Dems' "no one is above the law" purity test fails as party split over Hunter pardon

From Highway 2. Fox News Headquarters in New York City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kelmead. Hi everyone, hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving.

We're back in action now. Shortened period of shopping, according to experts, to get to Christmas.

So please adjust your schedules accordingly. And again, we're going to hit the ground running because so much happened, especially late last night. We found out that Joe Biden, before going to Angola, And taking his press team with him, he had a major announcement. This hour, Ben Dominic will put it in perspective, editor-it-large for the spectator world, and Carl Rove standing by. But first, let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. Keep in mind that for many years, the Syrian government has been engaged in this civil war backed by three main players: Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. All three of those players have been distracted and weakened. By conflicts elsewhere.

Middle East mayhem, as we now add Syria to the massive unrest, now it's how it's all linked to Russia and the effect on Trump is all and this effect on Trump's election win is already generating some unrest in the region for Israel's behalf. Number two. I worked elbow to elbow with Cash Patel for two years. You would not know the foundation or the funding of the Steele.ca. You would not know about FISA abuse, if it were not for Cash Patel.

Wow, I did not know that. Transition blockbusters continue for the Trump base camp out of Mar-a-Lago, the biggest mind blower, Cash Patel for FBI director. We hear from all sides and look at the chances he gets through and how Trump's already making progress with his economic plans and immigration crackdown. Number I'm extremely proud of my son, Hunter. I'm not going to do anything.

I said I abide by the jury decision, and I will do that, and I will not pardon him. Oops, and then again, I will. Joe lies again. From I will now pardon my son Hunter from any criminal charges and convictions to a full and sweeping pardon for Hunter Biden from everything for the last 10 years. Why, I think it's a perfect summation of Biden's four years in office, his career, and what it means for his party that he leaves behind.

Karl Rove, you know all about pardons and the. Carl Row will be with us shortly. But he knows all about investigations, how costly it is, what it means for the family. I get it. And if I'm Joe Biden, I not one time would say I wouldn't pardon my son.

Especially because he's talked over and over about his son, smartest guy he knows. No you know, he had an addiction. I'm proud of the way he came out of it. Instead, he said, I have full faith in the justice system. And the process.

And in the letter that he writes, after pardoning. After pardoning his son, he lets everybody know that he has no problem not telling the truth, including Orienza letter. We decided over the weekend to go ahead and pardon Hunter. Really? You decided over the weekend.

NBC reported you started in June, and from the day the charters were put on him, of course, you're President of the United States. You'd be crazy. Crazy not to think about pardoning your own son. Here's Jonathan Turley, cut seven. This brings to mind the same type of familial Action taken by Bill Clinton, who pardoned his brother in his final days of office.

And it also shows a a degree of of contempt for the American people. This is a President who didn't just simply lie about not ever speaking to his his Son's business associates. It's of never being in meetings with them. But he lied repeatedly to the American people when he was a candidate for reelection. And he was asked repeatedly, as he was about meeting his son's clients.

and denied that he would he would do that, and he has now violated that pledge. Yeah. Remember, this is exactly what Jonathan Chulley was talking about, cut four. Mr. Vice President, how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings?

I've never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings. Yeah, because you were there at the meeting. You were there at the hotel. They even had the restaurant. And you also called into a meeting he was having overseas on speakerphone just to check in and talk to his business partners, but no business came up.

We didn't believe that then. We certainly don't believe it now. Carl Rove, welcome back. Your thoughts about the late night pardon that we got last night. The president's not available.

He's going to Angola. Yeah, well We knew it was coming. Despite all the denials from the White House podium, despite all the denials from the President, why do you think he denied? He thought he was going to get reelected and or excuse me, he either he was going to get reelected or after July twenty first that she would get elected and and that they'd be able to do it in the dark of night before he got sentenced. But Now with the sentencing coming up on both of these charges within the next couple of weeks, He had to do what we knew all along he would do, which is give his son a pardon.

What is stunning, however. is that this p that this uh pardon is so expansive, it's not for the things that he was charged with. It was for anything he did during an 11-year period that might not yet be discovered. And therein lies the, you know, one of the this will tarnish Joe Biden's. Uh place in history and it should.

Here is a man who was blind to his son's illicit at least inappropriate activity for years and years and years and now has given in the aftermath of two guilty convictions in courts of law a get out of jail free pass.

So in that letter, I thought it was also damning and in your face with untruths, one of which is: I believe in the justice system. But as I've wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has injected this process and has infected this process. and has led to a miscarriage of justice. Yeah, how did that happen? Every prosecutorial decision was based upon a decision by the President of the United States.

He was the one who allowed it to go forward. He is the one that protected the process. I guess he was hoping that somehow, some way, his son would escape. But, you know, he was found guilty in a process which was presided ultimately over by the Justice Department, led by an attorney general whom he appointed, and by a process that the President personally approved. That is to say, to allow the U.S.

Attorney for Delaware to continue to prosecute these two issues. And look, he's guilty. Let's be honest about it. He himself admits that he lied when he filled out the document to purchase a weapon, that he was at that point under the influence of drugs. We know that he lied about the income tax filings because it was clear in the court of law, and they did not really contest the underlying facts that he took business, claimed his business expenses, hiring prostitutes, giving his daughter a college education, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I mean, you know. Please, the guy was guilty. And you know what? It would have been better if he had said, you know what? Hunter did bad things.

I'm going to commute, though, give him a commutation. Let it go through. Let him be charged. I mean, let him be a sentence and then commute it. And we wouldn't have liked it, but it wouldn't stink as much as this thing does.

And the thing is, Carl, if they were beaten up on a son of a president that was addicted to drugs, I think that would be too far. But it's all about how it's linked to international business dealings and the lies that happen. And the thing that I can't still explain to this day, that laptop that would have talked about these deals and put them together and talked about his illicit behavior and as he relates to his father, that laptop was in the FBI's jurisdiction for months. Then they briefed the social media companies that something was coming out. There would be Russia disinformation.

Zuckerberg talked about that to Joe Rogan. Then it came out and they said, aha, I told you it would. And they suppressed it all in order to get Joe Biden, made sure Joe Biden wasn't sullied. And this wasn't the October surprise that stopped him from getting elected. And this is when Donald Trump was president, and he supposedly had power.

Can you imagine if he didn't? And so people really want to know how everything got suppressed, how this guy was coddled, how he was able to pull off these deals. Remember, too, even the Obama administration was concerned about Joe Biden's son getting a job with Burisma while the vice president had the Ukraine. Yes, well, I'm glad you brought that up because to me, this is one of the great stains on Joe Biden. Because look, he the Obama White House Went and talked to him about it.

My understanding is that embassaries from the president went and said, Your son has gone on the board of this corrupt company. You're in charge of the efforts to try and get Ukraine to clamp down on corruption, and your son's participating in it. And he told him, get out of my office and never raise the issue again. Do not talk to me about my family. He failed.

Let's be clear. Joe Biden failed our country, and he failed his son. He should have called up his son and said, Hunter, I know you need to make money, but you should not go on the you should resign from this board. You ought to get your business partner who got you on the board to resign as well. This is a stinky company.

That is involved in corruption, that is controlled by a billionaire who is tied to Putin and Moscow. Get off the board, you're embarrassing me. And instead, he to this day defends it. To this day, it's an appropriate abuse of power. And to me, this is just remarkable.

President Obama, if you say what you will about him, he knew this stunk. And it's my understanding sent people to say to the Vice President, you need to get your son off. And the Vice President said pione sand. I mean, really remarkable. It is.

I hear you. There's a couple of things that Barack Obama has done along the way that were impressive. That's just, it's a good thing to find out behind the scenes he had good instincts. I would say this: you're also being very generous. You're saying that Joe Biden didn't say go do these deals.

While I still have some influence, it looks like I'm out of politics now and go get this done.

So, but you're being kind.

Well, look, remember, this all starts when he is the sitting vice president. I know. I mean, you know, it just is remarkable. Remember, Bobolinski says they met and said, take care of my family. You know, so I'm just saying, you're being very kind.

A lot of people have different conclusions. Like you said, you're looking for direct evidence. You haven't seen direct evidence, I guess, yet. Joe Walsh, a big critic of the president, congressman, Republican, when he heard He said this on MSMEC Cut 11.

So the next time any of us complain about anything Trump does, this pardon is just deflating. Nobody's above the law, we've been screaming.

Well, Joe Biden just made clear his son Hunter is above the law. Donald Trump lies every time he opens his mouth, we've been screaming. Joe Biden repeatedly lied about this. The the politicization of the justice system. Donald Trump and his people have been screaming.

That's exactly what Biden said here. Jared Polis came out and blasted Biden's pardon of his son, the Democratic governor of Colorado. This is a bad president that could be abused by later presidents and will sadly tarnish his reputation. He goes on. Congressman from Arizona, I respect Biden, but I think he got this way wrong.

It's a politically motivated prosecution. It was not a politically motivated prosecution. Hunter committed felonies and was convicted of a jury of his peers.

So I just thought, you know, you don't get involved in hyperbole, and that's Joe Biden's favorite words. But this really helps Donald Trump. As Katie Irban just said to you, when Trump goes to pardon the J-Sixers, he's going to have a lot less pushback.

Well, I would have a different view. I think this is a cautionary this is a cautionary note that ought to be taken into account. This is going to color the reputation of Joe Biden and to the ages. It is going to people are going to think less of Biden as a result of this. And he's at a point where he probably doesn't care about his approval ratings, but the new President should.

The president who was and will be again president ought to be concerned about doing things that would cause the American people to lessen their approval of him because he's going to be the president for the next four years. If he walks in and takes a bunch of people who beat up cops on January 6th and pardons them, we're going to be subjected as a country, we're going to be subjected as a country to the endless footage of those people. And committing their heinous acts. I think that's a good point. I just want to see the people that are overcharged, that just walk through and are sitting in prison now.

Th those are the people. If you hit a cop, you should stay in jail. Yeah, well let's let's hope let's hope that that is the sentiment in Mar-a-Lago. Because otherwise, this will just as this is going to damage the reputation of Joe Biden. Says a similar act to, you know, pardon everybody connected with January 6th, you know, pardon people who committed violence, people who, you know, pardon people who have now admitted in a court of law that they engaged in illegal activity, you know, putting their feet up, you know, breaking into Nancy Pelosi's office, slapping their feet up on her desk, you know, taking off the infrastructure, walking out of the Capitol with the rostrums and flags and material from offices.

