LIVE from Milwaukee: The first 2024 GOP Presidential primary debate

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Keep it, Oscar. From Hayatop Fox News Headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Killmead. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Killmead Show.

If it sounds a little different, if I feel a little different, if you're able to touch me, it's because I'm in the Midwest. I'm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for many reasons. First off, the GOP debate's going to be taking place here. About eight, nine months from now, next summer, we'll be back for the RNC, and this city will really be lit up. For now, we have eight groups and eight teams, eight candidates on stage, but they're surrounded by their teams.

Their surrogates have flooded the city. We're getting to see how the candidates are going to act under pressure, what their game plan is, how they're going to react to an audience on the floor. We guess about 750 people will be there. They're going to be enthusiastic. They're going to be loud.

It's not clear if they're looking to add any more. They'll have plenty of people that would like to be there. It's not clear if they want to fill up the whole arena, like you'll see at a Republican convention. But 750 people, loud, enthusiastic, happy to be there, will make a difference. If you have a zinger, if you have a bad moment, you'll let you know.

If they're not happy with the moderators, they'll let you know. If they don't like a question or don't think it's fair, and I'm sure these guys, hardened, grizzled veterans, Pete Hegseth will be here at the bottom of the hour. Brett Baer and Martha McCallum, both moderators, will be here to give you a true idea of what's going to be happening.

So before we go any further, let's get to the big three things that matter most.

Okay. And with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. If they withhold the documents and fight like they have now to not provide to the American public what they deserve to know, we will move forward with impeachment inquiry when we come back into session. Wow, and that is Kevin McCarthy, who is not going down that road, but they're very frustrated with being unable to get the documents they need to do a thorough investigation into Hunter and Joe Biden, hunting Hunter.

As predicted, it's leading to Joe. Piece by piece, the Biden family business is getting unmasked as an impeachment inquiry looms. Number two, there are some big developments coming out of the federal indictment down in Florida in the classified documents case involving the former president. We are learning that one of the key witnesses in that case flipped after ditching his Trump-affiliated lawyer. Trump on trial.

We have not seen this before. And a Raymond caught on tape. We will see it live in Georgia as the 45th president who wants to be your 47th fights for freedom. While in the backdrop, a Mar-a-Lago worker seems to turn on Trump months before the date is start to, months before you even get a date for him to go to court. Number one.

Bring it on. People can do what they want. I'm not running to be a contributor on cable news. What about landing punches on DeSantis? We'll focus on our message.

I don't play for second. I've never played for second. I'm just going to be me. Don't make it boring. Right, Asa Hutchinson, debate day is here.

We bring you the sights, the sounds, where we are in Milwaukee. The site of the main event is just across the way from me. I'm actually in the building now. You'll never get a second chance at a first impression. We will let you know who could explode and implode as the Grade Eight.

Take the stage. And keep in mind, you could always get the podcast, BrianKillingMeShow.com. A lot of you go on vacation, you say you still want to hear the show. You're not maybe near your affiliate at this moment.

Well, what you do is download the podcast.

So Martha's going to be here shortly.

So what can we expect?

Well, a lot of things. First off, on the stats and the numbers. Donald Trump won't be here but leads the pack. He's got 54% of the vote, according to the latest New York Times Sienna poll. 17 for DeSantis.

The rest are in 333. I'm talking about Pence, Scott, Haley and Ramaswamy. But overall, on the real clear average, Ramaswamy is good enough to get into the center square with the governor of Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis.

So congratulations to him. The problem he has is some of his foreign policy positions, unorthodox to say the least, and ridiculous to say the most.

Some of them give up Taiwan in 2028 as soon as we get our chips manufacturing out of there, get rid of the Israeli special nation status and our relationship with them. Are you kidding? And then when it comes to Ukraine, You can keep the land you took, Russia. Just promise not to be friends with China. Here is Vivek Ramaswamy handling controversy, and that is this.

He says the Atlantic wrote that he thought there might have been federal agents on the planes that hit the buildings, the Pentagon as well as the Twin Towers. The vaccine trying to fix this yesterday, cut two. I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Like, I think we want it. Maybe the answer is zero.

Probably is zero, for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero. But if we're doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9-11, we have a 9-11 commission. Absolutely, that should be an answer the public knows the answer to.

Well, if we're doing a January 6th commission, absolutely, those should be questions that we should get to the bottom of it.

Well, there was a 9-11 investigation. There was a book written about it. It was released about it. Follow-up investigations. I have never heard even an inquiry about Federal agents.

On the planes to hit the Twin Towers. And he's saying probably zero, but he doesn't trust anything.

So he's trying to. Clear that up with Martha. I talked to Martha last night. She feels as though he did. Here's an example: cut three.

Do you think there were federal agents on planes on September 11th who were part of the attack on the Twin Towers? Per the clip that you just played. Of course not, was my point.

However, I have a very different view of January 6th. We know for sure there were federal agents in the field. No, I think the reporter asked about them in a combined manner. He said, why should we ask that question if you're not asking it of 9-11? I said, you know what?

I always favor getting to the truth of what the government tells us. Wow. Listen, I understand being skeptical. I also understand that a lot of people watching this debate are skeptical of the government. Remember the Moscow, the whole Russian hoax.

We know that. A lot of people don't believe that Donald Trump is guilty of anything that he has been charged with and thinks he's been overcharged, pure politics, and that plays into it. But I think he's got to continue to clarify what he said. Obviously, that's a huge insult to the American people to think, number one, that 9-11 was an inside job. Leave that to Rosie O'Donnell.

Number two is there were no federal agents on that plane. What advantage is it for a federal agent to be on that plane? I don't get it. There were mostly Americans on the plane who lost their lives in a horrific fashion, let alone the people in the buildings, as we come up to market another year since. And now we find out that KSM is back in the news because this guy's lawyered up and they might evade a death sentence, which is crazy because they asked for a death sentence when they wanted to get Mo at first.

What has happened since? This news just handed to me. The governor of North Dakota, Doug Bergham, injured playing basketball, according to another network. And the campaign tells Fox it's unclear if he'll be able to stand at the debate and say they will know more later. Man, must be broken.

I mean, number one. Take a seat. Governor Abbott, sadly in a wheelchair, does everything seated. If he had to be sat, that would be another reason to stand out, by the way. You could be the one seated at the podium.

Say, just get me a desk, don't need a podium. Um or stool. Right? I mean, how bad could it be? It's cool, crazy.

All right, so what are they going to be focusing on? You have Nikki Haley says he's going to bring it on. She wants an attack. Hit me with your best shot. Number two, you have.

Governor DeSantis wants to make it clear this race is between two people, Donald Trump not there and him. That's what he hopes. Governor Stitt of Oklahoma, one of his surrogates, walking around town saying it along with Chip Roy. The guy with a lot of surrogates is the former President of the United States. I don't believe his surrogate is going to be in the spin room.

If you are not on the stage, like for example with Mayor Suarez, you're not allowed to send surrogates into the spin room or being there yourself.

So I don't think, I think that'll be interesting to see. Other people that want to establish themselves, Tim Scott. Here's what he's saying about the debate prep he's going through, Cut Five. Mostly uh spending time studying, of course, but also in prayer, hanging out with family, and just really enjoying how blessed it is to be an American. I'm so proud to be an American.

I think back to the kid who's growing up in poverty in a single parent household and now running for President of the United States. Only possible In America. It's a great story. Right. And look, we've got eight people on the stage, all talented, accomplished in their own way.

It's going to be fun to watch them interact, knowing fundamentally they agree with about 85 percent of each other on policies. Implementation and past track record will separate them.

So, what do you think is key? Let's bring in an analyst point of view, Trey Gowdy, who will tell you flat out, he's pulling for Senator Tim Scott, even if he hasn't fully endorsed. Here's what Trey Gowdy said on special report last night. And when he talks about writing something on top of the page, he's talking about Governor DeSantis, Cut 10. I think they worry about it a lot because I think it matters a lot.

But I think if you're a candidate and your staff has to write be likable at the top of the list, that you're probably already in trouble. What I would say to the candidates: if you want Donald Trump to show up at future debates, you have to make him show up. When you're up by 40 points, Donald Trump doesn't need to show up unless and until you make him show up.

So, to Dana's point, I'm sure Ron's going to get a lot of flack tomorrow. It's interesting to me. That the front runner will be almost immune from attack, but the person in second place who's actually slipping a little bit will be the object of everyone's ire. There you go. And Trump will be out there, but Brett kind of indicated to me on television that we're not going to have a lot of Trump questions, and that's fine.

1-866-408-7669. When we come back, Martha McCallum will join me. One of the moderators, one of the stars of the evening, who will be really setting the tone to see if we can get these candidates to speak up and speak out and interact. And dare I say, fight. He listen to the Brian Kill Me Show in Milwaukee.

So glad you're here. Expanding your knowledge base. It's the Brian Killmeat Show. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. I'm Ben Dominich, Fox News contributor and editor of the Transom.com daily newsletter, and I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week.

It's the Ben Dominich Podcast. Subscribe and listen now by going to FoxnewsPodcasts.com. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. It is appalling of what we have learned.

It is different than what President Biden had told us. He told us he had never talked to his son about any business dealings, that he's never been involved in his family's business, that they'd never received any money from China. If they withhold the documents and fight like they have now to not provide to the American public what they deserve to know, we will move forward with impeachment inquiry when we come back into session. And it's different from an impeachment. They want to find out what's there because they cannot get these documents voluntarily because the administration has set up a legal wall around the Biden family, let alone the White House counsel.

So, what they're trying to do is find out if anything's there as it relates to Hunter and Joe. And we know already there's a ton there. We've already unearthed the fact that $50 million had passed through the companies with Devin Archer, Hunter Biden, and that the president had weighed in at least 20 times over the course of 10 years when Devin Archer was there. Jesse Watershow broke the story the other night that Hunter Biden had traveled overseas with the president without logging himself in, leaving a different entrance at a different time when he was vice president.

So he's traveling with his dad, where he would end up doing business in the countries in which the bank records indicate they made a lot of money. And Kevin McCarthy says, that's it. I've been asking for these documents for the longest time. An inquiry would allow me to go get that.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post columnists. A Washington Post columnist wrote this story, and you're going to want to laugh out loud because they act as if they just read it. His name is Henry Olson. Olson shared his recent testimony after seeing Hunter Biden's business associate Devin Archer and hearing about it and reading the transcript. He says these allegations don't prove that the President did anything illegal.

He noted that these claims suggest Biden was aware of Hunter's dealings and wanted to keep his son in the loop. Really? I had no idea. Haven't we been saying that for the last two years? Didn't the laptop indicate that?

He went on. I have long dismissed the Hunter-Biden story as irrelevant, a sideshow. But recent revelations have changed my mind. There's now more than enough evidence to merit a thorough investigation of President Biden's involvement in his son's business dealings. This is in the Washington Post.

It's also clear that Hunter received millions of dollars from Chinese and Ukrainian businesses for which he could offer little to no prior experience. His value to them was clear. Get this. It was his relationship with his father. How many times have we said this?

How many times have you heard the Sunday shows and other networks say, we know this has nothing to do with it? We know this has nothing to do I'm sorry about that I didn't forgot we were streaming I know this has nothing to do uh with Joe. And now we're finding out it has everything to do with jail. We go on. The Hunter-Biden saga started in 2020 when the New York Post reported the laptop story.

In 2015, this took place. Apparently, he tried to set up a meeting between his father and the vice president and an executive of the Ukrainian energy company, Burisma. Really? And then they talk about the 50 Intel agents. Isn't that right?

Devin Archer, Hunter's former business partner, recently testified before the Oversight Committee. The Hunter's value to these firms was the family brand he presumed access to the vice president at the time. He goes on. This all might not be illegal. And Archer noted that the Vice President had not changed policy to help Purisma.

