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Visit Samsung.com to learn more about Galaxy Z Fold 4. From the Fox News Radio Studios in New York City, giving you opinions and facts with a positive approach. It's Brian Kilmead. Mary Walter sitting in for Brian Kilmead. Very busy, busy Newsday.
So let's get right to it. And let's talk to Congressman Pat Fowle out of Texas House Armed Services Committee member. Congressman, thank you for taking the time to join me this morning. Mary, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
So there's so much going on. I mean, this is just crazy, and I know you probably are up to your eyeballs on all of this. Before we get into Ukraine, do you have you heard anything about President Biden's pick for the Supreme Court? He is supposed to make an announcement this afternoon. He has decided on a candidate.
Have you heard a name? I literally just saw it on television myself. And her name escapes me. I just thought that I don't know much about her.
Okay. All right.
Well, I'm sure we'll get the name before the announcement. I'm sure that'll be out there.
So, as you said, you saw it.
So, it it is out there already. I want to play something for you. This is a Ukrainian lawmaker named Helena Yanchenko. And she was on CBS News yesterday with and she my heart just broke when I heard this. And she's pleading with the American people and she's pleading with President Biden to help save her people.
And she asks him to do something. I just want to play this for everyone. Please. Save Ukrainian men, woman, and children. I beg you, please save our people another dozen of people.
and maybe hundreds of people. Might be Merged. Tonight. And she went on to beg the President. Biden.
to um Keep you keep uh Russia out of the banking system. And he has chosen not to do that. And I guess my question is why? What are you hearing? And I I'm curious if your Democrat colleagues behind the scenes are shaking their heads at the sanctions we saw yesterday from Joe Biden, nothing aimed directly at Putin, and really nothing that hard hitting.
We're still buying we're going to still buy gas and oil from them. Yes.
So first of all, Mary, thank you for sharing that. clip because that's heart-wrenching. That really puts a Human face and heart on what's happening here. And then you have to times out by maybe tens of thousands. Um so with with Biden, he's made a series of mistakes.
And yes, our Democratic colleagues privately have been shaking their heads for quite some time. They won't come out and they don't have the courage to say it publicly. I mean, the Afghanistan debacle was one where we had a classified briefing. It was very interesting to see who was upset. And it was equal.
It was a bipartisan bipartisan disappointment for sure. But the mistakes Biden made, number one, I signed on to a letter back in October. that asked him to send immediate lethal aid to the Ukrainians when this buildup was beginning. And he dragged his feet inexplicably for months. I just don't know why he would do that.
And then I asked, like, just this, um, the Ukrainian. uh woman to outline specific sanctions. And one of those specific sanctions was To deny Russia access to the SWIFT, which is the electronic global banking system. There's only two countries that aren't part of it right now, and it's North Korea and Iran. And if you act like a pariah, you should be treated like one.
Because if Biden-Mary had outlined the specific and explicit sanctions Then Putin would face, it may have, we'll never know now, but it may have acted as a deterrent. And also strategically canceling the Keystone pipeline once he got into office was stupid. And halting leases for energy exploration on federal lands and offshore was something that hamstrings America's ability for energy independence, and it puts more dependency, of course, on countries like Russia.
Now does the President have the ability to prevent a country that he deems to be an enemy to keep them out of Swift? Does he have that ability? Or is that something that is has to be done with a consensus of countries?
Well, if he, you know, it's a way in which you frame it, right? I mean, if he says anybody that does business with Russia, the United States can do business with. And we are the largest economy, and we can we carry a big stick in these matters. And it would really also, I think, politically shame some of our Western allies if we take the lead on that. That's what the United States is supposed to be doing here: taking the lead, not all always seemingly.
Being reactive, but being proactive and saying absolutely no more, take a hard line. We have to implement crippling sanctions. And he's also made errors, that whole thing about a minor incursion that was a huge misstep. Almost allowing, you know, was this a minor incursion? Define what minor incursion is.
Was Georgia in 2008 a minor incursion? Was the stealing of the Crimea a minor incursion? And also then he just set up yesterday. Saying that, well, we're going to review this in a month. Don't give your enemy, don't give Putin the exact timeline in showing him your playbook.
They keep on guessing. And that was interesting. And if we could just jump ahead here, Eric, I want to go to cut twenty. Joe Biden yesterday, to me, seemed to contradict himself when it came to sanctions and the effectiveness of sanctions. Listen to what he said about expectations.
No one expected the sanctions to prevent anything from happening. It has to show this is going to take time. and we have to show resolve.
So he knows what's coming. And so the people of Russia know what he's brought on them. That's what this is all about. This is going to take time. It's not going to occur.
He's going to say, oh my God, these sanctions are coming. I'm going to stand down. He's going to test the resolve of the West to see if we stay together, and we will.
So, but then he goes on and says this right after Cut 21. If sanctions cannot stop President Putin, what penalty can? I didn't say sanctions couldn't stop him. What? You've been talking about the threat of these sanctions for several weeks now?
Yes, but the threat of the sanctions and imposing the sanctions and seeing the effect of the sanctions are two different things. They're two different things. And we're now going to, he's going to begin to see the effect of the sanctions.
So, sir, you're a politician. Do you speak Biden? What did he just say there? Mary, that hurts my brain. I don't know.
It was gibberish. You know what? It was like Charlie Brown's teacher. Won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't, won't. It was word vomit.
It wasn't, it wasn't conjugating verbs. I don't know. I honestly don't know. And that's, you don't think Putin knows this, you don't think he knows. That the president of the United States is cognitively challenged.
I mean, he does. This guy's a chess player. He's diabolical, he's devious, and he's deliberate. And he's smart. And what we have to, and we also have to give your listeners a bit of background, too.
He was asked last year: are Ukrainians and Russians brothers? And he said, no, we're not siblings, we share the same soul. And he feels that, and he said this publicly, that the demise of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century. He resents the verdict of the Cold War. And he wants to impose you know, and it's a lot easier when you if you can rehabilitate a totalitarian past, it's easier to justify a authoritarian present, isn't it?
I mean, and this is what the gut this guy's all about. You there there has to be an undercurrent, I would assume, on Capitol Hill under all of this, because it involves Ukraine Crane and Russia. There has to be an undercurrent of Hunter Biden, the big guy, and how much of an influence all of that is having on his decisions. Am I wrong? Wow, you know, isn't that something though?
That huge scandal that should have been a bigger, far bigger scandal than it was because the mainstream media. Not only ignored it, but called it misinformation. Remember? They wouldn't even allow it on certain social media platforms. And to have that country.
that was involved. And you know, listen, Ukraine isn't Poland. The Ukrainians have had a lot of challenges. There's a lot of corruption in the country. One of the reasons why maybe they're not part of NATO right now.
Is because, and Russia has a lot to do with that. They've got their myths. Intertwined into almost every, you know. Fiber of the Ukrainian. You look around a corner, there's going to be somebody with Russian interests at heart.
And that's one of the reasons why Poland has largely been a success, as has Czech Republic and many of the other former Warsaw Pact countries, where Ukraine hasn't made it out. I mean, in thirty years, they're kind of struggling. It's because Russia deliberately is doing that. And to have this country be the one invaded, hopefully it'll kick up some dirt and maybe people will look you know, check into the under the hood, if you will. to see what the hell really did happen with Under Biden in the Ukraine.
So i if the Republicans do take everything in 2022 and there's this huge red wave in the midterms in November it is already 2022 I'm getting old fast. Will do we keep hearing that there's going to be investigations and everything. I want to know how serious that is because I hear it all the time from the Republicans that, oh, we're going to do this and we're going to do that, and then they get in power and they don't do this or that.
So will there be a full-fledged investigation of Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, even while Joe is in office, to find out what happened and their ties to Russia, Ukraine and China?
Well, they're better. quite frankly. I mean I'm only one of 35, but I'll be a thorn in the side of leadership if that doesn't happen. And I do think it will. That's what they've said, and I take people at their word, and I have confidence.
Because We need to get to the truth. And this isn't about weakening Biden. And this is not, for me, and I think many, it's not a political. I'm not trying to politically damage him. I'm just trying to find the truth.
Now, if the truth politically damages him, that's on him. That's a choice that he made. Those are actions that they took. you know, 10% for the big guy and stuff like that. It seems to me that, that what that's what we're going to uncover.
But we don't know for sure, and that's why you have the investigation and the hearings. In the first place. I interesting that you said I don't want to damage him politically. Why not? No, I'm just like, that's not the primary goal.
I mean, if the truth damages him politically, that's on him. You know uh That's what I'm talking about. I it's not, you know, just it's not a witch hunt. That with the because of what we saw with the Democrats for four years is if President Trump sneezed. They would say, why did you spit on that person?
It was anything that poor man did. If there was an eclipse. You know, Trump was uh responsible for a midday blot of the sun. And I hate that kind of stuff. We should be doing what's in the best interest of the American people.
And I per firmly believe that's limited government, low taxes, reasonable regulation and a business friendly environment and a secure border and many things that the Democrats don't believe. But we just need to get to the truth. And I think I have a proletariat to believe that Biden has been corrupt. And he looked upon his quote unquote thirty or four I'm sorry, more like forty-five years in public service as a Now it's time for me to get paid when he is out of office. And all indications are that's exactly what happened.
Yeah, no, absolutely. Thank you so much, Congressman Pat Fallon. I appreciate your time and staying on top of this. And, man, maybe you could talk some sense into some of your Democrat colleagues because, especially in November, I would love to see an investigation into Joe Biden's fitness. Let's talk.
Trump had to take a cognitive test. Why don't we force Biden to do the same? The evidence is there. The man wandered into the shrubs outside of the White House one day. I'm sure you've seen that video that went around about six months ago.
I mean, he wandered into the shrubs. We need to do that. And by the way, I think her name is Katanji Brown Jackson. She's a federal appeals court judge, who's his announced pick.