It will similarly damage the new president, the president again. Just make sure people aren't overcharged. And, you know, you do something, you assault a cop, whether it's in New York City or whether it's at the Capitol building. You know, obviously it should not fly, but I don't think you should spend 25 years in prison as opposed to anything being overcharged. I think you're right.

And you know, anybody who supports Donald Trump. And doesn't support police. I have not met him. That's what's so strange about that day. Same thing.

There's one thing about it. All right, so, real quick. Um And maybe it's not fair, but Syria right now is about to take down Assad, it looks like.

Now, Russians got to reconfigure their forces to try to suppress these rebels who are extremists and might be Salafist Sunnis who are like Al-Qaeda.

So I want them both to lose, but I'd love to see the Russians denied of that port in Syria where they're ferrying all the weapons to the regions. Carl, your thought about what's developing in the Middle East. Yeah, well, it's coming apart. Syria is coming apart. Turkey wisely understood that.

The Israeli takedown of Hezbollah weakened the Assad regime. Think about this. Talking about three-dimensional chess. Israel takes out Hezbollah. Hezbollah is a vital component of the Lebanese government, but also plays a significant role in keeping Assad in power because, like Hezbollah, Assad is an Iranian proxy.

So the Iranians, the Russians, and Assad are now weakened by the weakening of Hezbollah and Turkey. which is worried about a flow of Turkey of Syrian refugees into its country and is backing an offshoot of Al Qaeda, which still this group is on our terrorist list. They claim that they're no longer connected with al-Qaeda, but they're still on that list because they are bad actors. They now have a real chance to grab control of this government. And I mean, talk about a mess.

But the chickens are coming home to roost for Putin for getting involved in the Middle East. Absolutely. Carl Rove, thanks so much. Appreciate it. It's a huge day.

Back in a moment. Both sides, all opinions. It's Brian Kill Me. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy, host of the Trey Goutde Podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side.

Listen and follow now at FoxnewsPodcast.com. A radio show like no other. It's Brian Killmead. Hey, welcome back, everybody. I went a little along with Carl, but man, just to give you a taste of what's happening in the Middle East, do you understand what's happening in Syria?

Don't get overwhelmed by it. Just know this: I think fundamentally it's gonna benefit Israel. Hezbollah has taken down a notch. Hamas is on a respirator. We've got to get aid to those people in Gaza, no doubt about it.

But I would also look at Syria and Assad. Being an issue when he is strong, that means Iran has influence. That means Russia has influence. If you can kick Russia out of Syria and put that warm water port in jeopardy, that's where the weapons are flowing to Hezbollah, Iran, and the Houthi rebels to cause havoc in the Red Sea and stop all this traffic. And that's what happens if you're Russia.

You know why? Because Russia got strung out in Ukraine. It was supposed to be a quick in and out within four weeks. And now it's been three years. And as bad as it's been for Ukraine, at one point, I think four days ago, they lost 2,000 soldiers in one day.

And they're getting the dregs of the earth to fight because they're running out of people. And because you needed weaponry and people in Ukraine, you left your flank open in Syria. And that's what's happening. The terrorists are getting your equipment. The more you listen, the more you'll know.

It's Brian Kilmeade. I worked elbow to elbow with Cash Patel for two years. You would not know the foundation or the funding of the steel.ca. You would not know about FISA abuse. You would not know about Fusion GPS had it not been for the hard work of a guy named Cash Patel.

He is, quite candidly, the most unfairly maligned person that I worked with the entire eight years I was in Washington.

So I know the left's setting their hair on fire. It's because of what he found, not because of who he is, because of what he found. You would not know about the FISA abuse if it were not for Cash Patel.

Now, keep in mind, when I put on Trey Gowdy, Uh people that just don't dive into it as much as we live it every day might be thinking, Hey, Brian, what's the big deal? It's a Republican defending a Republican. It's not. Number one, I don't know if Cash Patel is a Republican because he was hired by Obama as a prosecutor. Number two, I think he isn't clearly now.

But Trey Gowdy's oftentimes he'll be a critic of Donald Trump. And he was a critic of Matt Gates. He won no part of Gates' AG.

So that's what was so surprising to hear him come out and say, listen, I know the guy.

So there's going to be critics out there, but don't say he's unqualified, can't do the job, and hasn't done a lot. Ben Dominich, Fox News contributor, editor-at-large of the Spectator World, host of the Ben Dominich podcast, joins us now. Hey, Ben, do you agree with Trey or are you on the fence? What do you know about Cash Patel? And the fact is, there's somebody in that job right now.

His name is Christopher Wray, who Donald Trump put there.

Well, first off, I just want to say I think you frame this correctly, which is that. Trey is someone who's been a critic of an honest critic of a lot of the decisions that Donald Trump's made over the course of the past couple of years. But I don't think that this is one that deserves to be criticized. And in fact, I think that when it comes to naming Cash Ratel, this is about sending a message to the FBI that he means business. look, the the truth is that whatever you think of Matt Gaetz, you know my opinion of Matt Gaetz, which is shared by Trey, which is very low.

I think that one of the critical things to be said about him was that there were also questions about his competency to do that job. I don't have those questions about cash. I mean, I think that you can raise issues with cash just saying, oh, he's someone who maybe is too extreme for the job or something like that. I mean, I'm sure that that's going to be something like that that we hear from Senate Republicans and the like. But the truth is that I think he's someone who's actually very competent, who's very capable, and as Trey pointed out, Is someone who, without whom, we would not have known about so many of these different abuses that the FBI and the DOJ were engaged in in a result that politicized everything about that agency to the point that Americans completely lost trust in it.

And that's something that I think has to be restored. And what's going to, look, there's a point. Where you have to acknowledge that the illness has run so hard that you have to do hardcore chemotherapy in order to deal with it. And if that's what Cash Patel brings to the FBI, then he will have done his job right. And I think that that's something that he definitely has the potential to do.

And you know, look, you're not gonna get the kind of changes that you need holistically if you name someone who isn't already a critic. Of the admin that they're taking over, wherever that is within the government. And I think that's something that Patel obviously is. There are going to be people on air saying, hair on fire saying on other networks saying that he's not qualified or something like that. That's not true.

And I think that instead, what he's going to bring, if it works out, is the kind of chemotherapy that is needed within these agencies. Look, I've said this to you before, Brian. We need these agencies to work. The idea that we're going to burn them to the ground, eliminate them, that kind of thing, no, we actually need them to work. Because the FBI should work for the American people.

The Department of Homeland Security should work for the American people. The Department of Defense should work for the American people. And as long as we're going to have these entities exist, They're going to have to need reform from time to time. And I think that the message that the American people have sent, sent in November to a huge degree, was that they are ready for that kind of holistic reform from the top down. And what that's going to come with is the animosity of the bureaucrats, the administrators, and those who are currently in charge, who've been in charge for the last couple of decades, who would like to protect their turf, defend their territory, and don't want to have any kind of reform happen because they know it will potentially result in them losing power or being eliminated.

And that's the kind of thing that I think is something that has to happen from time to time in American government, and it needs to happen now. Yeah, I mean, we're going to see because he's going to be able to, what I like about the next step. Isn't, well, I want every Republican to vote and I want every Democrat to vote against. We're going to see them. We're going to see if Cash Patel can defend what he's going to do, some of the statements on podcasts.

And I'm going to see RFK and I'm going to see Tulsi Gabbard. And they're going to ask precise questions, not personality questions, precise questions about the departments they're going to lead. I completely agree with you, Brian. And that's the thing that I think is so important about this. President Trump has a mandate.

He's making decisions based on that mandate. Those decisions have to work. In the first administration, he made a lot of early decisions that actually, on paper, seemed to be pretty good. From the outside, there were people praising the naming of someone like Rex Tillerson. You know, oh, this is someone who's accomplished so much.

He turned out to be terrible as Secretary of State. You know, and someone who couldn't really manage the department, couldn't get a handle on anything. He was lazy and couldn't staff. You know, I mean, I mean, Look, when people start complaining about things and they talk about the need for people to be on the ball with this stuff and have records, look at Lloyd Austin. I mean, he was basically at an AWOL in terms of his own health and everything like that, without people even knowing where he was, you know, during critical decisions that were being named by this current administration.

That's unacceptable. We can't have that kind of leadership.

So there are tons of people who look good on paper and then are bad when they get in the job. And what's happening right now is that Trump is naming a lot of people who have flaws in their resume potentially from the perspective of Washington, maybe not from the perspective of real people. And yet, when they actually have gone out there, they're very good at communicating. They're very good at making their case. I think that he's naming these critical communicators to all these different roles.

And what's really important, and I'll cite out an old boss of mine, Jim O'Neill. Was named as the deputy secretary in terms of at HHS.

Okay, he was named as the second in command basically over there. Jim O'Neill was my first boss in the Bush administration when I was working at HHS under Bobby Jindal and under Tommy Thompson. And Jim is one of the smartest people that I know. He is someone who is, you know, knows the way that the agency works, knows what needs to be fixed. And so you pair someone like RFK with someone like Jim, and you basically say, I'm going to have a guy who's from outside, who's a good communicator and who's known by people, and then have a guy who knows the inside, knows where the bodies are buried to go in there and say, we've got to fix things and I know how to fix them.

And those pairings, I think that's a really good approach. It's like having a strong head coach, motivator, and a good offensive, defensive coordinator underneath them. And that's what I think is critical about all of these agencies. If you get those good people underneath these folks, I think that they can really have a real opportunity for change and an opportunity to communicate what that change is to the American people.

So, Ben, some of the people that are upset. Are the ones that got away with it against Donald Trump? Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok, Lisa Page. Andrew McCabe landed on his feet. He got his pension back and he got a contract with CNN.

So he was asked about this. Listen to this. And by the way, why are we still talking about this guy today? I just can't stand the fact. He's never going to go away.

Oh, I know. But listen to this. Cut 12. It's a terrible development for the men and women of the FBI and also for the nation that depends on a highly functioning, professional, independent Federal Bureau of Investigation. The fact that Cash Patel is profoundly unqualified for this job is not even like a matter for debate.

So I think what we should really be thinking about right now is what does this signal in terms of Donald Trump's intent for the FBI? The installation or the nomination, I guess we should say at this point, of Cash Patel's FBI director can only possibly be a plan to disrupt, to dismantle, to distract the FBI. Really? So that's his pro. He wants to distract the FBI?

I don't know. You know what helps distract and dismantle the FBI? Everything that Andrew McCabe did when he was. I mean, this is the whole reason we have this problem. This is an arsonist criticizing the fire department.