But it sure does stink. The House Oversight Committee also claims Biden used aliases in email conversations about Ukraine policy. Why would you do that?

Now John Kearney, then press secretary, said, well, a lot of times these officials do it so they don't get hacked to throw off people that are monitoring their email. If you can't protect a President or Vice President's email, I think we're all doomed as a country, all right? He goes on. This doesn't prove Joe Biden was changing policy to fit with Hunter's client preferences, but it suggests he was aware of Hunter's dealings and wanted to keep his son in the loop. One could dismiss this as simply another tawdry example of access peddling.

Maybe that's all, but only a complete investigation can ensure anything else. Ask yourself, why is the Washington Post letting a column like this appear? Maybe they see the President in Hawaii falling asleep while he's supposed to be listening to families, not talking to them, saying no comment when asked, how do you feel about an island being wiped out and people burned alive? How do you feel about that? Maybe they're realizing the only way off the main stage for the leader of their party is to do a real investigation of what he's all about.

Finally, none of this negates, he goes on to write, the need to thoroughly investigate Joan Hunter Biden. Had Trump and one of his adult children been involved in the same set of facts as the Bidens, the outcry on the left would be deafening.

Now I know what you're saying. Brian, you're reading from Sean Hannity's teleprompter. I'm reading the Washington Post. It's an insult to all of us who have been following this story, moderates, independents, people that just care about the results of an election. This is the story that could have been broken two years ago when Tony Bobolinski said, Jake Tapper, call me when he had a press conference before a debate, here's the facts.

But instead, you believed the laptop was fake, you let your Facebook and all these other accounts cover for you. Suppress the mean stories. and you allow voters not to get the complete story. In 2020, the that they're beginning to get, just beginning to get. in twenty twenty three.

And I think it's all so significant. Here is Ron Johnson, cut 23. We know that Joe Biden is a liar ever since he plagiarized a British politician back in the earlier presidential campaign. We know that he talked to Hunter about his overseas business deals. Senator Grassley and I revealed that on a report.

So Joe Biden is a proven liar. His corruption is obvious. The corruption of his family is obvious. The conflict of interest in Ukraine in barisma is obvious. It's just not obvious to the media.

It probably is. I don't know how much more evidence is going to be required. But again, because of the good work of Jordan and Comer and Solomon and what the foundation of the Grassley and I laid down, we're starting to piece together that evidence. And it's going to, at some point in time, become so obvious, even the corrupt and complicit media will have to admit it and start reporting on it.

So that was Ron Johnson, who was so frustrated when they lost the majority. He was making such progress, he believed, on the Hunter Biden investigation. And the Washington Post chronicles everything he was able to discover and that we've been discussing on this show. I do have an announcement to make, too, and that is I had a chance to interview Victor Shokin from Ukraine through an interpreter. Obviously, I had to tape it.

Can't do stuff like that live. What he has to say about the truth behind his firing, the bitterness he has to Joe Biden, how he was poisoned three times and died twice. He lives in virtual poverty in Ukraine. And according to Miranda Devine, this guy was anything but corrupt. And the vice president was wildcatting when he decided to fire him.

He wasn't just pushing forward with Barack Obama's policy. When we come back, the moderators of tonight's debate: Martha McCallum and Brett Baer. You're listening to the Brian Killmeat show in Milwaukee.

So glad you're here. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. People, they don't want to hear about your attacks against Donald Trump. The only person who's going to change a voter's decision, their opinion about Donald Trump is Donald Trump himself.

So spend your time telling people about why you're the best candidate to defeat Joe Biden and why you're going to be just as bold as Donald Trump was during his four years as president. That's the only thing that's going to change, I think, the gap that we see in the polling today. And that was Governor Scott Walker. It wasn't too long ago when Governor Scott Walker took the stage and everyone thought this is the heir apparent. This is the likely Republican nominee because of the success of fending off a recall in Wisconsin, where we're at right now in Milwaukee, the site of the first GOP debate.

And with me right now, I'm sorry, your names? I gotta do better. That is Martha McCallum, anchor of the story. She's gonna be working at 3 o'clock. Absolutely.

And she's gonna be working tonight at 9 o'clock. Over two hours. Yep. Right. And I've already broke the story earlier today that Brett Baer is only wearing one of two outfits.

That's true. Right. And Brett Baer is chief political anchor of Fox News, author of To Rescue the Republic, and a new book coming out shortly, To Rescue the Constitution: George Washington and the Fragile American Experiment, a book that Martha does not like, which is interesting. We're going to debate it. And she's named after George Washington's wife.

Exactly. I don't think Martha plays a prominent role, enough of a prominent role in the story. That's my problem. Exactly. Another story going into the debate from the moderator.

She really was central to all of it. She was, absolutely. And he kind of adopted her kids, right? Yes, that's right.

So they were a blended parent. Custis children. Yeah, Custis on the Custis on the. I'm going to send her a book. Right.

Okay, that would be great. Or a galley. Yeah. We're at a galley now. That's true.

All right.

So, first off, guys, you've done this together before. What's the biggest challenge of the first?

Now that you could say the prep is over, Martha, for you, the biggest challenge for this one? You know, I just think streamlining it, making sure that we. Get in there and get out of the way and let them debate let them go at it with each other making sure that we have the things that are foremost on people's minds I mean my goal is that at the end of the night people feel like the things they care about they actually heard them discuss and they have a better sense of where they stand on it and maybe somebody stands out to them maybe it changes their mind how many have you done Brett this is nine nine the challenge of doing this one also not knowing if the frontrunner is going to show or not yeah I think that's the biggest challenge I mean we had two piles of questions going in and you know somebody said to me today what if the former president showed up You would love it. And we still have that other stack. Yeah.

You know, we would put the other podium on there. Plenty of questions for him if he decides to join. Absolutely. So I remember Ben Carson saying at one point, someone attacked me. What if you see that no one's going after Asa Hutchinson or no one's really engaging Nikki Haley?

Do you direct a question, or is that part of your nonverbal communication between you? Like looking at that stage and going, the whole left side has not heard anything, and these two have been arguing the whole time. How do you handle that? I think you do interject a question for that person and bring it in from somebody else. Do you disagree with what he's saying?

To get them involved in the conversation? Absolutely. It's structured so that everybody gets some time up there. It's never going to be perfectly balanced and even, and that really falls on the candidates to a great degree as well. You know, some people are more aggressive about putting themselves in there, and some are going to hang back.

And I think people will see that and take something away from that as well. Producers are in our ear saying, listen, here's the balance. Here's what people, you know, while Martha's asking a question, somebody's in my ear. Here's our timing. You know, he's got five, six minutes versus three or whatever.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we're trying to be as equal as possible that we can be while letting it breathe in its own natural kind of Evolution. What have the camps been told already about the rules? For example, How many questions about Trump? How many questions about foreign policy? What are the thoughts about the President's trip to Hawaii?

What about Bidenomics? You have an economics column. Is there going to be a foreign policy column? Is there going to be Hawaii column, for example?

So they've been told nothing about the subject matter. They know that they have a minute to answer a question, 30 seconds to respond if they are invoked in the answer to a question. I think they're all smart enough to understand that the things that you mentioned are really hot topics right now, and they'll be ready for them. But there's no discussion whatsoever on what we're going to be asking. Yeah, we call them buckets.

And there's buckets for every issue that Americans in polls say they care about. We'll see how it splits, where it goes, depending on timing. But we have it structured right now going in covering all these issues. Name invoked, do you get the answer?

So I end my comment on bidenomics, and I'll say, unlike your Plan, Senator Scott. I will do X, Y, and Z.

So everything stops and Senator Scott answers? He does. He has 30 seconds. 30 seconds to answer. Yeah.

I mean, if you're smart, you say a certain senator from South Carolina. No, if it's appointed to somebody by name, they get 30 seconds. But, you know, the smart people are not probably giving the other person a chance. Chance. To you know, have that back and forth.

One thing is pretty clear. Ron DeSantis is the frontrunner, a solid second. He has to he's got to separate himself. That's their goal. He says it's a two person race, and that's my goal at the end of the night.

But you know what no one talks about? If you don't have a good night, that money's not going to be there, and it might end for you. How important is that? Are you going to be looking for whoever won? We're going to see what happened on Thursday and what they can honestly say is in their coffin.

I think it's a great point, Brian, because one of the small groups who will be watching tonight really closely are these donors. And we know that, and it's important because they need the money to go on and they need the money to gain that momentum, right?

So, we know in DeSantis' case and others, that some of the money has sort of backed off a little bit and is waiting on the sidelines to see who emerges in the next, in tonight, certainly, and in what comes after tonight, to see where they want to put their money.

So, that's an important part of the equation. I mean, everybody wishes that money wasn't a huge part of political presidential politics, but clearly you have to have the backers. Scott Walker said something interesting yesterday. He said, the biggest mistake he made was thinking his record was going to get him to the presidency. And he said, it got me to the stage.

And I should have just been talking about what I would do as president. Is that a valid point, or is that a Scott Walker-only point? No, I think it's a valid point. I mean, people are looking for. Authenticity.

They're looking for selling the pitch of why they should choose you. They're not looking for a resume or a list of accomplishments. They can see that online. They need to feel it, you know, by what you say on the stage. And, you know, Walker is very reflective.

I mean, I talked to him, too, about that time. And on paper, he was one of the best guys, but he could not get that across the finish line. Either could Tim Palenti of Minnesota. He was on paper what Republicans were looking for, but didn't deliver. It reminds me of all the talk that we have about ChatGPT and how it can write your essay for you, right?

But that's the difference between being up on that stage. Think about Scott. Walker, think about Tim Polenti, right? That dynamic, and Walker mentioned the word bold, right? President Trump is very bold.

He's very strong. There has to be somebody that's going to really reach out. Think about the great communicator politicians: Reagan, Clinton, Obama, Trump, right? I mean, that's a lot to contend with. That's a winning political formula, and it has to shine through, and it has to reach out of the TV set and have people go, oh my gosh, that guy or that woman, she's got it, and I'm going to back that person.

I don't want to get you scared, but I've talked to two or three candidates, and they said you never can go wrong attacking the press or the moderators. Newt Gingrich made some, scored some points. Not that you fear that, but do you worry about that? Them saying, well, that's a ridiculous question. Only the press cares about it.

That's what you guys at Fox always do. Are you ready for that? And what is your school what does your uh what does your background say you should do with that? Defend yourself or let it go. No, listen, they have the sixty seconds, they can use it how they want.

Um if they use it doing that, um I don't know. I don't think they are going to elicit that kind of response. If they do, you know, they risk. Alienation, you know, for somebody sitting at home and like, why are you doing that? Right.

You know, it's interesting because DeSantis has talked about that a lot, right? And now he's doing lots of interviews and engaging a lot with the press when he was much more reticent in the beginning of his campaign.

So we'll see if he or anyone else decides to go there. But I agree with Brad. Why would you want to? Use your time talking about that. But, you know, I mean, everything is fair game.

And if they think a question is unfair, it's certainly they're allowed to say that.

Now, there's a couple that they may push back on. Yeah, that's it. We're ready. Right. Stuart Varney has an accent.

He wants to interview you next, but I'm going to want you right now. He's got a very good show. Yeah. Barney. And a good accent.

Right. And it seems authentic. If you did a good job, besides your wife and your respective spouse telling you, what would be the review that you expect to hear about from our management or from your family and from the audience? What would be a good review for you, Martha? Besides, you did a good job.

