell me what you think of it. Bianco as 13, Swelwell 12, Hilton, 12.

So you're tied in second. Yeah, I was the last one I saw before Christmas, I was leading at 18. The one before that, I was leading at 17. Look, there's all, here's the point. We're going to get change in California because people are sick of what's going on.

And actually, you're right that the scale of it in California is much, much worse. First of all, on Roe Connor, who I know personally, I like him as an individual. But let's remember why he's talking about this state audit. He's doing it to justify his support for this insane wealth tax that is going to drive even more businesses out of California. We already have the highest unemployment rate and the highest poverty rate in the country because of the massive taxes and spending and regulation.

Roe Connor wants to make it worse with his support for this wealth tax. And he's just saying, well, if we're going to spend the money, then at least let's have an audit.

Now, he's right about the audit part. Here's what's going on in California. Just before Christmas, we saw a report from the state auditor that is a legislatively mandated biannual. audit. And the state auditor just looked at a few programs in California.

This was a partial audit, not a thorough complete audit of everything. And the number from the state auditor of money that's at risk to fraud, seventy six billion. That's just what we know about from the state auditor.

So, actually, the real number, the scale of the fraud and waste and abuse in California is going to be much, much higher than that. And in fact, next week, I'll be making an announcement about how we can get to grips with that quickly to find out more. Just a small example of what I've been able to do. I'm not in office yet, so I don't have the levers of power to make this happen. But about a month ago, we set up an anonymous tip line for fraud for standards and we promoted it in outlets seen by state workers.

It's called Califraud.com. A month ago we launched that. We've had hundreds of anonymous tips pointing us to specific areas of concern for fraud and waste and abuse. We're following up on that. We're trying to get more information.

The whole thing is totally out of control. Why? Because you've had this and here now 16 years. Of one-party rule, no accountability, no checks on their power, a totally corrupt Democrat machine. The activists and the unions and all the rest of it, they think they can get away with it forever.

That is going to change this year because we're going to kick them out, and this fraud story is going to be a huge part of it. Yeah, I guess keep it going with the momentum there. And Phil Mickelson, of all people, weighed in. Remember, he was vilified about 10 years ago when he came out and said, Why am I paying so much in taxes? I'm going to leave.

And then he later apologized, which when he was in San Diego, and I think he probably has regrets on that. He says he praised Donald Trump for bringing up fraud in California. He said Trump brought further attention to alleged fraud in California in the Truth Social Post, claiming again that it's worse there than in Minnesota. And then he came out and said the dilemma for all Democrats is if you stop the fraud, illegal immigration, and voter fraud in California, then Republicans win California, have a huge majority throughout the country, and the Democratic Party all but ends. Man, that's going out in a whim, even for you.

Steve, you didn't even write. that. No, but Phil's great. I've been talking to Phil and he's been really strong, for example, not just on that issue, but on energy and our oil production in California, which has been crushed by their insane climate crusade. That's why we have the highest gas prices now.

We have seven refineries left, right? I know, it's insane, and it's getting worse. And that's why we have right now around $5 gas. In LA, I saw the other week $6 gas. The estimates say it could go as high as $7 or $8 gas.

But if we open up oil production and get rid of the climate insanity and help those refineries get back, or at least stop the ones from closing that are considering closing, then my plan is for $3 gas, which I know is for most people listening around the country. What's the big deal? It's less than that in 40 states. But in California, if we can get $3 gas, that's going to help working people everywhere. And that's my plan.

What is it now? Which, as I said, it's at least five most places. In LA, the other week, it was six. It's insane. I mean, it's the lowest it's been for years across the country thanks to the pro-energy policies from the Trump administration.

But in California, we have the opposite. They are crushing our oil and gas industry.

So we used to provide most of the oil and gas we use in California from in-state, mainly in Kern County, where Bakersfield is.

Now we're importing nearly 80% of our oil. Including our number one provider of oil. It used to be California, used to be in-state, now Iraq. They're shipping oil halfway around the world on giant supertankers spewing out carbon emissions in the name of climate. It's totally insane.

Phil Mickelson went on to say every Californian owes a huge debt of gratitude to President Trump and the entire administration for overriding Gadden's self-destruction and sabotage of our state's energy infrastructure. Still more to be done in spite of our governor, but it is a good start. The question is, with so many people to the left out there in Los Angeles, do they agree with the Paris Accord? Do they agree with what they were agreeing on in Brazil? How many people are like-mind, practical, be responsible with the environment, but don't be fanatical with the environment?

