Trump's criminal trial begins; Jewish Columbia, Yale students attacked

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From High Atop Fox News Headquarters in New York City. City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Here we go.

Wow, we have a lot going on right now. Thanks so much for being here. Hope you had a fantastic weekend. We're back in action today. Standing by is Brett Tolman to preview the Trump trial day one of the testimony.

Now that the jury has been selected, bottom of the hour, Congressman Jim Banks, so that sensational, that huge aid package that was produced over the weekend, and will it cost the speaker his job? We'll discuss that with him, as well as the protests that are raging at Columbia. They've actually told everyone to go to school from Zoom and at Yale. Huge protests, thousands outside the exit and the entrance of Yale University, chanting civil rights, singing civil rights songs and chanting for the Palestinians in Hamas. Insane.

MIT, uh Berkeley. These are some of the universities, one with a new school in New York City.

So, before we get to Brett, let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. Speaker Mike Johnson, who'd been criticized for slow-walking an aid package, successfully championed the bills this weekend, which won bipartisan support. I've done here what I believe to be the right thing, and that is to allow the House to work its will, winning praise from Democrats. Traditional conservatives, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, have risen to the occasion.

And that is Hakeem Jeffries. Massively impactful legislation passes as foreign aids is greenlighted for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan. What else is in the bill, and what will it cost the Speaker that he did it in the Ukraine aid at anyway with mostly Democratic votes? We'll discuss, break it down, and analyze. Number two.

Hundreds of students were literally around me, dancing in a circle and singing and holding hands, singing. Anti-Jewish chants and cheers, and they waved their hands and their middle finger in my camera. Sahar Turtark. She describes the moment she was stranded, she was surrounded and stabbed in the eye by anti-Israeli protesters on the campus of Yale. Anti-Semitism on elite college campuses and pro-Hamas and Palestinian causes are out of control.

From Columbia to Yale to Berkeley to Israel, plans are moving to wipe out Hamas there. That should not please these Ivy League campuses. Number My concern is, Trey, more than anything else, is that the jurors will take their cues from the prosecutor in this case. They'll take their cue from Attorney General Letitia James.

Something that Bill Barr used to say when we were at DOJ was that the Department of Justice is not the Department of Prosecution. Carrie Kupeck Urban, offering some insight. She will be in the courtroom today because Trump is on trial. Opening statements begin. We lay out the strategies of the prosecution's first witness, supposed to be David Pecker, and what the rest of the witness list could be.

Let's bring in Brett Tolman, fresh off his great appearance with Mark Levin last night, former federal prosecutor, former counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee, and former U.S. Attorney for Utah. Brett, From what you know and from how you study the case, Well if you were Donald Trump How would you feel today? Thanks for having me on. I've been on both sides in the courtroom, and the emotion is much more fierce on the defense side.

The um You know, you lack control to such a degree. You know, the prosecution doesn't have the same sense when they're in the courtroom. They rarely lose. they start to get an inflated sense of their their their capability as an attorney. It's the defense side that frequently loses motions, objections, seems like is always in the corner.

Fighting and swinging. And my guess is that that's what this president feels right now, you know, cornered and ready to come out swinging.

So, Will Sharp is one of his attorneys, and this is what he said he's noticed so far about the jury cut seven. I think a lot of aspects of jury selection in this case have been highly abnormal. You saw a huge number of jurors being excused for cause because they admitted that they couldn't be fair and impartial and unbiased as we expect of jurors. It's a little unusual to have lawyers seated on a jury like this, but I think in many respects that's one of the least unusual aspects of this case. This case should have obviously never been brought.

It certainly shouldn't be tried in New York, the media capital of the world, at the height of election season. We've moved to recuse the judge. We've moved for a change of venue. There are a lot of aspects of this case that are highly, highly irregular, and we saw that play out with jury selection last week. And all those things even came into your mind now.

Now it's time to just focus on the opening. The opening statements. And if you're Will Scharf, Brett Tolman, what would you put in your opening statement?

Well, you know, he he's accurate about the makeup of the jury. You really rarely see such a jury that's filled with professionals. You have, you know, highly educated individuals that are on the jury. That's not very often as much as we'd like to think. That it's typically.

you know uh a a reason to sort of remove someone from the jury than it is to keep them on. Our system sort of lends itself to individuals that may not have may not have the greatest sense of the judicial system.

So to see lawyers and doctors and academics on a jury is very unusual.

So Because of that, I think you can take a different approach to this case when you start with your opening statement. I think you're you're the road map that you have to give the jury. Can be much more complex and much more detailed. And that roadmap really is the goal of any attorney in the opening statement to say, okay, ladies and gentlemen, Here's Where what the prosecution It has to prove. Let me give you the roadmap and all of the obstacles that are in the way so that you know the government will never actually get.

to where they want to get to in this trial. And we'll be able to lay it out, I think, in a way that in a lot of cases you're not able to. Why would you put up Pecker first unless you knew if you're the prosecution, unless you know exactly what he's going to say? And I think that the worst thing that the defense could have him say Is that Donald Trump said, kill all these stories so I can win an election, right? That's right.

want to set they want to set a tone that Is really more a reflection of Donald Trump, the person, and his character. And in some ways It's risky. Because the jury is going to want to get to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible. But we don't know. We don't know everything that may be said.

And also. Brian, let me tell you, I have never been 100% accurate when I put a witness on the stand in terms of what I thought. The witness would say. whether it was my witness or whether I was cross examining the other side's witness. Um, I have yet to have a witness in the courtroom that does exactly what you believe he's going to do and say when he's on the stand.

So I think there's going to be surprises among most of the. Most of the witnesses and the government, you know, will be just as surprised on occasion. But for example, with David Packer, let's say that he, you know, he'd say, you know, we got to talk to you. They called him in already. And Do you when you talk to lawyers When you get called in for this case, do you have to be honest?

Do you get sworn in and say, listen, I need to know if you're going to be a witness? Do you swear an oath? You don't, but In your pri you know, in your interviews prior to testifying, the only time you'll be under oath is when you're there in the courtroom.

So they they must have talked to him before and they go, Okay, this guy's great. This guy's going to really help us. We're going to put him out there. But if he goes on the stand, he could decide to tell a different story. He could decide to tell to not tell the whole story, right?

Well, that's right. And in the criminal case, You know, you don't have depositions of witnesses prior to the trial. That was my question. Yep. In a civil case, you're under oath.

You have a deposition. They know everything you're going to say, and you can actually confront them if they start to go. You know, south and change their story. But here, Um, and I've had it happen. I've interviewed individuals that were incredible, going to be incredible for my case.

And a key witness for the prosecution put them on the stand, and it was an absolute dud in the courtroom. And you walk out of there going, Oh my gosh, why did I put them on the stand?

So, yeah, I mean, that could happen. I look at someone like Hope Hicks, who doesn't work for Trump, and it's not on the it's not Michael Cohen. He doesn't have any, he doesn't have anything to bad about him. If you're Hope Hicks for the prosecution, you want him to say he was worried about the election, that's why he told Michael Cohen to write a check for $130,000. If you're the defense, you say he was concerned about his reputation.

I have no idea what Michael Cohen did, right?

Well, that's right. And the two key pieces of evidence and I agree with your analysis on Hope Hicks, by the way. I think we'll see exactly what direction she goes. But she's very capable of putting out their possible potential, you know. factors in the in and facts in the case that that may lean against president trump when it comes to can she make a connection?

Is she a witness that will make a connection between his desire to keep this quiet and then the instructions that he gave to Cohen? But remember, they'll have to also get to You know, who's the one that's putting in their disclosure statements what that payment actually is? Here's a question, Brett.

So. David Pecker, they might be like, listen, this whole capture and kill, we got some other stuff on you.

So is there do these people just come in voluntarily? I heard you're in Trump World, tell me about them and there's okay, we'll make you a witness. Or do they try to use any type of manipulation leverage? Like, listen, David, we've got some things in your background that are kind of dicey.

So keep that in mind when you answer these questions. You know, we could always charge you after, and there are some things that you did, Hopex, that could get you in trouble. But go ahead, keep that in mind when you're answering these questions. There is no question in my mind that they have had Some conversations very close to what you outline, and how they will say it is. I mean, I've seen it from the most egregious where I've seen them say to a.

A husband or a wife or a sibling, hey, if you don't. If you don't cooperate with us. And if you're not honest, and if you don't if you don't testify On that stand. They give us you know what we're we're looking for we will look at your family member Um It's not just, they will leverage whatever position they can to make sure that a witness is cooperating with them. And it's a big deal.

And they cross the line frequently in terms of what they say and how they try to leverage that.

Now, that's not everybody, but in a case like this, I have no question. Where the stakes are as high as they are, and the profile is as big as it is. that there are some dynamic commerce conversations. In which individuals for the prosecution have sent very clear messages to the witnesses. And especially, you know, folks like Colin and others.

where where things could get worse for them.

So evidently, David Pecker did a capture and kill with Karen McDougal. He said, Give me your story. He never wrote it. And he did the same thing with the doorman who said he had a kid at a wedlock. He goes, Give me a story, and he never wrote it.

So I guess what you, if you bring Pecker up, you could just say, Let me just tell you what a bad guy this guy is, like you just said. But if you have people like Mary Trump. Who's not on the witness list? I would think of Mary Trump and Michael Cohen, they've turned on Trump.

So you know exactly what you're going to get. Bend over backwards to make Trump look bad. With Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon might be on the list. With anybody else in the Trump world, Keith Schiller, his longtime bodyman before he became president and then his first year president, there's no indication that they have turned on Trump at all.

So I'm just wondering like why would they be on this list unless you're trying to do something with them to paint a character profile. And then I check myself and say, there's nothing you could tell that juror about Donald Trump. That hasn't been out there since the 80s. Yeah, and Brian, you hit on a really sort of She Key element in the case, and it's a rule of evidence called 404B. And 404B is a rule that says.

You should you cannot bring up prior bad acts. in order to suggest that he's committed. The bad acts that he's being accused of. But there's an exception, and the exception to that is. If in fact you can show a pattern.

So if they can show a pattern of having these prior bad acts. And then a payoff or having an affair or then a payoff, et cetera. If they can show a pattern, then they might be able to get into bringing up these prior bad acts. And prosecutors often think that that is, if they can get around that 404B, it really is going to dirty up the defendant. The jury's not going to like him.

But that's where it could backfire in this case because everybody knows who Trump is, and everybody is going to look sort of past that to see. I think you have an intelligent jury for the most part, from what we can gather on it. And if there is, if there's one thoughtful, impartial juror. or a few of them. This case could go south very quickly for the prosecution.

