Shoot them down: Unidentified drones seen over New Jersey, New York

From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. Welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Kill Meet Show.

So glad you're here. Rich Lowry, Nash Review on Thirty Minutes. Michael Rubin standing by on the Middle East Forum, where he's an analyst and also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Also, teaches classes on terrorism, the FBI. We got to go inside what's happening in Syria, and we'll do that because it's fast-moving, and I know what you're saying.

You're thinking to myself, what? Syria? I don't even know any Syrian. It's a big deal, and I will explain it. And also, there's a lot going on today.

We know Anthony Blinken's going to be on Capitol Hill for the first time explaining what happened with Afghanistan. I don't know if words can do it. We saw what we saw, but let's get his point of view. Hakeem Jeffries is having a press conference today, and of course, he's extremely disappointed he's not speaker. Let's get to the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three, we are 10 years behind in drone technology from where China is, and that's bad. We don't have the proper radar systems. We know this for a fact: there's holes in our radar. We cannot identify drones through our radar easily and quickly as we should.

Yep, we have a wake-up call right now. How about some answers? Drones blanket New Jersey, parts of New York. They're big, they're loud, they're worrisome, and no one has the answers. And what's worse, they have the answer, or what's worse could be they have the answers and refuse to tell us.

Number two. Cost. And Intelligence of the American people can Luigi, yep, goes Fatty. This twisted Ivy Leaguer is in jail, and it's clear he's not adjusting well. His behavior and his rock star status disturbing in certain sectors.

We try and get answers on why he would execute health care titan Brian Thompson. Number one. Would you do it again? Yeah, totally. I would not be able to live with myself.

If I didn't do anything in that situation. And someone got hurt. Yep, Danny Penny speaking out. The subway hero talks about what he's been through over the last two years after being exonerated of all charges for the death of Jordan Ely and reveals he would do it all over again, as you just heard. We'll talk about that.

But overseas in the Middle East, something Titanic happened about 10 days ago. And again, an intelligence failure. Nobody saw this coming. The Russians didn't see it coming, it seems. We didn't see it coming, it seems.

But the problem is the Israelis did, and they are almost solely responsible for the vulnerability of Assad, which has him living in Moscow now, and the Syrians possibly having a, dare I say, a chance at representative government. I'm not sure he'll get there. They'll get there. Michael Rubin, welcome. Hey, thank you, Brian.

I'll tell you what my worry is. What? My worry is. The wistful thinking that so many people have towards the new regime that somehow they're moderated, it actually repeats. almost verbatim what we saw when Ayatollah Khomeini came into Iran or when Rejabtayeb Erdogan came into Turkey.

They told us they whispered sweet nothings into our ear, we believed them, and then they both doubled down on terror. We're doing the same thing right now with the Syrian government.

So, what we know, we know that the only reason that Assad is gone is because the Russians are distracted, Iranians are diminished, Hezbollah is decapitated, and the Israelis are responsible for a lot of that. Don't you agree?

Well Yes. There's always going to be follow-on offense. Yeah. actions. But would it be better to have Hezbollah in place I mean, ultimately, the Assad regime collapsed because it was so corrupt, because they couldn't keep their conscripts, because they couldn't provide a standard of living for their conscripts.

That said, you don't want a vacuum to develop in which the most extreme elements come into play, and unfortunately, What the United States does, look, when you have a hornet's nest, you have two good options. One is you leave it alone, the second is you get rid of it, but the worst possible option is you sit underneath it, lightly tapping it with a stick. And unfortunately, the United States is famous now in the Middle East for only going halfway, and that's what ultimately gets us the worst outcomes.

So, Jelani is the guy in charge. According to Ambassador Jordan, I believe the last ambassador to Syria from the U.S., he said that Jelani is, yeah, he was Al-Qaeda. And then he ends up in a pitch battle against Al-Qaeda, and the same thing with ISIS, a bloody battle. And he comes over and he says, I'm looking for all sex to get along. Here's what he told PBS, I think it's PBS, about his early terror days.