You must have run into that. 100%. That's exactly the word. Don't be fanatical. Look, we're California.

We love the environment. I want to protect our beautiful, you know, landscapes and the beaches. Of course, that's true. We all love that. But this is fanaticism and it doesn't even make sense.

Like I said, we are actually increasing carbon emissions with this policy by importing it in these supertankers that are the most polluting forms of transportation on the planet. Most people don't know that in California. They genuinely don't know that. And that's the job of the campaign that I'm running to explain all this, to say that the reason we have the highest gas prices in the country, higher than Hawaii in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, even though we have abundant oil reserves, it's policies that do that. It's not natural.

It's not anything to do with Donald Trump, because Donald Trump is president in all the other 40 states where gas is below $3. It's Democrat policies. We've got to explain that. And none of them make sense. They've all led to the highest cost for everything that matters-not just gas, but electric water, rent housing.

Everything plus the highest taxes as a result of 16 years of one-party rule. That's the job of the campaign to explain that. And once people learn that, I'm sure they're going to vote for change.

So, New Jersey also has extremely high taxes. When you look at this jungle primary, it looks like Katie Porter is also among the leaders. How could she possibly be a leader? What we already know about her. How does that make sense to you?

And are you worried that Eric Swalwell is now in this? Yeah, well, look, I mean, the leading Democrat cat, I mean, you've got two Republicans, myself and Chad Bianco. And funnily enough, in a lot of these polls, it's the two of us that are leading, the two Republicans. That's why you've got Democrats saying, oh my goodness, with this ridiculous top two system, we may end up with two Republicans on the ballot. I don't think that's going to happen.

But it is interesting that we're leading the polls in many of them. Katie Porter is still in there because she's got a lot of support from the activist left, from the unions. Eric Swalwell's made a name for himself by insanely trolling Trump on social media. I mean, I know he's a ridiculous character, but he's got name recognition. It's a big state, and that's what you need.

Then you've got, he's in those two definitely still in the mix. You've got Tom Stire. The billionaire climate fanatic, who's actually more than almost anyone else, the single person responsible for this insane climate fanaticism that has pushed our costs so high, because he's been funding it. There was a ballot initiative in 2010 to roll back the climate insanity. He was the main funder of the campaign that defeated it.

And then you've got potentially a new candidate entering the race, the state attorney general, Rob Bonter. He'll have the support, if he does, of all the government unions, the teacher unions in Sacramento, all the rest of it.

So I don't know which of these Democrats I'm going to be facing off against in the final, but the simple point is this. It is time for change in California. Sixteen years of one-party rule have given us the worst results of any state in the country. We can't call it. I heard you had record rainfall.

From what you know, were they able to retain any of this water to stop the drought? It's a great point. Look, it's not a it's a man-made drought. It's a Democrat-made drought because they haven't even years ago there was a ballot initiative, $8 billion earmarked, to fund water, storage and infrastructure. They haven't done any of it.

None of it. A few months ago, I was up in Colusa County in the northern part of the state. I should have been 100 feet underwater. I was standing where a dam, the site's reservoir, should have been built. And it's been held up by environmental reviews.

It's absolutely hopeless. And so we've got exactly as you say, we've got all this water. We've got all the water we need, either as rain or as snowfall in the Sierras that melts during the course of the year, but we're not capturing it. We're not retaining it and getting it to the farmers who I'm in the Central Valley the whole time and in our other farming regions. Their businesses are going under because the Democrats, because of their extreme environmentalism, won't invest in water infrastructure and won't even send them the water we've got now.

That they could be providing. It is just an absolute scandal. How has it worked out with the President undamming some of this water supply and getting it into Los Angeles? It's helping because you've got basically two systems that go the most of the length of California. There is a state system and a federal system.

And the president and his team have increased supply in the federal system.

So, if you're a farmer, for example, in the Central Valley and you are in a federal water district, like Westlands, for example, the biggest one, your supplies of water have increased in the past year. But in the state system, they're actually reducing it to compensate.

So, I mean, it's just so infuriating that this extremism, this ideological extremism, has just gripped the Democrats in California and the whole machine that runs the state, the bloated bureaucracy in Sacramento. And it's really hurting working people, small businesses, farmers, and everyone else. And we've just got to put an end to it. Yeah. And lastly, how's the rebuild going in Pacific Palisades?