Man, that would be great. And I think that, you know, I'm not going to play any political bites, but there's some Democrats that I have that are just weighing in, like, I cannot believe what they're doing in this case.

So because they worry about politically, but I wouldn't bring that up with you. Lastly, you might not know the answer to this because I know it changes, but are you allowed to text from in there?

So if I have, like, for example, I know that Kerry Kupak Urban is going to be in there. Can she text what she's seeing in real time? All right, I see Donald Trump seems very upset today. Or does she have to walk out? Can she take physical notes?

And then you walk out and do an accounting. Because in this electronic age, we're going to depend on the opinions of reporters on their observation. Can you text in real time? Do we got to wait three hours for any type of readout?

Well, the staff. They're going to have to step out unless the judge has made a special accommodation for the media for those purposes. But it You know, they're going to have to step out and sort of, and there's not supposed to be recording, and they're supposed to be non-disruptive.

So, my guess is. we're going to have this information trickle in and it's going to be reporters trying to write down as quickly as they can. And it's very difficult to get it all down verbatim. But they'll take take feverish notes and then go out and post on a break and then come back in. Interesting.

It's going to be fascinating. Back to the sketches and the perceptions of what Donald Trump never seemed so aggravated as I saw him. He seems helpless. I see these people writing this all week long, and I'm thinking, how do you know? How do you know what's going on in this shit?

Yeah. Brett, it's interesting. Thanks so much. I hope we can call you every single day, you know, so to get your take on how it's going. Thanks so much, Brett.

Thanks, Brian. All right. When we come back, your call, I have some emails from you over the weekend, and I got your calls if we can fit them in: 1-866-408-7669. We also have a brand new set here in our radio studio.

So, if you're watching on Fox Nation or if you're watching on the app on Watch, tell me what you think. Back in a moment. It's Brian Killmead. The Will Kane Show is now dropping five episodes a week. Join Fox and Friends weekend host Will Kane as he tackles the latest headlines from his unique perspective, along with thought-provoking interviews with leading figures and live calls from viewers and listeners.

Listen wherever you download your favorite podcasts. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmead. Hey, welcome back, everybody. We have a lot going on today, including the protest on the Upper West Side in Harlem of Columbia University.

I interviewed two students, both juniors, Jewish, and they both, one was attacked with a flag. They lit his American flag on fire. He says, I absolutely do not feel safe. He's going to do it anyway, but he's going to class. Absolutely don't feel safe.

And he actually says, in Columbia, By the way, the biggest video today is Yale. Yale had blocked both entrances with 200 people. By the time we got the video up on Fox and Friends, it was thousands, and they don't block the entrances, so that means they're not facing arrest, but they're not going to school, and they're singing for the Palestinian movement, and according to the civil rights movement in America after Jim Crow in the 1960s.

So At Yale, they said that these people with fake IDs are on campus. They're not students, and they are literally there from two separate organizations that are well-funded around the country. And I would not doubt their minds got poisoned. I believe it's going to lead right back to TikTok. You just watch.

Listen to the Brian Killme show. It's a big day when we come back, Congressman Jim Banks, on the massive legislation that was passed over the weekend. The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Killmead. I'm so proud. With the speaker Mike Johnson, he went through a transformation.

At the end of the day, Profile encourages putting the nation above yourself. And that's what he did. He said, at the end of the day, I'm going to be on the right side of history. Irrespective of my job. And I think that was uh what I admired so much.

And that was Mike McCall, who's a traditional Republican, who is in that Cold War mindset. That, to be honest, I'm in. That I look at the Russians as a threat. They got to be stopped and pushed back everywhere. That's how we won.

We would not let them up for air. Every time they push, we push back. But instead, there's some reluctance to do that because no one trusts President Biden.

Some people just don't believe that the Russians are a threat. Number two is they are a threat. If you just the last example, look at Niger. Do you know we've had a base there for the last ten years? It was a great place, outpost to get a keep a keep an eye on the war on terror.

And the growth of al-Qaeda. You're now Shabab in the region. And do you know what getting out? The government said we want to get out. You know who's coming in?

China and Russia. Everywhere you go. I mean, it's time for us to wise up. I'm so glad we passed what we passed. $26 billion for Israel, $8 billion for the Pacific region, including Taiwan.

There's a ban on TikTok. They're going to be forced to sell or ban. It takes way too long, I think 11 months, but at least it's in there. And $61 billion for Ukraine. Sixty percent of it replenishes our own weapons.

Congressman Jim Banks joins us now. He served our country. He's also on Armed Services Education and member of House Select Committee on Competition between the United States and China. Congressman Banks, welcome back. What's your take on Speaker Johnson?

Do you like what he did?

Well, Brian, I like you, I understand the full picture of the world and serve on the Armed Services Committee. I serve my country in Afghanistan. The disappointment in the House, though, is we have the Republican majority, and we missed another chance of doing something to secure the American border. And I think that's where the frustration that a lot of us have in the house is coming from. It's not about Ukraine is about America and securing the southern border.

Lots of I won't argue, I mean, there are lots of good parts of what passed on Saturday In the Israel aid package. the fourth package that dealt with tougher sanctions on Iran, tougher sanctions on Russia passed in these buckets. But At the end of the day, a lot of money and nothing to secure our own border, a lot of frustration among Republicans. I think what you and I can agree on, Brian, is that. We've got to look forward.

to November and grow this House majority. We got to win back the Senate majority and get Donald Trump back in the White House. And that's why motions to vacate and Republican infighting is going to it's going to stall our ability to do what we have to do six months from now to save this country And get Republicans elected all up and down the ballot. They also included TACMs in this, which is long range. That'll back the Russians off.

Now, they should have had HIMARS earlier. They should have had Patriots earlier. They still don't have X-16s, even though we said you can use them. We'll train your pilots. For some reason, they still don't have them.

So the ATACMs were going to get there through the British, but we got better ones. They're probably going to go there. That's what Senator Warner says.

So that helps. But the problem is, and there's many, Congressman Banks, is that the President has spoken twice about Ukraine. You have to give the American people the respect, forget Republicans, the American people the respect to explain what we're doing. And now you leave it to people like Lindsey Graham and General Keene and Michael McCall. To d to explain.

The Democratic President policies. And at the same time, you can't defend the slow walking of weapons to make them successful along with the limitations we give them. We're not allowing them to hit in Russia, but it's okay for them to destroy Any part of Ukraine. How do you explain that?

Well, we don't want the war to get bigger. Really? Is that how you fight a war? Let's not let it get take the invading force and tell them we promise not to hit your country.

So that's what a lot of people are mixed with too. But do you believe that he had the leverage to do something at the border? Yeah, I I I do. I I I wish we would have included something for the border in this major package. At least money for border patrol.

You go back to the HR two package, the strong house package that passed out of the house. There was a bill that that a majority of members voted for that went after fentanyl, named it a weapon of mass destruction to hold the Chinese and the board the drug cartels more accountable for it. more border security. That bill got a majority of votes, but it was on suspension, so it needed two thirds to pass, and all the Democrats voted against it.

So that wasn't included in the overall package. I think that's where the Understandably, that's where the disappointment among our voters and many Republicans in the House is coming from, and that we weren't able to achieve that. And I understand the political reality.

Now, with Gallagher officially gone, a one-seat Republican majority for the next several months, a one-seat Republican majority.

So the political reality is what it is, but We we ha we have to fight back as much as we can, but we have to focus on the November election. Uh so No, I hear you. And I was wondering if he. I asked him on Tuesday on Fox and Friends. I saw the speaker made the right move.

I said, But what do you mean you can't get any border security? He said, Schumer won't take it up if there's border in it. And I was just thinking to myself after I said goodbye to him: well, he has no choice. He's got to take it up. Because he wants all these other things.

So, this actually alleviates him voting for TikTok, which should be banned. Everybody knows it.

So That's in there.

So I just thought that's the one area that McCarthy would have been able to leverage in. And Kev McCarthy said the one thing he would have done is went right to Biden. He would have bypassed the Senate entirely and negotiated right with the White House. Would that have been a better move? I believe so.

Again, I think it was a mistake that we I was in McCarthy last year. We're in this mess that we're in, all the insighting. It's still the aftermath of what happened. from all of that. And instead, we have Mike Johnson, who's a good a very good man, a very good person, but he lacks that experience that McCarthy had who understand what a negotiation looks like.

So I think that again, that's the That's the understandable disappointment about this. Chuck Schumer got everything that he wanted. And a lot of Republicans voted for, I voted for parts of it, a lot of Republicans voted for all of it, but a negotiation should have included something. To secure our own border, to go back and explain to the American people why we're doing what we're doing. And to your point earlier, I mean, we don't have a commander-in-chief.

Uh in the White House. We have the the weakest President that we've ever had who projects weakness around the world and who can't explain what why we are engaged in supporting Ukraine and why it matters, how much money it's going to cost. Even when his own military leadership comes before the Armed Services Committee, they can't explain it either. I mean, this is a clown show in the White House as to why we got to get Donald Trump back. in the White House to lead on important issues like these.

George W. Bush came in and he knew that people said he doesn't have any foreign policy experience.

So he went out and got Dick Cheney. He went out and got Colin Powell. He went out and asked Condoleezza Rice to come back, who's a Soviet/slash Russian expert.

So he surrounded himself with really competent people that you may or may not disagree with, but no one questioned their experience and knowledge. We have Jake Sullivan and Anthony Blinking running our country, and it has never been more in danger. Do you feel better about our relationship with China? Do you feel better about our relationship now? We have relations with Venezuela we went to bed with, and now we let Iran about to get a nuclear weapon and sell oil.

And now we have a situation in the Middle East where Israel is now about to be, we're about to sanction the IDF. America is about to sanction the IDF. Do you believe that? Yeah, it's it's disgusting. And if we if we're treating our friends like that, And that we're completely turning a blind eye to our enemies.

That is the recipe for what's going on. The world is on fire. Kim Jong-un. Up to his old tricks. You have Iran for the first time ever firing missiles at Israel from their own soil, not just relying on their proxy groups, but doing it from Iran.

because this administration has played footsee with the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world, who we know funnels all this money that America releases and gives to them on Obama and Biden's watch to the terrorist proxy groups. You have China inching toward their end goal of taking over Taiwan. And of course, you have what's going on with Putin in Ukraine. It's all because of Joe Biden's weakness to begin with. And then the slap in the face of sanctioning the IDF and And the weakness projected in that regard is just it's disgusting.

It can't come to an end fast enough. That's why we have to stay focused on November. All right, we'll see what's going to happen to the Senate. But you know what? If they were in such a rush, they should have come back on Sunday and passed it.