You've gone through quite the transformation. Once An al-Qaeda leader, and now you are projecting this image of a moderate leader in a moderate group. I believe that everyone in life goes through phases and experiences, and these experiences naturally increase a person's awareness. A person in their twenties will have a different personality than someone in their thirties or forties.

So your thoughts about his metamorphosis?

Well, you know, other people went through phases in their life and he put them through that, such as being decapitated. This is what I think is going on, Brian. Go ahead. When you have a Civil War and then you have Reconstruction, The billions of dollars of reconstruction aid get funneled through the government. If he feigns moderation and allows himself to be accepted and recognized by the United States, by the United Kingdom, by Europe and so forth, he stands to gain billions of dollars in reconstruction aid being channeled through his new regime.

So we might be in a situation much like we are now with the Taliban thanks to the Biden administration in which billions of dollars actually get funneled through this terrorist group. That's what I'm most worried about right now. And then, look, he can say one thing to PBS or whatever it is. He can say another thing to his own followers. And what he saw, what we saw when he took Damascus.

He went to the Umayyad mosque. and he declared his government there. It wasn't the presidential palace. It wasn't the the parliament. The Umayyad Mosque was once the seat of the caliphate, and what worries me most most Directly is the fighters he was with said, today it's the Umayyad Mosque.

Tomorrow it's going to be Al-Aqsa, which is Jerusalem.

So I think we're really naive to believe that somehow he's. No longer al-Qaeda. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig, Brian. No, I hear you. But what I love about it is there's an excellent chance the Russians will be kicked out of those military bases.

Do you agree with that? I do agree. And actually what I'm hearing about the naval base, there's two bases. There's an Air Force base in northern Syria, which the Russians built. There is a naval base in Tartus, which is on the Mediterranean coast.

I've heard that a lot of Russians are already leaving, but they're not getting on the charter flights back to Russia. They're going to AWOL, trying to get to Cyprus, trying to get to Lebanon, because the last thing they want to do is end up on the Ukrainian front. That said, if the United States was smart, what I would basically say is, why don't we make a deal where we will provide a safe haven. I mean, sort of like a no-fly zone and an exchange. we will take over that base.

We did it once during the Cold War with Somalia when they flipped sides. Let's do it in Syria. I mean, heck, we don't have to build a new base if it's ready made for us. And if the Russians are um equipment is there and they build it up to spec, All the better.

So I want you to hear what Ambassador I got that wrong, it wasn't Jordan, it was Ford. Ambassador Ford told me yesterday about Jelani. I was in Al Qaeda and with the Islamic State, broke with them, issues a message saying I'm never going to use chemical weapons and I invite the United Nations and the international community to come in immediately and secure these sites. I will work with you. Can you imagine Osama bin Laden saying that?

Never.

So that's why we need to have channels of communication. Maybe it's maybe it's baloney, could be baloney, but I'd sure want to test. I'd want to test.

So, yeah, so I know President Trump says, I'm out. Don't worry about it. That's your fight, not mine. What I love about it is this. And maybe he did have a metamorphosis.

Let's see, like you said. And maybe the country will never be together again. Maybe it's going to break up. Maybe. We'll see.

But what I love about it is, I would love Iran to no longer use it as a land bridge to get their equipment into Ukraine. I would love for the Russians to be out of the region, no longer be able to use that as a port to get the Houthis and the Hezbollah, all the military hardware that they've been delivering.

So that's one thing that would be great. Wouldn't you agree? I would absolutely agree. Look, but this is my problem. The Russians are terrorist.

I'm sorry, the Iranians are terrorists. And there's no doubt that Syria was a a terror sponsor, but there's two flavors of extremism. There's the Iranian-backed extremism, and then there's the Sunni extremism. The United States' interest is countering both extremisms, not simply thinking the enemy of one is my friend. And so, what I worry now, especially if we don't support the Kurds who are blocking that land bridge, is that the Turks who have sponsored the Islamic State, who have sponsored Hamas, could.

could be just as bad.

Okay, yet last night, I guess in 48 hours, the Israelis have had 350 bombing runs looking to neutralize those chemical weapons and wipe out their Air Force.