It's not a situation that I think in any way should be considered at all justified at all in an approach that is responsible and in keeping with the kind of expectations that we should have from public servants in America. Andrew McCabe shouldn't have a pension and he shouldn't be on network without them having that on the Chiron underneath. In terms of his past, it's absolutely horrible. And the reason that we have someone like Cash Patel being able to be named at this point is because Americans have no trust for these institutions. And as long as you have Creatures like Peter Strzok and Andrew McCabe, Lisa Page, and the like running around and saying that they are the ones who get to decide who's qualified and who's not.

You're going to have results like this.

So, look, I find it completely ridiculous.

Well, a couple of those things happened.

So, I thought I had the lead with the show was going to be Cash Patel. But the real lead, and I just talked to Carl Rover about it, I would have led with you with it, is about Joe Biden's decision to pardon Hunter Biden. But remember what he said over and over again: cut one. I'm extremely proud of my son, Hunter. He has overcome an addiction.

He's one of the brightest, most decent men I know. And I am satisfied that I'm not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision. I will do that, and I will not pardon him. And he said over and over again, he will not, but we all knew he was going to, and he does it and exonerates him for the last 10 years of anything else that comes up.

He said he decided over the weekend. Again, your thoughts.

So I have a piece this morning as a spectator people can check it out on this. And I'm completely disgusted, but it's also something that I thoroughly expected because it's an indictment Of Joe Biden's weakness and his mental frailty and everything else when it comes to his approach in this last year. I'm not sure if you asked Joe Biden a question at a rope line today that he would know that he pardoned his son. It doesn't actually seem to me like this is something where there was any coherent explanation offered to the American people. But we are still running.

Until the end of January.

So, God forbid something happens till then. But the thing that I think is really. really disgusting about this is You could have taken the gun crime. And said This is this is a narrow pardon.

Okay, it's a pardon for a crime that is rarely prosecuted. I feel like my son is being prosecuted for this only because he is my son. In the same way that, you know, hypothetically, you could have, you know, one of Donald Trump's sons, you know, prosecuted to the nth degree for some kind of middling, you know, form issue or something like that, you know, by one of these rabid prosecutors in New York or along the lines of what we've seen in the past couple of years. You could see something narrow like that, but he didn't do that. He gave him a blanket pardon for a decade of activity, which includes all manner of other crimes that we're all familiar with from his laptop and from all the different information that we've gathered, including crimes that go against the interests of the American people, not just something about lying on a form to get a gun, which is normally, of course, as you know, only included in like larger prosecutions over drugs and things like that.

That narrow pardon would have been something that I think would be defensible. I would disagree with it still because I think law and order matters, especially when it comes to the first family, but I think that it's still something that is defensible. This is indefensible. It's unacceptable, and it's clearly designed to prevent the kind of further inquiry into Hunters' activity that is totally in the interest of the American people. Because it goes to all of these different potential things that we know a good deal about, but we need to know more about in terms of what he was trading in terms of favors, political favors to other nations that might not be in the American interest, you know, in trading on his family name and his connection with his father in order to potentially make policy changes and the like that we do deserve to know about.

And that's the kind of thing that I think Joe Biden was trying to, or whoever actually drafted this pardon, was trying to come up with in terms of preventing further investigation. That's something that's so inappropriate. It's so out of board. And look, even Joe Biden's supporters this morning. And we'll see how long this lasts.

It probably has a half-life, about six hours or so. They're all mad about this. They're mostly mad because they looked embarrassed about the fact that Jen Saki did a whole half hour about how him not pardoning Hunter was an indication of how noble he was.

So this is the kind of thing that they feel ashamed about and they should feel ashamed about. And frankly, it's going to undermine every argument that Democrats have about being a party that cares about law and order, being a party that cares about normalcy and the like. And it's going to eliminate, I think, their ability to criticize a ton of things, not just about Donald Trump and everything related to their lawfare attacks on him, but about some of these cabinet nominees too, in terms of what they're willing to look away from when it comes to Hunter Biden.

So, real quick on the president-elect in the United States, already had Trudeau there over the weekend talking about the border. He's going to be bulking it up. The border minister has already admitted to it. The Mexican president has broken up two caravans, and they have different accounts of where their conversation went, but both say it went well. Just have different conclusions over what they're going to do from here.

Remember, he's not president yet. And then, even Admiral James Stavidas, we love him on the show, the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO at one point, said that some of the changes we're seeing in the ceasefire that's taken place in the Middle East is because Donald Trump won the election. Have you ever seen a president-elect with more impact? Certainly not in my lifetime. I mean, granted, I was born in nineteen eighty two, so I think the this is comparable to the Carter to Reagan shift that you saw.

But I think one thing that we should keep in mind is that in both our relationships with Canada and Mexico, Justin Trudeau is about to get his butt kicked by the conservatives in Canada to an incredible degree. It's going to turn his party into a minority party for God knows how long. And in Mexico, the shift from Anlo to Scheinbaum, the current president, is a very significant one. Believe it or not, people forget this, but Donald Trump actually had a pretty good relationship with the president of Mexico back in the day during the Remain in Mexico policy and everything like that. They got along in a way that helped with that relationship.

I don't think he's going to get along with Scheinbaum. I think they're going to come to a head pretty early on within the administration. We'll see what Mike Walsh's opinion about that is because I think he's going to take command in terms of their approach to the southern border. But it's one of these things where I think the ripple effect of Trump's win, the mandate that he has, is already being felt and felt in beneficial ways. And I'll tell you one more thing, Brian.

I think this is having a ripple effect in Hollywood, too. In culture in America, I think that people are pulling back from investing in these left-of-center things, this woke ideology, so many other things. You know, I mean, gosh, does Nike regret giving all that money to Colin Kaepernick? You know, now you've got ESPN putting Jason Kelsey out there at a nightmare show. You know, it's a complete shift, and I think we're only beginning to see what it's going to have in terms of an effect on our culture, our government, and our money.

And pick up his editorial in the spectator world. Ben Dominic, have a great week. It's going to be a great sprint to Christmas. Thanks so much. Great to be with you, Brian.

All right, we got some calls on the other end. You listen to the Brian Killmead Show, an explosive Monday. It's Brian Killmead. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead.

Yeah, you know, the other thing is it's just amazing what's going on in Mar-a-Lago. I mean, everyone's going there, and they just keep doing these specials, even on other networks, of all the jets, private jets flying in. Everyone's trying to buy a house. And I was struck that Mark Zuckerberg showed up. We actually had that news on Laura Ingram's show.

I hosted it on Wednesday, and they said, Brian Zuckerberg's been spotted at Mar-a-Lago. And we went with it and made news that night. But I thought about it. I'm like, I have no problem if you were a political enemy of his, like Jeff Bezos, and Jeff Bezos said, don't endorse any candidate, Washington Post. And they went crazy, and people quit and whatever.

Guy's taking a $70 million hit a year to keep that paper afloat, and people are quitting.

So Jeff Bezos said, you know. That's fine. I don't know anything that the Amazon did to President Trump. I don't. Maybe you can correct me on that.

But the Washington Post has been against him, but they were always against him before he bought it. But for Mark Zuckerberg, come down. But you have to come clean. You have to provide Matt Taibbi. Barry Weiss.

Michael Schellenberg with the same access. that uh to your files Than Elon Musk did. And then I want you to show everybody what you guys were up to, whether you knew it or not. During the pandemic and during the 2020 election, then I'll know that you're into truly reforming and you were led down the wrong path and you really feel terrible about it. But you want to expose Facebook.

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

So glad you're here. Back from Thanksgiving. I appreciate you being here. We're at 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world. This hour, going to be joined by Mike Goodwin, New York Post, bottom-of-the-hour general Jack Keene, retired four-star general, about all the things unfolding in the Middle East, Ukraine, and elsewhere.

And also some of these nominees, what it looks like for defense, and how he feels about Eli Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy coming out and saying, fight out, I'm going for the Pentagon budget. They failed seven audits. And we have to get to the bottom of what they're spending it on.

Well, at the same time, we are really insufficient in a lot of areas, especially ships, speed on jets and maybe technology and redundancy of of job descriptions.

So let's get to the big three.

Now with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. Keep in mind that for many years, the Syrian government has been engaged in this civil war backed by three main players Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. All three of those players have been distracted and weakened. By conflicts elsewhere.

Thank you, Jake Sullivan, for the lesson, and thanks for showing all that emotion on Meet the Press and every Sunday show. Middle East mayhem, as we now add Syria to the massive unrest, how it's all linked to Russia and the effect Trump is already having. Number two. I worked elbow to elbow with Cash Patel for two years. You would not know the foundation or the funding of the Steel dossier.

You would not know about FISA abuse if it were not for Cache Patel. That is stunning. Trey Gattie knows how Cash Patel, as well as anyone when he was on the oversight committee, transitioned. Blockbusters continue for Trump as the base camp in Mar-a-Lago. The biggest mind-blower, Cash Patel for FBI director.

Mind-blowing means for Democrats predominantly. We hear from all sides and look at the chances that he gets through and how other Trump nominees are progressing. Also, the progress Trump is making as president-elect already. Number one. I'm extremely proud of my son, Hunter.

I'm not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision, and I will do that, and I will not pardon him. That is what he said, not what he did. Joe lies again. From I will not pardon my son Hunter from any criminal charges and convictions to a full pardon of all criminal charges, a sweeping pardon that goes back 10 years.

Well, I think it's a perfect summation of Biden's four years in office, his career, and what it means for his party he leaves behind. I am so tired of hearing he's such a nice guy. He's so honest. I always going to be honest with the American people. You're not honest with the American people.

You repeatedly lied. You even rely on things like Ukraine. All the weapon systems you're not going to give him. You end up giving him.

So you lie about stuff that we knew you were going to pardon them. Why did you repeatedly say you wouldn't? Michael Goodwin, New York Post columnist, but he's not a psychiatrist. Michael, I don't get it. I mean, he knows he was going to do this.

He's not going to leave his son in prison and then go off to Delaware to hang out with his private with secret documents and his Corvette in his garage.

So why did he lie? Yeah, good morning, Brian. There was no need to lie. I mean, everyone knew he was going to do this. The lie continues.

But I think the way he did it and what he said actually exacerbates everything about it. If he had just done it, and people would have understood. But to do it and to claim that his son was singled out because of his name. is preposterous. And the 10 year to go back to 2014.

That is highly suspicious. As a number of people have pointed out, That's about the time Hunter gets appointed to Burisma. Joe Biden is vice president. That's when the big money starts to roll in. I'd like to hear what Barack Obama thinks about this.