Okay, great. Thank you so much. Breaking news here. Congressman Pat Fallon, enjoy your day. Thank you.
Back. 866-408-7669. If you would like to comment, you want to jump in, that would be great. Coming up, General Jack Keene will be joining us, chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst. And I'm sure he can shed a lot of light on us to exactly what is happening compared to the rumors that we're hearing coming out of Ukraine.
Your calls next on the Brian Kilmead Show. Expanding your knowledge base. It's the Brian Kilmead Show from the Fox News Podcasts Network. I'm Ben Dominich, Fox News contributor and editor of the Transom.com daily newsletter. And I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week.
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Subscribe and listen now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Russia's economy is fueled by gas and the U.S. is a consumer.
So, would the U.S. consider cutting off oil and gas purchases from Russia?
Well, what we're doing, Nora, across the board is making sure that we inflict. Maximum pain. On Russia for what President Putin has done while minimizing any of the pain to us. We're in full coordination with other countries, both consumers and producers alike. to minimize any impact that this may have on energy prices and on gasoline.
Ah, that was Secretary Anthony Blinken on CBS with Nora O'Donnell yesterday saying that, no, we're not going to suspend Russian imports of oil and gas. We what? We're still going to keep paying them whatever extorted price they want to charge us. How does this hurt the well, we're doing this 'cause we we don't want to hurt the American consumers, you know, because w with the price of gas going up, if we suspend, you know, suspend imports of Russian oil and gas, you know, that'll hurt American consumers 'cause the price is going to go up. Not if you would open up drilling that you that you shut down in America and open up the Keystone Pipeline.
You wouldn't have to hurt Americans, and we wouldn't be putting money in Russia's pocket. Does this make sense to anybody? I'm not a politician. I'm not an economist or some kind of oil industry. Guru But sitting here in my little home, my little world, where I live, look at this and I think, well that just doesn't make a darn ounce of sense.
So maybe I'm just stupid. Doesn't make any sense to me at all. Unbelievable. Let's go to the calls 866-4087669 in Wichita, Kansas on WQAM. Eric, welcome to the Brian Kilmead Show.
Hi. Good morning. How are you? I'm doing great. Did that make sense to you, by the way?
No. Actually, you brought up exactly what I was going to ask, with what's going on in Ukraine, obviously, I know here in Wichita gas prices have already gone up after the In Bayesian yesterday. and the announcement of the war.
So my question was going to be, has anybody brought to Biden, hey, maybe we should rethink about opening up this Keystone pipeline?
Well, clearly they had the conversation because that was Secretary Blinken.
So they've clearly had the conversation. And I believed he was asked about it. And they're not going to do it. Actually, we just talked about it yesterday, that the Biden administration now is shut down drilling on some, it's in litigation between courts on some leases, not renewing leases for drilling on public land. And they're shutting it down.
So now it's just going to sit and wait as it works its way through the court because they're going to appeal. It it's insanity. Yeah, that uh you know it This administration seems to be putting us more and more in the hole all the time, and I've yet to understand why. you know, some of our Republican representatives haven't set stood up and done more.
Okay. Uh something that still screams in my ear. Yeah, it really does. And I think a lot of it has to do with pushing people into electric vehicles. Eric, thank you so much.
Have a great day. Let's go to do I have time here? Look very quickly, Ron on KRTK. Ron out of St. Louis.
How are you? Not bad. Thanks. How are you doing today? Good.
We got about a minute. Go ahead. Quick question, and I'd like for General Keene when he comes on to maybe he could address it. But I think Spite and speech was about two days too late, should have been before the invasion. But we need kinetic action.
And I was thinking I was just curious what General Keene would think if we declared NATO declared a no-fly zone over Ukraine and we just we ran sorties day and night and kept the Russians out of the air with a At least give the Ukrainians a fighting chance on the ground. And at least it would be a response that would not be aggressive, but it would definitely send a message to Putin. Yeah, but Ron, it's not a NATO country. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to see any Americans accidentally hurt and/or, God forbid, killed if that should go wrong. But thank you.
Coming up, General Jack Keene will be joining us on the Brian Killmeat Show. From the Fox News Podcasts Network, in these ever-changing times, you can rely on Fox News for hourly updates for the very latest news and information on your time. Listen and download now at FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. How you It's Will Kane, co-host of Fox and Friends Weekend. Join me as I share my thoughts on a wide range of topics from sports and pop culture to politics and business.
The Will Kane Podcast. Subscribe and listen now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmead. This could happen very fast at the Beginning of our shift today in the dark, those Russian forces were 20 miles outside of the capital.
Now they are inside the capital of Kiev. They're probably about two to six miles from where I'm standing right now in the center. We've heard some small arms fire really for the first time, rifle fire back and forth.
So it's getting close, and the fight is close contact as well. That was Steve Harrigan from Fox in Kyiv in the Ukraine. I'm Mary Walter sitting in for Brian Kilmead. Joining us now, General Jack Keene, Chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst, also just a great guy. General, thank you for joining me.
Yeah, delighted to be here, Mary. You know, Steve Harrigan also went on to say, I want to play cut, let's just go right to cut two here, Eric. And I want to talk about civilians taking on up arms. We know that um All anyone who wanted a gun was given a gun, that they were given firearms to help defend the capital because they're coming for Zelensky. They want the the president of the Ukraine.
They want Russia who wants to take him. They will probably kill him and his family. And they're left with civilians being armed. Here's Steve Harrigan. But we've also seen a lot of civilians now taking up arms, these territorial defense forces.
The standards for those civilians have really just gone out the window at this point. If you just show up with a passport, they will give you a gun. They gave people automatic rifles yesterday, eighteen thousand of them distributed.
So what we could see if this does come to a close battle city street by street in the city, we could see civilians really going up against the Russian army. How smart is that? I mean, is this just a last-ditch effort? Is this something that civilians can do successfully?
Well, they're not going to be any match for the Russian army, that's for sure. It's also not to be taken lightly. Look at Mary, I mean, we've had a full day of this operation, and there have been a number of surprises. in terms of uh Russian challenges. I mean, they're Their air campaign was absolutely less than adequate.
Did not even take down. all of the Ukrainian Air Force and and air power, which was stunning to most of us. The amount of missiles used was just a drop in the bucket 160 compared to what the United States would deliver, which we likely not well over 1,000. And they didn't do a very good job of dealing with the Ukrainian defense forces because the very next day, as we saw yesterday, The Russians approached on the most ambitious campaign plan for Axis. of approach into U into Ukraine proper.
And they were delayed on three of those four to include the one coming into Kiev, although they're closing in on the city now. And the one where there was progress made yesterday coming out of Crimea in the so-called southern approach. They've now been stopped at Turchlon. by the U uh Ukrainian military.
So it wasn't a very good day for the Russians yesterday. And And all a hell of a little about their Very offensive cyber campaign. That was going to shut down the power grid, the banking system, and take away the water for the people. That just hasn't happened. The lights are on.
The water's running. And the banks are operating, though they don't have any cash in them, but financial transactions are Are being are being conducted sort of cyber campaign. hasn't come anywhere near What expectations are. All that said, Mary. There will be a transition of power here.
Putin's political objective for this military campaign is singular. And that is to put in a new government that's friendly to him, Ukrainian-led. I'm assuming but uh pro-Russian and friend and friendly to him. That'll likely take two forms. One you mentioned They'll do that by force.
and kill the members or capture them of the previous government or two, it can be negotiated. uh between uh Zelensky and and the Russians. and have a an actual piece of transfer of power, which maybe is unlikely, but it is a certainly is a possibility. And your heart's got to go out to the to the Ukrainian people and to the military. I mean, they have They have acquitted themselves well.
They're steadfast. I mean, it it's heartbreaking to see the suffering that's taken place here, certainly. of an independent democracy that Ukraine is and to see it crushed uh by Putin's ambition and his and his intended repression here. But you you're right. I mean the Here's the challenge ahead for Putin.
He's going to put in A Ukrainian friendly leader, pro-Russian, much like he had in the past. Uh in Yanukovych. It was Yanukovych in 2014. who was ran who was run out of Ukraine by the people. hundreds of thousands of them demonstrating against him after he tried to clear the streets using force.
and that blew up in his face and he fled to Russia.
So here comes Putin again. putting somebody else in power like that when It's well known. and documented that almost all of the forty million people that live in Ukraine, with the exception of a few million, are going to be opposed to this leader. But Putin is driving ahead anyway. And I think he's overreached here.
One, in terms of the Ukrainian people, two, in terms of the international community, and how they hopefully. Do what they say they're going to do, and that is isolate him. and also the uh economic punishment that I hope we actually get together and do much more comprehensively than we're doing right now. But there are there are challenges ahead for him. There are risks associated with where he is.
The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., because you said a lot there that I want to delve into, but the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markova, said yesterday that a platoon of Russian soldiers surrendered to the Ukrainian military, and they told them that they didn't know that they were brought to the Ukraine to kill Ukrainians. She said one of the platoons of the 74th Motorized Brigade. From Oblast, surrendered. She said they thought they were doing something else elsewhere and had no idea this is what their mission was. And when they found out what it was, they allegedly.
surrendered I'm I'm curious if this is something that could be one of the reasons as to why they didn't make the progress they thought they were going to make. And I wonder if it's happening more widespread. Have you heard any reports of this?
Well, the progress that I haven't heard any reports that the reason why they were slowed on three or four of those axes. was do their Do they to their own morale problems. I had not heard that. I mean, what's been reported And I'm not suggesting it couldn't be. Right.
But what's been reported is just the steadfastness and stiffness of the of the Ukrainian defense. And their and their willingness to L listen, the Ukrainians are out there. And they're willing to die, you know, to protect their families and their way of life and their future. And likely the motivation and commitment to that end state of fighting for their families is uh is much more of a commitment than what you're going to find with the the Russian military. Then they're they're reacting to the orders of their officers.