Why are we waiting until Tuesday? And Senator Schumer. I have no idea. I mean, come on. And Senator Schumer not even saying a word about the anti-Semitic protests at Columbia, at Yale, at Berkeley, at MIT, at the new school, a school you probably never heard of in Manhattan, at NYU.

This is anti-Semitism running rampant. And this is people chanting pro-Hamas. And the most powerful Jewish leader in the country won't come to work over the weekends and won't show up in downtown or uptown New York City. Yeah. You have President Shafiq going to virtual classes at Columbia, which is a complete Appeasement to the mob at her school instead of breaking them up.

Even Yale broke up the mob on their campus. That's what Columbia should be doing. We had her we had the president before the Education Committee last week, and I made this point to her when you foster A environment of anti-Semitism on your campus, the mob control is what you get. And that's what everybody's seeing for Sam this morning. It's disgusting.

All right. Lastly, Zelensky did speak yesterday about this and what he needs and why we're in the position we're in. And I think that he deserves some support. Many people feel differently. I respect that.

But I think this guy has led an extremely tough situation. Here's what he said about what's happened so far. And what could happen afterwards? Cut 25. I know for sure if Ukraine fails, then Putin then Putin definitely will invade the Baltic the Baltic countries.

Why? Not because there's some interesting idea, strategy, but because Pulchen wants to return the influence of the Soviet Union. And he really wants to retake through force, through war, he wants to retake all former Soviet republics and now independent states. Whether they are in the NATO or not, he doesn't care. Do you see a ripple effect from this.

I mean I But we have to remember, and Reagan understood this very well, America can't lead abroad and apply the pressure on Putin when we're so weak at home. And I just I firmly believe that. We have to get Trump in the White House to restore America, get America back on its feet, secure our border, get our economy healthy, and sanction the hell out of Putin and hold him accountable. And the same with China, North Korea, Iran, the axis of evil around the world. We can only be the America that leads abroad and puts pressure on these evil regimes when America is strong to begin with, and that's what we have to be focused on.

Right. And do you agree? We could be two separate budgets. We can be stronger at home and have a foreign policy? I absolutely agree, but that's not what we're seeing today, and that's why we got to.

We got to get a Republican Senate. I'm doing my part in Indiana. Running for the Senate to win to make sure that we keep a Senate Republican leader from Indiana, win back the Senate majority, grow the House majority so that we have a bigger, stronger majority to lead. On these important issues and get Donald Trump back in the White House. That'd be great.

Best of luck in Indiana. And actually, we're going to be in Indianapolis, right, Allison? When are we going to be in there? Yeah, June 29th. We'll be in Indianapolis.

So I hope to catch up to you there. Hope to see you there. Congressman Jim Banks, thanks so much. All right, when we come back, the news from Columbia, from Columbia University, where Elise Stefanik, a New York congresswoman who might is very well be a finalist to be Donald Trump's running mate, has just called for the Columbia president to resign. We'll have more on this in a moment.

Don't move. Want even more, Brian? Download the podcast at BrianKillMeadShow.com every episode. Exclusive interviews on demand. More of Kill Me coming up.

If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. Have you all been watching the Max documentary called Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV? OMG. Nickelodeon, it wasn't a studio, it was Neverland Ranch with craft services.

It is just scene after scene. Clip after clip of the child stars of their day being subjected to. Obviously, inappropriate, highly sexualized degradation.

So, I don't know if this documentary is the talk of your town, but it is out here because it didn't just expose a dangerous workplace, it also exposed hypocrisy. Because it must be pointed out that when the evil governor of Florida was saying the exact same thing about kids and creepy stuff at Disney that liberals now find intolerable at Nickelodeon, he was dismissed as a hick and a bigot. But why would a kids' content factory like Disney be all that different than the one at Nickelodeon? A 2014 CNN report discovered that at least 35 Disney employees had been arrested for sex crimes against children, and in 2021, Disney child star Allison Stoner confessed she only narrowly survived the toddler-to-train wreck pipeline. You know, Willie Sutton said he robbed banks because that's where the money is.

And the reason we find pedophiles in the Boy Scouts and the rectory and kids' TV is that's where the kids are. DeSantis wasn't wrong. But we're so tribal now, the left will overlook child. If the guy from the wrong party calls it out, sure Nickelodeon messed up Amanda Bynes, but the Mickey Mouse Club was where Britney Spears got her started, and she's perfectly fine.

So perfect. That is so great. I have not heard that. Number one, I want to watch that. Be curious about that because a lot of these people.

were child stars when my kids were younger. Number two is Governor Santa's got labeled as a guy who wants to ban books. And all of a sudden, book banning, book banning. And I watched the feature over the weekend where they were talking about all the places, Al Sharpton. I watched 10 minutes of Al Sharpton's monologue to see him wrestle with the teleprompter is something I should have to pay admission to.

And he was talking about all the places in the U.S. where they banned books. I'm thinking to myself, does he not get that only thing the governor stands for is talking about appropriate books for appropriate ages, and you should have them in the Grammar school library for grammar school kids and vice versa. And you should even question why even push the envelope in high school. You know, you can do stuff.

There's public libraries everywhere. Plus, everybody's downloading things anyway. Who's going to the library? But Bill Moore points out that that was a great reach. No, I know.

We have two other cuts for it, of which we don't necessarily have time for both of them now, but we can get to them throughout the show. But maybe Cut 57, we play it right now. But he calls out the hypocrisy throughout.

Okay, let's listen. Maybe it's time to admit that sometimes Drag Queen Story Hour is more for the queen than the kids. Sure, kids love a clown, but does the clown have to have? And when I see a five-year-old tipping, tipping at a bar under a sign that says it's not going to lick itself, do I have to pretend that's cool in order to keep my liberal ID card?

Sorry, I can't do that. If you want kids to be more tolerant, why not have handicapped people read them stories? Kids are more likely to encounter disabled people than drag queens in life. Geez, can't we just go back to the good old days when kids were read simple stories with simple morals like. If you're a lonely single man, just make a boy out of wood.

Pinocchio. I just got that. Yeah, I just got that. It was funny, but he still weaves in the humor, which is very true. Yeah.

At some point in the other show there's one point it he just nails it and how the wokeness has gone too far and he Plays more of the Disney hypocrisy with DeSantis. Do you notice that he, for a guy with no kids and always says, I never want kids, he talks a lot about kids. He does, no, that's how he starts. I didn't have that in there. He's like, as someone who doesn't have kids and can't stand kids, why am I always having to defend them?

Oh, he does say that?

Okay, so there you go. All right, thanks so much for listening. Don't forget, this Saturday night, I want to meet you in Henderson, Nevada. BrianKillmee.com for tickets. History Liberty laughs.

From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest-growing radio talk show. Brian. In Kill Mead. Hi, everyone. We are rolling.

There is so much going on today. A lot of it in this very city in New York City. Upper West Side, you have Columbia protests downtown. You have the Trump trials finally begun. Media everywhere, outrage around the country.

This anti-Semitic behavior that we better never find tolerable. Michael Goodwin, all over it, New York Post's finest columnist. And John Levine, also from the New York Post, who went and interviewed Michael Avenatti in prison. You're going to love to hear that interview.

So, before I get to Michael and tell you what else is going on, let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. Speaker Mike Johnson, who'd been criticized for slow-walking an aid package, successfully championed the bills this weekend, which won bipartisan support. I've done here what I believe to be the right thing, and that is to allow the House to work its will, winning praise from Democrats. Traditional conservatives led by Speaker Mike Johnson have risen to the occasion.

Hakeem Jeffery is obviously happy. Massively impactful legislation passes as foreign aid is greenlighted to places like Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan. What else is in the bill? And will it cost Speaker Johnson his gavel? And we discussed the breakdown.

We'll analyze it. Number two. Hundreds of students were literally around me, dancing in a circle and singing and holding hands, singing. Anti-Jewish chants and cheers, and they waved their hands and their middle finger at my camera. That's just some of the embarrassing, terrible behavior that is a student at.

Columbia. Anti-Semitism on elite college campuses and pro-Hamas and Palestinian cause have a huge support and is out of control from Columbia to Yale to Berkeley to even Israel.

Meanwhile, the IDF plans on wiping out Hamas in Rafah as early as today. Number one. My concern is, Trey, more than anything else, is that these jurors will take their cues from the prosecutor in this case. They'll take their cue from Attorney General Letitia James.

Something that Bill Barr used to say when we were at DOJ was that the Department of Justice is not the Department of Prosecution. Harry, Kupak, Urban. Trump on trial. Opening statements begin. We lay out the strategies, the prosecution's first witness, and what the rest of the witness list could be.

Let's bring in Michael Goodwin. Michael, very impactful column, made a lot of news when you talk about presidential shampaign, talking about what Joe Biden's doing while Donald Trump is on trial. But I do want to get your take about opening statements today and that David Pecker will be the first witness for the prosecution. David Pecker, as people know, used to run the inquirer and did some cash and kill stories where he paid alleged, I think it's fact, Karen McDougal, as well as the Trump door person to. Get their stories and then not publish their stories.

What uh does any of that surprise you, that Pecker would be first, uh, that the prosecution would go for Michael Cohen later?

Well, look, I think they they're trying to uh use Cohen without uh making it seem like the whole case rests on him because of his He's a convicted liar. He's been lying his whole life. He continues to lie. And so that doesn't mean he's never telling the truth. It just means it's hard to know when it's true and when it's not when he opens his mouth.

So I think the prosecution is trying to minimize his impact on the jury by starting with Pecker, whose story presumably will be that yes, we did these things for Trump. Why they did them for Trump, I'm sure they will ask him that question. That was the nature of the of the paper at the time. I mean, it was hardly a a legitimate news source. I don't think anyone regarded it as a news source.

Uh it was uh a scandalous uh supermarket rag is one way of looking at it. And it was that was its business model. Uh and so I'm sure. Uh if the Trump people Are going to cross-examine Pecker in aggressive ways. they will find some way of getting that out there, that this was standard business practices under Pecker.

Here is Will Scharf. He's an attorney for Trump. He's in there at the desk. Cut six. While the prosecution and the media are hell-bent on sensationalizing this case, we are focusing on the facts because the facts show that President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.

This is a business records case. Those business records accurately reflected payments to one of President Trump's lawyers as legal retainer fees. Additionally, those records weren't actually entered by President Trump. He was busy running the country from the White House while all this was happening in Trump Tower in New York. We believe the facts are absolutely on our side, that they are absolutely exonerative of the President.

And as long as the jury focuses on the facts, as long as the jury can see through all the media coverage and all the sensationalism and focus on the actual facts at issue in this case, we believe we have a winning case. And that's what you're going to see play out in court tomorrow with opening arguments. And that means today that was done last yesterday on Fox and Friends. What do you think?