So they're not even waiting to see what this government looks like. And they've moved up in the Golan Heights and says we're never leaving from there. We have also had some airstrikes, too. We're looking to protect our 900 guys. And also, I understand, Michael Rubin, we're looking to guard certain prisons that are filled with ISIS and Al-Qaeda, right?

That's absolutely correct. The prison you're talking about is called Al Hul. You remember that the Islamic State was made up of lots of Europeans, lots of others who fled, and most European countries didn't want them back, and then it was complicated if they got married, they had kids and so forth.

So you basically have 10,000 Islamic State hardcore guys. hold up in this prison. And it's guarded by the Kurds. The big fear is as the Turks have been bombing the Kurds that these guys could escape. And if they escape, they're not going to just be all over Syria and Turkey and then Europe.

They're going to be coming across our southern border.

So that's where Donald Trump is wrong. We can't simply take a no-interest attitude towards this. We've got to make sure that those Islamic State guys are neutralized. All right.

So we also have a journalist named Tice, Austin Tice, there. We believe he's alive. We have no sign of life.

So have you heard anything, Michael Rubin? I have not.

So we might have some other people held back there, too.

So I understand that we are communicating through the Biden administration is communicating through Turkey. I mean, how they're still in NATO is really befuddling. But your thoughts about how we should be communicating?

Well look, I mean communicating through Turkey is like talking about firefight firefighting with the arsonist. We just need to recognize that. The United States is at its strongest when we calibrate our policy towards reality, not towards wishful thinking. No problem going through Turkey. You just don't want to reward Turkey for that.

That's the mistake we did with Qatar, where We were working through them with regard to the Taliban and Hamas. And when you work through an intermediary that actually wants you to lose, that's a major problem. If the Syrian rebels are truly moderate, if they want to reach out to us, maybe we can find someone that's not cheering them on and funding them to be the intermediary, Brian.

So what would you do now? I mean, this is an historic opportunity filled with peril. I'll, Greg, give you that. In the Middle East. We know, as imperfect as these governments were, the Abraham Accords were real.

They were legitimate. And they were stopped at Saudi Arabia and when the administration flipped. And then with Iran being financed, fully financed by the past administration, sanctions not enforced, they were empowered. But now they know Trump is going to go back to smothering them. He's going to go back to sanctioning third parties that even buy oil, which 91% of it is from China.

And they're going to start stopping to interdict some of the oil sales.

So now what they have, without air defense, with Israel on the march. With Syria no longer an option, Hezbollah decapitated. What does Michael Rubin say should be our next step or Israel's next step?

Okay. Number one, the Kurds are the fail safe. They they're the Plan B. They block the land bridge, so we shouldn't allow Turkey to eliminate them. They're moderate.

They were our allies defeating the Islamic State. We need to protect them. Number two, We need to recognize that within our own intelligence community, we were self-deterring. The fact that Israelis with Operation Grim Beeper, or whatever they're calling it, managed to take out Hezbollah, we've got to stop saying that terrorists are a way of life. We've got to be more creative than them.

And we need to also recognize that Syria is not the only country in hindsight that was hollowed out and on the verge of collapse. Do we want to snatch defeat from the dolls of victory with regard to Iran? After all, the problem with Iran's nuclear program isn't simply the nuclear weapons, it would be the regime that's wielding them. And if that regime is much more um vulnerable. Then we recognize, do we really want to give them billions of dollars like just two days after?

The Byzantine Biden administration did. We've got to return to maximum pressure. We've got to keep our eyes on the prize and recognize that the Islamic Republic of Iran is the enemy and that our interest is in having it end rather than self-deter. That could be Trump's greatest. We can't let the Russians arm up or get missile defense back to the Iranians, and we also can't let them get a nuclear weapon.

And the Israelis know that better than us.

So I sense there's going to be some action maybe before January 20th, but certainly after, because they're never going to let them get a nuclear weapon.

Well, I think you're absolutely right, Brian. Look, the I think the Israelis would have moved before january twentieth if Kamala Harris had won.