It's not. It's not happening. I'll be there next week to mark the anniversary of the fires. And of course, we've got a lot to say about the fact that nothing's been learned. In terms of preparedness and the policy disasters that led to the fire disaster being as bad as it was in the first place, in terms of rebuilding, again, it's the ideology because they can't stand the way that California grew into the beautiful place where people can support the California dream, which is single-family homes.

They hate that. They want everyone to live in apartments, again, driven by their climate insanity, which is they want people to live in apartments and take transit, no parking. That's what they're trying to force into these areas that were burnt down, exploiting this tragedy. That's why nothing's happening. They're selling it to developers.

It's a total nightmare, and we've got to fight that as well. And what about the truck drivers?

Now they're suing back. California is saying we're going to allow our foreign-born truck drivers who don't understand English to continue to get licenses? Exactly. I mean, Sean Duffy was very clear about this in November. He said, you've got to take away these licenses.

Deadline is January the 5th. California is now defying that and saying, oh, we heard from one of your officials, Sean Duffy, that we could have an extension. Sean Duffy said, No, you don't.

So we'll see what happens on Monday when that deadline is there. But there's a very simple point. It's against the law. It's illegal for an illegal immigrant to be given these licenses.

So what are we even talking about here? It's a classic example of what they're doing in California, which is endlessly passing new laws but never enforcing them. As governor, I will. That's what we got to do. Yeah, lastly, I think that most importantly, you got to ban is they still on track to ban gas-powered cars selling and using they want to do that exactly.

I mean, thankfully, again, we're getting some help from the Trump administration here that actually invalidated the Biden regulatory permission for California to do that. But they're still pushing forward on it because they're fanatics on this climate stuff. And people don't want this. And if people choose to have electric cars, that's Fantastic. But we shouldn't be subsidizing it.

We shouldn't be mandating it. Above all, we should be helping the vast majority of car drivers who drive gas-powered cars and trucks, paying the highest gas prices. That's who we've got to be focused on. Absolutely. Steve Hilton, best of luck.

First, second, you're still up there working hard. And when's your next, when is the primary? Prime is June, general election obviously in November.

So we got a big, big set of plans for January, February. It's going to be high energy all the way to June. All right, Steve, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Wearing a college shirt.

I know you're serious. It's amazing, isn't it? I'm not used to that. Yep. T Bilton, thank you.

Back in a moment. It's Brian Killmead. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. On too many stories, the press has missed the story because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American.

Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites and not enough on you. And I know this because at certain points, I have been you. I have felt this way too. I felt like what I was seeing and hearing on the news didn't reflect what I was seeing and hearing in my own life. And that the most urgent questions simply weren't being asked.

So here's my promise to you, today and every time you see me in this chair. You come first, not advertisers, not politicians, not corporate interests. And yes, that does include the corporate owners of CBS. I report for you, which means I tell you what I know, when I know it, and how I know it. And when I get it wrong, I'll tell you that too.

It also means I'm gonna talk to everybody and hold everyone in public life to the very same standard. After all, I became a journalist to talk to people. I love talking to people about what works in this country. What doesn't? And not only what should change, But the good idea is that should never change.

I think telling the truth is one of them.

So as Tony DeCoppol, who did the morning show on CBS, and Barry Weiss said should be the next host, excuse me, the next anchor of their evening news.

So he said some things in the past that we've run on our show when he took on. Race and anti-Semitism with some of the questions, and he got consternation and it caused some uproar over in CBS. I can't really do his biography, but Barry Weiss saw enough of somebody being a moderate that she has elevated him. She's got a lot of blowback from 60 Minutes. She doesn't seem to care.

60 Minutes is appealing to this new CEO who owns the place, the son of the Oracle guy. I don't think they care. I don't think they're going to be conservative, but I think they might actually be fair. We'll see. It would be a it would be a a relief for the country.

And just to see somebody fair, just to say, wow, wait a second, you know. This whole socialism thing probably can't work when it starts failing in New York City. Most networks will just ignore it. People just praise, you know, from the late night shows to the news, they're in cahoots. They will just praise the socialists.

They'll never say Bernie Sanders never accomplished anything, which is true. They'll never say the rise of socialism is dividing the left, which is true. They'd come out and say the podcasters on the extreme right are dividing the right. That's true. Wouldn't it be good to have somebody cover both like we do?

Uh it makes it more interesting. And maybe it's gonna happen in CBS, but you know what's gonna happen too? A lot of the Leslie Stahls and the Scott Pelleys. And we'll join Kani Chung. And they'll just say, we wish for the old days when conservatives sucked.

And they were dumb, and Democrats, their mistakes can be ignored. Not anymore, at least on paper.