Because if Joe Biden feels a need to pardon Hunter all the way back to 2014 for crimes that we have never been charged, for things he may or may not have done. I mean, that's extraordinary. There's a lot we clearly don't know. About the Biden crime family. And Joe Biden, I think, opened the door yesterday to Donald Trump.

Pardoning everybody he wants to pardon now, including everybody or nearly everybody from the January 6th riot at the Capitol. Uh I think Joe Biden has once again disappointed Democrats And confirm to many other Americans about the nature of Washington, the corrupt nature of the insiders, and the fact that the whole thing has to go. A total house cleaning is necessary. It's just so it's almost humorous to me. I'm watching all these defenders of Joe Biden and the ones who are offended by the presence of Donald Trump just aghast at this, as if they're surprised.

I'm like, are you kidding me? Have you been watching him? I mean, let's just go through Ukraine. Ukraine, they said the Russians aren't going to invade. All right, bad intelligence.

He offers a guy a ride out. When he says, I don't want a ride, I want a gun. Then he gives him weapons, but he doesn't give them what they need. Not giving you missile defense, I'll give you missile defense. Not giving you high Mars, I'll give you high Mars.

Not giving you F-16s, I'll give you F-16s. Not giving you ATACMs, restrict the ATAC'ems, get the ATACM restrictions lifted. Every single time.

So you can change your mind, but you can't be dishonest with the whole thing, especially his support for Israel.

Now we find out he was holding back serious weapon systems and attack helicopters, and now Netanyahu is free to say it. Listen to a guy that loved to defend Biden and attack Trump, Joe Walsh, reformer Republican congressman cut 11.

So the next time any of us complain about anything Trump does, this pardon is just deflating. Nobody's above the law, we've been screaming.

Well, Joe Biden just made clear his son Hunter is above the law. Donald Trump lies every time he opens his mouth, we've been screaming. Joe Biden repeatedly lied about this. The politicization of the justice system. Donald Trump and his people have been screaming.

That's exactly what Biden said here. So, I mean, this is, and he's just being honest. I hate Trump, but he's just as bad, is what he's saying. And if that works.

Well, that's the point I was making about the Justice Department. That when Joe Biden says he was singled out, he means he was singled out by his own Justice Department, by Merrick Garland.

Now, a lot of people forget, Brian, that Joe Biden made it very clear that he was upset that Merrick Garland had not prosecuted Donald Trump.

So you put these two things together now and you say, wow, Joe Biden's really corrupt, isn't he? Merrick Garland is really corrupt, isn't he? I mean, this is now out in the open and Joe Walsh, whom I used to know and when I thought he was sane, has now returned to that Joe Walsh where he has an even-handed approach to these issues. And I think a lot of Democrats are going to say Boy, I didn't realize how bad it was. I mean, but of course, these are the same people who told us Kamala Harris was full of joy and the vibe was great and she would be a great president.

So it's all come tumbling down in the last, what, month or so since the election? It's been a remarkable, enlightening period in terms of the true nature of the Democratic Party and its leadership.

So just so you know, James Colmer is going to be on tomorrow. He's leading this investigation. He said this. The charges Hunter face was just the tip of the iceberg in the blatant corruption that President Biden and the Briden family have lied about to the American people. It's unfortunate that rather than come clean about their decades of wrongdoing, Biden and his family continue to do everything they can to avoid accountability while condemning Trump.

So that's just it. It's not about doing crack and hookers. You go handle that on your own. It's about doing multi-million dollar deals in China. Romania in the Moscow mayor.

and Ukraine. And Mexico with Carlos Slim.

So these are all deals being done. And don't tell me that Biden doesn't know about it because he's using his name and he parachuted into meetings through speakerphone and through physical location. Governor Jared Polis. Democrat, Colorado.

Well, as a father, I understand Biden doing this, natural desire to help. I'm disappointed that he put his family ahead of the country. Bad president could be abused by later presidents. When you become president, your role is. Uh is uh Pater familia of the nation.

Hunter brought the legal trouble he faced on himself, and one can sympathize with his struggles, also acknowledging that no one is above the law, not a president, not a parent, president, son. There's other people weighing in too. The guy who defends it, Eric Holder, sees no problem with it. Look, Brian, I think the the key here is that it goes back to when Joe started was still Vice President under Barack Obama. Why did he feel the need to go that far back?

That, I think, is a key to something. And of course, we shouldn't forget who the big guy is.

So that we now know, we have known since 2020 that Joe Biden was involved in this.

So when he pardons Hunter, then he effectively pardons himself. Because nobody, Hunter knew all the family secrets. What about the other people involved in all this? And then you look at Trump. Who is he going to pardon now?

Steve Bannon, Peter Navarro? Absolutely. All kinds of other people who were prosecuted by Merrick Garland on specious grounds are now going to be pardoned as well. And so this is now a new doorway that the Democrats have smashed through and created this sense of lawlessness. And they have confirmed By this pardon, that the Justice Department under Joe Biden was corrupt.

It is quite a breathtaking moment.

So I want to go to your column about Richie Torres. He's the Democrat making a lot of noise in his blatant support for Israel. Richie Torres is a guy making a lot of noise by saying that crime and immigration is out of control and that Governor Hoko should go the way of Joe Biden and just bow out. That she's totally ineffective, I'm paraphrasing. And she says, he says, I got to make a decision.

Either I run for mayor or run for governor. Are you impressed with what he brings to the table so far? Absolutely. What's amazing, Brian, is how young he is. He's 36.

I mean, you and I can look back and remember 36. At least I can. I don't know about you. But he's such a young man and yet so smart in so many ways. Never finished college.

Maybe that's the key. But his moral clarity on Israel, on crime, it stands out because He is a progressive Democrat in many ways. He has never he voted for virtually everything Joe Biden presented to Congress. He yet he refused to join the squad. He was invited and he said no.

So here you have a progressive Afro Latino gay Democrat. Fighting against the Democratic machine, fighting against their terrible policies. I mean, he makes a lot of sense, maybe too much sense for this Democratic Party. I think he will run for either mayor or governor. The mayor's race is up next year in 25.

The governor, Hoko, is not up until 26. I think Richie Torres is going to be a candidate in one of those races. Yeah, I think one or the other, I just would love to see more moderate people run. I see what Fetterman said over the weekend, wrote a column in the New York Times. He said, talked about it in 2016.

He said he noted that Trump's, he noted Trump's rise in his residence with male voters and he deemed his party response to Trump's popularity was disappointing. He says, I was doing an event with steel workers across the street where I live, and I was noticing a different kind of energy with Trump. It was clear this time that the people were voting for Trump. And the Democrats' response were, Aren't they smart enough to realize they're voting against their own interest? And that's insulting.

And that I mean, and that's just not helpful. It's condescending. And if anything, it reinforces that kind of stereotype.

So he is pointing out, Richie Torres is pointing out things that will help the country, probably hurt Republicans. But if they run as a sensible center-left candidate, it would diffuse so much tension of this country. But you know who they're leaning towards? towards the hill says AOC is the one they're looking to. Yeah, yeah, this is like having more of the poison that's killing you, right?

The Democrats have gone so far left, and that's why I wrote about Richie Torres. Here in deep blue, New York, you have a common sense Democrat who fits all of the categories that would mark him as a far leftist and all of that, but instead, what he says and what he thinks. Are entirely in line with the old moderate Democratic Party. It's really quite something, and that's why I wrote about him. I think he deserves.

be heard because the things he's saying are not just right in the sense that they are mainstream, but I think the more Democrats who hear them, the more they will respond to them. Because this new Group of the progressive, I think it's really something of a patina. I think it's just a fig leaf covering the Democratic Party. It's managed to control it because people like Chuck Schumer are afraid of it. Joe Biden was too out of it to understand what was going on, perhaps, if not afraid.

But I think that the real old Moderate center left, as you say, Democratic Party. There are a lot of people wanting to hear this message from the likes of Richie Torres and Fetterman. I hope those voices grow louder. I hope the mainstream media begins to take them seriously and give them the same time it gives Bernie Sanders and AOC and all of the crazies on the left, because this country has gone too far. And the divisions in this country are not because Republicans went right.

It's because Democrats went so far left. I hear you. I can't argue with that. I just love the University of Michigan now is going to take apart that DEI program, the biggest of all the college systems, been an outright disaster, divided the campus, dispirited the campus. $250 million later since 2016.

That's another good sign that people are sobering up, that we're not a bad country that needed massive instruction in internal reform. Michael Goodwin, thanks so much. Always a pleasure, Brian. Thank you. You got it.

Hey, listen, we'll be back in a moment. Bottom of the arrow, General Jack Keene will also notice that Danny Penny is being tried today. Closing arguments begin. He's the Marine hero, in my view, that stopped a would-be, I think, killer on a subway, but now has had to fight for his freedom. 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.

Hey, welcome back, everybody. Just a quick note: I'm going to go on stage February 15th with History, Liberty, and Laughs. I want to see everyone out there in Jacksonville, home of the Jaguars, who are having a terrible season. They just lost their quarterback, at least for another game. Vicious hit on Trevor Lawrence as he tried to slide, and some lunatic linebacker from Houston took him out.

I'll be there in Unrelated February 15th, go to BrianKillmee.com. If you just like, love the country, the history, inspirational, motivational, great time. Coming up next is General Jack Keene. I don't know if you saw the series of events. You might be thinking, who cares?

It's all related. And you see what's happening in Ukraine? You see what's happening in the Middle East. Guess who's behind a lot of it? Russia.

Guess who's arming Hezbollah? Russia. Guess who's arming the Houthi rebels? Russia. Guess who's sustaining Assad in Syria?

Russia. Guess who's now got a deal for drones in Ukraine to fight in Ukraine? Russia and Iran. And guess what's happening? Russia is strung out.

Iran is flat on its back. And now, rebels, who will seem to be extremists from the al-Qaeda brand, Safist Sunnis, are about to take over the country.

So, Russia is scrambling for what it all means and why it matters. General Jack Keene will make sense of it also. How does he feel about Elon Musk zeroing in on the Pentagon budget? You'd be surprised by his reaction because I think I know he's going to welcome it to a degree. Brian Kilmicho.

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show. I think what President Trump is going to push for is an end to the war now. He's going to tell President Putin, you just stop. Ukraine is already ready to stop.

They didn't start this war. They don't seek this war.

So I think you can end it. The question then for President Trump and his team is: how do you turn that into a permanent peace so that Putin doesn't just strike again? And that is where NATO membership comes in. It can deter Putin from launching further attacks. That is Kurt Volcker, ambassador to NATO, and he's had various other positions.