Now they believe they have more time. But when people say, Hey, Iran isn't suicidal, they're missing the point. The problem is i if the Islamic Rev uh Revolutionary Guard Corps has nuclear weapons and the state starts collapse There's no way to deter an ideological opponent from launching in the last 24 hours of the Islamic Republic's existence. The problem isn't they're suicidal. The problem is that they are terminally ill.

But we've also stopped. We have to stop. believing that the perfect is the enemy of the good. You have us defining a nuclear weapon as 20 kilograms of 90% enriched uranium. The Iranians are already at 80%, but the bombs we dropped on Hiroshima, the bomb we dropped on Hiroshima was 78%.

So the Iranians already are at the threshold. We need to recognize that. We've got to stop changing. Cheerleading when Israel shoots down 293 out of 300 missiles and drones hitting Israel. Because if those seven missiles that got through had radiological warheads, then it's a game changer.

So we've got to recognize that we're not as secure in the region as some people like to say. Right. We have an opportunity to really change things, but this comes with great peril. And you need deep thinkers. You don't need any emotional actors.

But I do believe that we've learned that lesson the hard way. Michael Rubin, thanks so much. Fascinating time. Thank you, Brian. It was really great to have your perspective.

When we come back, your call is 1866-408-7669. You're going to hear from Danny Penny. We've got some clips. Also, the latest on Luigi, and of course, whatever's on your mind is on our show. Learning something new every day on the Brian Killmead Show.

Fox News Radio on Demand on the Fox News app. Download the app and just click listen. When you swipe left, you can listen to your favorite Fox News talk shows live. Swipe right for the latest Fox News Radio newscasts on demand. Fox News Radio on the Fox News app.

Download it today. The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Killmead. What in you caused you? to want to get involved.

I mean, I'm not a confrontational person. I don't. really extend myself. And like this type of thing is very very uncomfortable. All this l attention and limelight is Very uncomfortable.

And I would prefer without it. I didn't want any type of attention or praise. Or and I still don't. Mm-hmm. The guilt I would have felt.

If someone did get hurt, if If you did. Mm. Yeah. would never be able to live with myself. Danny Penny speaking to Judge Denim and just saying, I have no regrets.

Can you imagine that? A year and a half later, people yelling killer, murderer, as he sits in court and walks to court every single day. Who knows what's happening in his private life? And forced to go to San Diego for a while, I found out. Back to Long Island.

He's a surfer, he's in the symphony and a marine architect, aspiring architect. And he's got to deal with this. You know what he says? I do it again. And he says, one of the reasons why he would do it again, he says, almost everybody on that subway car thanked him and thanked him for being there.

And he says, I couldn't live myself, even if it meant going to jail. You gotta love it. I think we're at a turning point. I don't think this is just a one-off. I think the Alvin Braggs are done.

The woke prosecutors are done. They gotta be primarily by their own side and the other side. You just watch. Mark this day. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it.

You're with Brian Kilmead. I do believe in the sanctity of life, and I think that's why I felt, along with so many other Americans, Joy, unfortunately, you know, because it feels like I mean Joy in the man's execution? Maybe not joy, but certainly not no, certainly not empathy. He's a father and he's been dumbed down in the middle of Manhattan. Why did that make him joyful?

that he murdered.

So are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push a policies of denying care to the most vulnerable people. I am laughing at Tommy's insane mischaracterization of why people are angry. Unbelievable. I'm not sure what she meant by Tommy, but that was Taylor Lorenz Pierre and Taylor Lorenz with Pierce Morgan laughing at the murder of a CEO in cold blood, leaves two kids behind and a wife. But of course, because people are unhappy with their reimbursements, because some twisted guy with a bad back decides he wants to start killing people, that's okay.

I mean, that's why this woman should just be marginalized, not even talked to. But sadly, there are other people that feel the same way. They like this guy. Rich Lowry, have you ever seen anything like it as editor of a National Review? No, it's terribly disturbing because this is creates a permission structure for this kind of Action.

Everyone should condemn it. It doesn't matter what you think of the health insurance industry, and I think Taylor Lorenz knows nothing about it. He's probably wrong about it. I'm not an expert myself. But to say you felt joy or no empathy for a father gunned down in the street in cold blood, it's disgraceful.