What would you like people to say? I think that the questions were sharp and that they were specific and challenged the candidates, and that the result was that people felt like they got to know them all a lot better and had a clearer vision of who these people are. Tough but fair, and the moderators didn't get in the way. Right. And again, I felt like I hit my zenith this morning when I broke the news about Brett having two outfits.

You have how many outfits, Martha? Seven. Seven outfits. You'll change six. More times.

Yep, I'm going to change the story. I broke two stories. I'm going to be really busy. It's unbelievable. All right, that's all the time I have.

Now it's time for you to move to Fox business, which more than likely will be a letdown. This might be the highlight of your day. And then again, it might not. Back in a moment from Milwaukee, Brian Kill Meet Show. All right.

Newsmakers and newsbreakers. Here at first on the Brian Kill Meat Show. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmead. He has a great opportunity to come out and do this.

I think he owes it to people. I don't think our voters, even people that appreciate what he did, and I'm actually one that appreciated a lot of what he did too, I don't think they're going to look kindly on somebody that thinks they don't have to earn it. Interesting, Governor Ron DeSantis on the story yesterday talking about the President, the former president of the United States not showing up. Pete Hagstet's here. He's going to be handling Fox Nation coverage live tonight.

You're going to be the anchor, right? You're the go-to person.

Well, on Fox Nation in the commercial break.

So, Brett and Martha are the go-to. And then when the commercials come on, pull up Fox Nation, and I'll be on there with Will Kane and Sean Duffy and Tammy Bruce. And so we'll kind of give that instant balance between. This is the first time I'm hearing this. Did you say this this morning and me not pay attention?

I did. Oh, wow. I didn't know you were actually coming on in commercials. Yeah, so like, you know, instead of. I don't want to talk about any of our wonderful advertisers.

Instead of the advertisers you normally see, come watch us, and we're going to have the same conversation you're having, off the cuff, like, whoa, look at that moment. What do you think happened there? How do you think they'll respond when they come back from the commercial break? And then we're doing a pre-show and an after-show as well on Fox Nation. Who's going to be on?

We've got in the spin room afterwards, for sure, Vivek Ramaswamy. And then really, we're going to be right next to Sean.

So anybody else coming through, we'll try to grab them. Sean's going to be grabbing them and get their first reaction.

So you can get that all on Fox Nation and Foxnews.com. It's going to be streaming on the website. And you also got to be wondering, too, after this, it's going to be hard to talk about the eight on stage and not talk about who would have been the ninth. I mean, just listen to the clip you played coming in. I mean, the challenge for Ron DeSantis' campaign from the beginning has been: how do you take on Trump without offending Trump voters and courting his voters and pulling them away from him to you?

He hasn't still hasn't, I think it's an impossible task. I think he's running against an immovable object. But he still hasn't really found his footing. Tonight, you know one thing we've underemphasized, Brian? What?

There's going to be four to five thousand people in. There. I mean, this is $750 on the floor. This is not what, yeah, this is not one of those just $400,000 or $500 on the floor, $700 on the floor. There's going to be another 3,000, 4,000 there from the RNC, from the campaigns.

You're going to get a real audience response in a way that isn't staged, isn't limited, and I think the audience outside will see that as well. Right now, if you look at the real clear average, Trump has got about a 40-point lead. DeSantis has dropped, but he's always been a number two. He's got some people supporting him, like Congressman Chip Roy, definitely a conservative. Governor Stitt of Oklahoma, absolutely.

Now, if you believe what we saw from that super his super PAC, they're going to. Praise Trump when Governor Christie rips him. And go after Vivek Ramaswamy. He says, I don't know if I'm going to do that, but I think that indeed was a legitimate plan. Talked to Aaron Preeni this morning.

They absolutely, that was authentic. They put it out. They can't go directly to him, so they put it public. I think it was a dumb move to make it public. But what about the tactic itself?

No reason to make it public. See, because then it looks like if he does those things, he's doing it because his campaign consultants told him to, which walks into the famous Marco Rubio clip when it was Chris Christie that took him down. There he goes again. 15-second talking point in the pivot. You could get a very similar type of moment.

Because while Chris Christie has no chance in the larger scheme of things, he has a chance to blow up one or two other candidates' prospects tonight from that state. And he won't make a dent on Trump in that context. It'll be where does everyone else decide to vector their fire. DeSantis is a conservative. Like, we know that.

He's done a great job in Florida, but I just think his consultants have carved him. In a way that you can't win. You can't win in that context without taking on Trump. And taking on Trump with the way he counterpunches only punches you down even more. Then you got the indictments.

It's just a really tough spot for him.

So I think they're all saying with four indictments and possibly trials leading up in the middle of the primaries: I want to be there when Trump's not standing. How many of those campaigns are saying we're hanging tough Because I'm not sure that Trump can persevere this. I think a lot of them, but that doesn't play well over time.

So you're an opponent to Trump, and you're hoping that his opponents take him out. It's almost like saying, I want to let the other side choose our candidates. If your strategy is Trump goes down because the Democrats and the media have targeted him and therefore I benefit, there's a level of it's not active complicit, you're not actively complicit, but you're hoping for the wrong thing for him. I don't think many of them can stick around at 5% hoping he falls and then they surge. There's still going to be a huge siphoning moment here.

So the New York Times found in a most recent survey the Republican Party split among the Trump base 37% Trump, obviously. Persuadable voters around another 37%. And there's a non-Trump wing of 25%.

So, if I'm plotting and planning against the former president, there's a reason for hope. Numbers say there's a reason for hope. You don't think it's practical. I've seen those numbers too. On paper, it might look like there's a reason for hope because you add up the, what, thirty-seven to the twenty-five and you've got fifty eight, fifty-seven.

I've heard a lot of people peddling that. This is but Trump's numbers are also the highest It Meaning, no one that high has ever lost. Has ever lost. Ever. And that with what's come against him and that base hasn't eroded, I just don't see a magical candidate in the mix that consolidates the never-Trumpers and the almost Trumpers into here's our guy that will run against Trump.

I mean, there's some good politicians in there, but that's some jiu-jitsu 3D chess that I don't no one's figured out yet. Good luck trying to figure out.

Some foreign policy questions we're going to throw to you, Pete, and tell me if you should be in the debate and what the answer is. Should Ukraine join NATO? No. What's an acceptable end to the Russia Ukraine war?

Sooner rather than later, and I don't know what that looks like. Peace. But if you were a candidate, I don't know if that would fly. I'm sure you'd get a follow-up question.

Well, we'll hear what Trump says, right? It'd be done in 24 hours.

Well he's Who knows? Secret plan. I don't know. I mean, there's no easy solution, but I think a negotiated settlement is what a lot of candidates might want. Taiwan invaded, what will you do?

Don't you want that question to these guys? Sure. You know what I like about. Ramaswamy, he at least answers it and says, If we end our dependence on Taiwan for all of our technology needs, then we don't have this same sort of strategic reliance on that, considering China's insistence and the broader war that would come there. I don't know that anyone has an answer on what would happen in Taiwan.

But you have to answer that and let people know, and you know the answer to it. You make that a porcupine, knowing that an invasion is going to be brutal and that we'll do everything possible in the region to make it a lot better. And then fortify themselves. And make sure they know they will be held to pay with your trade and with foreign relations and the rest of the world afterwards. I should run.

You should, Brian. Why was I all been talking about that? Can I get on that stage? See you tonight on Fox Nation in the commercials. You don't need to buy another pillow.

From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone. Yup. I used to say from 48th and 6 in Midtown Manhattan.

That's where I usually am, and that's where the Brain Trust is. But right now, I am in Milwaukee, and the very arena where we're going to at 9 o'clock tonight, just a few hours from now, kind of, we're going to see the first GOP debate, and it's going to be exciting. Look, I'm going to be looking forward to September's debates and whoever's covering three and four and five, no doubt. But there's something about the first to see who's going to last. I mean, there are people on Thursday who will basically phone it in.

If you didn't make the debate stage, Will Heard, Mayor Suarez, I don't know if you continue after this because the criteria goes up. Tudor Dixon's with me right now. As you know, she was almost the governor of Michigan, now an outstanding broadcaster in her own right. Carl Rove is standing by, just getting out of the shower. He needs me to fill 15 minutes, and then followed by Kellyanne Conway, 1-866-408-7669.

Tudor, welcome. Thank you. Your thoughts so far, besides the humidity and with summer. I'm not complaining because we'll be freezing shortly. Your thoughts leading up to here: who's got the most pressure on their shoulders, do you think?

DeSantis has the most pressure on his shoulders because this is a make-it-or-break-it night for him. But honestly, I would say. The the people that are at the end, the one percent Folks, the Asa Hutchinson, the Doug Berghams, those people also have a lot of pressure because, like you said, Will Hurd may not be back, but these guys may not be back. Because if they don't have some sort of a breakout moment, they may not be back. Because money doesn't come if you don't break out.

That's right. That's right. And we don't even know what happened to Doug Bergham this morning.

So we're wondering, is he showing up? He's in the hospital right now, we've heard. We don't know if he's going to be at the debate. This could be very interesting. He hurt his playing basketball.

He evidently twisted his leg. We don't know how bad, but can he stand? And the question is: if you can't stand. Do you make the debate stage? Is that unfair to debate seed it?

I don't know. I think you make a big show of it. You have crutches, and then everybody is talking about you the next day. That's your campaign strategy. You have to do it.

I mean, if I'm Doug Bergam, I work so hard, put all this money in, might sacrifice so much, and then I finally make the debate stage and I. I don't see any scenario where it helps them not to Get in there. No, he's got to be there. And I think he has to be there because he's a very interesting person that people don't know about. He's a self-made billionaire.

He's out there. He's been running his state incredibly well. He has great policy. But we aren't hearing that. No one really knows who he is.

So tonight is critical for folks like him. For nice people. Are you going to have a hard time on that stage? Like, Tim Scott. Really nice.

You know, known as very even-tempered. Doug Bergham. I don't know him that well, but I've interviewed him about six, seven times, watched him on. Pretty level. Chuck Todd saying the most insulting questions possible about how he's not answering the question about Donald Trump.

Still very even. Is even bad in such like this? No, I actually don't think so. I think that when you come out looking smart and looking controlled, that's presidential, and that's what people are looking for. And that was something, even when I was debating in our debate prep, I know people are making jokes about debate prep right now.

Against Governor Whitmer. Right, right. You have to know what every scenario is. And I will tell you, Governor Ducey gave me the best advice when I was debating. He said, you know, your answers.

Listen to the other person's answers. Listen to Gretchen Whitmer's answers and decide how you want to respond to her and what she's saying. And that's what these candidates tonight need to break out. They need to show why they're different.

So their debate prep has to do a lot with being able to listen and not be angry. Here is Governor Ron DeSantis on Donald Trump. uh ahead of the debate And why he's not there, and he seems to be legitimately disappointed that he's not cut six. He has a great opportunity to come out and do this. I think he owes it to people.

I don't think our voters, even people that appreciate what he did, and I'm actually one that appreciated a lot of what he did too, I don't think they're going to look kindly on somebody that thinks they don't have to earn it. Your thoughts about that and you being from the Midwest, is Milwaukee insulted when you don't show up after you qualify? I think a lot of people understand him not showing up right now, but the fact that he came out and said, I may not show up to any debates, that's insulting. You can't assume the American people are just going to rally around you and you don't have to ever talk to them. Not everybody's going to go to a rally.

In fact, it doesn't matter if you go to a rally. You want to see how he's going to react to these other people who are going to be launching bombs at him and how is he going to take that? And what is he going to say back? Because let's remember, in the Biden debates, people were disappointed with what happened in the Biden debates. This is his time to come back and show that he's ready to debate again.