And if they're told to move forward, they're going to move forward. But it's very different if if you're if you're highly motivated like the Ukrainians are.
Now, you said that Putin over overestimated here, and he's in a position he probably doesn't want to be in. But the question now being asked is, you know, are the Baltic states next, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia? And you have in recent weeks the leaders of those countries, according to the Associated Press, have been going all around Europe warning that the West has to make Putin pay for attacking Ukraine or he's going to keep going into other parts of the former Soviet Empire. But from what you've been saying, that doesn't seem likely. Yeah, I mean I think you have to take Putin at his word.
I mean, he he in the speech he made, tell me he was Meanded on about what his justification was for this invasion that he's made, and you could see. how personal and emotional it is it is for him. But also uh he threatened The former Soviet republics that are now part of NATO, and the most vulnerable of those. Are the three Baltic states? largely because of the geography and also because of the smallness of the militaries and the smallness of those those countries and the proximity they have uh Uh to Russia.
And they also have some Russian minority-speaking people in that country that Putin. can take advantage of. I think NATO has really got to step up here, Mary, and take this seriously. And it's not just about waiving Article five in people's places. I'm talking about real deterrence.
We need armored forces in those countries. The NATO Response Force should be alerted and deployed. I believe that's why the President, rightfully so, has sent another 7,000 troops. I believe from the Fourth Infantry Division, which is a mechanized unit. And hopefully, some of these forces will find themselves uh in the Baltics because They are the most vulnerable.
And the only thing that Putin drew Yeah. It's threat. The only thing that would have stopped them from going into Ukraine would have been NATO forces and that was not an option. Uh no amount of uh No amount of sanctions is gonna is gonna deter him. He he worked that into the into the uh scenario for himself.
The only thing that would stop him From possibly going further at some point. and taking advantage of what he sees as a vulnerability of the Baltics. is the fact that sitting across that border our armor, mechanized forces and air support. They uh to take uh to take care of them in terms of uh an invasion. That gets his attention, and that's what stops him.
My husband works with some Russians, and he was speaking with them yesterday. They said, Americans are so stupid because we don't understand, our politicians don't understand Putin. They don't understand the way he thinks. He doesn't think rationally. And the Russian people know that he would sacrifice all of them.
He doesn't care. He would have his people starve just to get an acre of land that he wants.
So if he wanted an acre of land in the Ukraine and it meant that his people are going to starve and hundreds and thousands of people would die, Russians would die, he would do it if that's what he wants. That's just who he is. And they also laughed at hurting the Russian stock market. They said the Russian stock market's a joke. All Russians know it's a joke because any Russians with any kind of money don't invest in the Russian stock market.
They invest in Europe.
So i i the Americans are just they feel just being woefully inadequate with this entire response, and they just don't understand the thinking of someone like Vladimir Putin. How much truth do you think there is to that? Oh, I think that's right on the mark, to be quite frank about it. Just about everything that you said. Listen, uh Okay.
This is a pattern of behavior we've seen throughout our entire adult life. There has always been. the thugs and the killers. who impose their will on their own people and on other people's people. And the only thing that stops these thugs and killers throughout history.
is force. No amount of appeasement and conjoling. or in this case sanctions. are going to stop them. That it's just not something that they respect.
The only thing that they respect It is the fear of losing their regime and the fear of that. as a result of that. I mean, that's what's driving them. I mean, Putin wants to stay in power. And the longer he stays in power, the more paranoid he gets.
because he's continuing to build up more and more opposition to himself. And close it off. People's ability to express their views. You can see that people are demonstrating as soon as they wave a sign or something. uh in a street in one of uh Russia's cities Uh the goons come in.
and wrestle them to the ground and and and throw him in a pattyway.
Well, we could that can be said in both Can the same in both Canada and the United States to some degree.
So I hope everyone is paying attention to what is happening there. General Jackine, thank you for your insight. Really appreciate you joining us. Yeah, always great talking to you, Mary. Take care.
Have a wonderful weekend. Thank you. 866-408-7669. That's the number I know you want to weigh in. I know you have something to say.
So I am going to take your calls next on the Brian Kilmead Show. Learning something new every day on the Brian Kilmead Show. The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Killmead. Massive emissions consequences to the war, but equally importantly, you're going to lose people's focus.
You're going to lose. certainly big country attention because they will be diverted and I think it could have a damaging impact. I hope President Putin will help us to stay on track with respect to what we need to do for the climate. Yeah, the world is on fire. And John Kerry on BBC Arabic hopes that Putin stays on track for the climate because he's worried about what all these chemicals being released into the air from all the firing and the shelling and all of that.
Like it's dirtying the air and it's going to get into the water. And so he really hopes that, you know, Putin worries about the climate. Let's not worry about the people that are being killed, the babies that are being slaughtered, these innocent Ukrainians in their homes, you know, where when a missile goes awry, it comes flying through their living room and just kills people, you know, kills grandma. Let's worry about the effect on the climate of all of this being released into the air. These people are insane.
They they have got to be bat crap crazy. Seriously. That to me, I don't care what you think about the I if you believe all that stuff, that's fine with me. I don't care, you do you.
However, what I'm balancing on the big scale here Huh, am I worried about the the effects of war on the climate, or am I worried about the effects of war on actual human beings? I'm going to go with B. Can you imagine trying to fight World War II if we had to worry about the climate? Check it out. They've lost they've just lost their ever loving Minds.
Sean on Staten Island Listening Online. Sean, you're on the Brian Kilmead Show. Hi. Hey, uh yes. I just had a wanted to voice my thoughts on the current crisis at hand.
You know, I'm listening to Biden's speech yesterday, which was a total shit show. I I don't understand. Oh, you can't say that. You can't say hold on. Eric, did you get you can't say that on the air, dear?
You gotta watch your language, please. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah, it was it was a total disaster. I it was didn't make any sense. Um I Wanted to also voice my opinion on the sanctions going on.
The sanctions that Biden had Yeah. Doesn't really do anything. It's like if the U.S. was involved on something the U.S. got involved with, and Russia decides to sanction Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
I mean, that's not really going to affect the current crisis ahead. Like, they have money in different locations, different places. They have ways to. Circumvent these sanctions. I mean, I don't know if you guys saw the UK sanction list.
It's a lot, lot longer. There's more people targeted, more commodities targeted. The sanction list doesn't do anything. We need to kick them out of the SWIFT network. We need to put.
Target them, target them in their pockets. I I mean, you know I know for a fact, we all know this, the Russians planned this for a while, so they have ways to circumvent it. But I I think we should put, you know, he should put his mouth where his money's at, and uh. Um and and really really do so Action, you know. Um, but here's the thing, Sean, and I have to let you go.
We're up against the clock, but thank you so much. Here's the thing: Joe Biden didn't sanction Putin either, like personally. He could have sanctioned Putin personally and hit him personally, yet he didn't. And he did not like when reporters were asking that question. He didn't like that yesterday.
If you watched that presser yesterday, when he was asked about, well, why are you going to sanction Putin personally? Why are you waiting? No, no, we're not going to do that now. I don't, I want to know who's advising him about these sanctions. I don't think it is Biden, although it could be.
Because it's definitely a head scratcher, and I think it raises a lot of questions, and it's not good. I'm Mary Welter, you're listening to the Brian Kilmead Show. Live from the Fox News Radio Studios in New York City, fresh off the set of Fox and Friends, it's America's receptive voice. Brian Killmead. Yes, I am Mary Walter sitting in this seat for Brian Killmead.
Another very, very busy Newsday. I want to start out by sharing something with you. This to me is just so. gut-wrenching. This is Helena Yankchenko.
She is a member of the Ukrainian government. She was on CBS yesterday. And I want you to hear what she had to say to the American people and to Joe Biden. Please. save Ukrainian men Woman.
and children. I beg you, please save our people another dozen of people. and maybe hundreds of people might. B Murdered. Yeah.
It just rips my heart out. It really does. And, um, In her voice. And America, I think we let the Ukraine down. We, the, Republicans wanted sanctions in the summer and Democrats filibustered it because they hate the filibuster so much they use the filibuster.
And Joe Biden had to reverse everything that Trump did, and we're we are where we are now. But one of the things she went on to ask for she begged President Biden to please remove Russia from the swift banking system. And that is something. that he did not do. And I want to go to cut 19, Eric.
Joe Biden, after his speech yesterday on sanctions and what he's going to do to show strength and how he's going to respond to Russia. He afterwards took questions from the press. surprisingly. instead of just turning and walking away, as he so often does. And one of the questions was about the Swift banking system.
And I believe this is Caitlin Collins from CNN. Given the full-scale invasion, given that you're not pursuing disconnecting Russia from what's called SWIFT, the international banking system, or other sanctions at your disposal, respectfully, sir, what more are you waiting for? specifically with the sanctions we've imposed exceed SWIFT. The sanctions we oppose exceed anything that's ever been done. The sanctions we imposed have generated two-thirds of the world joining us.
They are profound sanctions. Let's have a conversation in another month or so to see if they're working.
So that was not Caitlin Collins, obviously. But he lied there. He absolutely lied. What they did impose isn't anything close to what it would be to cut Russia and Putin off from the SWIFT banking system. What we're allowing the oligarchs in Russia to do is continue to move money internationally.
instead of cutting them off. And the reason that we didn't do that is because there are a lot of European countries that didn't want to do it, one of them, notably Germany, that didn't want to do it. I believe the UK didn't want to do it either. And we're gonna, we're just gonna let's wait another month or so. There are people dying in the Ukraine right now, they don't have another month or so.
You've got housewives, nothing wrong with this, you know, trying to defend their families. Because everybody, if you wanted one, was given a gun. We we've got children. Being armed to try to fight off the Russian army. Deep.
I I'm sorry. Do they have another month? I'm pretty sure they don't. Mm. Putin laughed when he heard that.