Well, I do think it is important for the Trump team to remind the jury what's really the issue here. It's not even the hush money that everybody has labeled this case. It is about that money, but it's really, as the lawyer pointed out, it's about how that money was recorded. uh in the Trump organization's uh business ledgers. And so that is the great stretch here, that Alvin Bragg, the DA, has taken this payment to Michael Cohen as a retainer and somehow Through an alchemy that no one quite understands, has turned this into 34 felonies.

It's bizarre. You hear the MSNBC crowd saying, oh, this is why Trump won the election. If only we had known this, he would never have beaten Hillary Clinton. Wait, I thought the Russians wait, the Russians gave him the election. Which one is it?

Exactly. I mean, but it it it is that much of a reach. But that that kind of talk also sh reveals, Brian, the ultimate aim here. It is to keep Trump out of the White House. That is what this case is about.

This is one of the four criminal cases, plus, the civil case that. Letitia James brought. All of them brought by prosecutors, including the one in Georgia, and we know the trouble there. All of them are dirty. All these cases.

There's something wrong with all of these cases. And this one is particularly weak because it doesn't look like a felony if it's anything at all.

So, listen to what Gavin Newsom says. He fears what you think. And when we're focusing on him, I do worry electorally that he has a slight advantage. And so I'm a little concerned about the overindulgence around the day-to-day. I get it.

I totally get it. The consequential nature of a criminal trial is profound and outsized in some respect, but not more outsized than democracy, more outsized than Dobbs and the consequences of him prevailing in this election in November.

So he's saying guys, this might be hurting us.

Well, look, I I do believe that All of these cases sort of lean in the same direction politically. And I think everyone watching these cases, Brian, should keep an eye on the politics of it. I mean, I wrote about it on Sunday that you have Joe Biden in Pennsylvania going to Scranton, his version of a log cabin where he grew up as a child. And I think that is the key here. These are political cases, and they should be judged as such.

Let's talk about what you say Joe Biden's doing, the champagne. What do you mean by it's a sham?

Well the the trials are the sham and the and the it it really is election interference. I mean, there's no question this case, the Georgia case, They are important because they are pardon proof. Even if Donald Trump becomes president and he could pardon himself from any federal. convictions. He can't pardon himself from state convictions.

And that's why these cases were brought in the States. We know that Fonnie Willis in Georgia met with the White House. About that case. Her lawyer claimed payment for the time he spent at the wife's house. Two invoices.

Yeah. So that was a kind of giveaway. Alvin Bragg, remember the Manhattan District Attorney, he turned down this case. His predecessor turned down this case. The federal prosecutors in New York turned down this case.

It only came back, and the Federal Election Commission turned it down. It only came back to life. When the MSNBC crowd and Andrew Weissman kept pressuring and criticizing Bragg, and then finally he brought it back. But you can see the problems with the case. And you you have to then Look backwards, and why would he bring it?

Would he bring this if Donald Trump were not running? Would he bring it if Donald Trump were not the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party? I mean, this is all about. Blopping up Joe Biden. Joe Biden needs help.

This is how Just lo I think we just lost him. That is true. And I think that people are going to, if this was to end now and Biden was to win. They'll be talking about the lead that Donald Trump had. They'll be talking about the case that were brought forward, and they'll be talking about the twenty twenty two story in Politico where Joe Biden came out and said flat out, he's mad at Garland, he wants Trump prosecuted, why is it taking so long?

That's a politico story. Right. It's not something you know some Republican that came up with that thinks it's going on. Like, for example, there's no proof that Barack Obama's running the White House. People always like to say Barack Obama's running the White House.

There's no way Joe Biden's in charge. I don't think so. I mean, he's playing a role through the people that he knows, but I just don't think they talk that much. And I never thought there was much chemistry between them. Michael, I got it on the whole linkage to the court cases.

I just want to get you to weigh in on Columbia University. You see that they told the students to stay home today, they couldn't guarantee their safety. You saw a rabbi step up and tell the Jewish kids don't go to school. You see what's happening right now with their huge protest in front of Yale this morning. Cops showed up and said, if you don't clear out the entrance, I'm going to arrest all of you.

So they backed up and they're singing civil rights songs all for the Palestinian cause. But the anti-Semitism is bigger than anything. Do you want to try to put that in perspective before I let you go?

Well, Brian, I'm an alumnus of Columbia and I am ashamed of what's happening there. It is extraordinary to me, and the president of Colombia lost her nerve. Last week, after her testimony in Congress was not well received, it was not trash, but not well received, she authorized the police to come in and clear out the encampment. And they returned, the police did. More than 100 students were arrested.

And then these kids came back and expanded the tent city and everything. And she has been virtually silent. I mean, she's got to go now. That's the end of her tenure. She has folded in the face of this outrageous outbreak.

That's what Elise Stefanik has just called for her to resign. All the cops say, if Mayor Adams said, ask me to come in, I will send in the NYPD, but I have to be asked. They have not been asked. That campment set up again right after that. That's right.

This is private property, and so the police have to be asked to come in and make the arrest. Uh why they don't do it. Uh w I mean why she doesn't do it. And why the president of Yale? Look, schools are going to have this problem unless the presidents get the courage of supposedly their convictions to stop it.

This is an outrageous attack on not just Judaism and Jewish students. This is a terror organization they are supporting. These are, I mean, there's someone in midtown Manhattan was wearing a Hezbollah headscarf, uh, headband. Do you know, uh, waving a Hezbollah flag? Do you know what Hezbollah stands for?

I mean, it's just a killing group, it's just a group of terror proxies designed to kill Jews. That's all they do. They have taken over the country of Lebanon and deprived the citizens there of everything. They killed the Marines in 1982. Yes, they bombed our barracks.

I mean, this is these are terrible people. These are the worst people on earth. And these students and these elite colleges are supporting them and singing these chants about eliminating Israel. I mean, this is extraordinary. How can these presidents of these universities tolerate this?

I mean, if they do, then they do not belong in these positions. And I hope we will see some quick resolution at Columbia. Listen, I hear you. I can't believe what I'm seeing. I'm going to talk more about this a little bit later.

We're up against a break. Mike, the good news for a columnist like you is you have a lot to write about. I don't know if there's enough toner in your printer, but there's a lot to write about. Michael Goodwin, thanks so much. Oh, it's a pleasure.

Thank you, Brian. Got it. All right. So, and we're looking at the tents right now that's set up. These aren't the same style tents, but they're set up.

Is that Columbia, does it look like? Or is that Harvard? Or Yale. I think it's Columbia. This is moments ago.

I think there's some type of people being arrested, but I hope the president there, oh, excuse me, it's Yale. Police are clearing the last tents out of Yale.

So they're doing it. And that's exactly what should happen. At the new school, they took over the lobby, which is a small college in New York City. And now they should do the same thing at Columbia. Send the cops in, rip them out.

Sorry, kids got to go to school. They're paying $75,000 a year. They got three weeks left. Let them finish. Back in a moment.

Politics, current events, and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show.

When the motion of vacant is threatened every week in the Congress, That is being abused. And I think we need to fix that. That is a tool that's being abused by a minority when the majority of my conference don't agree with them. And they use that. Uh because they think that gives them power.

And it does if they have a gun to the speaker's head every day. And so I think that's something that we'll be looking at. It's ridiculous, and I don't think any Democrat or Republican in the next session, whether no matter who's the majority, would stand in the way of getting rid of the one person motion to vacate. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Massey, Congressman Massey and Paul Gosar are looking to do it, but no one's filed it yet. And I think Democrats would absolutely save them.

Rokahana said I'd actually step in, as would Hakeem Jeffries. I think what people are upset about is they had more people vote against the Ukraine aid than vote for it. The Israel aid, there was no problem. The Taiwan aid, not much of a problem. And there was no border money in it.

You saw Congressman Jim Banks bring that up. Hey, Bruce, you're in York, Pennsylvania. Hey, Bruce, thanks for calling. What's on your mind? Thank you for taking my call.

I'm so glad. I really think That these protests, just like the BLM protests of 2020. pretty much the same people, funded by the same people. But the whole point is You want to have all this turmoil just like we did in 2020. It helps.

helps the the Democrats in election time.

Okay, they think of this as a possible Positive. Otherwise Biden would step because it's going to kill my chances of getting elected. And very strongly, I feel that belief. It's a little bit different now because, Mike, I'm sorry, Bruce. Because it doesn't work to their advantage.

They have the Jewish vote or had it. If they see the anti-Semitism happen, if they see that they're not speaking out and pushing back on it, these people aren't taking an aggressive stance against it. I think there's a Jewish community alone, have a very powerful, I think, with people who are clear thinking, like you and I, who see that they're on the right side of these things. And can you imagine if all these protests were against Muslims, if we wanted Muslims off the campus, and we wanted, if we said they're murderers and they're all terrorists, can you imagine the outrage from the White House? They would have sent in the National Guard already.

And there's people like you and I, and the Christian community, the Jewish community, go, this is wrong. Never happen again. It's good Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. Hundreds of students were literally around me, dancing in a circle and singing and holding hands, singing.

anti-Jewish, like Chants and cheers, and they waved their hands and their middle finger in my camera and in my face, and they yelled at me. And then finally, one of the students, whose face was covered in a Kathiya, took a Palestinian flag that he was holding and waved it in my face, and then hit. Eye left eye. And I immediately yelled, He stabbed me in the eye, and I ran after him. The other, the Snichiman blockade, continued to blockade me so that they wouldn't let me.

find the man who assaulted me.

So that is Sahara Tartak. She talks at Fox News Digio, a Yale student. She was one of hundreds of students who were literally surrounded by anti-Semitic idiots who were pro-Palestinian, pro-Hamas, and stabbed her in the eye with a Palestinian flag. With me right now in studio is John Levine, New York Post writer, great columnist. And John, as someone who is a journalist, you probably are astounded about what's going on at Columbia.

Yale, there were more formal protests there. At least they got out of the entrances. There was almost mass arrest. But what's going on in Columbia, totally out of control. Brian, what country are we living in?

This is the craziest thing I've ever seen. Every single day you're hearing stories like this. Just yesterday, as I'm sure you saw, the rabbis at Columbia told Jewish students to go home. They say, it's not safe for you to stay here. Leave.

You know, the NYPD went in and they made some arrests, but it doesn't mean anything to get arrested in New York City. They take you to the precinct, they book you, you're there for like four hours, and then they're not easy. A lot of the people who were quote unquote arrested, they're back in the encampment. They're like two days later, a day later. It doesn't mean anything.