You have the situation where Donald Trump's going to be on camera, it looks like, in Georgia being uh being he's been indicted, so being arrested and out on $200,000 a bond. The world is upside down. Is this going to help or hurt seeing him fingerprinted, seeing him sitting there, hearing him being read his rights by the judges? What are your thoughts about Thursday night? I think that this is continuously helping him because the American people are saying this is ridiculous, this is ridiculous.

But this is a small portion of the country that it's helping him with.

So we look at this and we say this is the Republican primary. A few less people come out for the primary than they do in the general. What happens in a general? What happens with swing voters? What happens with Democrats that are unhappy?

Do they go out for that or does that drive them away?

So I don't know if you saw this morning more acceleration of the Joe Biden investigation. And the Washington Post does a column talking about how bad this looks and how there's a lot there. The Washington Post, how his linkage and his dad's dealing and Devin Archer quotes saying the Biden brand is what we were selling and Biden, all the things we've been saying for two and a half years, the Washington Post is finally getting it. Jake Tapper's mentioning it. Other people are looking at it.

From what you know. Is the Democratic Party getting prepared to get rid of Joe while they can? I think there are certainly Democrats out there that are saying this is our opportunity to push those people out. You're going to have a battle in the party because you're going to have the people that are in the administration that will do anything to protect Joe Biden. Because it keeps them in power.

Exactly, exactly. But the people on the outside are going, I mean, how much more can we take? Eight trips on Air Force 2 with Hunter Biden, and he's saying he knew nothing about his business dealings? Eight trips overseas to adversarial countries. This is getting to the point where they can't hide it anymore.

And you know that Governor Newsome and Governor Whitmer are looking for their opportunity right now, and their teams are moving in. It's going to be a battle. Tudor Dixon, our guest. And Tudor, I'll bring you to this, and your answer might be: I don't know. But to me, if you're going to run for president, you've got to be laying the groundwork.

Gavin Newsom has some super PACs, even though his track record's terrible. You think he'd be too embarrassed to run on it. And Governor Whitmer is someone the Democrats always mention. And Governor Pritzker over in Illinois is somebody else. Is there something going on that you've heard about behind the scenes that you took on Whitmer?

Is that machine? Starting to roll?

Well, we've certainly seen the puff pieces coming out about her. We know that's her team doing that. We've heard the Carla Harris, too, by the way. Right, exactly. Even people that are elected officials in Congress are coming out and saying, we need to step back, look at Governor Whitmer.

We've had some people that have even said, look at Governor Whitmer. They are puffing her up. She has a pack herself. She's been out there trying to fundraise.

Now, her fundraising hasn't gone as well as I think she thought it would. And so that may be why you haven't seen a huge push right now. I don't think Gavin Newsom or Gretchen Whitmer are catching fire in the donor community like they thought they would. Your podcast is very successful. How do we get it?

You go anywhere you get your podcast. It's the Tudor Dixon podcast. You can check out tutordixonpodcast.com, but iHeart, Apple, wherever you get your podcast.

So anybody who says you're going to be running for governor shortly, the broadcasting thing is going so well, it might stop you from going for a rematch in Michigan. Hey, whatever I can do to help Michigan, though, I'm going to. I'm going to make sure that we get good candidates and that they win in Michigan. I'm sick of people saying it's a blue state. It's not a blue state.

Okay. I'd like to see different first because Donald Trump won it in 2016, correct? Yes, he did. Absolutely. Tudor Dixon, thank you.

When we come back, a guy named Cole Rove and a woman named Kelly Ann Conway. Brian Kill Mead at the first debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A lot of fun. Don't move. Expanding your knowledge base.

It's the Brian Kill Meat Show. Between the kids being home and hosting, everything in our house gets used up in summer. With Instacart, I can save money by stocking up on all my favorite summer brands. I save time by getting everything delivered in as fast as an hour. And I save myself a sink full of dirty dishes by stocking up on paper plates for the annual summer cookout.

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Additional terms apply. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Donald Trump supporters are going to remain his supporters unless and until. A trial begins and you see some evidence and some cross-examination, or until somebody makes the point on the weaponization of DOJ: look, Mr.

President, with all due respect, you hired Jeff Sessions, you hired Bill Barr, you hired Rod Rosenstein, you kept Jim Comey, and you hired Chris Ray.

So if you think the department's weaponized, where should we look for the blame? Until that point's made, if it can be made, then no.

So, Trey Gowdy, on special report last night, on whether or not the candidates are worried about appearing nice to one another at the debate and what Donald Trump's lack of presence will mean with me in the studio, according to my studies, is Kellyanne Conway and Carl Rolfe. Neither have complained about the humidity coming through my garage. You are willing to accept it. Is that true, Kelly? 100 degrees is my floor.

You'll play in humidity. Is my floor, not my ceiling? This is like spring. Exactly. It's like a cool fall day.

All right, Carl, let me start with you. Eight people, I was out on the stage, and it's really tight. The podiums look really tight together. And I know Bill Hemmer just unveiled it. It's not spread out like it has in the past, so I don't think it's that big of a deal being wide as opposed to being in the middle.

Am I wrong? Because when it was 11, it ran poles on the outside, it was a joke. Yeah, well, yes, it's not a big deal. It's better to have it concise. The interesting thing is, it makes it harder to attack somebody because it makes you a lot closer to.

It's harder to attack you, for example, if I was sitting at Kellyanne's. But now that I'm further away from you, it's easier for me to attack you. Understand, Kellyanne, do you believe proximity matters? I do. I think the two-person shot is still going to be DeSantis and Vivek Ramashwami.

But to your point, eight tight makes it seem like they all have a shot. And when you're breathing somebody's carbon dioxide, it's very difficult to attack them. I think some people will be pulling their punches. But here's the advice I would give as somebody who's prepped candidates for this exact moment many times. Make sure that you know your audience is not each other, it's the people.

It's not even the moderators, it's the people. Your audience is always we the people.

So make sure that if you're tempted to go viral, that you understand your task is to introduce yourself or reintroduce yourself. And have a moment where people say, that's someone I could be proud to have in the Oval Office. That's someone I know can be Joe Biden.

So, Carl, you have one of the, that's a good point, and you just were making eye contact with the stream, by the way, while you were doing it. Carl, the other thing is, it's the first time I always like when I see two experienced people here, I always think you've experienced it all, but not this time. You got a president doing something over Cleveland did, but not since, trying to get become forty-five and forty-seven. And number two, he's not here. And you have a lot of talent on the stage.

So, if you had one of those candidates, how do you dress the man not in the room?

Well, first of all, the You gotta whatever whenever you address them, it's gotta be natural. I mean, the first and most important thing for them to do is to not worry about him, but to address the as Kelly Ann said, think about a person that you want to try and convince and convince them. And if part of that is to say, look, I appreciate what he did, you know, but he's got too much baggage, and I'm, you know, I'm capable of serving two terms, fine, but it's got to be natural, it can't be forced. He's not on the stage. People can disagree with his opinions, but if it looks forced, if they look like they're looking for a chance to do this, if they're reaching out in an inappropriate way, people are going to be saying, wait a minute, I tuned into this to figure out who you are and why you ought to get my vote.

I didn't, if your principal goal here tonight is to take the guy who wasn't there and pull him down. If they look like they're overreaching, they'll suffer with the voters. And the problem is, Kelly, and I have not seen this successfully done. It's hard to win the nomination without the Trump base, which they say is 37 percent.

So, how do you do that and be the alternative without putting down the guy that prevents you? From leaving your team and going to In a linear fashion, Brian, it's almost impossible to attack Donald Trump and then attract his voters. But this is a long war of attrition. And I believe people will stay in the race for a long time, a very long time. For that reason.

For that reason, they'll think they can wear him down or they'll think he can't outrun his legal woes. This is politics, so anything is possible. But what's different for Donald Trump in 2016 when I was a campaign manager is he owns electability right now. That was always his burden, especially in 2016, against 17 qualified men and women on the Republican side who he vanquished in the primary, and then against Hillary Clinton, who we were all told could not be beaten just the way Senator Obama was told eight years earlier. She's got it all wrapped up.

So the unusual position for Trump right now is he's beating every single one of them in every poll. He owns electability. But if they can start saying that's not true in a general election situation and transport themselves, so far, not a single one of them has successfully, in my view, done what they should have done and Ron DeSantis should have done in November, which is to say, I'm not here. You think I'm the alternative to Trump? No, I'm the alternative to Joe Biden.

Trump's in their heads in a way where they feel like they have to go through him first to get. DeSantis absorbed $20 million worth of attack ads, Carl, before he even got in the race, which is a good tactic, I guess, for the Trump team because they worried about it, or they worry about it.

Well, perhaps, but look, there's a disconnect between the president's former president's national numbers and his numbers in the early states. Remember, we don't take across the country the information about the candidates at the same amount and the same level everywhere all the time. In Iowa, New Hampshire, they're absorbing a lot more information about them, in part because they're seeing it more. You know, candidates are going to all 99 counties. People are going to the endless number of town hall meetings where they get to ask questions of the candidates.

And so, if you look at it, there's a gap growing between Donald Trump's numbers nationwide and his numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire. And particularly, if you take him versus The field and the undecided. In both nationwide, he's got a bigger number than. You see a vulnerability.

So far, you know, Axios has it out today, and I'm sure you know this already. Nobody with this type of lead at this point in the primary process has ever lost. Ever lost. Exactly right. But we're not in the normal.

We've never had a candidate who's under indictment in four states and out on bail. I mean, we just as he's came. In fact, if you take a look at it, the problem is probably more for the general election rather than the primaries, but there are a growing number. Remember, he got 94% of the Republicans in 2020 and lost by 7 million votes. You start looking at the inside the numbers of people who think that he has done something criminal.

In either the Cal S5 documents, the Georgia case, or the It's 15, 16 percent, and then 20 percent undecided or excuse me, don't know.

So you got 30 some odd percent of Republicans saying I either think he did something wrong or I'm not willing to tell you. Kellyanne, you have those same numbers but a different perspective. Slightly. Let's just look at the early states. Let's just say the top three: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina.

You can have a different winner in all three. You can have Trump win all three. Iowa, though, the winner hasn't prevailed as the nominee. Mike Huckabee won it. Joe Biden, I don't even know if he came in third, fifth, whatever.

It didn't matter. New Hampshire, Christie is on Trump's heels compared to everyone else right now, but I still think it's suddenly 34 to 14. But South Carolina is the fascinating one to me because in 2016, Donald Trump won about 33 percent of the vote in a very crowded field, but all 54 delegates. Jeff Bush dropped out right after that with zero delegates. Is it a winner-take-all still?

It's a winner-take-all state. And that's a key. It's not allowed officially to be winner-take-all until after March 15th. No state is allowed to be winner-take-all. But he won the congressional districts in such a fashion that he won most of the delegates and then got all of the delegates after everybody.

He still leads in South Carolina.

Well, he does. And if you're Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, you're Tim Scott, the current senator. There and you've got Donald Trump beating you there, you have to rethink that. But it's a long way from that. The only thing I'll say is: obviously, Trump's in his poll numbers has become stronger with each of the indictments.

Let's make it very clear that if in your life you ever have a choice between being indicted and not being indicted, pick door number two. Let's make that clear. But I think people do see him a little bit as persecuted, not prosecuted. They want a fighter. The best thing Trump has going for him is that he's done the job before.

And when people tonight say you're a coward for not showing up, he's actually playing the front-runner strategy. And I think his lawyers have probably told him, don't go either. But look, have. how they handle him. And I had this in a Foxnews.com piece today, the six things I'm looking in tonight's debate.

And number one that I put there, Brian and Carl, along with what's their five-point plan on the economy, should they be a peacock and not an ostrich on abortion, and learn how to speak about it to America, education, healthcare, Russia, China, et cetera. But the first thing I say is: how will you handle the frontrunner and former president who's beating everyone in every poll but is not here?

