It's official: Ukraine gets our tanks PLUS: Bipartisan outrage over Biden docs

From Hayatop Fox News Headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kill Me. Hey, thanks so much for being here, everybody. It's the Brian Kill Me Show. General Keith Kellogg coming on in about 30 minutes to talk about the latest revelations when it comes to Ukraine.

We saw a hail of rockets last night because of the change in philosophy from the West. We'll discuss that. President of the United States making a major economic address, he says, in Virginia today, at which times, unbelievably, he's going to, instead of talking about his policy, talk about how bad Republican policies would be. Does he know that we're not in the election season right now? I have a better suggestion.

I'll get to it shortly, but let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three, sponsored by Crunch Fitness. Interested in owning your own business in a growing $30 billion industry? Check out CrunchFitness at Crunch.com. Number three. He was suspended for two years from using Facebook and Instagram, and that two-year-old.

Expires now this month. And so we're confirming that if he wants to, he can, in the coming weeks, he can use Facebook and Instagram again.

Well, let's talk about this. Facebook lifts Trump's ban. Should he go back? And do you believe them when they say they're not a political platform? I do not.

Number two. Today, I'm announcing that the United States will be sending thirty one Abram tanks to Ukraine.

So we're also giving Ukraine the parts and equipment necessary to effectively sustain these tanks on the battlefield. It's official. Ukraine gets our tanks. Germany, Sweden, and Poland give theirs, as well as the 11-month war prepares for an increase in intensity this spring. And Zelensky asks for planes and long-range attackums.

That's what they're called. Why don't we just give them all they need to win rather than to not lose? Number one. Lack of detail and a timeline on when we're going to get a briefing. I'm frustrated the administration continues to stonewall on such a simple question.

And I'm not the only one, it's not just Republican. It's a good question. It is bipartisan. Rare bipartisan outrage as the White House refuses to discuss the contents of their classified document discovery, as the Senate threatens to stop all work until Biden complies. The definition of standoff has ensued.

So, what are we talking about?

So, we know about Mike Pence, and CNN's reporting that Mike Pence's classified documents that he turned over had something to do with a briefing before he met with a leader of another nation.

Okay, now we know, and let's see if it's confirmed. It probably is. The next thing we learn is 323 secret documents. from Mar-a-Lago that they say is too highly classified for the President that former President to have. He says I should have him.

We know roughly about the contents about that, but they are getting briefed on the Intelligence Committee about what Trump had. Got it.

Now, when it comes to Biden. Finding documents in his garage next to his Corvette, in his house, two different locations, in his office, now being cleaned out, and of course in over the weekend in Wilmington.

So. We'd just like to find out what's in them.

Now, they're not going to tell me, they're not going to tell you. But when it comes to the Intelligence Committee, which is now 5149, the Senate, it belongs to. Democrats? You'd expect them to come clean. But they're not.

And Mark Warners as chairman of the intelligence committee, and I believe me, I got problems with him. Said this yesterday, cut three. I'm very disappointed. With the uh lack of detail and a timeline. On when we're going to get a briefing, not on anything dealing with criminality.

That's an appropriate Department of Justice. responsibility. But it is our responsibility to make sure that we in his role of the intelligent oversight, know if there's been any intelligence compromised. Yeah, how about that? How about the fact that we still don't understand how he had sent it top secret documents, classified documents?

discovered at his place. We don't know what they contend what they are. You know, maybe it's some old deceits leader, old foreign policy of Garland. That could be a problem. Don't you think?

WikiLeaks, when all that got out, that was an issue, wasn't it? When Eric Snowden put all that information out, that was an issue. He had to go to Russia. First to, I think, Hong Kong and then to Russia.

So I don't get it. As Senator Warner would go on to say. He said, I have all that Russian information, the top secret Russian information about what they were doing with President Trump. I was able to get that. Why can't I get this?

By the way, all that stuff was false, and a lot of his leaks came from him, and the press conferences were not by. Uh the Republican Uh They were from Warner. And Warner, evidently, in retrospect. Like Adam Schiff in my view. was making stuff up.

But still, You usually be able to White House would believe give Democrats in the Senate a legitimate. Briefing.

So here's Senator Tom Cotton on that briefing and the frustration, and what they will do if they don't find out what exactly. was exposed by irresponsibility of President Biden and his staff, cut four. I'm frustrated the administration continues to stonewall on such a simple question. And I'm not the only one. It's not just Republicans.

It is bipartisan, and it has been for some time, that the administration won't simply provide documents that Congress has a right and our oversight responsibilities to review and form our independent judgment about the risk they pose to national security.

So he went on to say, until the administration stops stonewalling Congress, there will be pain as a consequence. Number one, no ambassadors, no nominees will go forward at all, but Democrats have to buy into it. Here's Marco Rubio, who knows all about intelligence, cut five. It was a very unsatisfying hearing. I think I speak for every member of the committee.

The position the DNI has taken on this topic is untenable. It cannot be that their answer is that we can't tell you. What was discovered until the special counsel allows us to tell you. The information we're asking for has no bearing whatsoever. It would interfere in no way with a criminal investigation.

All right, so we'll see where that stands and see if they're going to come off it. This was supposed to be a White House who was so experienced the adults are back in the in control. All right. Mm-hmm.

So far, I don't see it. And I think the weekend comes up.

So Friday or Saturday, we'll find out what's happened at the Rehoboth house because he's going to be in Camp David and what he was able to take out ahead of time. Because I don't trust that they haven't moved everything else because it's such an embarrassment. But what do you think about the documents? Maybe you don't think it's a big deal. Maybe you want to focus on the economy.

He's not taking questions from anybody about anything. In his press conference yesterday, he just basically just ate every word, nine minutes. He forgot the name of his Secretary of Defense. He also called Ukraine the aggressor. Unbelievable that this guy's in charge.

So we announced yesterday, and it's pretty significant, here is the present, cut 10. Today, I'm announcing that the United States will be sending 31 Abram tanks to Ukraine. the equivalent of one Ukrainian battalion. The Avrium tanks are the most capable tanks in the world. They're also extremely complex to operate and maintain.

So we're also giving Ukraine the parts and equipment necessary to effectively sustain these tanks on the battlefield. Now the thing is, I don't know why, it's hard to put them in bubble wrap and just send them over. Yeah, you got to train them. I understand that, but just send them over. If you're going to say, you're going to send over 30, just do it.

Why is that necessary? Because the Germans are so spooked by Russia. They say that we don't want to be the only ones to send tanks. And most people with tanks have our leopards too, like Poland and Estonia and others. And if they're going to send tanks, it's going to be ours, and it's going to make us look bad.

And I'm scared to death of it. What happened to the German fight? Who knows? Spine's gone.

So he said, well, let the Americans send. He goes, all right, I give. You're getting thirty-one.

Now, they've already lost 400 over the past 11 months, so I don't know how far 31 goes. It's going to be pretty hard to blow up an Abrams tank, though. What they bring to the table is like something no one's seen, although it hasn't been modernized in quite some time. They did not want to give it away, but now that not so much they want to give it away, they knew how long it would train. They knew how you got to be able to fix it, you got to be able to use it, you got to be able to keep it in operation.

So that's why. The Defense Department was saying that they weren't going to do this. Here's Sabrina Singh just last week, CUD13. The Abrams are a, it's more of a sustainment issue. I mean, this is a tank that requires jet fuel, whereas the Leopard and the Challenger, it's a different engine.

They require diesel, it's a little bit easier to maintain. The maintenance and the high cost that it would take to maintain an Abrams is just doesn't make sense to provide that to the Ukrainians at this moment.

Okay, oops, we are.

So yesterday in response, the Russians sent rocket after rocket into Kyiv, blowing up infrastructure and people. That's what they do best. These are the cowards. These are ruthless cowards. They can't fight.

They took all the money that was supposed to go to the Defense Department, and people put it in their own wallets or their own bank accounts or sold it off. They don't train. Uh but what they do is they can bludgeon. And that's what they're doing. And I understand there's some really smart people who think this war is not worth it.

If you think for a second that Russia is not going to go take Moldova, take Georgia right after they keep 15% right now that they have of Ukraine, you're not paying attention, or you're just putting your head in the sand and saying we got too many problems here.

Well, the problems over there are going to be our problems for the feared next generation. Which you're always bringing up. What about spending grandchildren's money? What about making the world a more dangerous place because you don't want to put your foot on the gas and let the Ukrainians continue to fight? Just arm them with what they need to be successful.

Don't give them what they need not to. Be destroyed. Because it's torturous. They're better fighters, they're better equipped, they're more motivated, they're more. Uh they're more Uh adaptive in the battlefield.

They're more determined. And I think they're really emblematic of how to fight. Tactically, they're so superior, they deserve better. Uh so finally This will free up Germany to do what they're supposed to do.

So, what do you think? I know an increasing amount of people are saying, yeah, this Ukraine war is not for me. 1866-408-7669. Yeah, the border's a mess. It's not for me.

Nothing to do with it. One is totally irresponsible. That's the president of the United States, who says, I don't really care about our sovereignty. Uh It doesn't mean that Ukraine winning and pushing Russia out of their country is not very much in our interest. Any weakness Uh and if you can't Fill up our coffers.

With the missiles and rockets that we sent over, from javelins to cruise missiles to tanks now, whatever it is. These are American companies. commission the replenishing of everything we used. American companies will prosper, they will continue to hire, the Defense Department will continue to spend, and it helps our country defend. You listen to the Brain Kill Me Show.

When we come back, I will take your calls. We will open it up even more and talk about what happened for President Trump. He is on a bit of a roll. I'll explain. Don't move.

Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. 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.

It's the Ben Dominich Podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to FoxNewsPodcasts.com. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmead. Where we draw the line is, as a general principle, we're a private company, we're a private tech company, we're not a political entity, we don't try and make decisions which sort of you know, help or hinder one side or the other.

We believe in free and open debate, particularly in the world's most powerful democracy.

So that is interesting. Yesterday, another great interview from Brett Baer. He was talking to Facebook, Meta, whatever you want to call it, Nick Clegg, where he announced that we are letting Donald Trump after a two-year ban get back on. Get back on Facebook. I think he needs it.

Listen, he's running for re-election. If he didn't, it would just be, well, wouldn't it be interesting to hear what Donald Trump has to say and finally get back on? But think about it. The foreign president's on a bit of a roll. This revelation that Mike Pence, as especially President Biden, took all these upper-level classified documents from various irresponsible locations, really puts him in the clear of Mar-a-Lago.

You know, this New York thing, he wrote a check for $1.7 million, and it's totally a political power play. And $1.7 million is, for you and I, $1.70 for him. And that goes out of the headlines for now. And then it's up to Georgia. That's the big problem with him.

And if they're going to press charges and indict a former president, I actually don't see it from the legal experts I talk to, and that could come down any day. And if he's exonerated from that, and then he has South Carolina in appearance in South Carolina with the governor as well as Senator Lindsey Graham, and then he's going to go over to New Hampshire.

So he's getting going. And we'll see what happens. There's another story that all the big donors are not excited about him running again. But if he continues to win in all the polls. And also shows a nuance, a finesse to his message.

Beat Trump But do not bring up twenty twenty any more. While moving forward and talking about lauding what Georgia has done with their election law. Not going out of his way to make war with other Republicans that didn't support him. not taking swings at And Nikki Haley until she gets in, then you could do it in a, I think, a better way. I think Republicans are not comfortable with him going after DeSantis.