Putin knows darn well that he's got Europe, especially the Germans, and he's got the United States because he knows his opponents. He's a very smart man. And he knows. That we weren't going to do anything to him that would really, really hurt him. We're not.
We're still buying Russian oil. We're still buying Russian oil. You had Anthony Blinken come out and say, Yeah, well, we don't want to hurt the American people.
So we're going to still get our oil from Russia. I dunno. How about you not hurt the American people by... Getting the Keystone Pipeline running again and Undoing all of those sanctions that you put on Oil and gas drilling here in the United States. Why don't we resume that?
But they won't do it for two reasons. One, Trump was doing it, and they had to rescind everything that Trump did because Orange Man bad. And two? Climate change. Climate change is their god.
They believe it like people have a religious belief. It may not make a lot of sense if someone who isn't a believer confronts you and you're like, well, that's my belief. They're the same way with climate change. And so we're going to keep paying Russia. For oil.
And so we as Americans, we're just going to have to suffer a little bit for that. In the meantime, this the you know, the Ukrainians could just suffer for like another month or two and keep dying for like another month. You know, what Biden well why Biden decides if the sanctions that he did decide to put in work or not. What? He should have done this months ago to see if they work, and then get more heavy handed than what he's done.
This is just crazy. And I'm not the smartest person in the room, and I know that, but I'm looking at this going. This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. 866-408-7669, Brandon in Minnesota, listening online. Hi, I'm Brandon.
You're on the Brian Kilmead Show. Morning, ma'am. Hi. I'm going to try and stick to topic. I kinda was laughing too much with the guy earlier.
Um, when I hear Biden talking, saying, Oh, this has never been done, this has never been done. There's reasons things like that haven't been done, sir. You don't need to do 'em. It's very true. It's stupid.
That's why it hasn't been done. Right. Um. We left all our weapons in Afghanistan.
Now ISIS has it. We send all our Weapons to Ukraine or whatever to help deal with this invasion.
Now Russia takes over, they got our weapons. Putin said the other day that anybody who tries to What's the word? Keep me from doing what I want to do. With Ukraine? is going to face consequences.
Right. That they've never seen in their history. That's a slap in America's face, and we just took it. And said Oh, we're gonna take your lunch money away. Yep.
Like, it it's pointless. We've we've done nothing so Russia is going to take Ukraine. They're going to have more land. More of our weapons. Then China's going to see how weak we were in Afghanistan.
They're going to see how weak we were with Russia. and they're going to take Taiwan. And All our enemies are going to be pissed off, and what are we going to do about it? No? We're going to sit around and wait for a new president in 24.
And that's all we can do is sit around and wait. Unless, I mean, my hope is that if we take over, there's a red wave in the midterms in November, that the Republicans grow a set and decide to 25th Amendment Biden. And if it is successful, You get Harris in, okay, but we can handle Harris. You can handle her because she is. Absolutely incapable.
I'm sorry, it's not a sexist thing to say that. I don't want to see anybody send me an email about that. She's incapable, and you have to recognize someone who is incapable and is in over their head at their job. She is, and she needs to go. And I would love to see the Republicans, like I said, get some guts and actually be proactive instead of sitting around waiting.
For 2024 and saying, well, we can't do anything, we don't hold the presidency, so we just have to wait to 2024. No. You don't. There are things you can do, and I think this is the time to do this, because this is a very dangerous man that we have in the White House right now, dangerous to Americans. I think he's dangerous to Americans.
Former President Barack Obama issued a message of support for Joe Biden yesterday. He urged Americans to support him. You get behind him. He said every American, regardless of party, should support Biden's efforts in coordination with our closest allies to impose hard-hitting sanctions on Russia. It's like Hmm.
Hard-hitting ang uh sanctions on Russia. He wants everyone to do that. Uh coming up. We are going to be joined by Trey Yinks. He will be joining us from Kyiv.
He's a Fox News for foreign cor foreign. Let me try that again. He's a Fox News foreign correspondent. Got it. And he will be joining us to tell us what he is seeing there.
On the ground, we'll find out maybe if those sanctions are working. That's next on the Brian Kilmead Show. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis because, man, do you need to know? It's Brian Kilmead. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it.
You're with Brian Kilmead. Did you underestimate Putin, and would you still describe him the way that you did in the summer as a worthy adversary? At the time, He was, I made it clear, as an adversary, and I said he was worthy. I didn't underestimate him. And I've read most of everything he's written.
Did you read the? I shouldn't say, I'm not being a wise guy. You heard the speech he made, almost an hour's worth of speeches why he was going into Ukraine. He has much larger ambitions in Ukraine. He wants to, in fact, reestablish the former Soviet Union.
That's what this is about. That's Peter Doocy asking Joe Biden some good questions yesterday at after his speech. And I have to say, I was pretty impressed because I do think a lot of the media did ask some some questions and I don't think Joe Biden was really ready for, that he wasn't expecting. I want to go to let's let's go to Cut 19. These are just some of the questions that were asked by some of the people in the press about after his speech about the sanctions, and I want to share them with you.
This is Joe Biden. Being asked, like, you know, what are you waiting for, dude? You said in recent weeks that big nations cannot bluff when it comes to something like this. You recently said that the idea of personally sanctioning President Putin was on the table. Is that a step that you're prepared to take?
And if not? Sanctioning President Putin? Yes.
Why not sanction him today, sir? Mr. President. Why not sanction him today?
So that was that was Caitlin Collins from CNN. And I thought that that was interesting because CNN being huge Biden cheerleaders. But you have a reporter from CNN.
Now, I don't know, maybe CNN got the notice that they have four viewers and one of them is Brian Stelter's Family. Maybe they're trying to actually go back to what they did best at one point in time, which was be actual reporters. Either that or the memo has gone out that the DNC is getting ready to get rid of Joe Biden and put Kamala Harrison. Maybe that's what happened. Because I have my suspicions.
But Caitlin Collins from CNN actually asking him why not sanction him today? And Joe Biden, you can tell, was not ready for that because she asked him again. He did not answer. He broke eye contact with her, started looking around the room and called on someone else. He refused to answer that question.
He's unprepared. He should have known that that question was going to be asked. But he's gotten away With just not answering or walking away. I mean, that's how he did his entire campaign and answer questions his entire campaign. The media elected him.
The media protected him, the swamp protected him, the FBI protected him. And and now you've got a president who's incapable. And when reporters ask him questions, he can't even get out of it gracefully. He doesn't have the ability to do that. He just stops looking at her and goes to somebody else, because I don't like the question.
You know, why not sanction him? Why not? He did talk about those sanctions. On The um on the Russian economy. But here's the thing.
The sanctions that he's imposing on the Russian economy really aren't going to hurt the Russians. The American people are going to be hurt more by these sanctions than the Russians are.
Now, here's where he talks about one of the sanctions that he talks about. Let's go to cut 17. This is where he talks about the sanctions. We're going to hit him hard, and this is what we're going to do to him. Putin is the aggressor.
Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences. Today, I'm authorizing additional strong sanctions. and new limitations on what can be exported to Russia. This is going to impose severe costs on the Russian economy, both immediately and over time.
Here's the thing Okay, so we're not going to export stuff to to Russia.
Okay. But we're still going to buy their oil and gas, so Putin can raise that up to whatever he wants, $120 a a barrel, and we'll pay it. Because we need it. Because Biden and the Democrats have stopped all drilling on public land in this country. Not they've as leases expire, they're not renewing them.
They shut down Keystone Pipeline.
So now we were an exporter of oil and gas.
Now we are importers, and one of the countries we import from is Russia.
So this doesn't hurt Putin. We're sanctioning him, but we're also paying him a lot of money. But we're going to give him a ton of money. Putin can get whatever he wants from China. If we ever shut down imports from China, man, would we be in trouble?
None of us would have underwear. We wouldn't have anything in our homes. Because everything comes from China.
So we're giving him money so he can just go to China and buy whatever he needs. Why are we doing that? Those are sanctions that we need. Those are the sanctions. we need on Putin.
Let's head to Fred Flay's cut 23. He was on Fox News at night. And He asked a very good question about Biden's sanctions versus Trump's sanctions. Joe Biden has to answer why Donald Trump's sanctions against Iran were so much stronger than Biden's sanctions against Russia, even though Russia invaded a sovereign state and killed citizens of this state. I think that's an open question.
Yeah. I think it's a question. Most people who are conscious and paying mild attention. ask, but I will tell you. And and this is something I'm sure a conversation you've had with your friends or people you know.
My liberal friends and my never Trumper friends. I had friends who were conservative, pro-Trump twenty twenty, and then they didn't like his personality. He's mean, I just don't like the way he talks to people.
So they didn't vote for him in, actually they voted for him in 2016, did not vote for him in 2020. They're all very silent now. All my friends who were political experts On Facebook and Twitter. in the lead up to the twenty twenty election. They they suddenly are quiet and they're posting pictures of their you know their new dog and their kitten.
That's what they're doing now. Very quiet. I had a conversation with a friend last night who's a lawyer and is in a very powerful law firm in New Jersey, and they're a very Democrat law firm. And most of the judges on New Jersey's courts come from their law firm. And he said, he said, you know, of course, he voted for Biden, but he swears he's not a Democrat.
And when I asked him, I'm like, why? Like, why? President Trump was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize five times for the Abraham Accords. Joe Biden got us into a war that may be a world war at the rate we're going, and he did it in a year and a half. I mean, this is kind of record time.
Well You know, he had no answers. I just didn't really like Trump's personality. I said, but he's not coming for dinner. Why do you care? But he still stands by his vote because he didn't like Trump's personality.
And think about that. There are still people like that. who th that's okay if people in the Ukraine are dying, Trump was mean. But at least he was keeping us. out of war.
Coming up, Senator Marcia Blackburn will be joining us. She's a member of the Senate Judiciary and Armed Services Committees. We're going to talk about something that she said. She quenched her terms. She said, We have a new axis of evil that is rising.