So deal with him and then move on and show yourself as a visionary and an optimist. When we get back, what some legal experts are saying about the Georgia case, I find stunning. And then also, a mar-a-lago worker seems to have flipped sides. Carl Roven, Kellyanne Conway are going to stick around unless I get on their nerves and the break. And it has happened before.

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Different jury pool, no television, and you're going to have a state prosecutor basically having to try this case under state law, true, but with federal procedural rules that she's not familiar with. And for what she had, again, the strongest case against Donald Trump on the fake electors, she should have brought that alone and instead. You know, which one of the bigger heads? And she thought it was a huge mistake to include 19 people. That Sarah Isgar, as you know, worked in the State Department at the time, but very anti-Trump now, using a legal analyst over the weekend to say how clumsy this Georgia move was.

We're not legal experts, Carl Rove and Kellyanne Conway, but you've heard this before, and now tomorrow night the president's going to, as we say, he's going to be on camera, is going to be officially arrested. Your thoughts on the analysis, have you heard that before?

Well, Sarah Isger is a very smart person. She worked at the Department of Justice for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and she's a commentator on ABC, I believe. And she's got a good point. By the way, I'm a fully recovered attorney, 12-step program. I did not know that, but I did pay a lot for that law degree.

I'm admitted to practice in four states, but happily don't in any of them. But I will say this: she's got a good point. I think with Trump, with President Trump, the inclination is always to overcharge, overstate, overdue. But there's a couple things about the Georgia case that. Are concerning to some people.

Number one, I think that Fannie Willis looked at these other charges and said, I'm going to be a little bit different. I'm going to bring state charges so he can't have a federal pardon. I'm going to make sure there's a mug shot. He hasn't had that yet. In each of these state charges, there seems to be jail time connected to them.

And of course, the co-defendants, the co-conspirators, quote unquote. But what Sarah is saying is essentially what happens with people who don't like Donald Trump and are Trump critics and he lives rent-free in their heads, which is they just overdo it. They never know how to just take yes for no. And they want to get famous. And they want to get famous.

Obviously, a lot of talk this week about her political future in Georgia already. And I'll just end on this. Don't forget that whether you're Letitia James, the AG of New York State, Alvin Bragg, the DA, I testified in the Stormy Daniels grand jury, or you're this woman, you promised affirmatively when you were running to get Donald Trump. Call. Yeah, this is the biggest, most sprawling case that's been filed against him.

He's got vulnerability, I think, if they sheet, as Sarah said, if they narrowly focused it on the fake electors because this was an attempt to sort of subvert the vote as it had been certified in the state by offering a group of fake electors to show up and say we're casting the Georgia's vote for Donald Trump, not Joe Biden. But it's, again, it's big and sprawling. But he still has vulnerability on it. We'll see how it all plays out. But I think you're right.

She overreached. I've always thought that the greatest vulnerability he has is in the classified documents case. And that case has gotten worse for him in the last 24 hours when one of the people who was being represented by a lawyer that was being paid by the Trump PAC. And dropped his lawyer and got himself a public defender in the District of Columbia, and then withdrew his testimony before the grand jury saying it was false. I was asked to destroy evidence, and here are the three people who asked me to do it.

Right. Regardless of what happened, it's a totally self-inflicted wound. He didn't have to take any documents. He wasn't building a library. But he does have a, you know, he.

according to a guy you like, Jim Trustee. He said there was a lot there to defend in that case for the president. He just thinks there's a lot of. people around the President, they're not good for him. And he thought he was better off getting out.

I thought Jim Trustee was one of the strongest legal minds that he had. Especially for that case through the indictment. We'll see what happens in the big picture. But I thought it was interesting. Governor Kemp said there's no way this trial comes before the 2024 election.

Absolutely not. And then you look at the Mar-a-Lago case. Who's going to get the top-secret clearance to all these people to look through the documents to mount the defense? Good luck with that. And then you have the judge.

In Washington DC, said I'm going to ignore politics? How are you possibly going to ignore politics when he's running for office? Do you see any of these coming to sitting him in a courtroom before the election?

Well, they're going to try. Jack Smith has made that clear. Others have made that clear. They're going to try. But this would be the first thing that ever went quickly in Washington, DC, or Manhattan.

The prosecution of Donald Trump. Things don't move very quickly in either city. I live in both. Look, I think, though, that they don't really, it doesn't matter if it goes to trial, they think they'll get him through a death of a thousand cuts, wear him down, make sure that his super PAC and campaign are paying for all these legal bills, show him more as a defendant than a former president. And he's got an answer for all that.

He's going to hold his head high, he's going to show up where he needs to, like Georgia tomorrow, and he's just going to keep going forward. The big question tonight and every night after this is how his would-be opponents handle this, Brian, because sure, some of them are making up some ground in the state polls, but all of the not Trump vote put together still does not equal 50 percent. And I think there's going to be pressure on people, there should have been from the beginning, to not run, to drop out and consolidate. And by the way, Kelly and Coney's got a great column on what these candidates should be doing on FoxNews.com. You, a quick question.

Washington Post columnist writes today that uh there really should be an investigation into Hunter Biden and Joe Biden and what they were doing Over in Ukraine. Really? Oh, fascinating. And he also says it doesn't look good even if it's not illegal. Need to find out to get to the bottom of it.

And the firing of Shokin, who, by the way, I interviewed this week, it's gonna be on Friday night. Nobody's interviewed him to get his perspective on the prosecutor that Joe Biden fired. He fired him on his own. There's nothing, Barack Obama was not pushing to fire him, and you got Victoria Newland praising him for being tough.

So there's a huge problem here. And I'm reading this column, and I kept going back to say: is this the Washington Post? Tell me what's going on.

Well, finally waking up and smelling the coffee. This is stunk from the beginning. I mean, think about this. In January of, what is the year, 2015? Uh or 2014.

The bagman, the longtime political associate of the sitting Secretary of State, Devin Archer, gets hired by Burisma to go on the board. Knows nothing about Ukraine, never been involved in corporate governance, knows nothing about the business that Burisma's in, the energy business. Why did they hire him? Because he was close to the Democratic Secretary of State. And three months later, three months later, he says, What a good idea.

Why don't we get the son of the sitting vice president who's in charge of. The government policy to crack down on corruption in Ukraine. Why don't we hire him and put him on the board?

So, the question that we've never had asked and answered is: did the Obama administration think this was a problem? And if they did, what did they do about it?

Now, I've been told, I don't know, but I've been told they thought it was a problem and they tried to do something about it. But the question is: what did they do? Because this stunk at the time. In fact, when Biden goes to Ukraine in November, I think, of 2015. To tell them to get rid of Shogun and to crack down on your corruption, or you're going to be in trouble with us.

He is attacked by Ukrainian NGOs for not understanding that his son is part of the problem, not part of the solution. And it appears on the front page of the New York Times. And for years now, Democrats have said, oh, don't worry about it. It was just his son, and it wasn't him. It stunk.

There was only one reason he got hired. He's the son of the sitting vice president of the United States. Can I tell you what bothers me most about this story? It could have been written two years ago. It could have.

And it should have been written five and six years ago. It was written in a half-hearted way on the front page of the New York Times, quoting Ukrainians, saying, this stinks. And it was tolerated by the Obama administration. I got to tell you, it strikes me as being wholly unrealistic to think that the Obama administration didn't say, Joe, you got to do something about this. In which case, what Joe must have said was, leave my son alone.

Can I tell you that Victor Chokin tells me, and you'll hear it on Friday, that there would have been no taking of Crimea and there would be no warning with Russia if it wasn't for Joe Biden and the perception. That he was in charge. And guess who knows that? The voters. This is the first time this will be truly litigated by the voters at the ballot box.

They were lied to by Joe Biden. He lied in the debates. By the way, nobody on the stage is under oath. We should all remind them around ourselves. But he lied when he was asked in that general election debate: Did you discuss business with your son?

Did you know? And he said no. And in fact, we have 51 intelligent national security experts who signed a letter with this information. He knew it was a lie. We since just know what we know to Carl's point is that he discussed business with his son and his associates at least 20 times, was on the phone.

But this is important. Joe Biden may have no energy, but Hunter Biden had no energy experience. And this is beyond Nepo, baby. And if somebody says, Carl, everybody does it, not everybody does that. No, not everybody does it.

The Trump kids don't do that. The Bush girls didn't do that. That's ridiculous. And this is important. This is relevant now because the guy is president and wants to continue to be president.

Why is it coming out now? Just real quick, I know you've got to run. Why is it coming out now? Oh, well who's letting this come out now? Is it because of great investigations from the House, or is it because they want to see him crack and they want to see him go?

Well, maybe that, but I think the main thing is it has stunk for so long that rational people have finally said, I can't make excuses any longer, particularly after we have seen Hunter Biden. I mean, they've rubbed our nose in it. The day after the plea deal is announced, he's attending a White House dinner. I mean, he's traveling with the president. He's attending.

And he said, where's the money when asked? He goes, where's the money? Bring it on. Go look for it. They're very brazen.

This is important because Take Your Kid to Work Day is some Wednesday in April. It is not every day for a 53-year-old son. He's traveling with them to Tom Steyer's $18 million house. He's in Hawaii. We're told he's living in the White House most times.

This is a problem for the country. It's inappropriate. And I've got to believe that since this went on for so long during the Obama administration, I've got to believe that this was in President Obama's mind when he said, Joe, you don't need to do this. Trying to dissuade him, according to the New York Times article, trying to dissuade him from running into first waves. In fact, I'm convinced that somebody was sent by President Obama to have.

This conversation with Joe Biden, and Joe Biden said, Don't talk to me about my kid, get the heck out of my office. And that's evidently what they say to him now. Here we are. Don't talk to him about him now, but that means they can't mount a proper defense. And then, if you're going to keep doing that, who's going to defend you?

If one of those eight or nine can't beat this administration with this track record and this past, they should be ashamed of themselves. Either party that figures out a new face is what they need on the ballot is the party that's got the upper hand for the 2024 election.

Well, we'll see what happens. We're going to find out very soon because we're going to get a caucus in five months and we're going to get a debate in about 12 hours. Guys, thanks so much. Thank you. Do you really enjoy yourself, Carl?

Because I know Kellyanne did. I did. I sure did. I sure did. But next time, though, button up your tie.

You mean I blew my own dress coat? Yeah, you blew my own dress coat. You told me never to show up with the top button undone. There you are, and you're wearing your presidential cufflinks. You're dishonoring your presidential cufflinks by that.

He thinks he's a millennial. Yeah, he's a millennial. I am trying to act out hip. I am. He's sort of a.

Exactly. And I need the rest of the day off if I'm a millennial. No, you haven't. You can't. I call Rof, Kelly, and Conway.

Great job. Harold Ford may be next, but we are looking at a living, breathing organism, which is Fox's coverage of Debate 2023. Both sides, all opinions, it's Brian Killmee. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Joe.

There are things you can run on. I'm a little confused by the whole bionomics thing because you're trying to convince people of something, you're trying to convince them their own impressions about the economy are wrong. And so, if you look, for example, at how Hispanic and black voters feel about the economy, they'll tell you it stinks.

Now, they can keep saying, but we have the CHIPS Act. But we have the IRA. At the end of the day, you can't convince someone that they're feeling, how they're feeling about the economy is wrong. And that's what this election is going to come down to. And I get that they're trying to present a proactive message, but at the end of the day, it's very difficult, I think, to do that when people feel.

They simply feel differently. And that is Lonnie Chen from the Hoover Institute. Who ran Mitt Romney's campaign? Not a far-right conservative, somewhat moderate, but also pointing out that he's a little befuddled about running on Bidenomics. Maybe Harold Ford isn't.