It's hard to find words for it.

So this guy's going to spend his life behind bars. Hopefully that'll be a deterrent to others. But he shouldn't be romanticized. The other crazy thing that's going on is people are saying nice things about him because he had good abs. You know, he has good abs.

What's that have to do with anything? You know, you're either an assassin or not. It doesn't matter whether you're physically attractive.

So this has been really, the last week and a half of this has been really disturbing. It's been insane. The other thing would be, I think good news, and I think turning point, Danny Penny and his trial. A year and a half ago, he stood up for the bunch of people he didn't know and neutralized Jordan Neal. He sadly ended up dying.

But this guy's lived a tragic life. Life, and he's been belligerent. And you ask anybody, the NYPD, they say he was one of the most dangerous homeless people in the city. He's been arrested over 70 times. His dad, who didn't even acknowledge him, as far as I know, wants to cash in with a civil trial.

But when Danny Penny was found not guilty after being told the jury was told to go home and try to convict him on a lesser charge or deliberate on a lesser charge, here's what he said about going from hero to villain, cut four. You go from a hero to a villain when they say they're going to indict you. Right. How do you feel about that? You know, obviously it's it's Pretty nerve-wracking.

It's It was, yeah, it was. very anxiety inducing. But throughout this whole Process. I would remind myself of The witnesses coming up to thank me. And really no matter what Outcome the trial had.

I only cared about what the witnesses said about the situation. And I only cared about their opinions. And they came up and said thank you. And most of the m most uh New Yorkers or people who ever took the subway would feel the same way. They wanted Danny Penny to be on their train.

Should uh Jordan Ely character stand up and threaten death?

So do you think it's a turning point? I hope so. It's certainly a great day for the jury system. I mean, this was set up, obviously, as Andy McCarthy would point out. You throw out there the harsher charge, and if they can't convict on that, you got the lesser charge.

Oh, we'll compromise on this. It was an underhanded tactic by Alvin Bragg, unsurprisingly, and the jury saw through it and acquitted. The case never should have been brought. This guy did what very few people in New York are willing to do. And unfortunately, after this ordeal, even fewer might be willing to do.

Stand up for their fellow citizens, their fellow subway riders. When most of us, you know, we look at our shoes when a situation like that happens. We look at our watch, hope, you know, it's only 30 seconds to the next station or whatever it is. Daniel Penny did the right thing, and even though he got acquitted, was dragged through this year and a half ordeal. But good for him, good for New York City.

It was a good day despite Alvin Bragg. But here's the thing, Rich. I mean, I think, you know, Chester Bonin recalled we have Gascon, who gets 30% of the vote. He gets 30%. Unelected.

And now you have Kim Fox is now out. The pressure on Alvin Bragg is tremendous. He waited 10 days to try. Cops who interviewed him didn't want to charge him. He did.

I think the American public has had it, not even Democrats or Republicans.

So, I mean, this guy, I think a great message would be: if Musk really is serious about financing to get rid of the woke DAs, start in New York. Don't you agree?

Yeah, no, absolutely. And the reaction against some of these guys has been heartening. But the thing is, you haven't seen urban America yet get pushed to the point where, like, you know what? It's not just that we don't want these crazy people anymore. We need a Rudy Giuliani, right?

And that's what every city in America needs in terms of law and order. And you haven't seen that yet. And that was Rudy just reestablished order, which is good for everyone. It wasn't good for Jordan Neely to be out of his mind and on the streets every day, right? This is a tragedy for him as well, obviously.

It's not good for Daniel. Penny to be on that train and have to make that choice. It's not a good thing for everyone on the train to wonder when the next homeless guy opens the door and comes in, is he going to threaten us or actually commit an act of violence? It's horrible, it's wrong, it's not civilized, and it should stop. But you haven't seen that reaction in cities yet.

We haven't. We're talking to Rich Lowry. Rich, let's talk about the confirmation process. Tulsi Gabbard and Cash Patel and Capitol Hill. Pete Hagseth's been on.