I think he might have got that message. I think there's going to be when Tim Scott gets in and I think he's getting in. I think if you try to bludgeon Tim Scott, That's a problem because what you're doing is you're making Family members pick between who their favorite cousin is when they want to like all of them. Jonathan lists on W DBO. Hey, Jonathan.

Good morning, Brian. How are you today? Thank you for taking my call again. Good. First off, do you think Trump should go back on Facebook?

I mean, he's got his own platform. Trump on Facebook, I don't see the reason he was kicked off in the first place. As we know now of what we they say he did, wasn't the case. All right, so what do you think about Ukraine? You you disagree with me?

You think we should be out of there? I do not believe we should be continuously supplying Them with the arms that we continue to send over. You're talking 31 Abrams. Before it was money. Here's the money.

Then it was handheld missile defense systems or anti-aircraft systems. Here you go.

Now it's, hey, give us our anti-missile defense systems. Here you go.

Tanks.

Now they're talking about F-16s. Where does it end? That's the question. Where does it end? So, Jonathan, nothing you said is inaccurate, and I totally understand your frustration.

But. This is with the administration how they're screwing this up. If you say, I'm going to help you guys win it because Russia is our enemy, and we watch them through their history. All they do is try to bleed into Europe.

So, everybody who has any sense of history there, we go back a couple hundred, they go back over a thousand.

So, they have the history, the Germans have their history, a little freaked out by what Russia can do. But they're doing it. They moved into Georgia. We know they took Crimea. We know they went back into the Middle East.

We know they're trying to mess with all the Baltic nations with their elections through cyber attacks.

So, now they are our enemy. There's no nuance there. They are our enemy. And when they move into the Ukraine, They are whatever how imperfect their democracy is, they're just saying we're going to carve up this country and then we're going to take Moldova, and then we're going to start going back and finishing off Georgia.

So you have a chance to stop the next generation from stopping and emboldened Russia, who's going to absorb Ukraine's natural resources.

Now, if Joe Biden had any tactical people around him, he would say, we're in. Here's the F-16s. Here's the Abrams. This is the Patriot missile system. Here's the High Mars.

Here's the Attack'ems. And we would have given him to him nine months ago, once. Replenish, repair, train. That's it. If they had had that, they probably wouldn't even have taken this much of the country and Ukraine would have been back.

But you're making America vote over and over again on this, making people like you, Jonathan and Orlando, say, what the hell are we doing? How would you feel if they just said we're into support, here's what you need? Instead, they're allowing them to not lose instead of win. No, I Agree with you. It's the would we rather have one big punch in the mouth now or little punches throughout years over time?

I'll take the one punch. Let's do it. Let's get on with it. Give them the materials. Move on.

This, but. The piecemail money grab, I'm not for it. But we got to have an audit. I'm with you. They got Deloitte and they're auditing.

Everything's got to be audited. We have to have people on the ground following the money. Follow the money, make sure it's going to the fighting people. And I don't mind rebuilding infrastructure because they need heat, they need lights. That to me is not a waste.

So, thanks, Jonathan. I understand your concern, but in my view, you have to see the big picture. Listen, when we come back, I will be able to talk to. General Kellogg about this. about his strategy.

And this guy was actually working with Ukraine. But four years of President Trump. And knows exactly the pitfalls of the fight and how the Russians have been overblown and how they're being exposed. But who can win a war of attrition? General Kellogg on that.

Brian Kilmicha. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Killmead Show. The idea that we're going to turn the table and allow the Ukraine to go on the offensive when they really haven't been able to do that in any large-scale section other than the once area in Kharkiv, in the areas where Russia has been contesting, they have not succeeded there. And I just don't see any path militarily for Russia to be, or for Ukraine to be able to drive Russia out.

And then you have to ask the question: if that's the case, then what is our end state? What is our goal and objective? And I'm going to be honest with you, I don't see one. That is, oh wow. That is General Davis last night with Tucker.

No, actually, it wasn't with Tucker. Was it with Laura? Laura Ingram. I'll have to see what he's on, but there's a lot of generals that don't think this war is worth it and think it's a big waste of money. I cannot believe that, and I don't believe that, although I respect everyone's opinion.

Let's bring in General Keith Kellogg, former National Security Advisor to Vice President Pence, former chief of staff of the National Security Council in the Trump administration, author of War by Other Means, a general in the Trump White House.

So. Lieutenant General Kellogg, welcome back. Your thoughts about our decision to give 30 Abrams over. Yeah, Brian, first of all, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.

I think it's a good idea. I'm glad we did it. Look, I just came back. I mean, I got in last night from I spent almost two weeks there in Ukraine traveling around almost exclusively in the eastern area. You know, I went over from Kharkiv to Um uh near Khassan and Odessa uh Odessa and up to Kiev and Bucha and places like that.

And I got a pretty good feel for it, what they're doing and how they're they're you know preparing for war. And I would I did that at the behest of the Met Weatherman Foundation, which is a 501 that focuses on democracy. And they allowed me to travel and travel. pretty extensively. Look.

The Ukrainians are not asking Brian for any US people on the ground. All they want is the kit to fight, and they're fighting very, very well. They're taking enormous casualties.

So are the Russians out there. But there is an opportunity for the Ukrainians to win this as long as one we give them the kit that they've been asking for repeatedly. From the alliance, and we have been very, very slow in giving it to them. We kind of give it drips and draps. And the second is we have to train them up for what I call combined arms warfare.

And I think they can break through with the Russians. Russians extended everything they've got as well. They're basically, if you thought of it in a sports analogy, they're probably on their second or third team by now because their first team has been mauled pretty badly. In the fighting. I mean, this fighting, Brian, we're talking about the Ukrainians publicly talking about losing 100,000 soldiers killed.

The Russians have got to have lost at least 150,000 killed. Think about that. Those numbers are extraordinary when you think about the carnage there. But can they do it? The answer is yes, they can.

I talked to military, I talked to governmental, I talked to civilian. I had a good talk with a lot of Americans over there who are finding one that's called the Foreign Legion. These are Americans who've left the United States and gone to fight alongside the Ukrainians. Got a really good feel for it out there. And as long as we give them the kit, I think they can push the Russians out.

Well, let me ask some. We hear they took Solidar, another small town.

So they are they seem to be making some progress. It looks like the the Ukrainians have pulled out.

Now we're about to give them Abrams. They're about to get the they're about to get the German tanks.

So, if they get the yeah, the leopard two.

So, if they get the German tanks, they've already lost over 400 tanks. We're talking about giving them 30, and then the leopard ones, what, a couple of dozen? Are they going to make that much of a difference?

Well, no, they won't they won't, Brian. It's a great point because the fact is that's a battalion's word. And the Germans are going to give me battalions with. They're k you need brigades worth to fight this fight and combine natural width. And the reason they're pulled out of Soldar is is primarily because of the Wagner Group, which is a paramilitary organization, very, very closely aligned with Putin, because Pregozin's the guy who run it and he was close to him.

It was human waves tactics. I talked to somebody who was physically there He was the operations officer for one of the units there. sat down and had a long talk with him and he said they came at him in waves. and it was a nutrition fight. I mean, we said they would kill the first wave, they'd kill the second wave, and they just count coming and coming.

And finally, the Ukrainians said, we can't get into a nutrition fight. And they're right. They've got to be in more of a maneuver fight in there. And they just said, we're not going to do this, you know, go one for one, one for one. That's how the Russians used to fight.

But we've got to give them more kit. You can't give them just a battalion of Abrams tanks or a battalion of Leopard II tanks. You need to give them brigades worth. And then you train them up for it. And they can be very, very tactical about it.

And I think they're very, very good about it. They're very interestingly enough, when you looked at the two organizations, the Russians and the Ukrainians, Ukrainians fight in a Western way because we've been teaching that for the last 12 years. And Russians still fight the way they fought before. And I think the the initiative that you see with Ukrainians that are willing to fight, they can turn this.

Now I've got to be honest with you, it's going to be a near-run thing, and it's going to start probably in the spring, go probably in the spring and the summer and then by the fall. And if they don't win this by the fall, my concern, Brian, is then you're into a true attrition fight in a year, two years down the line. And this is something that puts the Ukrainians on their back foot because you can't withstand an attrition fight. You've got to fight on the ground. And they're by the way, they're not asking to go to Moscow.

What they're talking about is they're they're talking about evicting Russian forces from Ukraine.

Now the reason why I think that's important to the United States Is geopolitically, they're fighting the war that we thought we were going to have to fight 20 or 30 years ago with the Warsaw Pact. And it doesn't hurt. The for the Ukrainians to beat the Russians because that defeats one of the enemies we've always faced. And then we can actually pivot to China, where we're supposed to be pivoting to for a long time.

So there's a lot of good for this. And for people to say they haven't wanted, these are the same people who said that Ukraine was going to fall within three, four, five days, and they haven't. And they've proven everybody wrong. And I was, again, Brian, I was out there on the ground last week and the week before, and you talk to them, you talk to the soldiers out there. You can't discount the fighting hard.

And I'll tell you, across the board, they hate the Russians. And what the Russians have done to them is going to take generations to overcome. And so they're going to fight for their nation. Do we just have to help them out? If we're serious about beating the Russians, get in that Ukraine.

We need to help them out.

So they fired a whole bunch of people in the Zelensky government for people that don't, and a lot of Republicans don't want to fund this war anymore. That's exactly what they were looking for. They're looking to see corruption. What can you tell me about the corruption and does Zelensky attack it effectively? Yeah, it's a great point.

Honestly, there was an organization called the Freedom House, which kind of looks at governments across the board. And they put the Ukraine about in the middle of where it's at. They're not at the top, they're not at the bottom. But Zelensky's taking very positive measures to get rid of these people. One of these guys was a deputy foreign when we were in Kyiv.

It was one of their deputy defense ministers, and they got rid of him. And he's trying to work it hard. But hey, look, he's doing more in the last three years. And it's a six-year term form. He's done the last few years than they've done in the last 15, 20, 30 years before that.

Is it slow to be done? The answer is, of course, it's slow. But they're making a hard effort to do it, and they're tracking it. And I had a wonderful chance to talk to senior defense officials there, and they acknowledge that. Million dollars, they've got it.

Button it up and they've acknowledged they've got a traffic equipment better.

So they acknowledge they've got a problem. They're not running from it. They didn't turn around and say, oh no, we've got no corruption here. Brian, they admit it. They're trying to fix it.

They're going after it. And we should acknowledge that. I mean, every nation's got its issues. And I give them credit for that, and I'm giving them credit for being honest with me, and they were very honest. about what they're trying to do.

So I guess it's one of those things. The only thing is, General, as you know, this is such a worthy cause, but the thing that would ruin it is if we find out some oligarchs or some officials are putting this money that we're giving them into their bank accounts, That would destroy the whole that would that would wreck NATO support. Oh, absolutely, Brian. And I think that's the reason they address it. And I think that Zelensky's addressing it as well.

They understand that they're very savvy. They understand the political sport, where it's coming from, and pushback on it. And they understand that, and they're trying to address it as hard as they can. And again, I was there, they got rid of a couple of them that are there. But it's a great point, Brian.

You bring up a wonderful point, and you're absolutely correct on that. And they have to address it at the same time they're fighting it.

So it's a kind of a whole of government issue. They have to fight corruption, have to fight oligarchs, and have to fight the Russians at the same time. But I'm fairly positive on this, that they can do it. We just have to play the long game. My concern is we don't have an end state.