You see him on the Five, you see him all over the channel. You're doing some great work tonight. He's to my immediate right. Harold, great to see you again. Great being with you, buddy.

All right.

Your thoughts about Lonnie Chen and the decision Democrats have to run on Bidenomics and the President to continue to talk about it.

So I think Lonnie was largely right. I worked out this morning and I listened to the Oliver Anthony song again, Richmond North of Richmond. And You're reminded when you hear, when you're in a political season, that politics is about people and about the people you want to make their lives better, not about you. uh as a politician. And the economy is always foremost in a presidential race.

I think for the White House to label or term or name what we're going to do or what we're doing and what we're going to be doing going forward is by dynamics. There's a risk there because if things don't turn out well, you've owned it. And if you're not proactively doing things to try to make People's lives better, they're going to blame you for it.

So a year from now, we'll be able to tell a lot better if that was the right thing to do or not. I say a year from now because we'll be in the heat. We are in the heat, but we'll be in the heat of the race, and we'll have a nominee on the Republican side and have a nominee on a Democratic side. I'll be interested tonight to see how these candidates for president on the Republican side, not how they go after each other or even try to differentiate with between themselves and Donald Trump, but How do they try to differentiate themselves and how they would make people's lives better? Would you do something different in prioritizing spending?

Would you offer tax cuts to small businesses? Obviously, the border will be an issue.

So, I hope the candidates don't take this evening or this opportunity tonight, because I think it's a huge opportunity. And I think there are going to be a lot of eyeballs, Democrat, Independent, obviously more Republican, watching this debate.

So, I'm looking forward to them saying what they would do differently than. Joe Biden is doing if they think what he's doing is wrong, and how that would benefit Um uh The middle class and everyday working people, and the people, frankly, that Oliver Anthony talks about in that song, which I think. I don't think it's a Democrat song. I don't think it's a Republican song. I think it's a song that speaks to the heart of the country, where people believe their lives are.

Right. They're wondering their credit cards are now 7%. The interest rate's gone up. They pull it in overtime. They look at it and go, When you take out taxes, was it really worth it for me to give up my Saturday and to work to 9 o'clock?

And they also see a lot of people getting free stuff. A 5'3-inch guy who's 300 pounds, should we really be giving him paying for his junk food?

So I'm not quoting his lyrics exactly, but that's the sentiment. But I'll add this: you could be the most pro-immigrant person in the world. I don't know how many people are for spending. billions of dollars, three billion dollars over the course of two years in New York City to pay for housing other people's citizens. As they might be the next Einstein or they might be the next Bin Laden, We should not be taking these people in like this, and I see Democratic mayors fighting with Democratic governors.

This could be problematic, and I wonder how you would approach that if you're in that stage. In New York, this is a huge issue today. I mean, you find four out of five, more than four out of five. New Yorkers believe that the migrant issue is a serious issue, meaning they think that what we're doing is wrong, that we've got to think about a different approach. Three out of five Democrats just completely oppose the policy that we have at our border in New York, at our border right now.

Well, they are, because they're answering the the polling debt. I don't think that people are rushing to the streets to enact a recall petition. Like Senator Kelly, you'll say this is ridiculous. Coyar is the guy who never gets off his horse, and he's been isolated by the Democratic Party. But no, but I think this is why it behooves I think it would behoove the President and even the Vice President who's been tasked with dealing with this matter at the border to deal with it.

I think there's a set of solutions out there that are reachable that could attract bipartisan support. If Joe Biden were in the United States Senate today, And this issue was what it is today if he were in the Senate. The Joe Biden, I know, would have convened 10 senators, five Democrats, five Republicans, to try to hammer out an agreement that could come to the Senate floor that could help solve the problem. But this one's in Lake Tahoe. No, no, but that's what they.

Look, I don't mind him being on vacation. But this issue has persisted long before he went to Tahoe. He's got to find an answer. If he does not find an answer, I don't disagree with you, Brian, the ramification will, and the reverberation will happen November of next year, and they won't win. 20 seconds.

I'm going to be at the diner tomorrow on this show in Fox and Friends. Who's the one person I'm going to be talking about, your prediction? I think you'll be talking about two people, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott. Interesting. Can you record this, Allison?

Make sure, make him seem like a genius. Thanks so much. Thank you, Kim. I just got to make sure. Jury's still out.

Thanks, Aaron. 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 Killmead Show.

We are in Milwaukee. We are the site of this is, I almost said Super Bowl, but it is the GOP debate. And here's what makes it significant. I know what you're saying in your head: well, it's just the first, there's going to be so many, but there's never going to be one like the first. It's a first impression.

This might be the last impression for candidates that fall on their face because if you do poorly, if you forget something, like the former governor of Texas, when you're about to say it, the money's not going to be there the next day. You really can't get out of the box. And if you didn't qualify for the debate, I don't see how you. Have any momentum to continue if your Mayor Suarez is talented as he is, or if you're Well, if you just don't qualify, as many people have have not, and that is Will Hurd, as dynamic as he can be. With me right now in studio is Britt Yume.

We're on the stream, so he's going to be even more famous. Dana Perino at the bottom of the hour. Britt, welcome. Thank you, Brian. Nice to see you.

Now. Is your adrenaline flowing for this?

Now we're hours away.

Well, finally, something's going to happen. And we've been sitting around here walking for several days talking about an event that hadn't happened yet.

Sooner or later, you run out of things to say. I'll try to figure out a few things to say with the story. If you don't mind, because I hate carrying the show myself, I'll do my best. Right. That's all I can ask.

So I think the one thing you have two moderators who don't want to be the story. That's important, isn't it? It is. And you're sitting up there, you're front and center, you're on camera all the time. And if you don't do your job properly and become the story, you've made a mistake.

Right. And so far, they've worked together, collaborated together on some topics that they might be able to figure out. But one that they really haven't mastered yet, I don't know how they're going to ask it, but the frontrunner, up by 30, 40 points. According to Axios today, in modern politics, any politician with this type of lead has not lost the nomination. Trump is up by a lot and he's not here.

What role should that play in this among the eight?

Well, they're all competing to be the alternative to him, and they're running against each other for that position. in case these cases overwhelm him?

Well, and you know, there are a lot of possibilities. And one thing, you know, you you always feel like you can rely on the polls until you can't. And the polls, you know, who would have thought, for example, speaking of polling, of Joe Biden pre and just post New Hampshire in twenty twenty? He finished fifth in New Hampshire and was given up for dead.

Next thing you know, he's a nominee.

So stuff happens. But he didn't earn it necessarily. He was kind of grabbed. Remember, we were covering New Hampshire right before the pandemic. He left before the final tally was done.

Bernie Sanders won that primary and terrified the hierarchy of the Democratic Party, who quickly rallied behind Biden in South Carolina and made him the nominee.

So, Britt Hume, you know that Governor Sununu, who I know you know the family for years, and he's very talented, but he's out after this. He has to run every two years. He said, if you don't do well in Iowa, you've got to drop out. And he's anti-Trump. He's anti-Trump because he doesn't think Trump can win the general.

And he's calling on the Republican Party, if you don't do well in Iowa, get out.

Well, that's the idea. Clear the field for a single nominee. It's obvious, mathematically, the splintered field of, what, eight candidates who've qualified and a few others who didn't. That helps Trump because his support is solid. It's not a majority.

you But it's a high plurality, and in the primary season, of course, pluralities can win. 37 percent affirmly the Trump base. They say another 37 percent are persuadable. And then the rest, there's a non-Trump factor of about 15, 20 percent among the Republicans, they say in theory. Do you buy that?

The 37 percent are immovable objects for Trump?

Well, so far they've proved to be, and I think that's and that's I think that's probably right. I mean, the Trump base has been pretty solid and pretty immovable, but 37 percent is not a majority.

So, if somebody can ever, if they can rally a majority around somebody else, Trump could be beaten. I think so. Everyone's trying to figure out a way, and I thought Vivek Ramaswamy was doing that when he said, Look, I want Donald Trump to be my advisor. I love what he did. I want to continue.

I'm younger. He's a polarizing figure. I don't think he can win. I know I can win.

So, everybody else, if you take on Trump in certain areas, you risk alienating his people. And we see Trumpers out there. There with anti-DeSantis signs as if he is the incoming Hillary Clinton incarnate.

So, having said that, Has Vivek Ramaswamy eliminated himself with some of his foreign policy views?

Well, I think he's gotten himself into trouble. You know, he's he's made some rookie mistakes. He's new to all this and he's just fantastically glib. I mean, he's the slickest talker that we've seen since maybe the maybe Barack Obama. Maybe Pete Buttiges would give him a run for that, but uh but nobody's talking about him now.

But I think you know, I think uh he's pretty pretty polished, but You know, you've got to make mistakes. You haven't been doing this very long. In these areas, like talking about Israel and support for Israel, that's a very sensitive issue with a certain segment of the electric issue, Brittany. It is, but what I'm saying is it's very sensitive, and you've got to speak with real care. If you're going to address that issue, you've got to speak with real care and be aware all the minefields are, and I'm not sure he is yet.

So I want you to hear what he said to the Atlantic about 9-11. Cut to I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Like, I think we wanted, maybe the answer is zero. Probably is zero, for all I know, right? I have no reason to think it was anything other than zero.

But if we're doing a comprehensive assessment of what happened on 9-11, we have a 9-11 commission, absolutely that should be an answer the public knows the answer to.

Well, if we're doing a January 6th commission, absolutely, those should be questions that we should get to the bottom of. People say, wait a second, are you saying that you believe that American agents were on that plane? Yeah, that was pre-9/11, obviously, when it happened.

So we didn't have Federal agents traveling on very many aircraft.

So that suggests he had something a little out of place in time. Right. He tried to correct it yesterday. Tell me if he did.

Well, he tried to correct it there. Maybe it was zero. I think it was probably zero. But why bring it up?

Well, that's the point. That's the thing.

Well, why bring it up? Because you're young and you're a rookie and you make mistakes.

So, January 6th, I do think it would resonate when people say we still don't know everything that happened. January 6th is a horrendous day. I think everybody in this stage would agree with that. But when they say we're FBI agents there, there's a lot of people out there that said it's been overcharged and overdone.

Well, there's a good case to be made for that. I mean, you think people who were relatively minor offenses that day are being given really stiff jail sentences, and it makes you wonder whether it wasn't a case of Washington, D.C. being so upset by something that happened right there in the city that they threw the book at everybody. And I think there are questions to be asked about that, but you better make it precise. Right.

Here's him trying to correct himself with Martha yesterday. Tell me if he did cut four. Who was responsible for the killing of nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11th? Terrors from Al Qaeda. But this is a crucial truth that's been left out.

Aided by the Saudi government. And this is a stain on our national history. The fact that the FBI and the 9-11 Commission lied back in 2001 and 2002, saying there was no Saudi intelligence involvement. We now know. And declassified documents quietly from the government in 2021 that Omar al-Bayoumi, supposed graduate student, was indeed a Saudi intelligence operative.

And I think we can't just sweep these facts under the rug.

So he was working out in California, and there are some indications that he was working for the CIA, other people say he wasn't. Is that a point that he should drill hard?

Well, here's the thing. These theories about we don't know enough, something else may have been afoot here, and all these episodes, going back to the Kennedy assassination, have an appeal to a certain number of voters. I don't think it's a very large percentage, and I don't think that in this election, in this year, that these are the kinds of things that people are focused on. Right. Now, January 6th is something, I don't know, I'm sure you don't flip the channels around or not.