We'll find out who she says is in that access of evil and how dangerous they could be to us on the Brian Kilmeach Show. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. And I'm Mary Walter sitting in for Brian Kilmead. Joining us now, Senator Marsha Blackburn out of Tennessee, member of the Senate Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.
Senator, thank you for taking the time to join us. Oh, she's not there yet.
Okay. But we are we're working on getting her. One of the things we're going to talk about is Senator Marsha Blackburn made a comment. Up, I think, do we have her now?
Okay. Uh she made a comment. She uh and of a group group of uh different different administration members and um it w she hosted this discussion And it was a discussion about what's happening on the world stage. And she used a term that we've heard before, but she puts different people associated with this term. Senator Marcia Blackburn, welcome to the Brian Kilmeat Show.
I'm delighted to be with you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Here, you used the term new access of evil in this meeting that you had with different politicians and members of, I believe there were members of the administration in there, but you can correct me if I'm wrong. But you said a new axis of evil compromising Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea.
I mean, this is a very forceful statement. It seems to be more forceful than any statement that the administration has made. What has the reception been to your tagging of the new access of evil?
Well, Mary, this is a term I started applying about three or four years ago. to the relationship between Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea. Because it appeared to me As we continue to try to deal with China and there violations on intellectual property, the mistreatment and the genocide they were carrying out. On the Uyghurs, what they had done to the Tibetans, the way they were. I think.
Um The way they were seeking to get in here and find new business relationships. Through their Belt and Road initiative, things of that nature. You could see China beginning. to seek that relationship with Russia. Russia was an energy source.
uh Russia is someone that China was beginning to partner with on banking, etcetera. And Russia, of course, is a country that has had shrinking population growth. They have been diminishing in power.
So it seemed to be a little bit of a relationship there. Of course. Iran likes to use their proxies. to go in and create all sorts of mischief. And we all know that.
And um You had r uh Iran in that mix, and you also. had North Korea and it is kind of the bad guy over in the Pacific Rim area. When you look at how they have stayed vertical, And function in spite of the sanctions, Mary, a lot of times it is because China has propped them up. Senator, let me just interrupt you here quickly. Our connection is really bad.
If you could get closer to a window, that would be fantastic, or we can just call you back. Why don't you try to let's try to reestablish the connection?
Okay, we'll give you a call back. We'll just take a second here to give the senator a call back because she's mentioning China, and that is one of the questions I have because our DOJ, the Biden DOJ, is ending an initiative. That was started under the Trump administration in 2018 called the China Initiative. And It's it's aimed at ending Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft, which has been a big problem with China. And the reason That the Biden administration is ending this initiative.
First of all, Trump did it, so it's got to be terrible and horrible.
So, you know, we have to stop it. And I'm surprised it went on this long, that it was not ended earlier initially when Joe Biden came into office and signed that big stack of EOs.
Somebody must have missed it. But the Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Matthew Olson, announced this in a speech at George Mason University. And he said that they're scrapping the initiative. Over concerns of a perception of racism. That it creates a perception of racism.
They did an internal review and they found no indication of racial bias or prejudice. But some people think that it may be racist, so we need to get rid of this. There are some people who will see racism everywhere because you're gonna find what you're looking for, just like you don't find what you're not looking for, right?
So you're going to find what you're looking for. And those on the left are constantly looking For racism, that it's under the bed, it's everywhere, and everything that anybody does.
So they're going to scrap this. He said at George Mason University. This is a copy of a transcript of his speech. He said, We have heard concerns from the civil rights community that the China Initiative fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias. To many, that narrative suggests that the Justice Department treats people from China or of Chinese d descent differently.
The rise in anti Asian hate crime and hate incidents only heightens these concerns. The Department is keenly aware of this threat and is enhancing efforts to combat acts of hate. To me That is absolutely ludicrous. I believe we have Senator Blackburn back now. Senator, we got you back?
You have me back, and I hope this is a clearer line. This is perfect. I was just talking about, since you had mentioned China, the Biden DOJ ending the China initiative that Trump had put in place in 2018 aimed at ending Chinese espionage and property, intellectual property theft. Why in God's name? Because somebody perceives it to be racist.
This seems to be an excuse to be nice to China. Why are we doing this? It is astounding to me in the middle of all of this Russia Ukraine and you look at how we are watching to see if China is going to prop up Russia. in this amid the sanctions. And then you have Biden letting go of the investigation into their intellectual property theft.
This is just It's hard to fashion. Why they would consider doing this. China wants to be globally dominant by the time we get. to the midpoint of the century. the you know, it is China and Russia have the U.S.
as their enemy. They share that. They are our adversaries. And now you're going to have Biden go soft on China as he has been since he went into office. The decisions he has made have been wrong on so many fronts because they propped up our adversaries, giving Putin a renewal of five year without any kind of conditions for the New Start Treaty, giving him no sanctions on Nord Stream.
Those were Putin's two top asks. when you look at China. And China wants to diminish our trade. They are not buying the ag products they had promised Trump. that they were going to be that they made the deal with the Trump administration to buy.
They are not coming forward and participating in finding out the origins of COVID-19 as they felt they had to do under the previous administration. You look at the things that they are not doing. They are summing our nose at us. They didn't care about a diplomatic boycott of the Olympics because all they wanted were the corporate sponsorships and the cameras. that we're going to carry these stories all approved by the Chinese Communist Party.
to the rest of the world. And they're continuing to carry out a genocide against their fellow citizens. the Uighur Muslims. Right. Right.
But we have w and and this is you know, the other thing that this initiative did was also try to suss out the the professors in our colleges and universities that are on the take from China and funneling intellectual uh property to China, but why but we wouldn't want to do that. Th this ag brings to me, okay, what's in it for Biden? As I we have this conversation, and I can't be the only one. The undercurrent in this conversation to me is, okay, why does the big guy want to keep China happy, and Russia is another one. And he seems to be selling the Ukraine out on this one.
But what does he want to keep them happy? There's got to be a reason here, and I want to know that Republicans are going to get to the bottom of that reason.
Well, I certainly hope we do. You have to ask. Are the deals that Hunter Biden and James Biden have had with and Biden Incorporated have had with Russia, with China, and business entities in those countries? Is this the reason that Joe Biden is going to go soft? on them.
And people are just really frustrated. With this, as and I realize that. And hopefully, when we take the House and the Senate, we'll be able to restart. many of these investigations that we have had. Yeah, absolutely, because it's that you are absolutely right.
The people sitting out here outside of the Beltway bubble don't want to see Mitch McConnell go, well, you know, it happened. It's water under the bridge. We're not going to investigate. We're so tired of certain members of Congress who just want to go along to get along. And that's not what the people want.
We don't have a lot of time here. I just want to ask you. The administration is looking to divert the United States Border Patrol agents from the southern border to go assist the refugees fleeing the Ukraine. And it's called Operation Support Ukraine.
So they're looking for volunteers to assist with the possible evacuation of U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and their immediate family members from Ukraine.
Now, I guess he's trying to avoid what happened in Afghanistan, but this seems to be a day late and a dollar short to me. These people should have been in place. Americans should have been evacuated a while ago, weeks ago, if not more. And what did he say? No, we're telling you to get out.
He did the same thing. He said, we're not going to evacuate Americans from the Ukraine. They should get out now. It is just astounding. The lack of planning and preparation.
And I know that this administration, if they're doing their homework, they have read the same analysis of what was beginning to transpire in Russia and Ukraine for months. And they chose not to take an action. They made a conscious. decision. To delay sanctions, to not begin the selling of lethal aid to Ukraine, to not make an exit plan.
Everyone should have an exit plan, and they are not doing that, so just as in Afghanistan. you have had a debacle, then you are now going to see this upheaval in Ukraine. They knew Putin was going to go in. They saw the positioning of the troops. They knew there was an escalation, not a de-escalation.
They knew they were setting up field hospitals. If you know this. then you help Ukraine prepare for this. Yeah, absolutely. I realize they're not a NATO country.
We're not going to send American troops in to die for Ukraine. I understand that. But you're 100% right. There's nothing wrong with helping them. They they are an ally.
Yeah. And there's nothing wrong with helping an ally to a certain point. I don't have a problem with that, but you're right. The lack of preparation is just absolutely insane. One thing that they say in this memo asking for volunteers is that it offered a plan for COVID-19 mitigation that said workers need to either have the vaccine or natural immunity from a recent infection.
So that says to me that they know that acquired immunity, natural immunity, is very effective, if not more so, than the vaccine. Those are the reports in the studies that show that. Will they be extending that same right to the rest of us?
Well, I think one of the things that we're beginning to hear, because the CDC is going to put out new guidance on masks. today. What they're trying to do is set up A victory lap at the State of the Union, which is Tuesday, for Joe Biden.
so that he can say, I defeated COVID. And the pandemic has drawn to a close. And we now know we are going to have to learn to live with COVID.
Well, guess what? Um most of the states Made that decision long ago. A lot of our school systems made that decision long ago. Medical professionals, likewise. And so they're just a little bit late to this.
They should recognize natural immunity. And remember, when all of this started, the goal was to get to herd immunity. And one of their talking points Was as people had infection, even if they were asymptomatic. or had a very mild case. they would build that immunity and that would help.
Push the country to herd immunity, but oh no, let's not follow the science on any of this. Yeah, it's a permanent pandemic. It's so sad. I know people who have lost their jobs because they didn't want to get the vaccine and they were not offered, they were not allowed to have any kind of exemption for it. And I know people who had to take it against their will and are very upset about it.
And one of them had a reaction after the second vaccine, the second shot. It's really, really sad what they've done to the American people, but you're right, they're going to take a victory lap. But I hope Americans are smart enough to see through it. Senator Marsha Blackburn, thank you for joining us. We managed to defeat technology.
Look at that. And we beat it and we got you on. Thank you. You got it. Bye-bye.