We have an president. Biden has not told the American people, this is our end state in Ukraine. He needs to do that. When he says whatever it takes, as long as it takes, that's a bumper sticker. That's not a policy.

And he needs to get out there and tell the American people what needs to get done. He hasn't done anything. I think he goes after these murder people.

Well, I'll tell you what, there was a Ukraine official that says Moscow is going to and these Russian cities are going to start feeling the pain that we're feeling. They sit back and they feel like they're not in the line of fire. They're going to feel it. How do you feel about some of the fire and maybe some activities going on in Russian cities to put the pressure on them? Could that actually happen?

Yeah, he could be if we gave them the correct missile, but I wouldn't so much say go out to the Russian cities. What they need the arms to do is.

Well, I'm not telling them to do it. I'm saying that they're going to do it. They plan on doing it. No, that's what I mean. They're going to do it.

But what they're trying to do is they're actually attacking logistics centers and supply lines that the Russians are using sort of like a sanctuary and bring it in. They're not talking about attacking cities. You know, the Russians are attacking cities. They just did it again last night. When they put a bunch of missiles into Kiev.

Ukrainians are not attacking cities, they're attacking logistics depots. And I think that's what they need to do out there. And they're trying to make the pain of being felt on the military and not the civilians. What Putin's trying to do is break the Ukrainian, you know, the steadiness they've got in their civilians by attacking cities. That's the worst idea I've ever heard of because, frankly, all it's doing is pissing them off.

When I was there in Kharkiv, you know, it was amazing. It's a city of a million and a half, Ryan. And it was totally blacked out at night. It was the weirdest thing you'd ever seen. You just sit there in the hotel we were in, had generator power, but there was nobody in there in the hotel except for us.

And you look at it and you go, you look at major cities, think about that, totally blacked out because Putin's attacked your infrastructure. And they're not doing that.

So I think you're on the right track to do it. But I think we owe it. This is a huge discussion that our government owes the American people. We need to sit down and talk about it and make that hard decision. You know, it's sort of like in the military, I used to kid people about a river crossing operation.

You know, when you go from the near side to the far side, crossing the river under combat, you don't get to the middle of the river and say, I wonder if this is a good idea or not. We're into the river. We're halfway across it. Whether we like it or not, Brian, we're a proxy to this war by all the equipment we've given them. And the Russians know that, and we should at least acknowledge that.

Well, when we get the Patriots in place and they get those tanks in place, they're looking to repel an almost guaranteed Russian offensive. Here's what Jennifer Griffin said last night about the thought: well, with these tanks, cut 15. The reason there's a rush right now is that the U.S. knows that Russia is preparing an offensive, a spring offensive, in February-March timeframe. They want the Ukrainians to be prepared for that.

They want to help shorten this war by giving the Ukrainians all they need in terms of tanks and military equipment so that they can make gains by the summer. And then, hopefully, the Russians will realize they can't win this war and come to the negotiating table. That would certainly be helpful, but it's hard to know if Vladimir Putin is feeling any pressure. Yeah, but but Jennifer's wrong in one thing. She said we want to give them, quote, all they need.

We're not doing that, Brian. You thirty one Brad thirty one Abrams tanks is a battalion They're fighting brigades, regiments and divisions of the r of the Russians. And we're not giving them what they need. You know, you need to really pull basically all the stops out.

Somebody's going to go on the offensive, and the Russians will go on the offensive, but they're not as good as they used to be. Their top-line units have been mauled. When you look at they've replaced five generals now, the fifth general, Gerasimov, is their latest senior leader. And they can blunt it. But Brian, here's the thing: people need to realize.

The Ukrainians are not going to the negotiating table. I'm telling you, I've talked to them, spent time with them, talked to senior leaders. There's not a single one of them who talks about negotiating right now. This is a fight, in my opinion, Brian. This is a fight to the finish.

In Ukraine. And this is going to, and Jennifer's right in one regard. Is there going to be a spring offensive? I think there's going to be two. There's going to be an offensive by the Russians, and there's going to be an offensive by the Ukrainians.

And it's going to be one of those things where it's a heavyweight fight in the middle of the ring. And she was going to get knocked out. We were with Klitschko, you know, the mayor of Kiev, and who's about six, seven, massive guy. And you look at him and he says, We're going to fight this out. He's a fighter, he knows, and I think that's what we need to expect here in the next two, three months.

Well, I hear you. We'll see what takes place. I do think, though, too. We should give them the F-16s and decide right for all how far we will go. And if we could just do it all at once, it makes it politically untenable for the biggest supporters of this war, especially on the right, to continue to have to vote and bring over billions and vote and decide what equipment.

They want F-16s and they want attack'ems. But they're worried, the Americans are, we are, that they're going to use ATAC'ems to start hitting Russian cities. What assurances could they give the U.S. that they'll keep it to. Oh, it's hitting Russian forces, not Russia.

Well, they haven't Brian and it's by the way, it's another great question. They won't do it. They've said they weren't going to do it. They have not done that before. They haven't attacked Russian cities at all in the last 11 months of the war where the Russians have done it.

It's almost like we keep saying, give me the guarantee, give me the guarantee. They've said they're not going to do it. They're not going to waste that ammunition to do it. They're going to look at military targets. It's almost like, guys, give them the stuff.

All right. And by the way, on the other side, the Russians started this war with Ukraine. And they don't force Ukrainians to fight with one hand behind their back. We shouldn't do it. We should understand the geostrategic importance of this fight and acknowledge that.

Look, I'm a big America first guy. And when this first started, I said, you know, there's ways we could have prevented this. We didn't prevent it.

Now we're into it. But once is to use the hockey term, Once you drop gloves and get into a fight, I'm all in. You want to fight me?

Okay, we'll fight. Once you make that decision, it's game on. And I think we need to acknowledge that. And we haven't done it. It's almost like we're almost walking around, well.

You know, maybe we should, maybe we shouldn't. That decision has been made. And I look at the cities, and I saw the cities that have been damaged and destroyed. when we went out to ISIM which is which is which was a a small city of 50,000 now has 7,000 people in it. looked at virtually the entire city is destroyed and they attack hospitals.

They attacked six of the eleven schools were there. They've used schools deliberately targeting the schools and deliberately targeting the hospitals. That's something we would never do. And so quit pushing down the Ukrainians, push harder on the Russians. General, I'll give you great credit.

Go over that war zone and see for yourself.

So I really appreciate your first-hand review. General Keith Kellogg, thanks so much. Thanks, Brian. Thanks for having me. You got it.

We come back your turn. Gave you a lot of information this hour: 1-866-408-7669. And the bigger question, and we'll go through some of the Facebook comments from when we go Facebook Live. Should Trump go back on Facebook or just kind of grind it out the way he's doing it? This is the Brian Kilmead Show.

Don't move. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Kilmead. The city of Philadelphia is facing a severe shortage of lifeguards for their municipal balls this summer. They're so desperate for lifeguards that they're saying it's okay for people to apply for the job even if they don't know how to swim.

Lifeguards who don't know how to swim. Yeah. That's what you want to hear from a lifeguard as you're screaming for help. Oh, nothing I can do really. You're in the deep end.

Kyle, Can you swim? Same, me neither! Honestly though, it's an improvement. Before this, Philly only hired lifeguards who heckled you while you drowned. That's so funny.

Gary, listening in Indiana. Hey, Gary. Hey, you know, I just two comments. If Trump continues to act like a fifth grader during the primary, I will not vote for him again. But the second point I wanted to talk about the Ukraine war, And this is a simple illustration, but we all know it.

If you take the police out of any city, Large or small. There's gonna be nothing but chaos. And this applies also. to the world we live in today. I think the United Nations have to reframe their purpose and understand that there's going to be aggression around the world.

And the United Nations, not just the USA, but the United Nations has to realize that they have to police The planet. Yeah, the blue helmet. I know. Gary, unfortunately, there's nobody like us. We're going to have to lead.

The United Nations doesn't have trained people. We're going to have to do all the training of international forces. And in those international forces, there are going to be people saying, well, oh, oh, yeah, I'm on the international force, but I think China should have Taiwan. I'm on the international force, but I think North Korea is getting a raw deal.

So that's the problem. That's why we get together with other countries and we debate it out. But if now you're asking them to fight it out, I don't think we can get agreement. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Kill Meet Show. I'm so glad you're here. We come to you from 48th and 6 in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, heard around the world. Mark Thiessen's just getting out of the shower.

He wants me to buy some time. You know him, a Washington Post columnist, Fox News contributor. And Johan Harari, you might not know him, but you definitely love his topic. Best-selling author, book stolen focus, why you can't pay attention and how to think deeply again and what it means. It has a lot to do with that iPhone that's probably in your hand or in your pocket.

So, how to get your life back and how you're being manipulated. And what the price you pay is you can never relax, you never feel like you're done. And for the most part, you're not setting your own agenda.

So, we'll talk about that with Mark Thiessen and Johan Harari. Today, we know the president's going to make it in about two hours. He's going to make a speech about the economy as he sees it, but instead of talking about his plan, he's going to talk about how bad the Republican plans are. Isn't that nice? I have an idea.

I'll share it with you in a moment, but let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. He was suspended for two years from using Facebook and Instagram, and that two-year clock expires now this month. And so we're confirming that if he wants to, he can, in the coming weeks, he can use Facebook and Instagram again.

Facebook lifts the Trump band. Should he go back? And do you believe them when they say they are not a political platform? I do not. Number two.

Today, I'm announcing that the United States will be sending thirty one Abram tanks to Ukraine.

So we're also giving Ukraine the parts and equipment necessary to effectively sustain these tanks on the battlefield. What about directions? 31, it's official. Ukraine gets our tanks, some of them. Germany and Sweden and Poland give theirs as well.

The 11-month war prepares for an increase in intensity come late winter spring. And Zelensky asked for planes and long-range attackums. Why not? Why don't we just give them what they need to win instead of to not lose? Number I'm very disappointed with the Lack of detail and a timeline on when we're going to get a briefing.

I'm frustrated the administration continues to stonewall on such a simple question. And I'm not the only one, it's not just Republicans, it is bipartisan. Rare bipartisan outrage of the White House's refusal to discuss the contents of their classified document discovery at the Senate says the Senate threatens to stop all work until Biden complies. The definition of a standoff has ensued. That means no nominations, no hearings.

Everything stops until they tell us what exactly you had in your garage, in your house, at that office, and other places. Who knows what else? From dating back to your Senate years and your vice presidential days. Let's bring in Mark Thiessen. Mark, how do you feel about the Senate standoff?

Are you buying that it's truly bipartisan? I mean, I'm sure that there are A lot of Senator is a Democratic senator. possible classified information or Okay. At getting dragged into this because now people are asking them, Do you take classified information home? What's in your garage?

And most of them don't. Joe Biden, for Joe Biden to, I could understand as a former vice president where you have a skiff in your home when you're the vice president of the United States, right?

So you have classified documents in your home because you're vice president 24 hours a day, you're one heartbeat away from the presidency. For a senator, he has to take that stuff. Physically, in a briefcase or a box or something out of Capitol Hill and to his home in order for those documents to get there. Nobody does that. Nobody does that.

And for especially for the higher level classified stuff, it's not it's not like he's got a safe in his office and he's and he's like lawyer ha senators don't keep classified documents in their offices. You know, the for the the Foreign Relations Committee that he served in the staff, they have some classified documents, they have a safe, they have a secure room in there like that. But Biden's personal office, no, he didn't have that stuff. He had to go into a skiff in the b in the ba in the basement of the Capitol and you have to like literally sign, you know, sign in, sign out, sh go through Senate security, you're not have to show your you even have to leave your notes. In the Senate Security Office.