And now it's going to be up to General Kellogg, Lieutenant General Kellogg. He has been designated as president-elect. Donald Trump's negotiator between Ukraine and Russia. The goal is to put an end to the fighting. What indeed is possible, knowing the Putin that we all know got to know over the last thirty years?

General Jack Keene joined us now, retired four-star general, chairman of the Institute of Study of War and Fox News' senior strategic analyst. General, you heard you know the President's goal, and you know what Volko was saying. Do you think the President is right to try to begin peace talks the minute he takes office?

Well, I I Would uh I would not begin them immediately. I would let Kellogg put his team together and also. let some things play out. I think what we really have to recognize is that for the for the three years of this war, And the Biden administration, and I had some exposure to this over the last three years. Uh The Biden administration's objective from the start was always to force Ukraine into a negotiated settlement, even dur even during the first year after they had some success against the Russians.

That has always been it position. It's one of the reasons, not the only reason, That's only fear of escalation was another reason why they held back arms, why they restricted the use of those weapons, why they tried to micromanage them in terms of how they were conducting the counteroffensive. Same thing they did to Israel. They held Israel back. Why?

Because Biden always wanted a ceasefire. He wanted the war to end, even if the war did not end on the most favorable terms to Israel. That has been their position uh with uh Ukraine all along.

So, I would like to see the Trump administration come in and recognize that. And it's not about cutting Ukraine loose. It's not about forcing Ukraine into a bad deal. Look, Ukraine wants the war to end. They didn't want the war in 2014.

They didn't certainly didn't want it in 22. And they would like it to end now. I mean, the suffering is significant in what has taken place. But they wanted to end on terms. that are favorable to them.

And they want some recognition that what is really happening here. The only guy that doesn't want the war to end Bryant is Putin. Trump wants it to end. Zelensky wants to end. The people in Ukraine want it to end.

Putin doesn't want it to end. Why? Because he wants to topple the regime. and put a stooge in and have him run the country and absorb the Ukrainian military in uh as as part. of Russia in terms of a force that they can use.

That's where he is. And he would look at any ceasefire and peace agreement, just as he looked at the Minx agreement, just as he looked at multiple ceasefires in Syria. He would see that as a temporary impasse And he would reposition forces. During that agreement, violate the agreement. He's always violated all the others.

The evidence is clear. Reposition forces take advantage in Syria. No air attacks supposed to take place. was constantly doing air attacks during ceasefire. And he would never ever give up on his goals.

So, the Trump team's got to understand where Putin is really coming from. He's a war-fighting commander, he's very different from Putin four years ago when President Trump was talking to him, obviously, the same person. but his responsibilities are different. And he's got uh oh he's gone to a wharf. more footing economy, but he's struggling significantly And we have advantages there in dealing with them.

30,000 casualties a month in the last eight months. trying to take one small city, Provost. He hasn't taken the city. since twenty two. Fifty seven thousand casualties last month.

in the same attempt, 100 to 150 tanks. Month he's losing. He can only replace 25 to 35 out of his defense industrial base without going to. The T-64s, which are the Soviet Union's tanks in their boneyards. And next year, they won't even be available.

And his economy over time, even though the Biden administration and the Europeans have given him a pass. on oil and gas not being properly sanctioned, the central banks not being properly sanctioned, they could have brought him to his knees. The economy is still is worsening under the weight of the war.

So what I see is we should go in there With our wind at our back, trying to favor Ukraine in these negotiations, get the best deal for them, but let some of the facts roll out. and not rush rush into this thing and make certain That we can put additional pressure on Putin to give Ukraine some leverage. What am I talking about? Let Ukraine continue to go in, remove the restrictions on the weapons completely, and let Ukraine use the U.S. weapons.

and the British cruise missiles and the French cruise missiles. It's against against the Russian forces. Give Ukraine additional leverage as opposed to rushing right into negotiations. Yeah, a couple of things that stood out to me. Number one, do you think in a million years that Vladimir Putin thought he'd be fighting a three-year war where he's losing up to 2,000 people a day?

And has to call call on North Korean troops and North Korea armaments, Yemeni fighters now, and has to work out a deal with Iranian drones. Do you think that three years ago, if he could look in a looking glass and say, this is going to be what you need, he would think he would still do it? Absolutely not. He made a terrible strategic decision Overestimated his own capabilities because every time he goes and looks at his military, it was always some scripted live-fire event where people rehearsed it for weeks. And then he comes out and sees these.

Airplanes bombing targets and artillery firing and troops on the ground, all scripted, completely rehearsed. Not recognizing that his leaders aren't properly trained, nor is his troops properly trained, and they could not even synchronize the most basic. Offensive operations, what any one of our company commanders would be able to do in the United States Army, United States Marine Corps. He had no idea how bad his forces are and their inability to actually put together an effective campaign plan by his general officers, something that we train leaders in the Army to do. Quite effectively, and it's no wonder they're able to put together effective campaigns going forward.

Yeah, he's got huge problems that he didn't think he was gonna have. But he he also Does not want to give up on his aspirational goals because that's success in front of his population. He doesn't want to fail. He feels if he fails, it weakens him significantly. When Yanukovych got run out by the Ukrainian people in twenty fourteen, after Putin told him to clear the streets, Don't make the mistake that Mubarak made, who didn't clear the streets.

Do what the Chinese did and do what the Iranians did: clear the streets. And they tried to clear the streets with Russian Spetsnet snipers. And they killed over a hundred people. The next 48 hours later, The crowds were bigger than ever, and they began to quadruple each day. Four days after those crowds gathered, Yanukovych fled the country.

Humiliating defeat for Putin. That is why he went into Crimea. That is why he went into Ukraine. His his domestic audience view of him is uppermost in his mind. And he's more concerned about that than he is about the United States.

Just as President Xi is more concerned about his population than he is about the United States. Not that the United States isn't a big problem, we are. But they know the threat to their regime soci Survival, even though there are authoritarian regimes, still depends on the willing cooperation and submission. Of their populations to their repression. And that is what's driving Putin forward.

Yanukovych was the handpicked person that the Russians wanted running Ukraine. Ukraine voted him out. They decided to tell him to stay, and Yanukovych just realized, I got to get out of here. He left. And that was considered a victory for democracy.

And the Russians blamed us. They said we caused that. We supported that. John McCain was on the ground then. Do you want to tell everybody who you think our role was?

Yeah, I mean uh We did support the Ukrainians morally, not as strong as Reagan supported the Poles when they were doing what had to be done there. But I I was in that square. With my wife a couple of years later, after that. And it was absolutely staggering to take the briefing on how they responded to the. Snipers that Russia gave them, and they came back full arms.

They are really tough and hardy people. You can see it. Three years of war, I mean, they're still fighting fiercely. They do have problems with morale in the forces. The new guys aren't as well trained as the other guys that started the war because they had more time to train them.

The population certainly is being worn down by three years of war as you would expect it. And uh certainly y uh Zelensky would wants to end this, but he doesn't want a lousy deal. Maybe he should try to lower the draft uh the draft age to eighteen like we do. I think they should have done that a long time ago. They have real political issues in terms of their culture.

Their culture has always been mid twenties, where ours has been teenagers, late teens. And to make that change has been very hard for them, but I think they're at the point where I don't believe they have much choice.

So here's what I want to get to, and we only have three minutes, but I want you to hear what Zielinski said over the weekend of Sky News: Cut 38. If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should take under NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. That's what we need to do fast. And then Ukraine can get back the other part of its territory diplomatically.

So he says, listen, you put me into NATO. We'll stop the war where it is. Just recognize the whole country, even the part that Russia occupies, and we'll stop the fighting. What about that deal? Yeah, I mean What Zelensky needs is some kind of future security guarantee.

He knows. Russia's going to break the deal. He knows they're going to reposition and take advantage of him. He knows they're never going to give up. on at at taking all of Ukraine.

So what he wants is a formal invitation, which he's never received, to join Ukraine. He would love to have a time line associated with it. To get those thirty two countries to agree to a formal invitation, a time lane may be a challenge. He doesn't have to get a timeline in my mind. You could leave it open indefinitely.

That would likely help him in dealing with the Russians and also in terms of the United States and Europeans' continued support for him. And what he really is looking at also, he wants the international sovereignty territory, the boundaries of Ukraine to remain in place, much as After World War II, when the Russians were able to occupy East Germany and the United States Britain and France occupied the Western peace. The territorial borders of Germany never changed, knowing full well that at some point in history. that country would be able to regain its sovereignty. That's the model That Zelensky wants to keep my international borders there, even though I have Russians on the territory.

And I think that's a smart move on his part. And give him some future security guarantees to keep the Russians off of his back. And that's what he needs going forward if we're going to make a deal. I'm just so impressed with him. General, for some reason, people like to say negative things about him through war.

I wish I could be half the leader he has been and who got to spend most of his time in theater prior to this. Lastly, I just want to talk about the Pentagon. Pete Hegseth heading up to Capitol Hill. He's going to meet. We just got word.

He's going to meet with Senator Tommy Tuberville. I know you don't do the political thing, but you did have a chance to communicate with him. Do you get the sense that he's the person to reform the Pentagon? Because he certainly has the vision. He's got the battlefield experience.

He's got a sense of what he feels was wrong with the culture.

Well, what's listen, there's nothing wrong with the warfighting capabilities of Pentagon. I don't have the problems that he has with the general officers. I've been around a number of them.

Some of them certainly aren't Aren't what they should be and they should go. I mean, I had I would have done something like that if I was the Secretary of Defense. But listen, the problem with the Pentagon is its business practices. We we've had multiple secretaries try to reform it. We can't wait.

It's urgent. We we have the enemy at the gate. With Russia too. Trainer. Yeah.

And if we get in a war with China today, we'd today. we would be challenged to win that war, and we could indeed lose. They outnumber us in every item except submarines. And to rely on our defense industrial base Yeah. Munitions that we need in that world, we start running out of vital, critical items.

like missiles. In the first week. Within a few weeks, We're out of a number of items that we need. To be able to win the war. This is serious.

And the American people are not informed about this. Biden has kept it under the rug. We gotta expose it. That was the Congressional Commission. And to get there, we got to fix the business practices, we got to fix our industrial base.

What Hag says will need around him is very experienced people in terms of how does the Pentagon work, their change agents. They got the spine to go after it, and we need the Cooperation of Congress. Congress cannot continue doing these continuing resolutions which financially handcraft the Pentagon. They got to stop. When the Pentagon comes forward and said we want to get rid of this system, we need need X to replace it because that's the future, and Congressmen will not let that go with senators because it's in their district in that state.