The reason this is happening is because we've never had any real consequences. None of these people have ever experienced any real consequences in their lives. You want these to end? You've got to start suspending students. You've got to start expelling students.

And the NYPD needs to get on that campus and stay there and ensure there is public safety. But, John, evidently, they've got to be invited. No, they don't have to be invited. That's not true. If you are committing a crime in your home, if you are committing domestic violence, the NYPD doesn't have to be invited into that home to stop.

But what crime are they committing by doing a sit-in? We had a man in New York who was arrested for insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

Okay, and as you just saw, you have violent acts occurring on these campuses. There was a student at Yale that we just saw two seconds ago was stabbed in the eye with the butt of a placard of a protest sign. There are violent acts occurring on these campuses. There is more than enough problem cause to get the NYPD in there right this second.

Well, I will say this. They decided to just shut down school today at Columbia. And they said, yeah. And they say, don't go. We're going to sort this out.

But what an in-your-face it is when she's testifying on Capitol Hill. Instead of these guys, these boys and girls, or these men and women for being their best behavior, they start upping the protests to show that the Palestinian cause is their cause.

Now, it sounds like you're going for France or England. And you go, well, that's pretty good. You're going for the Palestinian cause. These women, what woman would want to reinforce that culture? I mean, these are the worst people in the world.

We saw what happened on October 7th. There were mass rapes. They were raping dead people. There were decapitations of children. There are still hostages in Gaza.

We don't know where they are. I'm sure a lot of them are probably dead. And I can't even imagine the kind of suffering they're going through. This is not a legitimate political talking point. And I really worry if we had a 9-11 event in our country today, we would have this same stuff.

Michael Rapperport. Course, an actor, a liberal actor, always goes on Howard Stern. Listen to him. I think that this guy's having a revelation fresh off his visit to Israel, cut 14. You know, it's going to be.

You know what's going to be great? When Donald Trump gets elected and I ain't saying I'm voting for him. But when he does win And he's going to win. The screaming that you're doing at Jews. about free Palestine.

The screaming that you're doing at Zionist is going to be nothing compared to the screaming you're going to be doing come November. When Donald Trump. wins Presidency. Uh because of you. I'm sure there will be a lot of screaming if he wins.

But something that I'll say I know will happen is a lot of these foreign students here on foreign visas who are guests in our country, they're gone. Because Trump has already said those visas are getting canceled on day one. He's sending those students home. That's something clearly President Biden is not willing to do. And Trump has said that he would reinstitute a ban on people immigrating to this country from nations that are hostile to America.

So there's this really disturbing thing that American kids going to elite colleges, which means they have to have great grades or a legacy, which probably, let's say, 80% of them have great grades. Those are the valedictorians in your class. I mean, I just don't, I didn't grow up with anyone. Maybe three people went to Ivy Leagues and they were all great athletes and magically went from an 87 to getting into Princeton.

So having said that, These are people who are highly educated or they're foreigners coming from Middle Eastern countries. And I'm just wondering, how would that be? You have Palestinians coming over here, going to these universities, over American kids, or anybody in the Middle East, and they're going to spread that anti-Semitic behavior in America? Are you crazy? They have to be out.

Get them out. And by the way, don't you think Colombia president would have all their names? Yeah, of course they do. I mean, this could end right now. The president of Colombia could invite, though she doesn't, you know, they don't need an invitation, she could invite the NYP to clear this protest now.

And I can't, this will continue. This kind of reminds me of the Claudine Gay news cycle, where it was just an unending, every single day there were new revelations until she resigned. The news is going to continue. There is going to be news stories 24-7 around the clock until this encampment is disbanded. I want to get to you Michael Avenatti's story, but I want you to play this.

This is the problem. John Levine, you're direct. You're saying this who happened. You ask me, that's exactly what I agree, exactly what you're saying. But when you're a Democrat, And you're trying to win.

in Pennsylvania. And you're Bob Casey. Evidently, you got to play both sides. Cut thirteen. Look, I understand, or at least I think I understand, some of their frustration.

They see what's going on in the Middle East and they see the conflict and the loss of life of innocent civilians. And of course that loss of life has been on both sides when the Hamas terrorist organization killed uh twelve hundred Israeli civilians. trying to in essence wipe out Jews in the Middle East. And then as the response by Israel has resulted in thousands of deaths in Gaza. I can understand why people are upset about that.

You know, unfortunately, the Democratic Party today has to cater to a lot of different constituencies. And yeah, there are plenty of Jewish Democrats, but now there are a lot of Muslim Democrats and Democrats of Arab descent. Because who doesn't? Who? You know.

I know. Democrat Senator Fetterman, who you've talked to. That's true.

Well, you really get a sense of moral clarity with that man because there's a lot of pressure on Federman to cave. I mean, every single day, that poor man is just accosted by the most freakish psycho people you've ever seen. More freakish in psycho than he looks? Yeah, no, a lot more, a lot more. And, you know, the Susan Sarandon type.

By the way, I love the ending of Thelma and Louise now. Dave McCormick, who's running for that seat, said this. Students and faculty engaged in a poor and vitriolic anti-Semitism at universities like Columbia must suffer the consequences. As Senator Raw will work to eliminate federal funds for research, financial aid, and other areas for university enabling hate and violence, they have no right to taxpayer dollars. He didn't say but but always and never.

And what about them? That's definitive. He's a military guy that went to West Point, fought over in Iraq. The Democratic Party has a lot of different constituencies now that it didn't have 20 or 30 years ago when it was a very pro-Israel party. I know it's not the same state, but look at Dearborn.

Where you're seeing it doesn't even look like this country, the protests that are happening there. The Wall Street Journal called it the jihad capital of America. You know, there was a poll that was done. Shortly after October 7th, and it was not widely picked up, but it was covered. 57% of American Muslims said they believe what Hamas did in Israel was, quote, justified.

I'd love to see that. I will send it to you after the show. That is a crazy, crazy poll. And I try to mention on every show I go on, because that's the constituency that is growing in our country that Democrats have to respond to.

So when you hear Bob Casey equivocate on the most obvious moral issue of our time, it's because of that constituency that is growing in Michigan and his state.

So if there was growing Nazism and fascism in Germany and it started to take root in Michigan. Become from the transplants. Did you say, well, don't don't call out Hitler? He's not don't call out Hitler, you might lose the Hitler vote. In a democracy, the representatives need to be representative of the people.

And as the people change and the demographic change, you are going to see that.

So that's the problem. But you should draw a moral line at some point, you would think. It'd be no different than Trump and Republicans trying to reach out to Klan voters. And you have to be able to win without the Klan, and you should be able to win Michigan without the jihad, you know, Dearborn vote. I'm sorry.

So that's Upper West Side. Let's go down to lower part of New York City. Right by where's the courthouse? Right by the mayor's office. Yeah, well, do you just know that because we're not downtown?

Downtown. Downtown. So we Trump trial day one. It started one hour and 15 minutes ago. Yeah, I'm not there.

You're not there. I'm not there. Certain people are going to be in the courtroom in the beginning. If you leave, you're out for good. It's going to stop at 2 o'clock to salute the Passover.

But for the most part, we got opening statements, and then we're going to have first witnesses. And one's going to be David Pecker, and soon is going to be Michael Cohen. And people have brought up, well, Michael Cohen's a liar. He went to jail. Tax evasion, by the way.

They write myriad of other things. No, no, tax evasion, $4 million. But you also talked to somebody else who's got a problem with prison. That's Michael Avenatti. We did a real blast from the past.

If you were reading the post on Sunday, you will see that I did an interview with Michael Avenatti, which got to dust off your brains on that one to 2018 when he was Stormy Daniels' attorney.

Now, she's the one who allegedly had the affair with President Trump in 2006, and then he allegedly paid her the hush money, and it's now the center of the whole trial that he's engulfed with. And Avenatti was her attorney. And there was a time when Avenatti was on TV three times a day on MSNBC, CNN. Was going to Iowa. People talked about him as running for president.

Then he committed a myriad of federal crimes, tried to extort Nike. He stole from Stormy Daniels. These are things he either was found guilty of or pled guilty to, and he ends up doing 19 years in federal prison, FCT Terminal, FCI Terminal Island. I think one of the things he did too was try to extort Duke. Yeah, it was like comically super villain stuff, and he got busted on all of it, and it was a rapid, swift downfall.

And he's been cooling his heels in a low-security federal prison for like two years now, or three years now. And I saw he did like a tweet three weeks ago. He hadn't tweeted in years. And I sent him a direct message 'cause we follow each other for a while. And I was like, Michael, I didn't know you could tweet from prison, but also what what's like what's happening with you?

What's new? Like, I d didn't hear back. I was I didn't, you know, I send a lot of messages to people and I never hear back. But then I get a call and on your on my phone it just said prison.

So, you know, when you get it, you know, I was like, okay, this is okay. And I get the call. It's like, this is from prison. It's going to be recorded. And here's Michael Avenatti.

And we spoke, and it was incredible. And he said, He had a lot to say. And the key takeaway is that he basically agrees with Trump. He believes the trial is politically motivated. He believes that Trump is being railroaded.

He thinks the charges are all bogus, all four criminal trials. And he said, if Trump was not running for president and there was not a real possibility of him coming back to office, this would never have been brought to trial. And he thinks he'll be convicted. Because this is New York City and getting an impartial jury here is a tall order. He thinks that the trial itself is only going to pour, in his words, jet fuel on Trump's campaign.

You have a quote from him here. It says, Stormy Daniels is going to say whatever she believes is going to assist Stormy Daniels in putting more money in her pocket. If Stormy Daniels' lips are moving, she's lying for money. And she said she would be a poor witness in the approaching trial, citing her past claims of speaking to dead people and her possession of a haunted doll named Susan. Yeah, she's out there.

I mean, this all came out in the trial when he was convicted of stealing from her. That, you know, he was trying to discredit her on the witness stand.

So she has some kooky beliefs. And he is very much of the opinion that she will commit perjury on the stand, which goes to the heart of what we talked about earlier. The main witnesses here, Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels. They're not like A-plus witnesses. And if you can discredit the star witnesses of the case, I think it's more.

I don't think Trump's going to get acquitted. This is New York. But I you can even we'll do it right now. I want everyone to know I said this. I think it'll be a hung jury.

I could see a hung jury result where he Juror just won't budge. Did you see that? No. Yeah. They did the where do you get your news question in one said truth social.

See, I don't even keep an eye on that juror.

Well, who is it, Devin Nunes? He said, Ivan says, I think that we are both targeted by the justice system. There's a lot of people on the left that were very concerned about my potential rise within the Democratic Party and my potential rise in Democratic politics. And the fact was that I was not someone that was easily controlled. Oh, see, now we've got to talk about this, though, because this is your quote from your question.