You can't even, like, if you have a briefing, a classified briefing, and you take notes, you can't take your notes out of the SCIF. The notes stay there.

So how did this stuff get out?

So I think a lot of senators are like, H what the heck was he doing? Right. And then in comes the Mike Pence revelation, and it looks like, according to CNN, that the papers that he has had to do with the briefing to prepare him for a meeting was going to have of a world leader.

So, I'm not saying it's right, but a lot different. And we don't even know the length. We know the highest level of classification for Joe Biden.

So, two differences.

So, two differences with the Mike Pence case. Number one, Mike Pence, as soon as he found out about it, immediately informed the Justice Department and informed the public right away. Joe Biden found out about this in November. And he didn't, and he never informed the public, it was only when it leaked that they finally confirmed it.

So he was completely, it was the opposite of transparency. And, second of all, Joe Biden has documents from his days in the Senate, which was fifteen years ago. He arrived in the Senate in 1973. We're talking about decades of mishandling classified information in the case of Joe Biden.

So it's far worse than anything that Mike Pence may have done as an inadvertent mistake. All right, so here is Joe Biden yesterday, cut 11. We'll begin to train the Ukrainian troops on these issues of sustainment, logistics and maintenance as soon as possible. Delivering these tanks to the field is going to take time. Time that we'll see, we'll use to make sure the Ukrainians are fully prepared to integrate the Abram tanks into their defenses.

So the President meandered his way through a nine-minute address, at which time he called the Ukrainians aggressors and forgot the name of his Secretary of Defense.

So I feel great about that.

So with this a lot of people are saying, why are we getting involved?

Well, I said, why are we only sending thirty one? And now we find out that the Germans are going to send a dozen.

So what are we going to need? It looks like Ukraine's already lost four hundred tanks.

So is this the beginning of really enforcing them?

So, number one, the reason we're doing this is to give the Germans cover so that they can send the leopard tanks, which is what the Ukrainians really need, and they need it quickly.

So, the leopard tanks are going to go from Germany quickly. It also frees up that Poland and other countries that have leopard tanks. If Poland wants to send leopard tanks to Ukraine, they have to get Germany's permission because that's part of the deal when you buy foreign military products that they have that.

So, this is going to unleash immediately a bunch of leopard tanks going into Ukraine, which is going to help the Ukrainians enormously. And then, you know, the Abrams tanks are very complicated to run. It's going to take some training like that.

So, hopefully, they'll be on the way. It would have been nice if we had made this decision nine months ago when the Ukrainians first asked about it, because then they'd already be arriving and all the training would have taken place. It's like Joe Biden, you know, when I did my 10 best, 10, every year I do for the Washington Post, I do the 10 best things the president did, the 10 worst things the president did. And my number one best and worst thing. worst thing for both lists was Ukraine.

Because on one hand, Joe Biden has saved Ukraine. If it wasn't for the military support we're providing them, Kyiv would have fallen. Ukraine would have been subsumed by Russia and all the rest of it. But at the same time, he's been so, every step of the way, he drags his feet. And the result is it's taken longer for the Ukrainians to liberate territory.

It's taking thousands of Ukrainians. Why did we not give them Patriot missile systems like nine months ago? How many residential neighborhoods and schools and hospitals have been destroyed because they didn't have the air defenses to protect them? Like, why are all these decisions taking so long? It's like he does the right thing in the end.

He eventually does it, but he takes so long to do it. Why don't they just figure out, let's just take the, let's take the straps off of this and just give them everything because we're going to do it eventually. They want to tack him now. They're going to do it. Uh do they need long-range attack'ems?

And they want F-16s.

So let's just give it to 'em. Here's the thing. Here's the one thing the Ukrainians are not asking for: American troops. They're willing to fight and die for their own country. They just need the help.

They're asking us to do for them what Ronald Reagan did as president when he supported freedom fighters around the world. You know, one thing that Donald Trump and Ronald Reagan have in common is they're the last two presidents who didn't send, except for Grenada, didn't send American troops into combat in foreign lands, right? But Ronald Reagan. Gave free he knew we had to confront Russian expansionism, so he came up with a strategy called the Reagan Doctrine, which is that we're not going to send American troops to fight everywhere. After Vietnam, nobody wanted to send American troops to fight everywhere.

We're going to help freedom fighters around the world who are willing to fight and die for their own countries fight our enemies for us.

So Russia. What Universities are asking us to do? Yeah, I want you. A lot of people, especially on the right, are not for funding anymore. I was with J.D.

Vance today, not agreeing with him.

So he listened to Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Davis with Laura Ingram last night, CUD 18. The idea that we're going to turn the table and allow Ukraine to go on the offensive when they really haven't been able to do that in any large-scale section other than the one area in Kharkiv, in the areas where Russia has been contesting, they have not succeeded there. And I just don't see any path militarily for Russia to be, or for Ukraine to be able to drive Russia out. And then you have to ask the question, if that's the case, then what is our end state? What is our goal and objective?

And I'm going to be honest with you. yeah I don't see one Okay, do you want to answer him, Mark? That's flat wrong. It's just flat wrong. I mean, I trust Jack Keene, who says that they can do it with the right equipment.

We haven't been giving them the kind of equipment they need to do it. You know, we're only giving them what we gave them these Himars, but they secretly modified them so they can't fire long-range missiles. We're making the Ukrainians fight with one hand tied behind their back. If you want to take back territory, guess what? You need tanks.

It's called combined, you know, and so of course they can do it. And I just don't understand. These people on the right who are opposed to helping the Ukrainians fight our enemies for us. I get that they don't want to send American troops. which, you know, after, and the people think that Iraq and Afghanistan was a mistake and that we don't want to send American troops around the world, but they're channeling their inner Ted Kennedy.

They're doing the same thing that the Democrats did when they opposed the Reagan defense buildup, when they opposed Contra aid, when this opposed aid to the Mujahideen to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, which is what led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, when they opposed aid to the Angolan freedom fighters in Africa. Ronald Reagan was supporting freedom fighters all around the world. It was Ted Kennedy and liberal Democrats who were opposing them. And now we've got people who call themselves conservatives who instead of channeling their inner Ronald Reagan are channeling their inner Ted Kennedy. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Isolation, it's an isolation tendency. I do want to have make the audit. It's left wing. Right, but I do want to make sure that it's audited, make sure the money's going to the right place. Sure.

And we saw what happened.

So this other story is, where's Israel in this? I mean, Israel is so concerned about Syria, and I get it. And the Russians let them do whatever they want in Syria, bombing Iran and all the terrorists. That are sitting there, I understand it, but we have asked them to take an old Hawk anti-aircraft missile system that they've warehoused and give it to Ukraine. And they're not doing it.

I mean, uh, how uh, is Netanyahu gonna change paths and understand who the good guys are? Or give it back to us so we can give it to Ukraine. I mean, there's lots of ways to do this. I mean, look, I understand Israel's concerns. This is a small country surrounded by venomous adversaries who want to destroy it, and that that's their primary concern.

I get that. But this is a country. led by a the a Jewish president. You know, a lot of a lot of Israelis are people who escaped pogroms in Ukraine, and now you got this country led by a Jewish Ukrainian president who is fighting against Russia for the survival of his nation. And the fact that the Jewish state is not helping him or even even remotely in doing that is really disappointing.

It can't stand. I mean, Netanyahu said, Yeah, we'll see what happens when I get in there.

Well, you're in there.

So uh change. Because you have to understand. I understand your welfare too, but also understand too that Iran. has these killer drones that are going to be very effective if they want to start using them on Israel.

So, maybe we could get the missile defense to stop those drones from looking so effective in Ukraine. And lastly, Kevin McCarthy has come out very strong out of that horrendous multi-round voting voterama. And due to a couple of things that he's done, he has kicked off Adam Schiff and Eric Suelo off intelligence, and Elon Omar is going to get a vote to kick him off foreign policy. How do you feel about this? 100% correct.

The fact that the Democrats didn't kick Elon Omar off of her committees is appalling. This is a woman who is a virulent anti-Semite. This is a woman who actually has. Held up, forced Nancy Pelosi to pull funding for the Iron Dome, which is what protects Israeli civilians from Hamas missiles, out of the Omnibus spending bill a couple of years ago, and forced her to find another way to fund it. She says that support for Israel is all about the Benjamin.

She accuses members of Congress who support Israel of dual loyalty. She is a bigot.

Okay, the idea that she would serve on the committee that helped set U.S. policy towards the Middle East and towards Israel is an absolute disgrace. And the fact that the Democrats didn't kick her off the committees after some of the things she said, even when they condemned them, is appalling. As for Adam Schiff and Swalwell, these are two of the most appalling people I've ever seen in Congress. They abused their positions on the intelligence committee to suggest that they had seen secret evidence that Donald Trump was a Russian agent.

That he had conspired with the Russian government to steal the 2016 election. They were saying to the American people, I can't tell you what the information is because it's secret and it's in the intelligence committee, but I've seen it and this is a conspiracy beyond Watergate. Swalwell actually said that Trump was a Russian agent, like in the 1940s when we had Reds in the State Department. This is what they said. And it turned out to all be a lie.

No kidding. All of it be a lie. And while Swalwell was saying those things, Brian. He was accusing Trump of being an agent of a foreign power. He was having a relationship with the agent of a foreign power in the form of a Chinese spy named Fang Fang.

And he knew that he had been informed by the FBI that she was a Chinese spy while he was making the accusations against Trump. These people should not be allowed anywhere near classified information. Any woman who has the same first name as last name, Ori has intrigues my suspicion. I think it was Christine Fang, but her nickname was Fang Fang. Hmm.

Okay. Should Trump get back on Facebook? Sure, why not? He's running for president. I mean, I'm just not for censorship.

Gotcha. I'm not going to censor you, Mark, but I am up against the break.

So don't think I'm cutting you off. I know you have important things to say. All right, I believe you're going to be. I'm going to cut my off. I was in the shower.

Good. Now you're out of the shower. I had a tap dance until you were out. Mark Thiessen, thanks so much. We come back to your calls, I promise.

Get out of the shower. Giving you everything you need to know. You're with Brian Kilmead. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Show.

Hey, we're back just a couple of minutes here. Let's go on to very patient Jerry, who's on WDBO. Hey, Jerry. Hi Brian, how are you? Great, which are your mind?

So I've got a couple of points. The general you had on You can't. Yeah, Kellogg, you just let him ramble all these talking points. And Like we trust you. Your job is to like what's Who's this guy work for?

Hey, General Kellogg didn't pay. Listen, Jerry, pay attention because who he works for is for a group that sent him over to check out what's going on. He's lieutenant general. Not only was he read into the most highest intelligence in Ukraine for four years with Trump, he just went on the ground and went to 12 separate cities and talked to the highest officials there. And with his experience in the battlefield, he came back with that assessment.

You don't come back with talking points from the battlefield. If you don't agree with them, that's one thing. But why would I bring somebody on and tell them what to say and cut them off? No, no, no. I expect you to vet that guy and follow what he's doing.

Totally vetted. I'm glad you asked. Read his book, been on about 12 times, know him personally. Is that vetted enough? Yeah.

It doesn't satisfy me, but I can appreciate it. All right, Jerry, thanks for the call. I mean, if a guy goes into Ukraine and comes back with a report and has thirty two years in the military, What more credibility do you need? He worked for this horrible person called Donald Trump, and then before that he worked for President Bush. He has experience on the battlefield.