He's going up there again today. He's impressing everyone. I was texting with this morning. He said even the meeting with Senator Murkowski went well. She hasn't decided who she's going to vote for, but most people thought that she was just going to be a no.

Because he was too much like Donald Trump, and she's one of the few anti-Trump people left there. Mitch McConnell and Susan Collins. And we'll see how the rest go, but what a turnaround for Pete. It's amazing. I thought he was going to go down last week.

I thought he was on his way to going down. He's not totally out of the woods, but he really turned it around. You know, he forcibly defended himself, which fortified Trump, which is extremely important, sort of put off all the speculation about someone else. Because the problem, it wouldn't have been fair to Pete, but this is the way Washington works. You're like, oh, you have Pete, or it could be Ron DeSantis.

Why not DeSantis? But all that talk has ended. And I also think it was very uncomfortable for Joan Ehrens.

So it's one thing for a Matt Gates to go down based on 6 to 8, 10, or whatever senators anonymously saying, we're not going to do it. You better pull this guy. It's another thing to be the person that has a spotlight, the senator has a spotlight on him or her. It's really awkward.

So she changed her tune with a lot of the pressure.

So now you got to say he has a pretty good chance of being confirmed. Your thoughts about Trump on the world stage last week, how he's being talked about and talked to, and how he's holding himself. Yeah, I think it's the smoothest presidential transition we've ever seen, Brian, because Trump is already president, in effect. And he's not going to be inaugurated for a month. Biden has just faded to the background, except for the Hunter Biden.

Pardon, and Trump's just an extremely forceful guy, and he's already been throwing his weight around with threats about tariffs and whatnot. And everyone wants to be on his good side, is a little afraid of him, and that's a good thing. Yes, I think so too. And as he gets his staff together, he has an emissary, Steve Witkoff, over there dealing with Hamas and said to Cutter, get these guys back together. I want these hostages out.

So, and there's no pushback from Blinken because I think they know that they're out of ideas. He's going to be on Capitol Hill today trying to justify his exit from Afghanistan. But your thought about that, because the president is, and I just talked to one of the hostages' dad today, and he loved that Trump put on Truth Social: you better give up the hostages by the time I'm in office or they'll be held to pay. The hostage families loved it.

So, put that in perspective. Yeah, well, that was a fundamental American reaction to American hostages being held in these horrific conditions. We haven't heard it from the current President.

So it's very good to hear it from the incoming President. And who knows? Let's hope these hostages are still alive. Who knows how it plays out? But I think there's a chance this could be a Reagan Carter where these guys are released.

These hostages are released before Trump takes office just because they're so worried about what might happen. And if you're Iran right now, You're totally exposed. Your allies are falling left and right. Your proxy forces are falling left and right. Your air defenses are in a real poor state.

You are held vulnerable to the world, which also may play a role here. Yeah, I'm very curious to see what happens as Trump becomes more and more visible to us. He's only done one interview since winning the election. Last time, he probably had done 25, literally 25 already, while the Russian investigation percolated in the backdrop. But as the Republicans look to mount an effort now to staff up, I looked at Speaker Johnson.

Now, he's happy to be Speaker, and he's going to get elected again, I'm sure. But he's got a two-vote advantage.

So, Trump could be as determined as he wants, as focused as he wants, the American people could be as back to him as he wants, but man. It's going to be hard to get 217 Republicans to vote the same way. all the time on taxes, on this budget, on immigration, on deportation. Your thoughts, because he lost about two dozen votes on tax reform in 2017. Yeah, and it's not going to get easier now because Trump wants some carve-outs.

He has the state and local deduction back in play.

So that one's going to be real tricky. I just think these first two years especially, Trump is at the high ebb of his power and leverage. And unless there's a mass jail where two dozen say they won't vote for it, you get five or six or two or three. It's going to be really uncomfortable for them trying to defy this president. Mm.

I also thought of another tactic. There's so many Democrats who ran as pseudo-Republicans, like Tom Swase on Long Island. Call him out. And you say, listen, or you go behind closed doors and it goes, guys, can I get you on a few of these votes? Your party is in a mess.