Bye. Yeah, it's amazing what they're going to do. And you watch that she's probably absolutely right that that's exactly what they're going to do. Take a victory lap. 866-408-7669.
Your call's coming up on the Brian Kilmead Show. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. Do you regret that unilateral decision at the time?
No, no, I don't. And Neil, I think you know. that oil production and gas production in the United States Is obviously moved by world prices. As prices are going up, What you're going to see in the United States is increased oil and gas production. The slower oil and gas production here Had nothing to do with President Biden's policies.
We also need to do what President Biden wants to do, which is over time reduce our reliance on oil and gas because obviously, it's a world market. Russia has an important share of that. And there you go. That is Senator Chris Van Holland out of Maryland speaking with Neil Cavuto yesterday. And he doesn't regret it.
He was asked, Do you regret axing the Keystone pipeline? And he was like, no, I don't regret that. You heard him. I don't regret that. See, the game to them is that we're going to make you uncomfortable so that you beg for relief.
And that relief in our mind is going to be that you're going to go out and spend a lot of money on an electric car. And then, when you can't charge your electric car because the electricity's out or the electricity cost of electricity goes through the ceiling because it is not free, oh well, sorry, we're not producing oil and gas anymore. In the meantime, we'll buy it from Putin. That's the game. I'm Mary Walter, and you're listening to The Brian Kilmead Show.
Live from the Fox News Radio Studios in New York City, fresh off the set of Fox and Friends, it's America's receptive voice. Brian Killmead. Yes, I'm Mary Walter sitting in for Brian Kilmey. Glad to be with you. Joining us now, Shannon Bream.
She is a Fox News legal correspondent. She's the anchor of Fox News at Night and the author of the book Mothers and Daughters of the Bible Speak: Lessons on Faith from Nine Biblical Families. That's a new book available March 29th, and I will tell you if it's as good as the last books. It's going to be fantastic. Shannon, thank you for joining me.
It's great to be with you, Mary. Shannon, you have been very busy, I notice, because there's obviously a lot going on news-wise. I'd like to get your take on Biden's speech yesterday about the sanctions or lack thereof. One of the things that struck me about it was the question and answer period at the end. You had Caitlin Collins from CNN directly ask him why didn't you sanction Putin directly?
And he didn't answer the question.
So she asked it again, and he just went on and took a question from someone else. That, to me, was probably one of the most shocking moments of that question and answer period afterwards. What was your take on that speech yesterday in the question and answer period? You know, it's interesting that we've had plenty of reaction to it saying that what the President laid out was not strong enough. And that comes primarily from Republicans, but there's some on the left, too, saying we think the sanctions need to be tougher.
You need to go directly at Putin. There were some questions, I mean, also the question about whether or not he's talking with China to put pressure on Russia to pull back or any discussion. And he said he wouldn't speak to that publicly.
So I think there's a lot the President can't say, but I think he could do more to answer why we haven't gone after the SWIFT banking program that a lot of people think would be really, really difficult. And also oil and gas at this point. It is what feeds Russia's ability to fund whatever it's doing, including these attacks, unprovoked attacks on Ukraine.
So I think people were expecting even more from that speech yesterday, both in tone and also in substance when it came to the actual sanctions. Yeah, and you have Senator Chris Van Hollen on with Neil Caput Neil Caputo yesterday, you know, when he was asked, do you regret the decision to shut down the Keystone pipeline? And he said, No, I don't regret it. And said ultimately, well, we have to keep our focus because we need to lessen our consumption of oil and gas.
So to me, that says this isn't about sanctioning Russia because we're going to continue to buy oil and gas from them. Anthony Blinken said so. We're going to continue to buy from Russia, continue to give him money at inflated prices, all for the goal ultimately to make it so painful for Americans that we say, uncle, and we just go out and buy electric vehicles, and then when the price of electricity goes up, oh, well, at least it's green, so you should make the sacrifice. Is that what this is about? You gotta wonder, because you also have former Secretary of State, climate envoy, John Kerry, making some interesting statements, interviewed by the BBC.
I believe it was Wednesday, so it's right before the attacks actually began, but we knew this was coming and the forces were moving. That he talked in this interview about the fact, I hope that Mr. Putin won't allow this to distract us from working together on climate change. I don't want this to distract from the overall issue of climate change. I just looked at that, and honestly, the first time I saw it, I thought, is this the Babylon B?
I need to go back and see because. You know, satire is very close to reality for a lot of things right now. And indeed, my team, you know, pulled that BBC interview, and that's what he's saying. It's his main concern. I mean, we have people in Ukraine who are dying.
There will be people on both sides of this conflict who die over something that seems both in complete violation of international law and agreements and completely desperate and immoral. But to have a top-ranking U.S. official say, we hope Putin will keep keep working with us on climate change and not get distracted. I'm still trying to pick my job off the ground.
Well, he also expressed, if I remember, he also expressed in that interview with BBC Arabia, I think it is, that he's worried about the effects on the climate from the war. Because of everything that's being put into the waterways and into the air.
So he's worried. He hopes that Putin is keeping that in mind. It's like, I don't know, maybe the blood in the water is probably not a great thing, but there shouldn't be blood in the water. Maybe that's where we should be looking right now. You're right.
It's totally insanely tone deaf. Yeah, and if you think Putin is giving one thought to this at this moment, I cannot believe that Mr. Carey would actually believe that. Yeah, the disconnect is insane, but yet they will lecture us on morals. They keep telling us it's our moral responsibility to accept the pain to defend democracy.
How is this defending democracy? It doesn't seem to me like we're defending anything. They're saying it, which is what the left does so well. They put on such a good show. They really do.
They put on this great show of saying we have to defend democracy, and that's why you're going to feel pain at the pump because you have to do your part to defend democracy around the world. In the meantime, we're going to pay Vladimir Putin for oil and gas, which you can use that to buy goods and et cetera, from China, because we're not going to export anything to Russia. And we don't sanction Putin. We don't do anything serious. It's all smoke and mirrors.
Okay. Well, I keep hoping that there are things we don't know. I keep thinking, you know, I'm not in the President's daily briefings. There's got to be more to this story because I think we know what would be more painful for him is definitely to go after the oil and gas. And we have to think about our European partners.
I'm sure that is a big part of these calculations because they have a great dependence on that as well. And we've got to hold together those NATO alliances and our European allies in the midst of really, really troublesome, historically troublesome times.
So a lot of different calculations going on there. But you'll read article after article this week about how Europe, the U.S., everybody who is worried about Putin and condemns what he's doing has got to then step up and find ways to become less reliant on him when it comes to gas and oil. Right, and that is an excellent observation because it is. We hear a lot about Germany. That's why we did not ban them from SWIFT, which would hurt Putin personally, would hurt the oligarchs personally, because they're using that right now to transfer money around the world.
And we could have hit them with that and stopped that process, but we didn't. But to your point, Everyone is saying all he has to do is restart the Keystone pipeline and get those leases that you've been blocking for oil and drilling on American soil. Just overturn your EOs that overturned everything Trump was doing, and then we could promise Europe we will meet your oil and gas needs. We can do that instead of having them be reliant on Russia. We can stop buying from Russia.
That's how you hurt Vladimir Putin. But this administration seems to be tone deaf when they're trotting out Anthony Blinken and John Kerry and they're talking about climate change. It doesn't make any sense. Yeah, and they were so very direct and forceful and decisive when it came to energy policy when President Biden stepped in. You know, it was a matter of hours, it seemed to us, that the Keystone pipeline was shut down after we were told there'd be some kind of consideration.
So I don't know that this administration will have Dead. you know, uh the thought that they will So one eighty on so many things that dealt with energy policy about leases and public land and drilling and You know, all the different things they did were very specific in one direction. You know, here we are a year later, couldn't have known a year ago probably that Putin would do this exact thing. But we had to know there would be repercussions from those decisions we made.
Now, whether this administration will take that advice, and it is coming from all different quarters, like, hey, let's give the U.S. more of a chance to produce our own energy and less to buy from Iran or Russia or anywhere else that is not going to have our best intentions at heart. It seemed like there's a very persuasive argument in this moment, no matter how you feel about those things long term. To do it, I don't know if the White House is going to want to be seen doing such a public pivot, but Even if you appeal to them for their own self-interest with the midterms this year, even that may not be enough to get them to change course. I don't know.
Very quickly, since you are the expert on the Supreme Court and Constitution, et cetera, let me ask you what you think of what is rumored to be President Biden's Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer.
Sources are saying that it's Katanji Brown Jackson. She's from the U.S. District Court of Appeals in D.C., which, from what I understand, quite a few Supreme Court justices, or at least nominees, come from that court. What do we think of her? What's your assessment?
She is very well educated, very well respected. She is a sharp jurist. She has very much the same pathway as the justice that she would replace, Justice Fryer. She was his clerk. She went to Harvard, undergrad, and law school.
And she'd been sitting on a federal court, that D.C. Circuit Court, which is sort of the feeder, like the AAA court for Supreme Court justices. to come through.
So she's got everything on this thrilling resume to make it. And a closely divided Senate, she was confirmed to her federal seat less than a year ago, and she did get Republican votes then.
So I gotta think that this is not going to be an ugly confirmation battle. You know, we have all of the Supreme excuse me, all of the GOP senators today saying I will thoroughly vet her. I can't wait to meet her and talk with her. I'm going to take my duty very seriously. We see that from Senator Grassley, among those, is the former head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying this is not going to be a cakewalk, but we're going to be fair.
So I think it's going to be tough for these Republicans who voted for her less than a year ago to say I've changed my mind and there is persuasive evidence as to that, but we'll see. We have seen in the past that there are people who are vetted for lower courts. And do very well and get onto that court. And then, when you get into a Supreme Court confirmation, both sides rev up. It is a lifetime appointment, it makes a difference.