He likes that we're supporting Ukraine, but he says it's too slow. It's not up to me. to say if he's lying. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmeade.

Hey, we are back. 1-866-408-7669. We're waiting to. We're trying to get older Johan Harari. He's going to be on here, we imagine, shortly.

The author of. Stolen focus. And he you might have seen him on One Nation. By the way, on One Nation on Saturday night, you gotta wa you gotta watch. We have a great lineup.

You know, Vivek Ramaswamy is gonna break down with this brand new technology of this AI technology that can actually People, educators, are concerned because it could actually write papers for you, write books for you, for anybody, and you got to know what's real and what's not. Also, should the President of the United States, former President, get back on Facebook? He's a digital entrepreneur. The other thing we're going to be talking about is Matt Taibbi, just was over in San Francisco going through another tranche of Twitter. Communications to see what was actually going on behind the scenes leading up to the 2020 election.

And I had a chance to talk to him off camera yesterday. Extremely insightful. You're going to love that segment. And then we're going to have a lot of best stuff. This is coming up on the one-year anniversary of the show called One Nation.

So we have a look back at some of the funner stuff, some of the more interesting things that took place. And our first guest will be Tim Scott. You know, Tim Scott, the senator from South Carolina, is interesting because the President of the United States this Saturday will be in South Carolina. Tim Scott's going to be on me. The governor of South Carolina will be there with the president.

Lindsey Graham will be there with the former president. Then he's going to go to New Hampshire. But Tim Scott won. I think he and Nikki Haley, normally, if he was the nominee, they would have been there. They would have been leading the charge.

They would have been in the pregame show. But they're both thinking about running. I think they both are running.

So that'll be interesting. And then we'll find out probably in the spring if Governor Ron DeSantis is in.

So far, he is leading DeSantis' second in this Emerson poll, and now this Breitbart poll. Trump's got to get 30-point lead. But not he doesn't have. is donors. The big name donors all meeting to pick a new leader of the RNC.

Whether it's going to be Rodney McDaniel or Harmee Dillon, one or the other. They're all picking this new leader, and Donald Trump put in 99 of the 156 members. They have not committed to him, and I don't think they should. If you're going to have a true primary process, we're not used to that. Al Gore didn't lose and run the next time.

John Kerry didn't get the nomination, lose and run the next time. John McCain didn't get the nomination and run the next time. Mitt Romney got the nomination, didn't win, and didn't run again.

So now we're watching Donald Trump have it, win, lose, and now he's going back. I think he's got to earn it. I think if you. If you asked him, he'd rather have it outright, but he doesn't mind a good fight.

So they're going to be deciding who's up for 2024. It makes it a consequential weekend. What I don't understand is the President of the United States today. The President of the United States is going to speak about the economy, but instead of doing anything that's really going to help the country or Talk about it or forecast what he needs to do, what we need to do, and what we've done, which he could actually do right now because with three months from the midterm election, he has not admitted or even said, I'm running for reelection.

So you can come out there. This is what I would do if I was him. Here's the areas in which I'm happy: the labor market. But I am getting concerned that the labor is slowing down. I'm looking at a rash of layoffs from 3M.

To uh to IBM. Laying off a lot of people at Google. I'm worried about those numbers, so keep that in mind. I think the Fed is going to lay off on the interest rates. Thanks for that, Mr.

President. And then I'm going to talk about the economic growth. That's what I'll do. What concerns me, if I was the president, I'd say is a lot of these prices with inflation at 6% and things like eggs above that, with the numbers in gas ticking up. I'm concerned, and here's what I'm doing about it.

But instead he's going to say Republicans are proposing a fair tax of 20% on all goods. Instead, Republicans are talking about massive cuts off. Uh social programs. And they're giving him, he's going to focus on what Republicans will do and talk about trickle-down economics, which is ridiculous. No one's even bringing that up, even though I believe in it.

And then the other thing I would do for the president of the United States, and I'd say, listen. We get challenges. We spent too much money during the pandemic, and then with my spending progress, we have not, in his view. uh benefited at all from what happened because he thinks it's all delayed. No infrastructure.

Uh none of this stuff has been done. I said eventually we'd be happy to get more jobs and get these airports rebuilt and these roads redone. What I would do if I was him is I would focus compared to the rest of the countries. that we are competing with. say compared to Europe, their inflation is X.

Compared to Europe, their unemployment is higher. Compared to China, where they've lost they're losing more people than ever before in a pandemic that they thrust on the world, they are now looking at the worst growth they've had since nineteen seventies. And then I would say as much as Japan has got great inflation numbers, about 2%, their growth is flat, and yet they want to build the military. And that's what you do with a true, honest economic speech when you want to be leader of a country, not leader of your party.

So that's why I find it unbelievably frustrating to think that he's going to give a speech like that.

So, and he's not. I mean, that's what he's going to do. He's going to talk about MAGA Republicans again because he thinks he was successful in the midterms in doing that. Mr. President, You were successful in the midterms because you and the Vice President were invisible.

You nobody wanted you. To campaign.

Now, the midterms are not usually good for a sitting president. But especially for you. We could we still can't get Afghanistan out of our minds. And the incompetent way in which you handle it. And how you sacrificed our national profile and our military prowess.

All right, so while we wait to get the country code and get to Johan Harari, I believe he's in the UK, I'm going to talk about what's happening. We talked about the war, but I want to talk about what's happening with Facebook. Nick Clegg is the. Current president of Meta. of global affairs.

He was on with Brett last night Not only just talking about letting Trump on, but what he did when Trump was on. Here he is, cut twenty-six.

So on the Hunter Biden story, other platforms, I think it was Twitter, sort of just deleted the story altogether. We didn't. You could still find the story. Millions of people did. But for seven days, the prominence of the story was less for those seven days.

It's just part of the way our systems work to allow our fact checkers. We have a network of independent fact checkers to look at the story if they wanted to. They didn't. And after seven days, that what's called in the jargon, that temporary demotion was taken off.

So we didn't remove it. People could find it. Many people saw it on Facebook. We were simply following the rules by which our systems currently operate. Not buying it.

Especially what we now know about Twitter. You went out of your way from pressure from the FBI, who's all over you, to make sure this story didn't see any light. And you heard Mark Zuckerberg with Joe Rogan saying we were given a heads up by the FBI that something like this was going to happen, and when it popped up, we knew exactly what to do. I expect him to spin, but you've had two years to get your story straight. I'm not hearing it.

Cut twenty-five He was suspended for two years from using Facebook and Instagram, and that two-year closed. expires now this month. And so we're confirming that if he wants to, he can in the coming weeks he can use Facebook and in Instagram again. I mean, of course, there are guardrails, there are rules. He's got to play by the rules.

And we're announcing some additional ones today to encourage him to stick to the rules that exist when people use Facebook and Instagram. At the end of the day, we believe the American people should hear from, including on our apps and services, from those who want to lead them.

So The problem is Donald Trump did push the envelope. And evidently the new rules are you can talk about 2020. You can't say 2024 is going to be corrupt. That's what you can say. Evidently you can come back and say it was all rigged and that.

And I don't think if Donald Trump is writing that, he's going to lose.

So, if he's talking about everything that he did compared to Joe Biden, it's not going to be the case.

So Molly Hennenberg, who sat there and wrote a book called Rigged, listened to that and was on the panel last night. And she also is on with Laura. Here's what he says she said on the panel, cut twenty four. I just was shocked at how mendacious he was in that interview actually to say we don't want to be political. We did nothing to suppress the Hunter Biden story.

This is just flat out wrong. They deplatformed the sitting president of the United States of America. And it's not just that he's running for office and could be a future president. They did that while he was in office. They engaged in widespread censorship of all sorts of debate.

In America, we do believe in free debate and freedom of speech. Facebook and Meta have been key players in the war on free speech. It's been a demonstrable harm to the country. And they did deplatform that Hunter Biden story. And I couldn't believe that he was pretending otherwise.

Right. Uh so you could say that he didn't do it, but We know the FBI was pressuring them in a way they better not again. But there's no, I'm not convinced they're not going to try. You know, it was interesting. I was talking about Taibbi getting ready for the interview over this weekend, and one thing was pretty clear: the FBI was putting so much pressure on the social media companies, no matter what they thought about Donald Trump, they were essentially saying, I cannot possibly keep up with your request.

Back off. And what also is pretty clear is even the highest executive, highest educated people out in Silicon Valley don't understand the concept of a First Amendment. Hey, I don't agree with what Trump just did. I don't agree with how the country voted. I don't agree that the election's fixed, but people have a right to say it.

You know, besides the responsibility of don't yell fire in a crowded firehouse. Got it.

So Essentially, they're back he's back on. While Twitter might be something the President reconsiders, Later. I don't expect him to get on now because of his obligation with Truth Social. I think he understands Facebook meant a lot to him. And I think he gets back on.

The question is when he gets back on. One thing he does miss the heat that he generated from those platforms. The one thing I think is not is the President's not clear on the Foreign President is he does not necessarily have that type of wind at his back. And controversial in his midst. Believe me, CNN and MSNBC can't wait for him to get back in the fray.

But so far, Not being a decision maker. We'll see what happens at the rallies. Finally. I also thought Nick Clay talked about the future. of what it might look like.

in the future. And he says, looking ahead, Well, here is what he what he questioned about this virtual reality. A lot of people say we're going to be putting on goggles and you can see virtual reality, put you on stage at a big concert. You'll feel like you're there at a big game. He thinks the thing is going to be on the end of our nose, cut twenty seven.

Every parent is different. I just make sure, like all parents, and you try and do this with monosyllabic grumpy teenagers in particular, you try and keep the channels of communication open so they talk to you about what they're looking at. I think it's you know, we have on Facebook and Instagram now much, much better parental control, so particularly for teens. Parents, obviously, with the consent of the teens, can really see exactly who they're communicating with, what kind of content they're looking at. And we totally accept that this is a wholly legitimate area of scrutiny and questioning from Congress.

We understand we have heavy responsibilities in this area.

So yeah, he went on to talk about the virtual reality thing that's going to be coming down.

Well, that's what Matt is built uh building his whole future around. When we come back, I'll take some calls, find out if there's more to know and then look around the bend and find out what's the one issue that brought Democratic senators and Republican senators together yesterday will review it. Brian Kilmead Show. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. The more you listen, the more you'll know.

It's Brian Kilmead. Last night, President Biden hosted a reception of new House members at the White House, but dozens of Republicans boycotted the event over the required COVID protocols. They skipped the reception. Can you imagine? caring about anything enough to boycott an open bar.

Not every new Republican House member boycotted the event over COVID protocols. George Santos said he couldn't attend because he was the starting point guard for the Knicks last night. That's funny. But he did say that he was got a full scholarship to Baruch to play volleyball. He also named said he has a new Treasury Secretary.

When he named him, they came up, caught up with the guy, goes, I am not his new Treasury Secretary. I don't know how this guy survives. I think he also said that he manages $80 million, and the address they put in was like the same shopping center as a Dollar Tree being. Is he basically trolling us at this point? It is.

Even though I saw another headline about him saying they were shocked because his first speech on the House floor was actually completely, factually accurate. It was. It was. Wow. We'll see.

Hey, so it makes you wonder if there's more to know. More to know. Sponsored by Unplugged. Reclaim your privacy from big tech snooping with Unplugged. Visit unplugged.com.