But if it wasn't for the Trump indictments, you have not seen an hour on another news channel without a January 6th reference. Yeah, there's a lot about that. And I continue, as somebody who covered Capitol Hill for 11 years, to be astounded that the January 6th committee, which was a put-up job if there ever was one, with not a single dissenting voice, the Republican choices by the Speaker were then the Minority leader to be on that committee were nixed by Nancy Pelosi. It was a committee chosen entirely by one side. Capitol Hill never functioned that way.

It was a highly irregular affair and when there are no dissenting voices were that was a TV show. And the fact that it was taken as seriously as it was continues to amaze me. And an ABC producer put together the TV show and they made it clear and they didn't deny it. How do you feel about the fact that the documents from January 6th that we paid for, taxpayers paid for, millions of dollars, it was a prime time show. A lot of them were destroyed.

That's right. What reasoning could you have to destroy that?

Well, you know, if we had an honest media, they never would have gotten away with that, but we don't. But with I guess they are, right? They are going to get away with that?

So, but it plays into the investigation into Donald Trump. It does.

So, his staff or his lawyers should use their bullhorn, their megaphone, to get that word out. Maybe that'll happen if this case gets closer. I know we're not lawyers. But do you sense that something will be on trial before November of 2024?

Well, I think that big case in Georgia in particular is vulnerable to kind of falling apart. There are defendants in that case who have a good argument that doesn't belong. In their particular instances, Mark Meadows, for example, the former Trump chief of staff, that shouldn't even be in a state he shouldn't even be tried in a State Court. I'm not sure that whole thing holds together. And there's an underlying problem, which is it is all said to be part of a conspiracy to do what?

To try to reverse the results of the election. There's no law against trying to reverse the results of an election. It's an undesirable act. I wish it hadn't happened, but it's not a crime.

So it's a conspiracy to commit something. It's not a crime. Mark Meadows says, listen, I was chief of staff on January 6th. What I say is a Federal issue. What I said to the President is a Federal issue.

I was working for the Federal Government. This is not a State Court issue. And even legal scholars on other channels were saying. He has got a good point. And if Meadows goes, the whole case goes.

Well, it would be damaged. I think they found within this alleged. No, not Bros Up, but I mean everybody gets tried at Federal Court.

Well, maybe. I could have tried. They said you can't have one and not the other.

Well, you could if they are not Federal officials. Here is. Uh here is Mark Short. Talking about the role of Mark Meadows, Cut 15. I don't think any of us relish witnessing what's happening to any of these people that we work with.

I think that. In your last panel, I think it's fair to say that Mark was a ringleader of much of the events that happened around January 6th. He was somebody who was the president who sought to find additional attorneys who gave advice different than White House counsel. And it was very central to the events that happened on that day. That's what I've heard in the past, too.

Mark Schwer, Chief of Staff of the Vice President. Having said everything you said and know how most Republicans feel. How does Pence handle this tonight?

Well, he's in a jam because Pence is a very honorable guy, a very straightforward guy, an experienced guy, well qualified in terms of his experience to be President. He doesn't excite people. And I think people see him as plain vanilla and part of the other administration. And at the same time, that is one of his qualifications, but it's a drawback. He says, it's not the only thing I disagree with the President on.

I don't like his stand on entitlements either. I wasn't pleased with the amount of spending. During his administration. I don't know if that's going to resonate. And I also think that you've got to give him a mulligan a little bit during the pandemic years.

You do perhaps, but I don't you know, so far I don't seem getting it. I'll never forget when I took over for as an anchor again in in twenty sixteen for uh two months, hardest thing I ever did. I was too old to do that, but I did it. I tried to do it anyway. In twenty sixteen.

Yeah, in twenty sixteen, and and I had uh pence on one night.

Now I admire Pence. He's a good guy. It was the dullest interview I've ever done. It just was. He's a fine man, but he is dull.

You still remember that? Oh, I'll never forget it. I said, okay, that's the end of him. We're not doing him again. Right, you took over Greta's show, right?

Yeah, for two months ago. You seemed effortless. It wasn't? It was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Well, you know, it had been years since I was 73 at the time, and I was trying to, you know, my memory wasn't what it used to be. It really isn't now. And it was a struggle. All right.

Do you think that Brad and Martha's picture should be bigger on the arena? Are you a little disappointed? Yeah, the whole parts of the side of that arena that are not their picture. It's so wrong. It's wrong.

You never would have let that happen. How dare you when you had that job? No, no, no, I wouldn't let them put it that big of me. It would scare the audience away. That's not true.

Meanwhile, we're going to come back a few more questions for Britt Hume because we're getting closer to the debate. We're not talking about something miles away or even days away.

Now we're talking hours away. Brian Killmee Joe in Milwaukee.

So glad you're here. Educating, entertaining, enlightening. You're with Brian Kilmead. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmead.

Glenn Kessler from the Washington Post had a fact check. about Joe Biden from earlier this month. Um noting that Hunter Biden admitted in court in July That he was, in fact, paid substantial sums from Chinese companies. Kessler wrote: Hunter Biden reported nearly $2.4 million in income in 2017 and $2.2 million in income in 2018, most of which came from Chinese or Ukrainian interests. And this directly goes against what Joe Biden said.

in the debate in 2020 uh with uh Donald Trump. Jake Tapper. With a revelation that we talked about in 2020, him talked about in 2023 just a few weeks ago. Britt Yume with me now. Britt, big picture.

This story is now moving at a pace that we could have moved, that we moved with two years ago since the House went to Republicans. Do you think it's significant that Jake Tapper is reporting this?

Well, I don't know how you get around it. Reporting, you know, they did for several years, but this thing has really reached critical mass now, where even mainstream outlets are having to cover it. They don't like it, they ignored it for several years, but now it's all out in the open there. It's happening on the T people's TV screens at home, they're hearing about it, seeing it, and so now they finally begin to take it on. And at a minimum, we've established that Joe Biden has lied repeatedly about the degree of what Hunter was up to and whether he ever knew anything about it.

I mean, that was never credible for one second. I mean, he's having the Air Force 2 with him, and what does he look at his son who's on his way over there to do business on the way to China and say, fancy meeting you here, right? But most media outlets were willing to accept that up until a week or two. Or at least ignore it.

So, in the Washington Post column today, they talked about this Henry Olson says what he did is might not be illegal. And Archer noted that the vice president had not changed policy telepurisma, but it sure does stink. Then he says, Now we put Democrats talk about what about is and what about Jared Kushner and everything. He goes, Well, Having said that, none of this negates the need to thoroughly investigate Joe and Hunter Biden. Had Trump and one of his children been involved in the same set of facts as the Bidens, the outcry on the left would have been deafening.

I kept going back to when I go, am I reading the Washington Post?

Well, that's Henry Olson. Henry Olson's a conservative, and they have a few conservative opinion dispensers on the Post's editorial page, and he's one of them.

So it's not altogether surprising that Henry Olson would say that. Could he have gotten that printed a year ago? Oh, I think so. Right? I I think so.

But it but but it wouldn't have you know, it wouldn't have triggered I don't think it would have triggered any response from the post news pages. If you were Asking, you knew that laptop was out when he was debating in 2020, and then Tony Bobolinski, you were there, I imagine, when he comes out and has a press conference and says, You guys want to know any information about the big guy and everything else? I'll be there. Nobody called him, no one followed up, and he was able to say that wasn't my son's laptop, knowing full well he was lying. Back in the day, Brian, it wasn't too many years ago, when something like this would happen.

And mainstream media would might downplay the story or they might slant a copy. they wouldn't do what they did here for so long, which is just to pretend it didn't happen. Which is not this isn't this is new to me. I mean, I've never seen anything quite like this. There's ho you know, whole stories that are by any reasonable standard major news stories that that any red blooded American news organization ought to pursue ardently.

They just pretend it isn't happening. I love when you come in and out in surges during times like this. You have 30 seconds left. How's Fox looking from the outside now that you're on the inside and you're able to dip in and out?

Well, I think we've taken some blows, right? Lost some people. This has happened before. We've recovered every time, and I think we're recovering this time. Right, I think so, too.

But I wanted to get your perspective because you're much more experienced, even though I dress nicer. You dress better for sure. Right, but you do not like my suit. You think it's a bit of a sheen to it, you said. Which means that I'm cleaning it too much.

Well, I don't know whether I'm meeting you or your agent. That's true. Hey, Britt, you, thanks so much. Back with more. You listen to the Brian Killmee show on the road in Milwaukee, site of the first GOP presidential debate.

Don't move. The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Killmead. You know, it's funny, the same sort of strategy is coming up now. Do you attack Trump or you don't attack Trump?

So when I was in the debate, there were 16 on the stage and I was in the far periphery and my staff said, whatever you do, don't attack Trump. And so the very first question, what did I do? I attacked Trump. And mainly because if you're sitting on the periphery of the stage, you don't get as many questions. You don't get as much time.

And your only chance really is to jump in and go after the frontrunner.

So I go against all the logic that people say, don't attack the frontrunner because he's popular. Sure, he's popular. But there will be things you have to argue that you can do better than Trump. And if you can't make that argument, you don't have a chance. That is Senator Rand Paul talking about being on the end of the stage.

I can't believe that. 16 people? I thought we had two levels of debates. With me right now is Dana Perinos, Fresh Off America's Newsroom, all part of our election coverage throughout this election season. Dana, first off, your reaction to Rand Paul giggling about the fact is don't attack Trump, attack Trump.

He's not going to be here, but what do you feel after talking to everyone you've talked to over the last few days should be the right tactic when it comes to the frontrunner? I don't know if I have the right answer to that, Brian. We also, on our show, talked to Governor Walker, who in that same debate that Rand Paul was talking about, I believe Governor Walker was right next to Trump during that time. And we said, what would you have done differently? And he said, well, I listened way too much to DC consultants.

And that he had won his re his elections here in Wisconsin, including in this county, Milwaukee County, which at the time had been pretty they had gone for Barack Obama twice, big time here, but he won his reelection that same time that Barack Obama was won. And he won his recall.

So he knew he knew how to win. And then he decided to run for president, and he did what a lot of people do, and I don't blame them. You go to Washington, D.C., you talk to the political consultants, the strategists, you say, I want to run for president. What do you think I need to do? And he said he just let them get in his head.

And he didn't talk about attacking Trump or not attacking Trump, but he said he didn't follow his own instincts. And I think that that's what people are looking for. You know, you can spot a phony a mile away. Our viewers are very in tune to all of that. And I think people are tired of sound bites and they're tired of canned answers, but you also have to prepare for the debate.

So how can you sound authentic and like you're just talking off the top of your head when you have prepared so much? It's a trick. It is a trick. And are you running against Joe Biden? Because the people on your left and right, you agree with them 85% of the time on 85% of the issues, and you have diversity in your background.

So you're tempted to talk about yourself. What Walker also said, which I thought is interesting, maybe too broad a statement, but he said, I was running on my record. My record. In retrospect, got me to the stage, I should have been talking about how to improve people's lives. And I'm like, okay, that's interesting.

But like Governor Doug Bergham, we should say, the news this morning was he got hurt playing basketball so bad it's not they're not sure you might have known differently anything changed on that uh he might he might not be able to stand during the debate right so it was interesting i was thinking about i have a friend who's a sports agent and he mostly has football players and apparently football players love to play basketball in the offseason and he in their contracts he makes them sign that they will not play basketball in the off season because the chances of injury are so high and he was the first person that i thought of when we heard the news that doug bergham had probably just wanted to have A way to maybe. Maybe he probably plays basketball a lot, right? And he's having fun, enjoying that, trying to get through this long day until tonight. And yeah, he got hurt, got to go to the hospital. But that's what we opened at 9 a.m.

after our awesome drone footage. Tell me about that.

Okay, so this is the first time this has ever happened in any debate.