No, I know. I know. I said that, but we've got to talk about this. And if you read a little further, you will know I spoke. The next question I asked him was: you know, Trump is someone that is famously, it has been reported, susceptible to flattery.

And you are serving a 19-year federal sentence, and you know.

Some more cynical people. Might think that you are angling for some kind of clemency from Trump should he win re-election. It was like. That's crazy. How could it never even cross my mind?

I'm not saying I think that, but there's some cynical people out there. I can see why you're a great reporter. There's a couple of things there. I did not see around that corner that you are. You said, I am not saying any of this because I'm seeking a partner.

Yeah, oh. It never crossed my mind, John.

Well, put it this way: if he gets him out of this case, he gets the presidency, he'll get whatever he wants. But I would not bring him in as a witness, would you? I n I mean, no. I mean, he ha he's also not necessarily trustworthy. He's doing twenty years in prison and look, I don't think everything was a big plot by the Justice Department.

He think he did he admitted to doing a lot some, you know, he said I've made mistakes with Duke. You know. So I I don't think he's necessarily the best witness either. But you are a great guest. John Levine, thanks so much.

Congratulations on being so innovative and resourceful and getting Mike Lavinati. Awesome. Made international news. Back in a moment. You're with Brian Kilmead.

The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. So, you and Biden are about the same age. Do you think? Are you one of those people who wished he had bowed out, let the field choose somebody else?

How do you think about that?

Well, I think that I walk a little similar to him. And the people that I've talked to, and everybody that I have, say he's as sharp as a tack. He's fine. We all have an issue with memories. As we get older, we forget names, something.

He's overcome a stunner in his life, and sometimes he might. Let's just say that his entire cabinet, including his vice president, everybody else in his cabinet, would be more than happy to work with him again in the next term. I cannot say that about the other candidate running because nobody in his cabinet. uh from 2016 wants to be involved with him.

Well, that's not really true, but he is right about that. Give credit to Joe Biden. These people stuck around, except for some staffers who stormed out. But why wouldn't you stick around? It's a Democratic cabinet, number one, if you're a Democrat.

It's the highest office, number two, and you could do whatever the hell you want. I mean, think about it. Do you really think President Biden is calling up and telling the Commerce Secretary, get in line? That's not my policy. No, you go to China, you got full autonomy.

You go down, you're trying to implement some chip factory, go ahead and do it. And of course, with the chip factory, mandatory daycare, mandatory paternity leave, and all those things that go along with Democratic proposals. But for Donald Trump, it's true. Mattis did not work out. Tillerson did not work out.

A lot of people did not work out. Sessions did not work out. A lot of it has to do with he's never been in Washington. The other thing is you gotta know Trump. He's not a traditional person, businessman, politician, but you do have a lot of loyalty around him.

Stephen Miller, still around him. Robert O'Brien, still around him. Mike Pompeo, ready to go back in. Marco Rubio, ready to go back in and serve as a vice president. Doug Bergham, a friend from the past, still around.

Big time surrogate. He'll be joining us at sometime this hour show. I can name a lot of them.

So, one thing about Trump, though, is: you're in, you're out. Reines Priebus is out, but they're still friends.

So, I don't really love that analogy, Michael Douglas. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Killmee. Everyone, welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Killmee Chow. I hope you had a fantastic weekend.

It was anything but quiet around the country and around the world, especially here in New York. This hour, we're going to be joined by Gene Becker, former Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush, author of a brand new book called Character Matters and Other Life Lessons from the 41st President. She is extremely valued and respected in and around those Bush circles, around Republican circles. And she played a valuable role when I did the Games Due Count.

She was the one who set me up with Bush 41 to talk about what sports meant to him. And he was a fantastic baseball player and talked about how it shaped him and also helped me get his son, who happened to be president at the time. Gene Becker, coming up in 30 minutes. Governor Doug Bergham is here in the studio. And, Governor, we have so much to talk about.

First off, great to see you. Absolutely, Brian. Great to see you with you. Last time I saw you was New Hampshire. Yes.

So you and your wife. And one thing that you share with me is. As you were with the president, the former president, you couldn't believe the organization and the machine around them, that when you get on the plane and you look around, everyone's got a job to do. There's no there's no Quiet time. There's no drinking.

Everyone's just. Focused. Yeah, no, it's incredible. He surrounded himself with a great team. They're running, firing in all cylinders, but I've We were invited, First Lady Catherine and I, to fly the night that they won the Iowa caucus.

30-point historic victory, get on the plane at midnight, two and a half-hour flight to the East Coast. The lights were never dimmed. 40 people on that plane. Everybody was heads down working, and they're all trying to keep up with the boss. President Trump's leading the charge.

And you're like, hey, I need a beer. Yeah. Well, yeah. Not one beer served on that plane. There was McDonald's, which was fantastic because Catherine and I enjoy that.

But that was a little McDonald's, but people just grab a Big Mac and keep on working. Your thoughts about what's happening downtown today? The President's got to sit there. You know how focused he is on getting things done. He's got to sit there and he's just got to watch these opening arguments today.

He's been in there since 9:30 in the morning. It'll stop at 2.

Well, it's it's actually unbelievable you say what's going on downtown or this what's going on in uh In across New York today, I mean, we got these. Protests going on at Columbia, out at Yale. I mean, death to America is happening in the city at the same time. We've got a president, former president is down there in a sham trial. I mean, he should, any of us would be frustrated if you had a job to do and you're not allowed to do it because we've got a trial that's about an eight-year-old, seven or eight years.

It was past the statute of limitations. The former DA wouldn't bring it. The DOJ wouldn't bring it. The Federal Election Commission, this was called the zombie trial.

So this is absolutely the definition of election interference and bringing this thing up. And it's a business filing case. That's what this is. I mean, this is like a business filing case. He was president of the United States in 2017.

Someone at the low-level and Trump organization wrote two words on a check. Check went out every two weeks for what, 17 months.

So they call it 34 felonies. There's no felony. I mean, a business filing case is a misdemeanor. This is the only case that they could bring between now and the election, every minute, every hour that President. President Trump is sitting in that courtroom with a Democrat DA and a Democrat judge, a judge who donated to Biden, and a Democrat DA.

DA, who ran on I'm going to get Trump.

So you've got a complete politically biased situation going on. That's happening. Every minute that he's there is a win for Joe Biden because when President Trump is on the trail, you know what he's talking about? He's talking about the issues that are affecting every American. This trial doesn't affect any Americans.

It really doesn't. Not at all. And the thing is, too, on top of that, is that. In New York City, in particular, he's not allowed to leave.

So he's got to stay Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Fridays off Wednesday, so he can't even do it on the weekend. Then Saturday he got rained out in Pennsylvania. Here's what Kerry Kupak Urban, who was chief of staff for William Barr, said. He worries her about the case, cut five. My concern is, Trey, more than anything else, is that these jurors will take their cues from the prosecutor in this case.

They'll take their cue from Attorney General Letitia James.

You know, something that Bill Barr used to say when we were at DOJ was that the Department of Justice is not the Department of Prosecution. And I think people need to understand sometimes, and this is, and you, at Justice Jackson, who was an attorney general in the first part of our 20th century, the 20th century, he said this, the prosecutor has more control over life, liberty, and reputation than any other person in America. And what I've been very concerned about as I've watched these cases in New York unfold against Donald Trump is that there seems to be only a focus on the letter of the law and not the spirit. The spirit asks what is fair. And without the spirit, that's not justice, that's an abuse and manipulation.

So there were She's worried that these judges, that the prosecutor is going to win over these jurors, even the two lawyers.

Well, it's We know that Donald Trump can't get a fair trial in New York City. I mean, everybody knows that. I mean, this is the. I don't think you could.

Well, yeah, no, I mean, a Republican probably can't, but certainly Donald Trump, and certainly when the whole objective of the trial is to take him off the campaign trail. I mean, they said this matters nothing to America whether the two words on a check said legal retainer or not. It was a legal retainer, but this is seven years ago. It has nothing to do with where our country is going. And like I said, President Trump would be talking about under Joe Biden, inflation through the roof, open border, the world at war.

I mean, all the things that right now they win when he's not talking about Joe Biden's horrifically bad record.

So you could probably relate to this.

So you're in business. I'm going to try politics.

Now, when you're in business at a high level, you might have a partner that you guys break up over, right?

Some with money or something with philosophy. And You make it big and they don't, or bottom line is they don't like the way it ended.

So you start campaigning, and this guy starts talking to the press about what a bad guy you are. You might walk up to him and go, Hey, listen, I'm trying to run for office. What do you need? That's not illegal. For you to say, Hey, go away, what do you need?

Knock it off. It's you could say it's a level of extortion on that person's part, but it's so subtle it can't be prosecuted.

So if you have things that pop up in your passage, you're trying to run for president, That are embarrassing, you know, if you had to go up and say, listen, enough with this, put this aside, that's what he did. And the question which makes it illegal is if you said I did it to win an election, as opposed to the embarrassing part of it. Even if you do it to win an election, it's if you come from you personally, it's still okay.

Well, first of all, nondisclosure agreements happen all the time and they're not illegal.

So there's no crime there. And what they're trying to hit the opening arguments this morning, Alvin Bragg is trying to say that this was election interference in 2016. These checks went out that they're saying is an alleged business filing error. It went out in 2017.

So how did the president, when he was already president, dealing and leading our country in 2017? That's a good point. How is payments that he made to his lawyer in 2017, election interference in 2016? It makes no sense. The only reason this trial is being brought is to take Donald Trump off the campaign trail.

That's the only reason. I want to talk to you, Governor, about a lot of things, but most of all, what it has been like in President Trump's camp and Mar-a-Laga, the strategy sessions that are going on, the people that are coming through. I saw the President of Hungary come through. The President last week met with the President of Poland. Then we had David Cameron, the foreign minister.

Of the UK, I understand that the former Prime Minister of Japan is coming, he's looking for the President. Is there a sense that this guy is that I know you want Trump to win. But are you getting this is the world getting a sense he's going to win? Absolutely. And not only do I want President Trump to win, America needs President Trump to win because Joe Biden, you know, he's wrong on the economy, he's wrong on energy, and he's wrong on national security.

And that's why you're seeing these world leaders show up here and make time.

Some of them have come and met with President Trump and haven't gone to Washington, D.C. to meet with Biden because they know and they understand that we need strong leadership because these countries are allies. You're talking about allies that are coming here? Our allies are all super nervous. I mean, Joe Biden, the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, sent a signal and a chill to all of our allies around the world.