Don't tell me you're afraid of Nancy Pelosi or AOC.

Well, why don't we get you on some of these votes? You could solidify yourself in that seat, whatever it needs to be. But you ran on this. You ran on tough on the border. You ran on immigration being an issue.

You ran on being tough on crime. You beat a Republican.

So why don't you vote along with this?

Now, that's what I think could happen. What do you think? Do you think it's possible? I think that's possible, especially on the border, I think, where there's just been such a political show forced by Trump, and you had a lot of Democrats trying to sound tough on the border. You could get some votes for border legislation.

If there's another bill to keep biological males from competing against females in sports, I think now you could get some Democratic votes.

So, yeah, I think that's possible. All right.

And you also say this in your column: when it comes to Trump and lawfare, don't do it. Make success be your revenge. Stay with that line, right, Rich? Yeah, I mean he he has a chance now to do some things that are going to be really popular and cement his political standing. Why go down a blind alley?

Because unless, you know, if someone's taking a bribe, yeah, go after them. But doing a Jack Smith and come up with these novel legal theories to to try to indict people, it's it's not going to work. It's going to be a waste of time and it's going to distract energy from things that are that are more important in terms of getting the agenda down the field. Cash Patel, will will he do his own thing on that if he gets in as FBI director? Do you think that Trump sets the tone there?

I think Trump does set the tone. And, you know, Cash has said some things that sound pretty wild. You know, Steve Bannon, he said a year ago or so, we're going to go after the media. But then he was asked about that by NBC News earlier this year. He's like, no, no, I meant only if they committed crimes.

So that's a key proviso. Yeah, if they've committed legitimate, no-kidding crimes, yeah, of course, everyone should be pursued. But don't just pursue someone on weak key just because they're a political enemy. It's not going to work out. I know the temptation to do it to them because they did it to him and people around them, but I think it'd be a mistake.

Quick question. William F. Buckley, what would he think of Trump, what he's done and what he's capable of doing? He's so different from any conservative that he's dealt with before. I don't know.

I get this question fairly often. And Bill is such an idiosyncratic mind. I have no idea. It could have been George Will, you know, just I'm never, and don't ask me again, I'm never, you know. Or it could be Victor Davis Hansen, you know, a serious intellectual who's quite pro, or somewhere pr more likely somewhere in between.

But I really can't say. All right.

Rich Lowry, always great. Thanks so much. All right.

1-8-6-6-408-7669. I'll squeeze in some calls when we get back. Or if you prefer to write BrianKillmead.com, don't move. 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. You're fighting extradition. You're not actually arguing that the authorities in New York have the wrong guy, are you?

Well, I haven't seen any evidence that they have the right guy. I can tell you that much.

So I don't I don't know anything about that. You know, there's identification issues that are present. And so I don't you know, like I said, this is why I need to look at some things and they need to convince me.

So that's a joke. That's a signed defense attorney who is put to Luigi. Luigi is the guy who seems to know the suspect, who executed Brian Thompson in cold blood four blocks from here, where I am in Midtown Manhattan. And now still is defiant, basically saying they had it coming to him. He also thought about in some of his manifest of blowing up.

Uh a board meeting. But he was afraid too many innocent people would be killed. Isn't that right, Mr. Mangioni? Who's had nothing but privilege?

I hate that word privilege. He's had a lot of wealth and a lot of opportunity his whole life. By all accounts, his family is just awesome. Very successful family. They have country clubs, they have radio stations, they have charitable organizations.

And this guy had an opportunity to go to a private school that costs, I don't know, $35,000 a year to go to a prestigious high school. And not only did he do well, he became valedictorian at a University of Pennsylvania. He accelerated to the point where he got into a unique scholar society. I guess you would call it to a degree, a fraternity. He's had all these things.

Then he got a master's degree in computer engineering and computer science. And the guy was brilliant in high school, probably brilliant in college. And at 26 years old, he became a cold-blooded killer and a defiant one at that. Keep in mind, he shows an x-ray that shows steel plates in his lower back, and he says he's in constant pain. My hope is he remains in constant pain because he's now in prison.