So I can I'm already getting the opposition email saying that they question her on all kinds of things, including abortion and other things.
So we'll see. I think it will be relatively mild because the votes are there for her. But the confirmation now looms. Yeah, and we're just getting word now that it is Katanji Brown Jackson confirmed by the White House that she will be the nominee.
So very interesting. Shannon, thank you so much. Always a pleasure to be able to get to speak with you. The new book, The Mothers and Daughters of the Bible, Speak: Lessons on Faith from Nine Biblical Families, available March 29th. Thank you, Shannon.
Thanks, Mary. Have a great weekend. Thank you. 866-408-7669. I got some time for some of your calls, hear from you about everything that's going on and your thoughts and opinions on this and what you're seeing in the sanctions, etc.
So I'll have that coming up on the Brian Kilmeet Show. Educating, entertaining, enlightening. You're with Brian Kilmead. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead.
According to our information, the enemy marked me as the number one target. My family is the number two target. They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state. That's Vladimir Zelensky. Obviously, the head of Ukraine, and I give him a lot of credit.
He's staying. He is not fleeing. He's like, No, I'm going to be here with my people. My people are staying to fight. I'm staying as well.
Knowing. that it it could, you know, Be the end of his life if he stays and Putin comes in and decides to just assassinate a foreign head of government. Coming up, we will try to get Trey Yingst. He is in Kyiv, but of course, obviously, that's a very fluid situation, and we will do our best to get a connection with Trey to tell us what is happening on the ground, what he is seeing. And also, we'll be joined by Susan Lee, a Fox business correspondent, to discuss the economic impacts of all of this on you, because there will be one.
And you add that with the inflation and everything, it may not be pretty.
So, hopefully, she can answer some questions for us. I want to hear from you: 86640-87669. Hank and Virginia, listening on WNIS. Hi, Hank. You are on the Brian Kilmead Show.
Oh, how you doing? Good, good, so go ahead. I just want to tell you that my girlfriend's family is actually in Kiev right now, and they were hiding in a bunker last night. And I don't know the ins and outs of it, but Hmm. The ironic thing is, those bunkers were built.
to protect the Ukrainians from an American attack. which is kind of ridiculous.
Now they're hiding in these bunkers being attacked by Russian bombs. These bombs are being dropped all over Kiev and the suburbs. Houses are on fire. And it's really sad. when Putin says The Ukrainians are like our brothers and sisters.
Now, let me ask you a question: Would you kill your brothers and sisters? It depends. I'm kidding. No, of course not. I know, that's kinda funny 'cause my brother used to tease me all the time.
But it's kinda like really the situation with China. They're they're killing the Uyghurs. Those are people within. The Russians feel that, you know, not Russians, because the Russian people love America, actually. I've been over there.
Um They are against Putin. Putin is kind of a madman, but it's kind of. And even Iran, Iran has really hurt their own people. I've heard before Senator Mashburn said that the new evil empire or the Axis. And look at North Koreans compared to the South Koreans.
It's like It's it's so True. But these four people in Kevs, they want to be part of the union. I talked to Brian a couple of weeks ago about the. the situation on january eleventh, nineteen ninety four, when Bill Clinton and I guess the envoy from Britain and they wanted to take the nuclear weapons because Ukraine had the third largest stockpile of ICBMs, and they gave them back to Russia, but under the condition that they'd be protected in some way from Russia aggression.
Well, guess what? Bill Clinton? What happened? Barack Obama 2012. What did he say?
He had a hot mic. He said, I'll have uh more flexibility after the election. Then they came in and within a year they took uh within a year a little bit over a year, they took Crimea. That would be like Mexico taking Miami. It's crazy.
And now you got Biden, the second half of the U c of uh Obama, Biden. And now now we hear President Biden saying we need to get behind uh you hear Obama saying we need to get behind Biden. Yeah. But kiss fun. Putin is already behind.
Biden in a different way, if you know what I mean. Yeah, no, I think that those are excellent points. And my heart goes out to your wife. I can't imagine what that is like to know that your family is in that situation and there is nothing you can do.
So I am so, so sorry about that. I don't think you're alone. I think there are a lot of people that are sadly in that situation as well. My prayers go out for all of them. And so I hope for the best when it comes to that, especially for your wife's family.
Thank you for sharing that. You know, I told the story earlier, and I'll tell it again just very quickly. My husband works with a lot of Russians, and they do, they can't stand Putin. And they said, American, what the Americans need to understand is that Putin is not sane. Putin doesn't think the way a normal leader would think.
Putin would sacrifice half the population of his country to get an acre of land that he wants.
So if he would just want a downtown Kiev, and that's all he wants, and he wants that city, he will. Sacrifice all the Russians to famine, to freezing to death, whatever it happened to be, because Putin does what he wants. And for the United States to think that they can hurt him financially is a joke. Hurting the Russian stock market is a joke because the Russian stock market isn't real, and Russians know that. And she said Americans should know that as well.
The American leadership should know that that's not a real stock market. Putin and the other oligarchs and people who have any money to invest in a stock market invest in the European market. They don't invest in the Russian market. That's for people who don't have a lot of money who are in Russia, and it is totally manipulated and artificial. Again, these are my husband's friends.
Talking about what they know from having lived in Russia. And have come to the United States, you know, as either as teenagers or as adults, now living in this country. And the f you know The fact that there were still Americans there, and now we're going to try to help process to evacuate them. Biden wants to send over Border Patrol volunteers to go help process Americans coming out. This should have been done a month ago.
This should have been done weeks ago at the very latest. But again, this is Afghanistan 2.0. Hopefully, we will have Trey Yingst coming up. Hopefully, we'll get a connection with him in Kyiv to let us know the latest of what's happening on the ground, what he is seeing there. That is coming up on the Brian Kilmey Show.
The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. And I'm Mary Walter sitting in for Brian Kilmead. We're waiting to hear from to get Trey Yinks live in Kyiv on the phone. We have reports, though, Fox has reports of air raid sirens going off and explosions.
So we're working to get Trey. on the phone so we can get an update of exactly what is happening. Also coming up We will speak with Susan Lee from Fox Business. And actually, we have Trey right now. Trey Yingst, thank you for joining us.
I know right now you're in a very dangerous situation. What is happening in Kiev right now? Yes, so right now air raid sirens are going off in the Ukrainian capital. This is an indicator that the Russians are continuing their air campaign against the city. It's a familiar sound now to the Ukrainian people, because the past 48 hours have been filled with, at first, anticipation and then Bloodshed.
there have been hundreds of people killed so far. We don't have the exact numbers on a death toll because we understand the Ukrainians are sort of lagging the time that they put out how many soldiers and civilians have been killed. But all of this is ongoing here in not only the Ukrainian capital, but across this country. Russian forces are coming in from the south, from the north, and from the northeast. And there is no indication they plan to stop this assault anytime soon.
Now, w w was that expected that they would be coming in from three different sides? Were the Ukrainian people prepared for that? The Ukrainian people and Ukrainian military knew this was a possibility, but it was very much considered the worst case scenario. Everyone that we talked to. Really didn't believe that this level of assault would take place.
And even as journalists who cover conflict around the world, we had trouble wrapping our mind around what it would look like to see a European capital. With air raid sirens blaring and airstrikes taking place and tanks. Rolling on the streets leading to the city. And that's exactly what we are seeing today. Ukrainian officials say that Russian forces have now breached.
City limits. of a European capital with tanks and artillery units and soldiers. And we are now living amid this conflict, and our job is to report it out to our viewers and our listeners. I can't even imagine what this has to be like. I've seen some of the pictures and stuff, and it's just absolutely gut-wrenching.
I want to ask you about the civilians. I'm sure a lot of people ask you about the military part of this, but when I see this, for me, I look at the people and I look at the innocent Ukrainians and the children, and I see them crowded into subways, w a lot of them saying they didn't know where to go. Was there a lack of preparation for that, for the civilians to have a place to go, to evacuate, to be safe? We were in the metro system of Kyiv today speaking with these families who are underground. And they are sleeping.
in these Tunnels because it's the only place they feel they can get away from possible air raids or bombings that would take place here and have been taking place here. The level of preparation varied. And in terms of places for civilians to go, the city was actually pretty good about opening up bomb shelters and access to these facilities in anticipation of a worst case scenario. there will be people who reflect on what happened and how all of this came together and likely criticize the Ukrainians for their level of military preparedness. From what we've seen though, there were drills, there was a level of training taking place Publicly, though, officials sort of downplayed the possibility of this worst case scenario taking place.
Earlier this month, I spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and I asked him about the intelligence that Ukrainian officials hat. and how that compares to the American Intel and the Western intelligence. And he basically said, look, we have different intel. But the American intel was that this full scale invasion was going to take place.
Now whether he was trying to downplay the scenario and the situation in order to keep the calm in his country or whether he genuinely was looking at different pieces of information, we may not know in the short term. But What we do know is that Ukraine is under attack right now from Russian forces from multiple directions. And our colleagues at the Pentagon, Jennifer Griffin and Lucas Tomlinson, who is in country in Ukraine, he's in Lviv in the western part of the country. They can report today that U.S. officials say.
An amphibious assault on the country has now started with the possibility of thousands of Russian forces coming from the Sea of Azov.
So this is unraveling quite quickly. It's an extremely volatile situation, very dangerous for the civilians on the ground. And while there are some conversations about peace and negotiations, the reality is that. is going to be very difficult to achieve because you have Russian President Putin who does not care about international norms. He doesn't care about international law.
He doesn't care about human rights. And he has shown that through his actions. There is evidence to support that. Oh, absolutely. We know that the Ukrainian people were armed if they wanted to fight, that they were given weapons.
Are the Ukrainian people actually doing that and firing on Russian troops as they come into their cities? We are told that the Interior Minister has handed out in the past twenty-four hours 18,000 weapons to civilians. And People that we speak to in the streets of Kyiv, the capital, have said they are willing to fight. We met a man today in Maidan Square, where the uprising took place in 2014. And He's an English teacher, and he said to me, I'm not so good with weapons, but I will take a knife and I will slaughter those Russian pigs.