And now it doesn't matter Joe Biden's energy policy is completely undermining all of our allies around the world. I mean, from Japan to Western Europe.

So they see all this stuff. They're scared. And they are hoping and cheering for the fact that we might have a strong leader back in the White House again in November.

So the governor of Pennsylvania was doing the national show. And they look at him as an upcoming star as somebody who probably would have run for office if Joe Biden had gotten out of the way. His name is Josh Shapiro. And one thing in Pennsylvania is they have natural gas. And you know as much about energy as anyone in the country.

North Dakota's got a ton of natural gas. Out of nowhere, the President about two months ago decided to freeze all new natural gas leases. And he was asked about that. Uh and they talked about the pause. Here is Governor Josh Shapiro.

Well, I think if the pause goes on for a long time, it has the potential to cost us jobs. That's why I want this to be as quick as possible. And what I went on to say, though, is we have an opportunity here in Pennsylvania to be the center of the clean energy economy. Thanks to President Biden, we have two regional hydrogen hubs. Thanks to President Biden, we are capping methane emissions from abandoned wells.

We have billions of dollars of tax credits and other resources coming from the Department of Energy to help us through the US. The question was leading up to it: how does that work with you? He's like, he goes, this pausing, it better be a short pause. You see his face, like, what the hell is he doing? Yeah, and the pause they're talking about is Biden, by executive order, said we're putting a pause on building.

LNG liquid natural gas export facilities anywhere in the U.S.

Well, when we stop exporting You know, that hurts our allies. When that day that came out, I turned to my team and I said, Wow, there's got to be a party in the Kremlin tonight. I mean, forget the Manchurian candidate. Is there a Manchurian policy person? I mean, like, that.

That executive order was like it was like written by Russia. Who did that? Like, who would. The only thing you can say, Brian, is that it is completely political. Joe Biden is losing voters under 30 to President Trump.

They think they can get the far-left eco-terrorists back by saying that we're going to shut down U.S. energy. And when you do, You hurt people in Pennsylvania. You just hurt people in Pennsylvania. You hurt our allies.

You hurt everybody in America. And if you actually cared a lick about the environment, the number one reduction of CO2 worldwide has been the increased use of clean natural gas, and that coming from the United States. Nobody produces it cleaner than we do. And it was the entrepreneurship in the 1970s of these wildcat frackers. And at the beginning, everyone thought they were crazy.

They managed to master it, and it starts becoming a big plus for America during Obama's years. And he gets credit for it, which he had nothing to do with that. In fact, he was trying to hurt it. Yes, yeah. And some of this technology and capability has only come in the last 15 years.

I mean, when Obama was still in office, I mean, he was thinking that we were going to run out of energy. And, of course, with the advanced technology, we're in a position where we could be providing LNG, clean L and G, to Japan, to the Philippines, to the Korea, to Western Europe. And instead, Joe Biden is trying to shut down the U. S. energy industry.

And you know whose production is up? Iran's production is up 50%. Venezuela, they had sanctions.

Now their production is way up. Russia, $700 billion is the estimate of the additional capital Russia has taken in since Joe Biden's sanctions went in place. I mean, they're making so much bank in Russia off of this. I'm amazed, too, in 16 Minutes did something on the Commerce Secretary and talked about her being an upcoming star, Gino Raimondo. And they say, by the way, with the Russian sanctions, well, look at the Russian.

He goes, this is a sanction team. He goes, well, they're getting a lot of money. He goes, yeah, it's not easy. Not easy. That's an acceptable answer.

Not easy. You're watching these Ukrainians die because they're being backed up by his ability to sell fuel when we told our allies not to buy it.

So our enemies start buying it on discount, and they're still allowed to do it. Yeah, no, and and the worst is Iran because world's largest sponsor and payment. Payer of terrorism is Iran. And now Iran directly attacks Israel. Largest attack, over 300 cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and drones.

And you know what we talked about last week? A paperwork trial. They had America talking about a paperwork trial any other time in history. Instead, we're talking about a paperwork trial and then we're talking we're watching on our campuses in America where people are yelling death to America. Death to Israel and then being supported on U.S.

campuses when we should be fairly in Iran under Biden. President Trump had those guys choked down financially, where they were literally almost broke and their exports were low of oil. And now their exports, I said, up 50%. But Biden, here's $6 billion for five hostages. Here's $10 billion unfrozen assets.

I mean, he's helped. Iran with hundreds of billions of dollars of economic stimulus. While letting them build a nuclear weapon, while they're shutting down U.S. energy. Governor, hold that thought.

When we come back a few more minutes, then we're welcoming Gene Becker, former Chief of Staff to George H.W. Bush. Back in a moment, don't move. Brian Killmeat Show. Newsmakers and newsbreakers.

Here at first on the Brian Killmeat Show. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. All right, we got a few more minutes back here with Governor Bergham. Governor, you've been mentioned on the shore list with the president.

You guys have this mutual respect. You've done it both through business before you got into politics first. You have no patience for the lifelong politician. Would that be something you're interested in? I know you're not there for the job.

You've already made your money. You're not running for reelection. Would that be something you're interested in? Well, I I'm hoping that there's a hundred people on the short list. I'm saying that with a smile on my face because everybody that's interested and cares about America ought to care as deeply as President Trump does, and they all ought to be out there fighting and pushing right now to do this because four more years of Joe Biden is not something our country can tolerate.

So what did you see in the first four years that made you originally want to run against him? When his first four years in the office, you said, okay, when I have a chance, I'm going to run. And you did run. You were in there, did very well in the debates, hurt your ha famously, ripped your Achilles in the process. But what changed from the person that wanted to take on Trump now that wants to see Trump elected?

Well, I think everybody knows that part of the reason why I didn't Get a lot of press was: I never said a negative word about President Trump during my time that I was campaigning. I endorsed him in 16, I endorsed him in 20, and I was the first one of the candidates to endorse him this year. But part of what I was running against was running for the issues that affect every American, the issues that President Trump is running on: the border, the open border policies, the inflation, the Joe Biden's horrific economic policies going the wrong way. Energy. President Trump is right on energy.

So when I announced last summer in June, every discussion was about a culture war topic, and we weren't talking about the things that really mattered.

So I jumped into the race and I said, hey, we need a candidate that's going to talk about those things. And of course, now here we are. President Trump's the nominee and he's going to have an incredible team that joins him in D.C. It's going to be an amazing second term for him. And he's talking about all the right issues whenever he's out on the campaign trail.

But he'd be doing two. Rallies a day right now if he wasn't trapped in this courtroom. Governor Nikki Haley has not been nowhere to be found since. And she was solid second. She was getting solid turnout, but not close to Trump.

Trump had it in hand. What would you say to her? If she's saying, you know, I just think he was the wrong pick, I just, you know, it should have been me. What would you say to her? Well, I think I'd say to her what I'd say to every Republican, which is if you are a Republican and you take a look at this is going to be a binary decision between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, is every Republican needs to get behind Donald Trump.

But you know what else we need? We need a lot of independents. We need a lot of the people that supported Nikki to come on board and help in these swing states to say, hey, this is a better alternative. Have you reached out to her? I I haven't.

Were you asked to or? No, I haven't I've not not been asked to. For you personally, if not the Vice President position, I'm thinking Uh treasury or energy. Would both those things be something that you like to would be welcome open to?

Well, I want to have been clear to the President, clear to others. I'm not campaigning for President Trump because I'm looking for any kind of job in the next administration.

Some people may be doing that. I'm doing this because as governor of North Dakota, If I I could have run for another term, we were not term limited. Uh for myself to keep going forward. The The impact on North Dakota and on the nation of Joe Biden's in for another four years is something that I just feel like I've got a deep under as a business guy and someone who understands agriculture and energy and national security.

So bad for America, it doesn't matter. I don't need a job in that administration, but I'm going to campaign every day I can between now and November. But you didn't need to be governor either. You just thought you could do it. And thanks so much.

And we did it well. Thank you, Bill. Absolutely. Governor Doug Bergham, thanks so much. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin.

It's Brian Kilmead. So, Gene Becker is former Chief of Staff to President George H.W. Bush, longtime friends with the family, and knew him well as anybody. And he might be one of the greatest men of our generation. And he started with being a part of the greatest generation at 19 years old, being shot out of the sky and being grabbed on the video exists onto an aircraft carrier.

And then his life was able to take off in ways that many people could only dream of. She is the author of a brand new book called Character Matters and Other Life Lessons from George H.W. Bush. Gene, welcome back. Brian, it is so great to be with you.

Thank you so much for having me back. Yeah, I remember the first time I talked to you, doing the Games Do Count, and they said I always talk about what sports did to shape people. And for the first people I had in mind was the 41st president, your boss, because what he did in baseball, already showing great character. And I thought, man, I wonder what sports played in his life. And you were able to set that up for me.

And that enabled me to get Bush 43. He was in the White House at the time.

So I always appreciate that. Thank you.

Well, you're welcome. I'm sure you don't remember with all the requests you got. I don't, but I will take it at your word. Great. Thank you.

So, Gene, tell me what you miss most about the former president about the President. Oh, gosh, that's such a that's a good question. You know what I miss most about both of them, Brian, is when they died in twenty eighteen, both she in April and he in November, They both were sort of ready to go. Their health wasn't great and they had such a deep faith. And they viewed that as sort of the beginning of the next big adventure.

which started to make it easier for those of us they were going to leave behind.

So that made it a little easier and made me help me not obsess about them being gone. I will tell you what I miss them the most is when there's good gossip I would love to share with them. Or when there's just something going on I would love to talk to them about because they just love to gossip and talk about the news and At least once a week, something will happen that I will think: darn it, I would love to ask President Bush what he thinks about that. Right. For example, I can only imagine what it was like in many ways.

I think it must have been tougher for him when George W. Bush was president than when he was president, because he hears the criticism, here's the second guessing, here's the praise, of course. What was it like for both of them during that time? He it was a tough eight years, and he absolutely nailed it. He used to talk about that it was much easier to take criticism personally about yourself than about your son.

And I remember one time, the President of the United States called me and wanted to know if I could possibly cancel their cable Subscription. He said, gee, Dad has got to quit watching television and watching all these news programs. It's driving him crazy. And I said, well, Mr. President, the problem is he can Google with the best of them.

So he's going to find out what the press is or isn't saying about you. But oh my gosh, he would take it all so personally. And he said it was just easier to take it. When it was about you.

So, Character Matters is the name of the book. You think you write in your intro, this is a time in which we need to go back to that because it's such a turbulent time in America. It is such a turbulent time, and I'm embarrassed that I talk about in the author's note, I'm embarrassed to admit, Brian, this book was not my idea.