We can't afford that nonsense anymore. The enemy is at the gate. And we've got to make these urgent and necessary moves, and we need change agents Uh to help pegs uh Do what he needs to do. He doesn't have that experience to do this. The Pentagon is the largest military bureaucracy in the world.

It is behemoth to be able to do that. And as I said before, experienced secretaries have failed at trying to reform it. We need the best people. Oh. with Pete Hakeseth to make those kind of substantive changes.

General, it's always an education to talk to you. Thanks so much for staying up with it. Pick up the Institute for Study of War if you want to stay up with it too and find out all this great intelligence on the hotspots on the planet. General, thanks so much. Yeah, take care, Brian.

Always good talking to you and your audience. Yeah, thank you. Back in a moment. You're with Brian Kilmead. The fastest three hours in radio.

You're with Brian Kilmead. You have over 300,000 children that are missing right now that the government can't even account for. I mean, what does that really tell you? The fact is that they're not responsible. They're not prioritizing the safety and security of these children, but it's law enforcement every single day on those front lines coming across these children, hearing these devastating, tragic stories from these children.

And it needs to be ext you know, we it's unacceptable. We need to do something about it now. And that is Lieutenant Christopher Alvarez, and he is the Texas Department of Public Safety. And because of the Texas Uh The Department of Safety was getting to see some of these kids. We blur out their faces, but hear their stories through translation.

We're dropped over. They don't have their parents. The people with them are not their parents. They only have a letter. They have this is what they deal with.

But we finally got a shot at it. Instead of saying, We're missing kids, okay, who are they? What we're hearing from them now. And the Border Patrol, I guess, not allowed to tell that story. You gotta worry about privacy, I understand that.

But this is the problem. And this is what you need to see. Tom Holman's gotta show this side. Also, I think it's important to bring out what we didn't really talk much about the pardon this hour, but Mark Penn wrote this great thing on Twitter: said, not only when Mark Penn, when Joe Biden pardoned his son, he said, this is not a pardon of just Hunter, it's of Joe Biden himself and his son and Joe's brother that shook down adversaries of over $20 million and didn't even pay taxes on it, and the loot was distributed even to their grandchildren. That is a democratic strategist, Mark Penn.

From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead. Thanks so much for being here, everybody. It's the Brian Kill Meet Show. A lot going on on a Monday.

My goodness. Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving. We're back in action now, right in Manhattan. Where, by the way, the Thanksgiving Day parade had record attendance, not all-time record, but considering the rain, but all-time viewership. That's pretty cool.

I like that. I like the people still returning into traditions. And it seemed to be a lot of fun, even in the pouring rain. Bottom of the hour, Matthew Continenti will be with us, Director of Domestic Policy Studies at the AEI and a columnist and founding editor of the Washington Free Beacon. Imagine you see him on the channel all the time, putting in perspective the president's nominees and how the progress he's already made, even though he's a president-elect.

And also, Chris Swecker standing by, former FBI Assistant Director, and talking about replacing. Christopher Ray, let's get to the big three.

Now with the stories you need to know. It's Brian's big three. Number three. Keep in mind that for many years, the Syrian government has been engaged in this civil war backed by three main players Iran, Russia, and Hezbollah. All three of those players have been distracted and weakened.

By conflicts elsewhere. Jake Sov and Middle East Mayhem, factor in Syria falling apart now. This is a case where we want both sides to lose. Assad and the terrorists trying to take over that country. But the impact Trump's election is already having.

We'll discuss it. Number two. I worked elbow to elbow with Cache Patel for two years. You would not know the foundation or the funding of the Steele.ca. You would not know about FISA abuse if it were not for Cash Patel.

That is Trey Gowdy. Often a skeptic of some things that Donald Trump does, but not this time. Transition blockbusters continue for Trump at Basecamp Mar-a-Lago, the biggest mind-blower of Blade Cash Patel for FBI director. When I say mind-blower, that's for Democrats. We'll discuss it.

Number one. I'm extremely proud of my son, Hunter. I'm not going to do anything. I said I abide by the jury decision, and I will do that, and I will not pardon him. That's what he says, but that's not what he does.

Joe lies again. From I will not pardon my son Hunter from any criminal charges and convictions to a full and sweeping pardon that dates back 10 years. Why I don't think it's a perfect summation of Biden, why I do think it's a perfect summation of Biden's four years in office. And the pardon, not unexpected. The thing that was shocking, he's held to, I'm not going to pardon Hunter.

He's done nothing wrong. Even after his conviction, I trust in the justice and our justice system. But when it comes out, he doesn't like it. He says it's all politics and you're exonerated. Chris Wecker, former FBI Assistant Director, joins us now.

Chris, first off, just as a law and order person, your thoughts about the pardon? Yeah, I I mean I Look, Joe Biden has never had a core value in his life. He's always gone back on things that he said. He cheated his way through. undergraduate school and law school by plagiarizing.

But it's not surprising but it does nothing for the rule of law. We know that Hunter Biden from the very beginning was above the law. We knew that the FBI took a dive on that case. They didn't investigate it. even though they went after Trump with a vengeance.

So this is not shocking.

So let's talk about the FBI real quick on that case. One thing is beyond reproach. They got the laptop. It was Trump Hunter's antics, hookers, bad business deals, drugs, all pictured and written about, including linking to his dad. And the FBI gets it, holds it, briefs social media companies that something could be coming forward.

When it does come forward, they say, I told you so. They let it out. They hold it back until after the election. I mean, and that is with. That's with the president of the United States being Donald Trump.

The FBI felt as though their top brass should do this. You were on you were part of that. Why would they do that? Like, what is it? Why do they care about politics?

Yes. I mean, I think Chris I mean, this all started in twenty sixteen with Jim Comey, who will his whole team will go down in infamy. They're the ones that started the FBI, put them in the political arena with a softball investigation on Hillary Clinton and then that disastrous press conference and exonerating her when he had no authority to do so.

So I'm afraid that Chris Ray, his administration, Pretty much continued on, sort of. Bowing to the administration, if you will, this is something that my colleagues, and I have a huge network of former FBI, some current FBI. This is something we really hold up. as egregious, and that is not not investigating fully investigating the Hunter Biden situation. They just took a dive altogether.

It doesn't take a great investigator, it doesn't take a mensa to figure out that they just didn't investigate. And that's and we know why. He was the president's son. I mean, that was a huge, one of the largest money laundering operations I've ever seen. But can I just correct you?

He wasn't the president yet. He was the vice president. They thought his career was over. And yet they felt more loyalty to a guy that hadn't never had the job but tried for it for 50 years than to the one who actually had the office. Where does that come from?

Yeah, I don't, you know, this is what's perplexing to those of us that served under what I thought was an apolitical FBI, is why they would bend to the administration. And it kind of part of it comes from the Justice Department. You know, the stand down order came from the U.S. Attorney and Justice, Maine Justice. And, you know, there's a lot of nuances around it, but it was clear: stand down.

We're not going to prosecute this case. Don't interview Hunter Biden. They forbade the FBI from interviewing Hunter Biden. And what Chris Ray did wrong, what the FBI did wrong, was to bend to that. and not stand up and for integrity of the of the organization and the country and say, no, we're not going to take those orders.

Those are unethical, illegal orders. With Chris Swacker, former FBI Assistant Director.

So, Chris, it looks like Christopher Ray is they're gonna they're gonna say either resign or we're gonna fire you prior to your ten year term being up. What do you think should happen?

Well what I think should happen is I think Chris And I think will happen. I think Chris will re will resign. Um you know, President uh Trump cannot fire him until he is sworn in and and and takes office.

So that'll be sometime in January.

So I think Chris will resign sometime before that. They'll have an acting for a short period of time, and then Cash Patel will come in. And start to make dramatic and sweeping changes. You think he should be the person? Would you support him?

You know. My preference would have been someone with FBI experience. And who could look at it with a clear eye? And you know, someone a generation before this. for the Comey time frame.

But you know, it should be no surprise that this is the person that's going in because of the excesses of the FBI, they pretty much brought this on. I mean, I love the organization, served in it for twenty four years. You know, I I I want it to be successful. We need them. And this is what happens when you get political and you get partisan.

Andy McCabe, who was part of that hit on Trump, he was part of that nexus. He was part of that people leaking to the press. He disgraced, but he landed up with a network job. Here's what he said when the name Cash Patel came out: cut thirteen. This country has been there before, right?

The pre-Watergate FBI, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI, struck fear in the hearts of Americans across the spectrum, of politicians, people in entertainment, people in the civil rights community, because the director operated at the direction of presidents to collect political intelligence and to utilize the legal authorities, the investigative authorities of the FBI to terrorize and intimidate Americans.

So the question is: is that where we're going back to with this nomination? I would argue that Cash Patel would be the perfect person for Donald Trump to nominate if that's in fact his intent for the FBI. Your thoughts about his thoughts. He says also it is a terrible development that is for the men and the women of the FBI and also for the nation that depends highly on a functioning professional independent FBI. Your thoughts?

Well, it's pretty rich coming from Andy McCabe, who, as I said, will go down in infamy with the Comey team, having been partisan, having conducted a softball investigation on Hillary Clinton, having spied on a presidential campaign, abusing FISA, using a dossier that was opposition research, bought and paid for it, unverified.

So he's right about one thing. We need a very capable FBI. We can't break it. We've got to fix it. And whoever goes in there will have to do just that.

We've got thirty thousand Chinese Running around the country that are possibly intelligence agents. We've got terror cells. that have come across our open borders. And we we have Latin American or South American gangs that are terrorizing neighborhoods. We need an FBI that's up to the task.

And so you can't break the organization, you have to fix it.

So with Christopher Wray, I mean, this is the the problem they have with him. Uh is the Number one, the latest one was saying Donald Trump got hit by shrapnel. He didn't really get hit.

So that was a shot to say, okay, I'm just going to admit to you, I'm biased, even though he put me in that spot. Remember, he never really looked at the Hunter Biden laptop. Remember, Robert Malley, who is a guy who basically seemed accused of being essentially a double agent for Iran, got a background check passed. He diminished the shooting of Trump, the raid on Mar-a-Lago. He signed off on that, even though people were already having questions about the FBI.

He didn't admit Biden was failing mentally. He straddled the line when it comes to the border danger and the targeting of Christians happened under him. I mean, that to me isn't great leadership, even if it isn't your direct command. Yes, and they've never heard of left wing domestic terrorism. It's all right wing.