So, Benjamin Hall, about a year ago, was at, was doing what he does best, and that goes into a war zone to report. At which time the Ukraine war was starting, Kyiv was being besieged, and it blew up his car. It killed his photographer, it killed his producer, and he lost. He lost his feet, he lost one arm, and he's battled all the way back. He joined us today to announce you can pre-order his book, Benjamin Hall's book, and what it took to get him out, and what he's actually been through over the last year.

He looks great. Here's a little of those moments. But then Improbably. Out of this crippling nothingness a figure came through and I heard a familiar voice, as real as anything I'd ever known. Daddy.

You've got to get out of the car. And In that moment when it happened, I was totally out. I was very badly injured. I'd had shrapnel in the eye and in the throat, and I saw my own daughters, my young daughters, and they brought me back and I found the strength. I opened my eyes and I managed to crawl out of the car.

And then the third bomb hit the car itself. And if it weren't for them bringing me back, there's no way I would be here today. And I'm alive and I was saved thanks to them and I was saved thanks to Pierre, our cameraman, who had gotten out of the car just before me. And the two of us lay there for about forty minutes and talked. He passed away.

But the journey that continued was about me being saved, and I was saved after that by Save Our Allies and American veterans, former Special Forces, who risked their own lives to come into the middle of a war zone and get me out. It was a covert way. I mean, an incredible story. And then I was saved by the US military, who said if I could make it to Poland, they would be ready to take me into their arms. And a black hawk was waiting when I finally, days later, found a way out.

And then I was in the military medicine facilities, first in Landstrule, then in San Antonio, Texas. And I was in this incredible team of doctors and nurses who helped all the wounded out of Afghanistan and Iraq. And they rebuilt me. They rebuilt me physically and mentally. They gave me such strength.

And so for me, this book is about being saved. It's being saved by all these people. It's pretty amazing.

So, to get to Landstule, to know that Save Our Allies would get him to the border and the Pentagon would take him the rest of the way. If he was at a hospital in Ukraine, he probably would not have survived. And to know that I had no idea until he came on today that Pierre. Uh is a long time shooter who's been in more war zones. Uh was alive for 45 more minutes.

So that's unbelievable. What he said, I'm sure, is all chronicled in his brand new book. But I'm sure he's going to be reporting for us. He's going to be a regular scene. Today was his first time back on live television since he was bombed in Kyiv.

And man, he's no stranger. The first time Benjamin Holt joined us, he was on the radio show. I believe we were the first. I think we were the first one to interview him because he was doing work. And his story in Syria, when he was covering ISIS, this brand new terror organization, was in the New York Post.

And I thought to myself, can we get a hold of this guy? Nobody I know is actually talking to ISIS. He knows what they're like. He said, I've seen them interrogated. I've been in prisons with them and I've listened to what they have to say.

And I go, we got to get this guy. I'm not saying I'm responsible for hiring, but it was a great move. Then he's doing all the reporting on the Syria stuff. And then he was anchoring in the morning on Fox and Friends first. A lot of times he was co-anchoring.

And then when the war started, he wanted to go right away.

So he goes there, horrible conditions, and there was no one safe. You don't have the American troops. This is the key. Yeah. You don't have the American troops protecting you, so it's not like Iraq or Afghanistan.

you don't have that resource in communication, but you have the Ukrainians who aren't Americans. But at the same time, you thought to yourself, does everybody know the press is in this hotel? Will they bomb it? And they were bombing it.

So it was a crazy situation. I give everybody that went over there so much credit for being there now, but especially then, especially then in the beginning of the war. A war that's now lasted over 11 months, and the Ukrainians have held on. And now, we had Richard Haas here yesterday. He's a foreign relations guy with more contacts internationally than probably anyone in America.

He said, with all his military experts, all the State Departments he's in contact with, nobody thought Ukraine lasts more than a week. And they Admiral Stravitas said they got to set up an alternative government in Lviv, way up north. And now, look what happened. 11 months later. The Russians are still there, but they're not winning.

From high atop. Fox News headquarters in New York City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Hi everyone, welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Kilmey Show.

Coming to you from 486 in Midtown Manhattan, but are heard around the country, heard around the world. Jason Chapitz at the bottom of the hour, and with me in studio, if you're watching Fox Nation, you see him. David Bonson, founder and managing director and chief investment officer for the Bonson Group and host of a new six-part series, No Free Lunch, in Defensive Free Enterprise. And we'll get to David in a second. We do know at 245, the President of the United States is going to be talking about the economy right up David's alley.

So let's go to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. He was suspended for two years from using Facebook and Instagram, and that two-year clock expires now, this month. And so we're confirming that if he wants to, he can, in the coming weeks, he can use Facebook and Instagram again.

So that's going to be interesting. Will he? Facebook lifts the Trump ban. Should he go back? And do you believe them when they say they are not a political platform?

I do not. Number two. Today I'm announcing that the United States will be sending 31 Abram tanks to Ukraine.

So we're also giving Ukraine the parts and equipment necessary to effectively sustain these tanks on the battlefield. Really?

Okay, it's official. Ukraine gets our tanks. Germany, Sweden and Poland give theirs as well as the eleven month war prepares for an increase in intensity. And Zelensky asked for planes and long range attack'ems. Why don't we just give them all they need to win instead of rather what they need to not lose?

Number I'm very disappointed with the Lack of detail and a timeline on when we're going to get a briefing. I'm frustrated the administration continues to stonewall on such a simple question. And I'm not the only one, it's not just Republicans, it is bipartisan. Yep, rare bipartisan outrageous. The White House refuses to discuss the contents of their classified document discovery, and the Senate threatens to stop all work until Biden complies.

Really?

The definition of a standoff has ensued. Well, the President of the United States wants to change topics. And, David, that's right up your alley. At 245, he is not only going to focus less on what our economy is. and more how bad Republicans would be if they had control of the economy.

Yeah, these things become political speeches, and that it wasn't always that way. It's only a few months after an election. Yeah, I think that if you look back to when even Bill Clinton, but Ronald Reagan would give kind of economic updates, it was really not partisan. It was kind of focused on what was going on in the economy. There were good things, bad things.

I understand Spin. Like, if I were him, I wouldn't go up and talk about all the bad things he's doing. But I would like a more honest assessment of the economy and plans going forward. That's not on the agenda. It isn't, but inflation is going down slightly.

Gas is going up a little bit. The economy grew at just under 3%, correct? Annualized for the fourth quarter. It grew 1% for the whole year.

So. That's obviously not where he wants to be. With job markets softening, I don't see it yet. What I see, and I've been studying this a great deal, significant job softening in tech. And job growth in many other sectors.

And it's a really interesting thing we haven't seen in our country in a long time. George W. Bush had a 2002 recession, and the job losses were almost entirely out of Silicon Valley after dot-com had imploded. It's feeling more and more like that to me. You see, Google, Amazon, Microsoft was the latest.

That's 5% of Microsoft's workforce. That's a big deal. They say one of the reasons why Apple hasn't is they always say lean. They do, but also I think they right now are kind of waiting to see what's going to happen out of the production with China reopening, and Apple may very well not be in the same position of weakness. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up announcing some cuts later in the year as well.

So interesting. I want you to hear what the press secretary said about the economy. Do the top one, Eric. On the economy.

So more companies are announcing layoffs. We're seeing retail sales drop off for two months in a row now, and inflation is back to 40-year highs. Is this the stable growth that you've been talking about? And if not, when does that stable growth get here? Look, we are still seeing a transition to a stable and steady growth.

That is what we are seeing when we look at the data. And look, yes, there are layoffs that you're asking me about. And we've previously said on the broader economy, layoffs remain near record lows according to job opening data. And so again, this is an economic policy, an economic plan that is working. Is it?

Well, there isn't an economic policy or plan.

Now, the beauty about free markets is they don't need a lot of planning. And it's certainly true that the natural flow of a free market is going to be towards growth. But 1% on the year is not our capacity for growth in our country.

Well, you mean the fiscal year? Not 2023. No, 2022. The whole calendar year of 2022, we had two quarters at the beginning of the year that were negative and then two quarters that were positive. It ended up being on the year 1%.

Since the financial crisis, Brian, we've averaged 1.6% per year. In the 70 years before that, since World War II, we averaged 3.1%.

So we're averaging half of our real GDP growth, net of inflation, half of our ability to grow this economy. And even though the debt grows, the spending is prolific.

Well, the debt grows because the spending is prolific. And this is something I have to say is bipartisan. We do it in any administration, whoever has the Senate, whoever has the White House, whoever has the Congress. The only difference is which party decides to get mad about it. It depends on the other party being in power.

But I would think that I don't think the Trump team would have been looking for another emergency relief package in January. I don't think they would have been the $2,000 deal was Trump's idea, and he didn't get it, but he wanted it. But you're right, there was, I think they said $29 trillion. The additional amount that Biden spent was above and beyond. But really, Trump had grown the deficit about $4 trillion before COVID, and then it went another $3 trillion after.

So you can certainly acknowledge the COVID stuff is not on that. But I think that. That the point remains that there isn't a big appetite for spending cuts, and it's difficult to do. Our country tends to say we want less government, but then there's no specifics as to where we can cut government. Right.

They don't want to give up anything that they have with their Social Security, even raising the age. You would think that would be the least with the American people aging the way we are. You would think that we'd agree to raise the age. Raise the age, raise the COLA adjustment. There's things you could do, and they don't like save $50 billion, they save a trillion.

When you say COLA adjustment, that means annual cost of living increase. Right, we all hit the cap, and depending on how much you make, you can hit that cap quicker, and maybe you just extend that, and then people could contribute more. That's right. And you could even do little things like means test that you're not going to get as big of an increase each year above certain levels of income. And those things that scale move the needle so much, like a trillion dollars of savings.

Because not many people want to touch Social Security, and not many people love when your opponent says you will. If you're running for office. I blame the left for this because Paul Ryan's plan, people can dislike certain parts of it. But the point was it was sensible, it was intelligent. Remember, this is what, over 10 years ago.

And they ran commercials of him pushing grandma off a cliff in a wheelchair. It made everything so toxic that no one wants to touch the issue. That's true because it was effective that he did run for vice president. Jennifer Grandholm was talking about why gas is going up. Let me see if David Bonson buys this explanation.

So gas prices are now up 33 cents over the past month. The president took credit for the prices coming down. The Strategic Petroling Reserve, as you mentioned, is no longer releasing. Does the President get credit for the price of gas going up?

Well, it's obviously based upon international and climate events.

So, for example, Winterstorm Elliott pulled 2 million barrels off the U.S. market because of refineries that went down. That crimp in supply causes prices to go up. We know that there are still refineries that have been pulled down, both for maintenance as well as... because of the Winterstorm Elliott.

Is it Winterstorm, Elliott? No, let me give some advice to Secretary Grandholm and also advice to those on the right. This idea of each news headline, each weekend, and each month at a time, guess what? There's going to be times they're going up, and other times prices are coming down, and there's going to be circumstantial input. The issue is the secular direction of do we want energy independence in our country?

Do we want to produce enough to meet demand? That's the issue. And so I think the Republicans are playing with fire to say every time it goes up 30 cents, let's blame Biden because he's going to take credit when it comes down 30 cents. The point we're talking about is that we are producing less oil right now than we were on purpose before COVID and before, well, before Putin invaded Ukraine.