So I wrote a book called The Man I Knew about the 25 years I was Fresno Bush's chief of staff. And I was having lunch with my editor in New York two years ago. And I had another book idea that had nothing to do with President Bush. And he said, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, I love that idea.

We'll do that in a year or two, but I have another book I want you to do first. I think you need to write another book about President Bush. I don't think the world is done with him. And Brian, I looked at my editor and I sort of confused, and I said. You do remember, Sean, he died at the end of the last book.

I just didn't see where he thought I should go with this. But he just felt that President Bush led more by example than anything else. He was not a big advice giver like his. like bumper bush And he said, why don't you put together a book, try to put together a book about what we can and should learn from him. And so I reached out to all the people who knew him well, everybody from fellow heads of state to people like Bob Gates, Secretary Baker wrote the foreword, Dan Quayle wrote the epilogue.

And everybody in between, Reva McIntyre, Dana Carvey, the woman who's the gardener at Walker's Point. And the book is just full of great stories and examples of what they learned from him. And it could not come at a better time. Because all the stories are about Well, it's where the title comes from: is that at the end of the day, character really does matter. One example you give is the end of the Cold War.

It's time to high five, it's time to celebrate. The wall comes down, and a reporter's talking to the 41st president. He says, You don't see him elated. You don't see him. He goes, I'm elated.

But what was he concerned about, Gene Becker? He was concerned about dancing on somebody, you know, after you win, how you carry yourself. He did not want to instigate or get in the face of this Soviet old guard and let them, you know, and really goad them and show disrespect to them, right? You're absolutely right. He he and the reason he did not gloat or go to Berlin to dance on the wall, it was twofold.

One, what you just said, it really was about character. He didn't want to put it back in their face. We won, you lost. The other problem was, is they were very concerned That Gorbachev might be overthrown. And as you know, later there was an attempt to overthrow him.

And that Soviet troops would march into Berlin. And they were trying hard to keep a lid on that.

So, yeah, he's the day the Berlin Wall fell, he just sort of acted like, Oh, yeah, I'm good. Right. Yeah, I mean, it's how you hold yourself. I remember with Bush 43, I was talking to him about sports, and I talked to him about in baseball. He said, you know, I knew how good my dad was.

And in ninth grade, I was good. And then I just didn't go to the camps. I didn't play as hard. And I ended up nearly not doing what I could have done in baseball. But in rugby, Was a different story, and I wanted to hear it.

And he said, I don't really feel comfortable talking about myself. Here's my roommate from college. Why don't you call him? He would not compliment himself.

So he didn't say all it turns out he was a great leader. He was very tactical. Not many people understood rugby. He figured it out right away. He did not want to do it.

And would you say his dad was the same way? His dad was exactly the same way, and he always told the story. It's how they were raised. He always tells the story that he was all excited. He came home one day, I think it was a soccer game, and told his mother that he had the winning goal.

I had the winning goal. I won. And his mother looked at him and said, You did not win, George. The team won. It was a team effort.

And he never forgot that. I will never forget before we went to when his library was being built, his presidential library on the campus of Texas A and M. We went to tour it. It was his last chance to walk through it before it opened where he could still make changes. And we walked through the whole thing, and he had some very minor changes.

Like, I'll never forget the part where he was. the ambassador, not really the ambassador, but our representative in China. He thought the color red was a little off and everyone started looking at him. He said, that's not really Chinese red.

Well, it was sort of little things like that. We get in the car. Any sort of I have a big problem with the library, Jeeves. I said, what? I said, why didn't you why didn't you speak up during the tour?

Well, I didn't want to hurt their feelings, but I need you to fix it. I said, okay, what's your problem? Brian, he literally said. It's too much about me. And I I I really didn't know what to say to him.

I said, sir. It is the George Bush. Presidential library. It is supposed to be about you. And he said, I wouldn't have accomplished anything without my team.

It has to be about James Baker and Brent Scowcroft. And Dan Quayle, and then he would go back further in his life. He says, It shouldn't be just about me, it has to be about the team. I'll never forget him telling me that. It's awesome.

Um Do you think that what would you think that President Bush would think about what's happening now? You know Um Brian, I hate, I get asked that a lot and I hesitate to answer it. Just 'cause he's been gone for five years and I don't want to assume What I think he would say specifically about current events, but one thing for sure I know he would say.

So many people wring their hands now. These are the worst of times. And what are we going to do? What are we going to do? And after 9-11, the country was in the same kind of mood, which I'm sure you remember.

And President Bush was speaking to a group of people one day who were wringing their hands and. you know, thought it was the worst of times and he said, okay. Just in my lifetime. Our country has survived the Great Depression. We survived World War two when the entire The entire world was at war with each other.

He talked at length about the 60s. And he said, most of you in this room, remember the 60s, we they were horrible. A president was assassinated, two other leaders were assassinated. He talked about the civil rights. the Vietnam riots and our country was torn asunder.

And then of course we sort of slid right into Watergate in the early seventies. And he would look at, I think he would bring up the same thing today, and he would say, we will survive this. And he loved to say, and I quote him all the time now, that what Unites is still more powerful than what divides us. And I think he's right. I think we just have to Work our way through this and not give up on our democracy.

I agree. Same thing. It goes up and down. And then when things get bad, you appreciate it when they come back. Right now, we're watching a press conference outside Columbia University where the NYPD says Columbia has asked for them to patrol outside the school.

So we'll keep up to that. Listen, if you want an uplifting book that really underlines the great life and the great person of George H.W. Bush, how about a book written by the person who knew him possibly best in the world, Gene Becker? It's called Character Matters and Other Life Lessons from George H.W. Bush.

Gene, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much for coming on. Brian, you're the best, and I hope we're going to talk again soon. Absolutely. Gene, thank you.

All right. All right. We're going to take a short time to come back with the latest developments. And right in Uptown on the west side of New York, the NOAPD is in a tough spot. Unless they're invited in, they can't go in.

But you can't have a campus with everybody doing this sit-in in all these tents and with the Jewish students feeling it's unsafe to walk. Tough time. Good to say the same thing in Connecticut with Yale right now. Same thing with MIT right now. And possibly the same thing in Berkeley.

You're listening to the Brian Killmeat show. Don't move. Educating, entertaining, enlightening. You're with Brian Kilmead. Information you want, truth you demand.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Columbia University is private property. And so the nature of police action, what we can do, what we can't do, is very, very different on private property than it is on a public street.

So if there's a crime in progress, if someone's in danger, As with any entire property, we're going to go in. We're going to keep people safe. If someone, for example, is being attacked, we're going to go in to Columbia University as we would to a private home to help protect that person. But absent exigency, absent some ongoing crime. We cannot just go on to Columbia campus as we see fit.

It is up to the university to decide whether or not they want us on campus. As a general matter, Columbia University, and this goes back many years, does not want NYPD present on campus.

So that is the NYPD talking about the tough spot they're in, unless they're invited in.

Now, Thursday morning, they were invited in by the President of Colombia and they cleared every all those tents out. Uh by 7 a.m. All those people went outside. Then they put the tents back a short distance from where they were before, and they left it. And over the weekend, the crowds got bigger, the violence got greater, the anger grew.

People from outside came in. Phony IDs got non-students onto campus. I talked to two juniors today on Fox and Friends, and they told me this story. These people pretend like they're students. They are not students, not making it safe for anyone who is thought to be Jewish.

This is in America, and it's 2024 on campus, where a prominent rabbi made an announcement that he does not believe any Columbia student, Jewish Columbia student, should go to school. Then the president came out this morning and said, don't go to school. We're going to try to work this out, figure this out.

So do have remote learning. Remote learning. I mean, we're in final stretch right now, remote learning. You're going to screw up my junior year? If I'm any Jewish person or somebody fed up with Columbia, do not quit.

You've already got yourself this close to finishing out your year, first year, second year, third year, final year. You don't want to go to graduation? Don't go. And what I would do, too, is I don't care if I had to put it on my credit card, a cash advance on my Visa at an approval of 25%. If I could not personally escort my kids to class, I would do it.

I would hire a security. Because you got to teach people, and they know it. If you're Jewish in America, you know it by trade, your family stories. But you cannot let people dictate because of your religion, which you can and can't do. Not in America, ever.

And believe me, the President of the United States would be speaking right now if this was a Muslim community. But because it's Jews, we'll just take a step back. And how unbelievably embarrassing and unacceptable is it that Senator Chuck Schumer, the most powerful Jewish American politician ever, as majority leader of the Senate, nowhere to be found? At least Senator Gillibrand put out a statement.

So, meanwhile, just about Israel, just to finish up this conversation, they have to go into Rafah. This administration doesn't want them to go into Rafah. They've explained to them how to do it. They're trying to get some. They're trying to get the civilians out of the way.

Nobody wants one civilian to die. It doesn't work for anyone, even if you have animus in your heart. But when they think about 300 missiles going into Israel, they were told to restrain the retribution.

So they hit a radar tower in between a nuclear facility and a military facility. Maybe you like that, but this administration is always talking about restraint. Can we not be victims in Ukraine and in Israel? Richard Goldberg talked about this. He's with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy.

He's a senior advisor. He was on Mark Levin last night and talked about what Iran is doing, Cut 16. Iran is a top threat to the United States, not just to Israel. I think people forget about that. This is a state sponsor of terrorism, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, that is already responsible for killing hundreds of Americans.

And we know they chant death to America, death to Israel, not the other way around. And the missiles you just saw a week ago raining down on Israel, 120 ballistic missiles plus the cruise missiles and the drones, remember they're building longer-range missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles, to partner with their nuclear weapons program to threaten the United States. That's their ultimate goal here. And so the question is: how did we get here? What is going on right now?

Since Joe Biden took office, Iran has raced forward in its nuclear program. Uh and that that's a fact.

So, the Prime Minister Netanyahu says this: I vow to ramp up military pressure. Instead of retreating from extreme positions, Hamas builds on divisions within it. It draws encouragement from the pressures directed at the Israeli government. As a result, he only tightens his conditions for the release of our hostages. He weighs down his heart and refuses to send our people.

Therefore, we're going to land additional painful blows on him, and will happen soon in the coming days. We will increase the military and political pressure on Hamas because this is the only way to free our hostages. I 100% agree. Israel knows how to fight better than anybody else in the region in which it is theirs with the threat which they live with every day, and that means going into Rafah. where thousands still remain.

And right now, no one thinks they are, but they're going. And don't blame Netanyahu, he's doing what's right to save his country. From the Fox News Podcasts Network, in these ever-changing times, you can rely on Fox News for hourly updates for the very latest news and information on your time. Listen and download now at FoxNewsPodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Listen to the show ad-free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Hmm.