We're sending SWAT teams out to pro-life people at their houses. One young wife had a miscarriage after the SWAT team went into her house to raid their house on a january sixth trespass charge.

So you know, the Mar a Lago raid I mean the list is is long.

So again, nobody should be surprised that with this mandate, the incoming president is going to make sweeping changes and he's going to put a change agent in that position.

Now he wants someone who will go in there and make those significant changes. I just hope that he doesn't break the organization because we need them desperately. Yeah, the whole thing is it's easy to break, but how do you fix, right? Correct. Anyone could break it, and you're right.

And he says he will. And maybe it's understood, and that's where he'd be hired. Chuck Grassley came out and he said, Christopher Ray has failed at fundamental duties of the FBI director. He showed disdain for Congress oversight and hasn't lived up to his promises. It's time to chart a new course for transparency and accountability at the FBI.

Cash Patel must prove to Congress he will reform and restore public trust in the FBI. Look, the way I end with this, Chris, you don't do politics. You don't really know what these center is going to do. Republicans can only lose three. But he has to answer the questions.

It's going to be in public view. If he answers the questions and stands up strong and says how he's going to do those things that you question, I think he could earn his way through, don't you? I do. Look, I mean, I served 24 years in this organization. I love it.

They have an important mission in our society, counterintelligence, counterterrorism, criminal organizations, the most sophisticated ones. If he can fix it and not break it, if he can do surgery on the patient without killing the patient, then it's what we need because there's no question. And I'm not alone in this. With my former colleagues and many inside the FBI are looking for significant changes. You know, go out in our community and hear that people respect the FBI again.

And right now, half the country does not respect the FBI. But I know this, and I know he said it publicly or privately. He does President Trump does not put down the FBI. He puts down Washington, I guess it's the seventh floor or the fifth floor. That's his problem.

But he knows so many FBI agents that go to him personally and say, that's not me.

So he always disseminates it too because he really feels that way. That's right. Chris, thanks so much. Appreciate your work. You bet.

Take care. Keep up the good fight here. Absolutely, Chris. Thank you. Chris Wecker.

He knows the operations of the FBI for 24 years.

So when we come back, your calls for the first time. I know I've teased you before, but next time it will be. 1866. 408. 7669.

Dumb off. Giving you everything you need to know. You're with Brian Kilmead. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead.

You have said repeatedly yourself since the election the president has said for months no pardon was coming. I just wanted to ask you: could those statements now be seen as lies from the American people? Is there really a credibility issue here given now this announcement? First of all, one of the things that the president always believes is to be truthful to the American people. That is something that he always truly believes.

And if you see the end of his, I assume that you've read. His statement, and you look at the end of that statement, and he actually says that in the first line, in the last paragraph. And respects the thinking and how the American people will actually see this in his decision making. And I would encourage everyone to read in full the president's statement. I think he lays out his thought process.

He lays out how he came to this decision. He came to this decision this weekend.

So let's be very clear about that. He says it himself. It's in his voice. He said he came to this decision this weekend. And he said he wrestled with this.

And because he believes in the justice system, but he also believes that the war politics infected the process and led to a miscarriage of justice.

Okay, that was very good to hear. KJP en route to Angola. She talked to the press. I read the letter, and I'll read some of it, but it's very important for people to understand. The last statement is the latest dishonest statement that they made.

There is no way Joe Biden decided this weekend to pardon. Hunter Biden, he did it the day he was indicted. You know it. And NBC reports he decided in June. You think he was you know the more I think about it, he is my only son And sadly, Bo passed away.

And I would miss him if he was in jail. And it's pretty much my fault because I sent him out or fully supported all his international business deals while on crack and addicted to hookers. Maybe I should pardon him. And maybe it could implicate me if I sit at the sidelines. There's no way he decided this weekend.

And you know that too. Nat in Broward County, Florida. Nat. Yeah, you know, Biden he kind of went away from tradition because usually in Thanksgiving the President pardons one turkey and Biden pardoned two. Himself too.

Obviously, absolutely. Couple of things. He was coddled through this entire process. Remember, the FBI, we just went over it, was blocking for him with his laptop that would have revealed all of these things. And then he writes a book.

And in the book, this idiot does not even pre-think that he's going to be asked about the laptop and if it's real. It was an in-your-face to the press, you can't touch me, my dad's president. And when he had no answer, even ABC couldn't get around it, said, I don't know if that's my laptop. Why do I keep bringing up the laptop? Because all this information that led to this indictment can be found in the communication there as he leaves his wife for his brother's wife, and then he gets still on drugs, gets hurt on drugs, throws a gun into a dumpster, picked up the next day, lies to get the gun apparent because he's addicted to drugs at the time.

Then he doesn't pay taxes on millions of dollars worth of earned income. The money's handed out to his family, his grandkids, and never pays taxes on it because it's not in Joe's account. It doesn't implicate him. We're not dumb. Adam and Daytona Beach, Adam.

Sir, I was just curious, man. I was kind of disturbed a little bit when you had the previous guy on. I forgot if it was the general or not, but he mentioned how our weaponry is only we're vulnerable.

So if China was to get in with Russia and say we only have one week's worth of supply, why is he putting that on the air? Why is he making us look like a you know a bit you know well it's just so obvious Adam it's out there but it's out there and I asked him to his credit I he said what is the next president Defense Secretary is going to be. He's like, I wouldn't worry about the generals. I'd worry about our military base because it's too small and consolidated. They did it in the 90s.

They thought it would be better to stop these companies from bidding against each other. They thought it would be better if they had less companies bidding against each other. And now they got just a few, and they're not able to keep up with the orders, with the technology. They have to adjust.

So I know what you say: you don't want to give our enemies. Or our game or our playbook. I get it. But this is not new. We're replacing the stuff we're giving to Ukraine with the money we're giving to Ukraine.

So we're basically paying ourselves to modernize our ammunition. or or um or arsenal. in every way, but it's too slow. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Kilmead.

Christopher Ray, of course, is a Republican, appointed by a Republican, as he has said. Um but apparently his demonstrated too much the independence and objectivity in the job. Donald Trump, who wants much more of a personal loyalist. uh in the position and that's why he's gone to Cash Patel. Jamie Raskin, well, pretty mellow yesterday.

Music screaming about something, ranting. I think their new strategy is we're going to pick our spots with Trump. We're not going to make sure every and possibly you lost. Your goal was to make him unelectable, unacceptable and show that he was Um illegitimate, all those things lost. Jamie Raskin.

Matthew Continenti joins us now, Director of Domestic Policy at AEI and columnist for commentary and founding editor of the Washington Beacon. You see him on the channel too, Matthew Continenti. Welcome back, Matt. Thanks for having me, Brian. Uh first off, uh a lot of people on the left are are apoplectic.

Over the naming of Cash Patel. What about you?

Well I I can't say I'm very surprised. I think Cash Patel has demonstrated that he is America first warrior. He's part of the Trump movement. It's somebody who had extensive experience throughout the Trump administration. And I think he's Trump's guy in order to go into the FDI and change the culture of the institution.

There are really two types of Trump appointees so far. people who are Being put in charge of agencies that basically Trump worked well with during his first term. And they're there to continue kind of the Trump agenda. And then there's a second group of people who are basically charged with reforming or disrupting the institutions that Trump had difficulty with during his first term. I think Patel falls into that second category and He's there to basically um make sure that the FBI doesn't engage in the shenanigans that it was up to.

during Russia gate, during the fifty one intelligence officers and all throughout the Biden Hunter, Biden, Fiasco. Here's what Senator Chris Murphy said: cut sixteen.

So I will vote no, and I will organize not just my colleagues but the American public to understand what's happening here. Donald Trump told the American public during the campaign that he was going to turn the Department of Justice into a political operation, an arm of the White House, to destroy his political opponents. He said that the greatest threat to America is the enemy within. And who he said was the enemy within was us, journalists, his political opponents. Caspertell's only qualification is because he agrees with Donald Trump that the Department of Justice should serve to punish.

Lock up. and intimidate Donald Trump's political opponents.

So Your thoughts about Senator Chris Murphy mischaracterizing exactly what Donald Trump said he'll run on, but that's what he's going to do. You know, he's going to find microphones every day. Oh, absolutely. I mean, the Democrats will do what they can to disrupt this nomination. But as you said, At the top, Brian, they really have no power.

They lost the trifecta. The Republicans will be in control of the Senate. And so now it's up to the Republican senators to determine whether. they think Patel has the qualifications and the temperament necessary for the job. I think he's qualified for the job.

The question is, will he be able to convince the senators that he has his temperament will be the right fit for the institution at this time? And I think that we'll see that in a hearing, whether he can do that. You know, the thing is, you know, the President is right. There was an enemy within. He watched it happen.

Andy McCabe and company were out there trumpeting up Hillary Clinton's dossier and their belief that or their belief or their storyline that Russia Gave him the election.

So, for two and a half years, he had to fend off that investigation. Where do you think that enemy came? It became clear that it wasn't Russia. It was coming from within. Right.

And of course, the enemy would then continue to dog Trump when he wasn't president with the lawfare that's been thrown at Trump over the years in which now that Trump has won, Jack Smith is closing up his investigations and is going to resign from the DOJ before Trump takes office.

So it is kind of rich to hear senators like Chris Murphy say these things, especially in light of the Hunter Biden. Right. So, do you think so? Cash Patel, he does, he's been a prosecutor, he's been a defender, he's worked at the Pentagon, he's worked for Devin Nunes, chief of staff. And I was just taken aback.

I did not know this, but when you came to Trey Gowdy, when he was doing his oversight investigation, when he was chairman of that committee, he was asked about Cash Patel, and this is what he said. Uh this is what he said about Cash Patel and what he was responsible for, Cut 26. I worked elbow to elbow with Cash Patel for two years. You would not know the foundation or the funding of the Steele.ca. You would not know about FISA abuse.

You would not know about Fusion GPS had it not been for the hard work of a guy named Cash Patel. He is, quite candidly, the most unfairly maligned person that I worked with the entire eight years I was in Washington.

So I know the left's setting their hair on fire. It's because of what he found, not because of who he is, because of what he found. You would not know about the FISA abuse if it were not for Cash Patel.

So that's maybe what the FBI is worried about. And, you know, the thing that you hear from Chris Wecker, who worked in the FBI, he just said, look, I have nothing against him going there, but I just don't want him to tear things down without building it up. They can't be a day pause. There are so many threats. You can't tear it down and start interviewing people.