So if we want to blame global circumstances, why don't we increase our own production to offset that and neutralize Putin's impact? I was with a whole bunch of oil executives on Tuesday night, and they were saying the best example that stood out for me is that Senator Sullivan came out from Alaska and And say, we were putting out 2 million barrels a day just from Alaska on a pipeline.

Now it's 350,000. And it's all intentional. He goes, we could pick up the pace in two seconds.

So what are you doing? Let alone the Keystone pipeline, which now they're beginning to understand they made a mistake in getting rid of that. Pipelines are clean. Natural gas is not going anywhere. It burns clean.

Now they want to take away from our stoves. We're all over the place on energy. Yeah, but I think the biggest issue they've done to hurt us is not specifically telling them you can't produce more in the Permian. It's not even canceling Keystone. These things are awful, by the way.

The worst thing is the tone from the left that if you are financing, it's ESG, it's threatening the banks if they're lending to energy. They deny that, though.

Well, look, I mean, AOC can't deny it, right? On the floor of Congress, daring JPMorgan to cut off funding to legal oil and gas enterprises that are necessary to keep people from freezing to death and starving to death. And saying, why don't you cut off debt and equity funding? Funding to them. It's absolutely outrageous.

And blame cows for the atmosphere. We all know that.

So far, how many coal plants has China built already?

Well, let's put it this way: they've had enough coal plants that I'm not sure their economy went from totally shut to reopen, and they need about a million and a half barrels a day. And they may end up getting by less than a million new barrels a day because coal has made up that difference. Where we've gone the opposite direction, right? We have so much more natural gas. They don't like that either.

China may just say, forget it. We're fine with coal. Right. And that's great, isn't it? And how does the climatologist feel about that?

That's their worst nightmare. It's an interesting view of the earth that says somehow the emissions from Oklahoma are bad and the emissions from China will be okay. Right. We just ignore that because they're on a different scale, but yet we're supposed to compete with them. That's the maddening thing.

Let's build a windmill and let's take down a refinery or repurpose a refinery. It is insane. But this is a big problem with economics generally in our country: people feel good about feeling bad. They've done something to say, well, you know, we're going to cut off this production in Oklahoma and it lets you know liberals in Boston feel better and ignores the coal reality in China. I want to talk about free marketing, your six-part series.

When we come back, David Bonson's here for a few more minutes. He's got a six-part series, No Free Lunch, in Defense of Free Enterprise on NoFree Luncheconomics.com. Don't move. Learning something new every day on the Brian Kill Me Show. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it.

You're with Brian Kilmead. So David, give me an idea. David Bonson, your founder and managing partner of the Bonson Group, he's hosted a new series, a six-part series, No Free Lunch, in Defense of Free Enterprise. Why do you feel you have to defend it? Do you feel as though we've lost our way?

I do. I think that both on the left and to a lesser degree on the right, there is not the foundational principles in place to defend it when it's challenged. And that wasn't true until the financial crisis because no one needed it because the results were so obvious. The 80s and 90s, the big economic growth, the technology boom, that markets were working to kind of lift all boats was pretty well clear. And the failure of communism, the failure of socialism, the 20th century was a great argument against central planning, against totalitarianism, against left-wing economics.

I think that what has happened in the last 15 years is people do not have the right foundation in place to understand markets as that harmony of liberty and virtue. And right now, there are many on the right that think markets are failing to deliver enough virtue, and many on the left that think they're not delivering enough equality, when in reality, that's what the series is trying to do: re-establish the fact that mankind was made by God to produce, to grow, create, innovate. Mankind was not made to consume. Mankind was not made to have half the people produce cool things and half of us benefit from it. All of us contribute to the production of Earth, to cultivating this created world.

And that's what I want the series to be. It's taking a step back. You're saying it from a finance, but even more fundamental when it comes to work ethic, if you choose in life to learn a trade, for example, a lot of people are not seeing the virtue in putting the time in to learn a trade and working nine to five. And I don't think that that is primarily a financial lesson. I think exactly what you said, it's a cultural, it's a spiritual, it's an emotional lesson.

People are talking about this great period of isolation and alienation, and there's higher drug use and alcohol and all this awful despair in society. That's not there where people are working productive lives, where their dignity is not being dishonored by inactivity. If you play video games on your mom's couch till you're 40, I think you're going to be depressed. If you get up and work a trade, it could be blue collar, white collar. If you're making something of your life, my point in the series, though, is not that, hey, you're going to have more money if you work than if you don't.

My point in the series is that you're going to stir your soul in the productive way that our society desperately needs. When did you realize that? Where did you get that from? From my late father. My dad instilled those values in me as a very young person, and I studied economics when I was much younger.

And I realized that we were teaching economics the wrong way. We were trying to make it about the right financial formulas. What's the right blend of independent activity with government activity? I don't think that's what it's about. It's about human action.

We get up and we produce. And so, John Maynard Keynes, this famous economist of the 20th century, said mankind needs to consume, and when we go into recession, government needs to kind of trick him into consuming more. He wasn't just wrong economically. He wasn't just wrong because it runs up the national debt. He's wrong because it's wrong for our soul.

We produce. Do you remember the whole Gordon Gecko era where greed is good? I do. Well, we have gone so under, we've so overcorrected where people thought that was a problem with that. But with his point, this: go out and make something happen.

And along the way, people who afford. Follow you will learn from you, and the things you create will be employees, and they will make less than you. But I don't want to tax you to death. I want to do whatever I can to fuel you. If you're the smartest kid in the class and you've got a great idea, and you want to, or you're a commercial real estate, you could find a way to finance these buildings.

With the financing and refurbishing the building, it's going to be thousands of jobs. And what I think people and a lot of people like Elizabeth Warren look at you is the problem. He's trying to get away with not paying taxes. He's taking great risks and he's taking most of the money. They think billionaires are a bad thing.

First of all, I would love for it to be true that I'm getting away with not paying taxes. I live half the year in New York, half the year in California, and I would gladly show Elizabeth Warren my tax return if I thought it would pacify her. Their problem is that because we're not getting economic growth, that the bottom end of wage earners are unhappy, and so they focus on the inequality. Throughout history, Brian, we never focus on inequality when everyone's getting richer.

So the issue is not that the delta between Bezos and Musk and then. Middle class people has grown. The issue is the middle class are not growing more because economic growth is stunted by government debt, government spending, high taxes, high regulation. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: But why do the middle class pay that price and not others? Because the upper, look, people like me have lawyers, accountability.

Yeah, but why do they not grow where the upper level is able to grow, despite which we're all experiencing the same debt? Because the only way the upper class can grow during times of economic stagnation is that they're already asset-rich. They can leverage up assets, they have low interest rates. They have the core material there for their balance sheets and net worth to grow. But as far as making new products and services that employ people and create growth industries, that helps middle class.

We don't have that. We haven't had it since the financial crisis. You need a growth industry where there is this appetite for risk-taking. Elizabeth Warren thinks risk-taking is a bad thing. I think it's what God made us for.

I'll give you something else. When Trump was asked on that stage, he goes, You don't pay enough taxes. He goes, That means I'm smart. It doesn't mean he's avoiding taxes. It means Part of strategy is how do I maximize my growth?

Doesn't mean paying extra taxes. Part of that, I'm going to go invest another building, use that as something to, and try to grow that building. But this year, I'm going to take it as a loss to pay less taxes. There's no problem with that. That's playing within the rules.

People can have whatever opinions they want about how aggressive people should be on their taxes. What they can't do is play dumb. It's the way the world works. People are going to do what they can to limit their own tax bill. The point is, let's have a tax bill that doesn't impede economic growth.

He's got a brand new series, a six-part series, no free lunch in defense of free enterprise, no free lunch. Economics.com is where to get it. Get it? The brilliant David Bonson. Thanks so much, David.

Thanks, Brian. Back in a moment. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. The cardinal sin appears to be that I led the impeachment of his master in Mar-a-Lago.

In my case, it's purely political vengeance. Kevin McCarthy's purely partisan move to strip us from our committee. Is not only a political stunt, but also a blow to the integrity of our democratic institution. There you go. And that's Elon Omar.

That's Adam Schiff. And that is Eric Swalwell, all saying that this is all politics, but it really isn't. Joining me now is Jason Chavis, who is shaking me off like I was trying to throw a curveball on a 3-2 count when he knows I needed to get over the plate. Fox News contributor, former Utah Congressman, former chairman of Oversight, who will be hosting for Lura tonight. By the way, I'll be on the five tonight.

Not that I have to one-up you, I just thought it would be a good time.

Well, five's up and coming show. I hear it. Yeah, it's finally hit its own. It's going to hit its own soon, hit its stride.

So for Adam Schiff, it says it's all because he was going for the impeachment. These guys earned it. Look, they would not pass the security clearance to be a crossing guard at your local school. What exactly did Adam Schiff do? He took classified information and spun it politically for his own personal political gain.

He was lying to the American people. When you go and actually see the classified information, you can't talk about it. But he routinely came out and talked. Talked about it in a false way. And that false way has been proven time and time again.

You know, it's also interesting on the Twitter files, it shows that Adam Schiff was told what you're saying about Russian bots pushing certain things forward on Devonuna is not true. Same thing with Blumenthal, and they still went out there and had press conferences saying Russian bots and Russian influence X, Y, and Z. That's right. And how many times did we have leaks and other information? And Swalwell as well.

This idea that they're so self-important, that they are the only ones that can do this. The select committee is there for a reason. You are selected to do this. You don't just automatically have a right to do it. And for Adam Schiff to go on TikTok of all places and complain that the Chinese are laughing at us, no, they're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe it.

We were able to keep him in that place for so long. Not that the Chinese were putting him in there, but I'm just saying he was releasing information that was false. It was to. Push a political narrative. And he wouldn't get a security clearance in the private sector.

Why should he see the highest, correct? Yeah, I mean, Swalwell's Salwell, in many ways, is even worse. These guys have no background in intelligence, none. It's not like Wenstrup, who, you know, Congressman Wenstrup, who served in our military, or Mike Pompeo, number one in his class when he was at West Point. And now when he served in the House, he was on Intel.

I mean, these guys all had really good, solid qualifications. Swalwell, just some. Political hack out of California, who Pelosi picked out of the blue and put on this committee. And it's. I'm so glad that Kevin McCarthy actually stood up and said, No, we're Pick other people.

And you can serve on committees. You just can't serve on the Intel committee.

So when you were in Washington yesterday, right? Yes.

So did you think? I've heard two different things. from two separate people. About the 14 rounds or the 18 rounds they took to pick Kevin McCarthy, do you think it would make the caucus closer? or created some fractures.

It created some fractures. I'm glad they got through it. But the honest assessment is the House is about two months behind. It didn't just delay it by four or five days. They were supposed to select their committees, for instance, Brian, about the second week of November.

Now they just literally on Monday, just yesterday, or two days ago, they just ratified the committees and who's going to serve on those committees.

So they haven't staffed up. And so they're about two months behind where they would normally be at this process.

So normally Nancy Pelosi did have problems in the past, but it was done behind closed doors. Yes.

And she had trouble getting that vote. I remember each time, but they you know, oh, got him, that's done. But that was all done in November of December. Yeah, yeah, and look. She was notorious because she held a big hammer and she would lock these people down in terms of their fundraising.

I mean, she literally has raised more money than anybody in the history of the House.

So, if I raise money, you'll do what I say. Yeah, and that's in part, you know, that was the big hammer. And Republicans, their DNA is different. Democrats believe in centralized government and centralized decision making, where Republicans are self-determination and, hey, we go our own way. And to try to herd that group of cats and move them in the same direction, I think oftentimes we ask too much of a speaker.