And that is Jarring. The words there are filled with emotion and anger and fear. But That's how people feel here. They understand that their livelihood and their home is under attack. And even this man who is an English teacher, we haven't even talked about this story on air, but I think it's a perfect representative example of the people that we've spoken with.
He said these words to me, and you could feel his sense of anger and frustration about the situation. And Then before he left, he said, I'm off to go pray now. I'm going to church. Oh, my God. And it was like, wow.
I mean, this is consuming his life, and he is such an example of what people are going through here. In thirty seconds, because I know I have to let you go, thirty seconds, is there any kind of response from the Ukrainians about what Joe Biden had to say yesterday and the quote unquote sanctions he put on Russia? Um There's a real understanding here that the Ukrainian people are running out of time. President Biden yesterday, while he is pushing for heavy sanctions against President Putin's inner circle, and this will. affect those people, those oligarchs.
Go ahead. cash cows of of Moscow. The reality is that these people don't have thirty days. President Biden said we want to see in a month and reevaluate basically what effect this has on Putin's behavior. The clock is ticking.
The capital city is under assault as we speak. Russian forces are firing from the air and from the ground. in civilian areas. And many people will die every day that goes by that President Putin doesn't change his mind. And is it pressured enough to change his behavior?
is another day that innocent Ukrainians will die. Unbelievable. Trey Yingst, Fox News Forum correspondent in Kyiv, thank you for connecting with us. Thank you for doing what you do. I personally think you're insane, but somebody's got to do it.
And I thank people like you who do it because we get the truth and we find out what's really happening and we don't just get propaganda.
So thank you for that, and please stay safe. Exactly. Thank you. Coming up, Susan Lee from Fox Business. Let's find out how all of this is going to affect you and your wallet coming up next on the Brian Kilmead Show.
Newsmakers and newsbreakers, hear it first on the Brian Kilmead Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmead. Russia has invaded Ukraine, and here are the consequences. Your 401k has taken another big hit.
As the market sells off, the pension money of around 100 million people is threatened. You will soon be paying more at the pump and at the grocery store. As the price of an oil hits one hundred dollars a barrel, okay, ninety seven now, one hundred a few moments ago, energy price inflation is going to kick in. And when energy goes up, everything goes up. That is the financial fallout.
Everyone pays more. Stuart Varney from the Fox Business Channel. And joining us also, Fox Business correspondent Susan Lee is here with us. Susan, thank you for joining us. Hi, Mary.
How are you? I'm doing great, but I hear that, you know, I'm looking at all of this, and I think we all look at the market. We all look at the cost of goods. I noticed a pound of bacon that was on sale was on sale because it's no longer a pound, it's 12 ounces. My husband brought it home and he's like, Did you notice this?
And I look and go, Oh my gosh, it's not a pound of bacon. It's only 12 ounces of bacon.
So the price really didn't go down. It wasn't really a sale. But we're all noticing those things. How much worse is it going to get because of this war? How is that going to affect us in our wallets?
Well, look, I think the consensus is that oil is going to cross $100 a barrel, West Texas. And what that means for us at the pump is that we're definitely going to see at least $4 a gallon in the next few weeks, maybe $5 a gallon by Memorial Day, which is what Gas Buddy is predicting right now.
So gas prices, as we know, big expenditure for a lot of folks that are just lining up to fill up their gas tanks to get to work each and every day. And that's a reason why today we also saw consumer sentiment, which is a gauge as to how me and you, or you and me, Mary, are feeling about the economy. And that was pretty poor and very weak. I think it was almost down to an 11-month low.
So, consumers are definitely feeling it, and that has an impact, as you know, on the broader economy. Yeah, of course. And the Democrats seem to be doubling down on not opening up drilling here. Would that actually really solve the problem? If we got everything flowing through the Keystone pipeline again, if these leases that have been either denied or put on hold to drill on public lands, as in a lot of the basically the program that President Trump had, that Joe Biden just overturned with the swipe of a pen, if he went back on that, would that be enough to mitigate the problem in this country?
And would it be enough to ship to Europe so that they also deprive Putin of the money from the sale of oil and gas? Yeah, because it is incredible that despite the fact that we have these sanctions, tough sanctions, according to the White House, that statistically we are still seeing Europe and even parts of the U.S. buying Russian oil and gas.
Now, yesterday, I was a very good person. I saw some of the statistics in terms of how much of a supply cushion we have here in the U.S., and there really isn't a buffer, which means that oil prices are definitely going higher from here.
So, some of the stats I saw was that crude stocks in the SPR down to the lowest since 2002, Mary, and the Midwest crude stocks falling to the lowest since 2015 last week, and cushing Oklahoma with the lowest supplies that we've seen since September 2018.
So, there isn't that buffer to protect us against maybe a cutoff or a smaller amount of production in global oil markets, and that means we need to brace for higher prices to come. Yeah, I'm not quite sure why I have to feel the pain because there's a war in Europe. I'm a little curious as to how that works, especially when we were energy independent not that long ago. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And what also doesn't make sense to me is the political aspect of this.
And I know it's not really your wheelhouse, but it doesn't really make sense to me that the Democrats would be doubling down on this. Chris Van Holland coming out and saying he doesn't regret the shutting down of the Keystone Pipeline because we can't take our eye off of green energy. John Kerry talking about how he hopes Putin takes into consideration the effect of the climate with the effect on the climate with war. Anthony Blinken saying that no, we're going to continue to buy from Russia. It seems to me as if they realize they're going to take a shellacking in November, so they figure, oh, let's just blow the whole thing up.
Yeah, and you're propping up dictators around the world as well.
So, yes, you know, I would agree with you on that because I think there has to be a calculus. Involved that this green energy, this climate change, or the windmills we're going to build, that takes time to ramp. It's not instantaneous. And in the meantime, what do you do? You're paying governments around the world, like Saudi Arabia and Russia, for their oil and gas assets.
So, yeah, I think there needs to probably be a rethink in terms of how quickly this ramps up and where we are in that cycle. Yesterday, Liz Clayman, I was going to play this as Cut 25. I would just want you to hear this. This is Liz Clavin yesterday on Fox Business talking about the market and where it was before Biden gave his speech and where it was after Biden gave his speech. Take a look at the VIX, or volatility index, which measures investor fear.
Before the president began speaking, it was high anxiety time. The VIX spiked 10%. It has now reversed and is slightly negative by about a quarter of a percent. Pretty stunning intraday of the SP 500. You see the steep drop at the open on the left side of the screen, falling to as low as 41.19.
We are now for that's the Dow, but if we were looking at the SP, we would be at the moment at 42.40.
So a real comeback here. What did Joe Biden say that put such faith in the markets? I'm shocked.
Well, those are pretty tough sanctions. Just historically, you've seen what happened with Huawei when they were cut off from high-tech supplies and exports, namely chips here in the U.S. Huawei in China was brought to its knees. And you heard Joe Biden yesterday in that press conference announcing those sanctions, saying that he expects high-tech imports and exports to Russia will be down by 50%, which is pretty significant. Also, I think there's been a thinking: if Russia is investing in this Ukraine occupation and invasion, you have to remember back in the 1980s when the USSR, the Soviet Union, tried to do this in Afghanistan and almost bankrupted and it did bankrupt the totalitarian regime back then.
So people are thinking, well, does Russia and has Putin calculated how much this Ukraine occupation will cost? Look, going into war, that's not the big expenditure. It's taking over a country and then, of course, occupying it for years. That's going to cost a lot.
So that's the thinking on the markets. Also, there was also a thinking that, okay, so if we do have this Ukraine war, does that put off, and maybe does it give an out for the Federal Reserve and the Central Bank to put off higher interest rates? Maybe they won't raise rates nine times this year. Maybe it'll just be four or five. And for Wall Street, that's good enough.
I just have about a minute and a half here. Last night, Tucker talked about the Russians taking the dollar from their wealth fund. And I just want to ask you if it's true and will it help mitigate and will it help mitigate the sanctions on them? Here's Tucker. Russia, in response to sanctions, completely removed the U.S.
dollar, its assets, from its sovereign wealth fund, its national wealth fund. The Chinese noticed, they understand exactly how this works, and in their effort to displace the United States, they are strongly in favor of it. China is trying to become the first major country in the world whose central bank issues sovereign digital currency. If that works and many efforts like it, it would be a huge loss for the United States, an irreplaceable loss that would change this country forever, much more. than an invasion of Ukraine.
So is it true, and will it help mitigate the sanctions on Russia? And we have about a minute and a half. Yes.
So I will say that the Bruble collapse, so it's down to a record low, and you saw the interest rates rise and spike some 15 percent for Russia yesterday.
Now, China this morning, and I think China probably is key in this. You heard that President Xi Jinping of China held a call with Russian President Putin, and that's why markets are rallying today because it looks like China might be pushing Putin back to the negotiating table. But the thinking globally is that if Russia is cut off from their European neighbors by the US and North America, that China will be there and probably the major superpower to backstop Russia, meaning they'll buy their oil and gas still. And could there be an alternative financial system that they could build together outside of SWIFT, which I know is still being negotiated about whether or not to boot? Mm-hmm.
To beat Russia and Putin out of that. And then you add in anonymous hacking into their systems, declaring war on Russia, which could actually work in our favor. Not that I agree with those types of things, but I think that's the new way we wage wars. Susan Lee, thank you very much for unraveling it all for us. Very complicated, and unfortunately, we're all going to pay more.
That's basically where we are. I'm Mary Walter, and you're listening to the Brian Killley Show. Put the power of over 100 meteorologists and the worldwide resources of Fox in your hands with the Fox Weather Podcast. Precise, personal, powerful. Subscribe and listen now at FoxNewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.