Yeah, I mean, the key there is those important counterterrorism investigations against the deadly Islamist threats to the United States. We need to make sure that those are. Continued. But I'm struck, Brian, just by listening to Trey Gowdy. Recall Trey's response to the Matt Gates nomination as Attorney General.

Trey was a critic of Matt Gates.

Now Gates has withdrawn from that nomination. We have Pam Bondi meeting with the senators today to BAG. But with Cache Patel, Trey Gowdy is very supportive. I think that's very telling. And knowing what I know about what happened during that House intelligence investigation at the time, I agree.

I think Cash Patel's work there was highly regarded by everyone, and he was serious.

So I don't think it's right to dismiss his appointment out of hand. For the longest time, Joe Biden said this about the chance of pardoning his son Hunter, cut to. As we sit here in Normandy, your son Hunter is on trial, and I know that you cannot speak about an ongoing federal prosecution. But let me ask you: will you accept the jury's outcome, their verdict, no matter what it is? Yes.

And have you ruled out a pardon for your son? Yes. Until yesterday, when it became a yes, I will pardon my son for 10 years, everything he did since 2014. Your thoughts about the whiplash here, that not in a million years would I have said yes. I'd say, I don't know, I got to see this case.

But everybody knows he's going to pardon his son. What 82-year-old is going to leave his son to rot in prison for 20 years?

So he was going to do it. But I think it's to the think bigger question is to cover what? His crack use, his abuse of hookers, ignoring his loved child, for for what? The gun charge, for not paying taxes, or how much of this is for his brother? and himself.

Well, I think that's the real question, Brian. And look, I mean, we can not be surprised that this happened, but we can still be shocked. I had always thought when Biden was giving those denials that he would pardon Hunter, that he would end up commuting his sentence as he left the office. And so Hunter wouldn't have to go to jail. This part, though, is not only a betrayal.

Of what Biden has been saying and what his administration has been saying, it is, as you point out. Remarkably broad, perhaps the broadest pardon that's ever been issued, and it only raises questions. about what the Biden Family is trying to cover up. And so, to me, now the next question is: does Biden go a step further on his way out? Of the White House next month and issue a pardon for his brother as well.

If that happens, then it's clearly the case that the Biden administration is trying to prevent any investigations, any criminal investigations in the coming years into the Biden family's influence peddling.

So I'd have to tell you: the governor of Colorado is against this. The congressman from Arizona came out against this. Mark Penn, longtime Democratic strategist, said this was not a pardon for just Hunter, but for Joe Biden himself, and whose son ran a scheme with Joe Biden's brother to shake down adversaries of over $20 million that didn't even pay taxes on it. And the loot was distributed even to his grandchildren. And this is yet another of the many issues the American public was shamefully gaslighted over.

Biden, of course, falsely claimed he would not pardon his son.

So what else was Biden falsely saying before the election that he would have done had he been elected? We would never know, but we sure can guess.

So that's a Democrat. If Ted Cruz said that, I'd say he's right, but I'm sure people on the left aren't going to listen. They might listen to Mark Penn. They better. Mark Penn's been speaking a lot of truths lately, but let's just look at Biden himself.

If not for that debate in June, Biden would have stayed on the ballot. He would have lied to the United States continually to say that he was fit for another four years in office. The whole world saw in the debate in June that that was not the case. That was a lie. Remember that inflation would be temporary, or that the migrants coming over the southern border, that was a seasonal migration.

Or inflation is solved. We've heard that one before. The gaslighting, the attempt to kind of Change the truth or convince us that what we're seeing with our own eyes is false from this administration has been incredible. And it continues to this day when, after all these repeated assertions that they win a part in Hodger, not only do they do so, but they do so in this. Almost offensively broad manner.

Matt, you know, when Mike Flynn was in Puerto Rico and took a call from a Russian ambassador or leader, and they said, wow, you were dealing with Russia behind the scenes. You didn't admit to the call, and he ends up losing his job in the beginning of the Russia investigation where you didn't tell Mike Pence. They took the call.

Now we have a situation where we have a president-elect in Mar-a-Lago. He basically seems to be running the country, and no one seems to mind. He's already made a difference. Justin Trudeau comes and visits him after he threatens tariffs because he can't control his border. The Mexican president calls him because he can't threaten his border.

The Argentinian president visits Mar-a-Lago in order to get a heads up on what's happening there. And then to talk about change already, because there's a record number coming from the north. We're focused on the south, but we should look out for the north. Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian public safety minister, said this yesterday when President-elect Trump has been upset about the northern border, Cut 27. We told the Americans, we said publicly, we're going to look to procure, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters.

We're going to redeploy personnel. As much as a reassurance exercise, we believe that the border is secure. We believe that there has been a long history of effective cooperation between Canada and the United States. But he goes on to talk about a gun smuggling operation that's coming through, and he does notice there's terrorists, and we can't understand what the Chinese are up to.

So he's already changing behavior. You know, he is. And, you know, the difference is, Brian, that he won the popular vote this time. No one is questioning the legitimacy of his election. Republicans have the trifecta.

But even more than that, I think that America's attitude toward Trump has changed. You know, eight years ago when he was elected, people didn't know what was going on. He was such a shock to the system. He was so new to politics.

Now we've been living with Donald Trump almost for 10 years. Things like putting on the safety vest, working at the McDonald's.

Now you see these athletes doing the Trump YMCA dance. You see that young people have extremely positive attitudes. He's popular overall, but the young people are really into Trump these days. That gives Trump so much space to enact his agenda. And I think foreign governments are finally waking up to the fact that they cannot simply dismiss him or be adversarial toward him.

So these were encouraging signs. Of course, the real challenges will come when Trump has to deal with China and Russia. Absolutely. It's a good start. They'll get your allies in line too.

And people should just understand the way he works. Don't overreact. He's always negotiating, always trying to find leverage.

So don't overreact, especially because he's not trying to enact an agenda. He's doing an American agenda. When you talk about public safety, when you talk about immigration, I think that this Euro it's really hard to fight against that, even when you're president-elect. Matt, thanks so much. Look forward to your columns as Trump has still got to wait 50 days to take power.

Thank you, Brian. All right, go get him. Listen, we come back. We'll go over some more. We never really talk about the tariffs and what other things the President's been working on, President elect has been working on as the current President goes to Angola.

Because I guess he promised. Back in a moment. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show.

And it's funny, everybody's like it. What if that baby's gonna be funny? It's like, it's gonna be the baby. This Algene pool is just gonna make this funny baby. I know, but it is kind of cool that your son and his daughter would be together.

That's such a cool partnership. And I'm expecting the child, if they ever get married and have a child, I'm expecting the child to be funny. I'm sure the child's got to be funny. You better believe it. I'm talking about Martin Lawrence's daughter, Jasmine, and Eddie Murphy's son, Eric.

They're engaged. They're actually dating for a long time. Eric, 35. She's 28. And by the way, it wasn't their dads who set them up.

They're friends, but maybe thought the thought just never did occur to them. Eddie and Martin have done two movies together. Remember, it was Eddie Murphy. I think he was... Martin Lawrence was like, what, 10 years younger about?

He was funny for a while.

Now he's doing the movies with Will Smith. The bad boy movies. Which always do Will. Yes. Yeah, the bad boy.

So, your thoughts, I know you love it. By the way, this is more to know. We know that, right? We did we said that already? Yeah.

You're going to put music underneath it. I don't feel comfortable, Eric, unless you put music underneath it. You get so uncomfortable. You love a good romance. Is this something you're going to really follow?

I just think it's one of the. I mean, who doesn't want to get invited to this wedding, right? I mean, the speech is. Excuse me, I was talking to Pete. You love a good romance.

Don't interrupt, Allison.

So do you think it'll work, Pete? Based on my expert knowledge, yes, they seem to be destined through whatever their astrological signs are.

Okay, fantastic. Because you used to watch. Uh, used to watch the dating game in the 1970s. Yes, I love those reruns. All right, next, Moana beats Wicked in the massive Thanksgiving weekend box office.

I thought it was a play. Wicked was a play, wasn't it? It was, but now it's now it's your favorite. It's a musical as a movie. Oh, fantastic.

And the big is the big controversy: Should you sing from your seat?

Well, yes, because apparently they're putting out a sing-along version of it in a few months.

So you can sing when that comes out. Eric, would you follow that along the way and let me know how that's developing? Disney's new movie debuted at Whopping 221 million. That'll help. Movie Moana, sequel, has.

See with Moana's sequel is good. It landed $165 million. I'm just having people going back to the theater. A projected total of $386 million for Disney, so that's pretty cool. Moana may have topped Wicked.

The prequel to The Wizard of Oz is still holding its own. Wicked brought in another $175 million domestically, and the film now sits globally at $359 million. And then you factor in the other big movie over the weekend. Gladiator? Yeah, Gladiator 2 from last weekend.

Reason to go back to the movies, maybe? We'll have to see. Here's my question. Do you like the fact that you can pre-pick your seats now or no? No.

I actually don't like it either. You get there, I mean, it's sold out or it's scattered, or you have to make that decision. Only the front row is available. You cut out your whole night. Do you want to sit there looking stare at the screen?

No, and we tried to go to see Moana this weekend, and all the parents plan ahead.

So unless we want to sit in the front row, I'm like, can't we just get to the movies 20 minutes early like a normal person? You don't want to hire ushers to sit there and go, hey, move over. Make room for them. And now they have too much to do. Pulso, The Rock visited troops during Moana's opening weekend.

He went over to Pearl Harbor and visited the troops at Hickam, at the Pearl Harbor Hickam on Oahu on Saturday to connect with the members of the military. Quote Ben was grateful to all our military men and women and their families for their service. Good job. Rock always seems to do the right thing. Bad news: Elton John losing his vision.

He's got an eye infection over this summer. I don't know how that's going to affect him, but it makes you worried. One eye infection or two eye infections, you can only see a little bit. But hopefully, he's memorized everything at this point, right?

Well, that's musically, that's good. That was ridiculous. What? I mean, how do you fight that from Pete? That was like, we're not talking about getting around, it's going to affect his vision.

I mean, Ray Charles was phenomenal. Right, but he was born that way. He had plenty of practice. Maybe we're gonna see like a new side of Elton John now. Possibly, but he won't.

Right, right. Hey, guys, don't forget: go to BrianKinley.com, February 15th. Listen to the all-new Brett Baer podcast, featuring common ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle, along with all your Brett Baer favorites like his all-star panel and much more. Available now at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you get your 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.

Mm-hmm.