It's really hard to do. And it's going to be hard to do. But so far, I think McCarthy's looked very comfortable in his role talking off to Cuffy. He definitely knows the issues. And he's not drunk during the day like John Boehner.

I mean, John Brane was drinking every day, right? Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment. Thank you. And Nancy Pulse, he never felt fucked up in front of the camera. He never was telling the truth.

I never really thought she was that interesting, but he's very conversant anyway.

So I was kind of shocked yesterday that Mark Warner and Senator Tom Cotton were on the same page, both beside themselves from the lack of cooperation from the Biden administration when it came to telling the intelligence committee what exactly was in the office and the Wilmington House for Joe Biden. They were Listen to Mark Warner, cut three. I'm very disappointed. Would be uh lack of detail and a timeline. on when we're going to get a briefing, not on anything dealing with criminality.

It's an appropriate Department of Justice. Responsibility. But it is our responsibility to make sure that we in his role of the intelligent oversight, know if there's been any intelligence compromised. Yeah, there really is no excuse at this point, Brian. The White House should be giving a briefing.

Senators and House members on the Intel Committee should be able to review what's called in-camera, where they go and they actually see the documents that were seized. They said they went for the special prosecutor. To get to it. And that's bogus. It's absolutely bogus.

They should be they know right away, right? I mean, and so there's no excuse to delay this. What it does matter, far too many things are classified. It doesn't matter how classified these things are. For instance, when Hillary Clinton issued a subpoena, we wanted to see documents.

The Benghazi committee issued subpoenas. Guess what?

Some of that was so sensitive that even as chairman of the oversight committee and the security clearance I had could not see it. Because and she had these documents.

So, how long can they hold this line? That was day one. Warner and Cotton both were in front of the cameras. How long can they hold out?

Well, look, a Republican senator and Cotton who's serious about this can make a point. But when you have the Democratic chairman of the Intel Committee saying out loud to the press that the White House is wrong, I don't think they can hold out much longer.

So. Will it leak out in the perfect world what exactly Joe Biden had? Um It depends how sensitive it is. Because it is classified, it probably shouldn't. But I think these senators can come in and look at it.

Again, those on the Intel Committee, like a Cotton or Marco Rubio and those types of people, and be able to characterize how severe this was. And then the assessment of who else might have had access to this. Why they haven't gone and looked at Hunter Biden's residence, why they haven't looked at other people who had access to that house. It's beyond me. They would have done it to Trump.

They did do it. But would they do that for Biden? But they didn't go to Don Jr.'s house or Eric's house. No, but there was no evidence that I loved it when Joe Biden said, well, there's no there there.

Well, it was there and there and there and there. And so, yeah, how do we know that there is that? And what about no regrets? Two of the worst things you could say. No, there, there, there is.

It's like, really? Is that the best you got? They don't even make any sense. Yeah. So, well, how unusual is that?

He did not know Secretary Austin's name yesterday at his nine-minute press conference. He's only his defense minister. He's 6'6 ⁇. You know, I can see calling him general. I understand that.

He was general for 40 years. But not knowing his name, how could he not stand? To you, that guy. Right. He picked up, he looked at him.

He was like, okay.

So he definitely can't sing him happy birthday.

So that's definitely out of the question. To you, right? To you, you.

So the classified documents found at Mike Pence's home in Indiana, according to CNN, were background briefings ahead of foreign trips. That according to a report that was on CNN about the content of the document. No one's walked it back, no one said that's not true. Still classified, but in terms of classification, Jason, what is that now? Is that a big deal?

Bad. Yeah, it's important. I think it shows the openness and candor. I mean, the fact that this thing came out, so they went and did a review and they found some. They shouldn't have had them.

But I think Vice President Pence is being totally forthright with this. And it's probably not as high of a degree of classification as code word-sensitive material. You know, there's that picture of Joe Biden. You know what I think is the biggest liability for Joe Biden? Is how did he have documents from this time in the Senate?

When you're in the House and the Senate and you review classified information, they don't give it to you. They don't bring it to your office. You don't go look at it on a computer screen. They print it out for you, and it's in a folder, and you go into a SCIF, a secure, compartmentalized information facility. Is it like the voiceover booths we have here?

The what? Is it like the voiceover booths we have here? Yes.

Okay. Yes.

Some of the rooms are a little bit bigger. They'll have a little conference table, but you have intelligence officers that will come, look at the material, review them. You review the material, and you have to leave your phone out. Was that the story in the 80s and 90s, too? Oh, I think so.

Because that's when he's been in since the 70s. The other thing that we have to remember here is that I've heard no story. I mean, not a single story about is remember the guy who was in charge of the security for the Senate Intelligence Committee had to plead guilty to doing some inappropriate things. No, I didn't know that. Who was just a couple of years ago?

The guy was going to be prosecuted, and it was a total scandal.

So, how does a senator walk out with materials? I mean, first of all, they all know that you can't do that. And by the way, some people say, well, you just review them on the computer. That's not the way it works. Not the way it works in the State Department or Defense.

There are secure. Classified information computers, and then there are laptops that you can look at non-secure information. And you have to go to, I mean, they go to great lengths to protect this.

So, what do you think? I mean, Vice President Penn surprised me when he came out. Do you think, and it also helped both, Biden and it helped Trump? Do you think other people are saying, well, you know, I'm probably going to come out and I'm going to say I did too, because I am Spartacus, I am Spartacus.

Sooner or later, people are going to be like, everybody's got intelligence. They're going to just try to revamp the whole library. Yeah, so people are feeling out of it. Hey, like, I want to be part of that crew.

Well, we'll see. Or it is just these three. I mean, it's the utter chaos happened at the end of the Trump years. You know that. I mean, January 6th, I didn't lose.

I'm not going to the inaugural. I'm not speaking to the vice president. They wanted to hang the vice president. The president didn't say. I mean, you couldn't be more chaotic than that.

I don't think anybody believes that these gentlemen actually packed their own boxes. Right. I think if you're going to do a serious analysis, you've got to look at the staff. Look at the directives they got. And shame on the archives.

I think archives also need to. They've got to come to before the oversight committee and say, how does this process work? Totally fixable, right? Yeah. I think it's totally fixable.

It's a highlight that will be an asterisk. We'll come back and we'll say, all right, how do we solve this? We're going to watch you on 11 o'clock Eastern Time tonight. Yes, 10 o'clock Eastern Time. That's even better.

Yeah. Because this show will be okay. Gutfeld's good at 11, right? That'll be fun too. But yeah, I'll be honest.

I'll watch you toss to Gutfeld. That'd be great. Hey, Jason, thanks so much. You got to go now. I do.

Yes, you do. I have more important things to do. Yes.

That hurts my feelings. How dare you? Back in a moment with me, I guess alone. Educating, entertaining, enlightening. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. I'm doing good, you know. AFC Championship Week, ready to go. It's doing good, you know.

I've had a few days of treatment, a few days of rehab. Excited to get on the practice field and kind of test it out.

So that of course Pastor Bahomes. Patrick Mahomes got a high ankle sprain. He's getting set to host the Cincinnati Bengals, who are on a role playing the better than they ever have. And they've had their way with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Bill Hemmer knows that quite well.

So we'll see what happens this weekend.

Now, the Fox game will be the first game, and the 49ers go visit the Philadelphia Eagles, who have looked sadly to beat the Giants. And the only game they had, they had a bias at the number one seed in the East. But the best overall team, from my view, has to be the San Francisco 49ers. I don't think there's any doubt about it.

So I think it's going to be two great games, and then we are off to the Super Bowl. We'll be doing our Friday show there, and then I'll be doing T V Saturday and Sunday. I'll be doing One Nation from Arizona. And then on Monday, we'll do the radio show again and then pack up everything and come home. Does that sound like something you're doing, Allison?

Maybe if you if you're nice. Right. I mean, s we have some people lined up. Who do we have lined up already? You don't want to chinxip, but um Gronk, you're gonna do a fun shoot with him.

Supposed to do something with Shaq. Right. So uh hopefully he'll uh I don't know. Are we gonna wear heels or something? I mean, you know, we know them so well.

Shaq and Gronk. Yep. As if we grew up on the same street as they did. As if I'm so into the NFL and all sports. You know, I can understand if his name is Joseph and you call him Joe.

But Shaq and Gronk, that's so interesting that you would just shorten it. Does anyone not know who I'm talking about? Nobody. Exactly.

So that'll be good. Also, Kane Brown. Looks like we lined up with him. Looks like Lee Bryce will have a chance to catch up with him.

So those are just some of the people that were lining up. Tony Dungy, too, who's been who's always great, good friend of the show, but then also a little controversial lately as well. I would think that Controversial because he's pro life, I guess. I mean, is that controversial?

Well, no, but just like the headlines, right, and NBC isn't too happy with him. Right. Well, they say they call on NBC to fire him because he's adopted, I think, between nine and eleven kids. Uh as well as having his own kids. And he is, he and his wife are very much pro-life.

So we'll talk about that. We'll also talk about the game. And we're seeing a whole bunch of hires now. He's big into getting, they'll find out why they're more African-American head coaches. We'll see if this process yields any because there's a lot of coach openings now, and we'll see what happens after it's all said and done.

But a couple other things that are going on right now that I find interesting and somewhat fascinating, and that is Valentine's Day is here. And I always like I'm a hopeless romantic at heart. I knew that about you. Right. American plans to increase Valentine's Day spending by a lot.

Consumers are expected to spend twenty five point nine billion dollars on Valentine's Day, up from twenty three point nine billion in twenty twenty two. That, according to an annual survey released by the National Retail Federation, the average expected spending on Valentine's Day Do you have any idea what it is? Don't check. Don't look. $50.

Really?

Fifty dollars. I get so many Valentine's gifts, Brian. I should $161 in twenty nineteen. Average. Wow.

Yes.

So one hundred and ninety six in twenty twenty. In twenty twenty one, one hundred and sixty four. We know why. Uh because nobody was in love in 2021. But in 2022, 175.

And now this year, it's supposed to go up to 192. What are they spending it on?

Well, jewelry, 21%, 57% candy. I mean, how that's 200 bucks on candy.

Well, I assume you're going to go out to dinner afterwards. Greeting cards, 40%. 40%. Gift cards, 20%. How would you like?

Here's a gift card to go out to dinner with somebody else. How would you like that? That might be enjoyable. And clothing, 19%. And evening out, 32%.

Um, what about uh do you you have a no-gift policy, right? It's not as if we have a no-gift policy. It's just we're not b big, huge gift givers. It's sort of if you think of something during the year, you get it for each other.

Well, here's the problem. One of you can't buy a gift and then just no one's going to enjoy that gift.

So if you see a great gift. For your husband. You can't buy it for him. Because if he gets it, he's going to feel terrible because he's not getting you anything. No, I'll still get it for him if I see it.

I mean, maybe I'll like jab him and be like, oh, you didn't get me anything, but I truly don't care. I'll just use it and then, like, you know what? I'm going to do something later in the year. I was told that when a certain someone says they don't care, they care. Certain someone.

I think it depends on the person. Most of the time, if I say I don't care, I don't care. We should take you at face value. You should. You're not deep.

No, very shallow. Thank you. I'm sorry. I'm glad you finally admitted that. Brian, Kill Me Chill.

Be on the five in a few hours, and then you can catch me all over the channel. Don't forget, One Nation Saturday Night at 8. Keep it here.