So Himmer and I were glad to make history here with Fox News Channel and all of our colleagues.

So the drone. Came inside. I don't recommend this at home. Everybody, do not put the drone inside the house. And that means you, Peter, if you're listening.

Came into our studio. Said hello to us. Then worked its way outside through the window. And then down and into through security, up the stairs and into the Pfizer Forum where then we interviewed Brett and Martha, and the camera for that we used was the drone. Was it loud?

It was loud initially. Yes, it was. Wow. That is unbelievable. But we also have to give credit to the drone operator.

Yes, I have to. I mean, don't you think? I mean, it's not like we programmed that. Do you remember in 2016 when we were in New Hampshire, right before COVID, 2019, excuse me? No, it would have been 2020, right before COVID shut everything down.

When we were in New Hampshire at that little campus there, and that was the first time they ever really used a drone. And they were doing sort of the in-and-out shots using that.

Well, these guys have gotten really good.

So you're right, we should give them credit. Special practice at the border. I think that drone turned around the border policy. It's one of the reasons I think that a lot of people, even the panel that we had today, the panel of voters, for many of them, the border is their top concern. I want to bring you to the fact that Axio says that no frontrunner has ever had a lead this big with Donald Trump over 50 percent and lost.

And I've been cautioned by everyone I brought that up with from Carl Rovon down. Nothing's like this situation because the frontrunner has been indicted four times and will be fingerprinted and mug-shotted tomorrow night.

Well, I think that what the voters that we talked to that today, they all were persuadable. They all have an open mind. They're all leaning towards somebody. Mm-hmm. In the Des Moines Register poll, 52% of those registered there in Iowa Republican voters said they are open to changing their mind.

40% said they were solid.

So let's just imagine that the great majority of those are probably solid with Donald Trump and not going to change, but maybe not all, right, of that 40%.

So yeah, I think that something could happen. But One of these candidates has to make something happen. As I said, I interviewed Colin Reed on the new Perino on Politics podcast that just started. He said, debate moments are not.

something that just happens, it's something that you have to make happen. But you don't know what it's going to be.

So that's why the prep is so important. Right. And I think the one who is most equipped to strike is is Chris Christie. I do too. He's really you know, he's a liberated candidate, meaning that he has been here before and he's like I want to be president.

I know what I'm doing. I'm not listening to the DC consultants. I'm just being myself.

Someone who arguably has been listening to a lot of consultants is Ron DeSantis. And I think that even he tonight might figure out a way to just shed a little bit of that. weight from the consultant class and just be himself. He won reelection in Florida by Yards, or how do you do that in thirty points? I'm d I'm trying to think of a sports analogy.

I'm like, he just ran away with it. I like that. Um, by lengths, I guess, there's and then horse racing, if I'm using horse racing.

So he knows how to win. Governor Walker said he knew how to win. Do you know how to win on this stage? That's different. And I don't know if I have an answer.

And the other thing, Dana, I think is abundantly clear is that for people who think when Trump retires, win or lose, he's done after this. And when they think if the media is going to be somewhat normal afterwards, if you look at the way they handle Ron DeSantis, the answer is absolutely not. Did you read the New York Times over the weekend? The hit piece on what the truth is about Ivy League and Ron DeSantis? There is nothing to it.

He wouldn't have been capped. Wait, who was the. Outlet, I think it was Insider, who did a story about how Ron DeSantis apparently rolled his eyes at somebody 29 years ago in a debate. Right. That was the actual headline.

And then, with him as a school teacher for a year, was he too friendly to the family? Remember what they did to Romney. Remember, they said he was a monster. Look what they did to Brett Kavanaugh. Yes, of course.

And actually, the Biden team and the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump. They do. And do you remember when it looked like Ron DeSantis was getting a little momentum earlier this year? What did they do? The media started coming after Ron DeSantis in a big way.

And so did President Trump.

So DeSantis was taking it from all sides, and his numbers have shown it. I went to an event that Ron DeSantis was being featured in in Nassau County, Long Island. And he was being heckled like he was. Hillary Clinton. And they were Trump guys.

And they protested and beat him. Why? I understand you don't want to vote for him, but you're protesting a guy who is as conservative as it comes and is looked at as a Republican star. I could not wrap my head around it. And then they said to him, You got to get, and some of these officials told him, get used to it because the Trump people come at you like that.

The Republicans run a real risk here of a nasty primary lasting for a long time that will destroy. A lot of these potential good public servants. Down the line. Kellyanne Conway said if he wanted to do the right thing, he would run in 2028. Who, DeSantis?

Yeah. But I also think that whole Chris Christie principle of a year in, they asked him to run for president. He said, I'm not ready. And he has never really had that moment again. Yeah.

It's hard to recapture that moment, so timing is everything. Right. I want you to hear what Trey Gowdy said to others who are complaining, who are complaining about Trump not being there. Cut 10. I think they worry about it a lot because I think it matters a lot.

But I think if you're a candidate and your staff has to write, be likable at the top of the list, that you're probably already in trouble. What I would say to the candidates: if you want Donald Trump to show up at future debates, you have to make him show up. When you're up by 40 points, Donald Trump doesn't need to show up unless and until you make him show up.

So to Dana's point, I'm sure Ron's going to get a lot of flack tomorrow. It's interesting to me that the frontrunner will be almost immune from attack, but the person in second place who's actually slipping a little bit will be the object of everyone's ire. Is he right? I love listening to Trey Gowdy. I feel that he thinks a lot and talks very little.

You don't see him constantly.

So, whenever he's on the radio, I like to listen to him. When he's on TV, I like to watch him because. I think he's got a great point, especially the part where he said you have to make him show up. You've got to make Trump show up. I think one of Trump's positions is that if he's so far ahead, why does he have to come?

There's a lot of downside. And plus, he's got the legal downside. He has not shown any discipline that I know of when it comes to not talking about these cases.

Now he's got four judges telling him not to talk about these cases. And which is going to be an impossible thing. And I think that even some of the judges have recognized that. Like the judge in D.C., right? She said, that's unreasonable to think that he's not going to talk about this on the campaign trail if everybody else is.

And he's a candidate.

So it's it's a sticky wicket. I never heard you really make that analogy before. Is that from cricket? Where do you think the bigger story I think is Joe Biden? And I was at the White House last week and just talking to some of the reporters there.

They have said There's something going on. He has slowed down over the last few weeks more than he had over the last few years. And if you saw him walking in Hawaii, And you see him falling asleep at an event. I know it's different time zones. You see that he's nowhere to be found.

This is three vacationing all the time. I know good they're entitled, but I wouldn't think in election year that's maybe in your best interest to go from there from Hawaii to Lake Tahoe. Two comments, no comment about Hawaii. You know, Ron DeSantis, I believe it was yesterday or recently. He was doing a An event, one of these campaign events, and he said about Biden, I'm not going to let him.

Have the luxury of sitting in the basement, which is similar to what Trey Gowdy just said to all the candidates about Trump. Like, you've got to draw him out, you have to make him have to work for it. Again, how do they do that? I don't know. It's interesting that.

What you do is you start beating him and make him go campaign. The Democrats feel pretty confident. We had Jim Messina on, who used to work for Obama. And yeah, they feel good. They feel great.

Even with this Joe Biden, with the economy like this, interest rates so high, gas going. I mean, I could certainly make the argument the other way and say, Jim, what are you thinking? Are you crazy? But I find him to be somebody who also liberated, right? He's not working for any particular candidate.

There's no reason for him. Of course, maybe he'll spin a little bit for the Democrats, but. Yeah, he feels solid. And sometimes it's hard to put yourself in their shoes and think, well, what are you talking about? The way I look at things, I'm like, wow, you've got all of these terrible things, including that Bidenomics isn't working in terms of either a message or for actual people.

But he's actually running on it. Isn't that something discordant about that? I have a feeling that in the next six weeks you're going to see them have to make some sort of a change. On the economy. Isn't the economy the number one issue for people?

Do you know what was interesting, Brian, for the panel that we had? For the two young people that are in college, the economy was their top issue. And one of them, his name is Kevin. He said it's been alarming to watch inflation increase while he's been a college student, and they're very worried about Their futures, they think they're going to get hamstrung with a ton of this debt, and that they're. basically going to try to achieve the American dream wearing twenty pound weights on their ankles.

The president actually seems to me to be buying votes by continuing to go for some type of student loan forgiveness because he's got that window of young people who evidently are leaving his side. And when the way to do it is to be the guy fighting to forgive a loan, they've had two years of a pause of not paying it. That is a big benefit, don't you think?

Well, I think that one, it's unconstitutional. The Supreme Court already said so.

So they're trying this again because they have. Over-promised and are under-delivering. That's the exact opposite of what you want to do in politics. What are you going to be doing tonight?

Well, okay, so I'll be on the five. Harold Ford Jr. and I will be on the five from here. And then Bill Hemmer and I will kick off the debate at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

Free game show. Hype Show. Hype Show. Hype Show. Hype Show.

And then, because I don't have to do analysis after the debate, for the first time ever, I get to sit inside and watch. Oh, you're going to sit in the arena? I hope so, yes. Nice. All right.

I hope to see you there. Dana Prino, thanks so much. Thanks, Brian. It's a very long day for you, but this will be the highlight according to all reports. Oh, yes, absolutely.

Kill me at Radio 100%. I don't need a second source. Back in a moment. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis, because Mandy, you need to know. It's Brian Kilmead.

If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. Momentum is a huge thing because right now a lot of people are taking a look at Vivek and saying, I'm intrigued by what he's saying. He is everywhere, as you say. The question is, is he going to be more like Betto or more like Bobby Kennedy of the past, where it's somebody who's really getting to know somebody through the campaign?

And is it going to be popular or is it going to be a turnoff? And that's one of the things that we're going to see tomorrow night. I think a lot of people are looking for one of the pieces of language I've seen come over and over and over again in the media is: who is the Trump alternative? Which is also not good for everybody else, but Uh That you're being compared to Trump, but the question really is who's going to take that place? Who is the person that can do that?

Vivek is right up there with momentum. DeSantis used to be that person.

Now he's come way down. And I think it's largely because he's followed all of the wrong issues. He's had a really, really bad strategy, a really, really bad message. And he's off on the wrong foot. And Lee Carter is the expert.

She's a pollster and president of Molansky Group. But I think that people are being too hard on DeSantis for a couple of reasons. Number one, ask anybody. Right now John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan.

President Clinton before the impeachment. And you put $20 million worth of attack ads from your own side, from Donald Trump, and you get the headwinds that you're getting because from the mostly left-leaning press. And then, if you go forward and your poll numbers drop because it was substantially higher than everybody else's, they say this guy is doing terrible. I'm wondering how much has to do with the poll numbers and how much to do with the strategy you really think doesn't work.

Now, maybe he was too tough on Disney. I don't know. For Republicans, I'm not sure. Was he too tough with the book banning? It's not book banning, it's appropriate books for kids his age.

Was he Maybe clumsy with a few statements, sure. But the frontrunner has said more outlandish things than anybody in the history of politics, and he doesn't seem to be substantially hurt by it, although he does hurt himself. I think that Governor Tents does well. He's going to be joining us on this show tomorrow and on Fox and Friends. That's my prediction.

I think that Tim Scott's going to come out likable, but in terms of moments, I'm very intrigued. And by the prediction. Of Nikki Haley as somebody that is going to prevail today because. Vivek Ramaswamy's statements as a surging contender on foreign policy make foreign policy a ripe opportunity. For Ambassador Haley to go after him.

He was in the Brian Killmeat show in Milwaukee, site of the 2023 first. Debate. Keep it here. Brian Killmee Cho. Listen to the show at free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your Prime Membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Hmm.