My sense is they don't have any my pillows there and they don't have any posturopedic mattresses. But Joseph Kenney is confirmed. The manifesto mentioned, he's the chief of detectives, the United Healthcare CEO by name. And reveals And revealed that that was indeed his goal to shoot him. And for that defense attorney to get up there, this is his moments of fame.

I don't blame him. He said, I haven't been shown anything. You know what? Because everybody knows you're not going to be his attorney. Everyone knows within 30 days, if he fights extradition, he's going to be in New York, at which time the federal government might take over.

My fear is this New York jury, who I could never trust, will somehow feel as though, well, healthcare is unfair. It's okay to kill one executive, and who knows if this guy will get off, even though we caught him. You see the pictures of him, you see the mask there, you see the fingerprints, you see the DNA, you see just about everything. What I am amazed at is how many people knew him and said they show no signs of this. But I want you to hear too from Joseph Kenney, Cut 16.

From looking at the manifesto that we recovered, it appears and looking at his Facebook and his social media, it appears that at some point back in July 4th of 2023, he may have suffered some sort of back injury. He was posting an x-ray on his social media showing numerous screws being inserted into his spine.

Some of the writings that he had, he was discussing the difficulty of sustaining that injury.

So we're looking into whether or not the insurance industry either denied a claim from him or didn't help him out to the fullest extent. We don't know whether he was on some powerful painkillers or what. As of right now, we don't see that in our investigation. Right. And he hated corporate America, reportedly?

He was looking to fight back from it. He thought it was unfair, but he showed no signs of that in high school and college. And then he goes and stays in this community, which was prestigious, evidently, in Hawaii. And everybody loved him in that community.

Something happened in between. He disappeared. His family filed a missing person report in November. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division.

It's Brian Kill Me. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the latest moments of the Brian Kill Me Show. Happy to come to you from Marini 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan. I'll tell you, I have not seen Manhattan this crowded, maybe since 2018.

And it's not just with illegal immigrants. That was the case. These are families. And I think between 30 Rock and our Great Tree, which is now a tourist attraction, that they did a great job here, management of making it a place that people want to stop and go. Last night, I understand, there was a proposal.

And a wedding proposal right in front of our tree yesterday.

So that's kind of cool. All the security guys were talking about that rather than the protesters that come, I think, every Tuesday around noon, which is always fun to go get lunch at that time. This hour, we're going to be joined by John Rainish, Democratic Strategist, and Brett Baer, chief political anchor for Fox News, Anchor Special Report. And you see him weeknights at 6, but you see him all over the channel too. Hey, Brett, welcome.

Morning. I was surprised that, you know, one of my big three, I'm going to forego now to get quality time with you. But you believe the drone story in New Jersey, Staten Island, non-stop since the middle of November to today, is the number one story? I mean, I think so. Maybe it's my obsession with it because I just think it's.

So unbelievable that no one in government is telling us anything about this. And, you know, why hasn't one of these things been shot down? Probably because there are a little dangerous. They're huge. I don't know.

It's just. Bizarre, and there are more and more of these sightings. There was one over Langley Air Force Base. There's a couple in the southern border. There's I mean, these are big.

things and we haven't found Anything that explains it, and no one is talking on Capitol Hill or at the White House. Even you off cam off camera. No, nothing.

So here's Tony Gonzalez yesterday, military guy at the border. By the way, huge swarms of these cartels are using drones too to find out where the weaknesses are, where they can put their people through and the fentanyl through. Here's Tony Gonzalez yesterday on Capitol Hill talking to one of these experts, Cut 26. You're telling me we don't know what the hell these drones are in New Jersey are? Is that correct?

That's right. It's crazy. I mean, that's crazy. That's madness that we don't know what these drones are. Yep, that's Robert Wheeler.

Here's more from Wheeler, Cut 25.

So the public reports and what we have from eyewitness siting, some of those very credible police personnel and others um are what we Describe as unidentified drones. We do not know the particular specifics of what those drones are.

Some are described as being slightly larger than a commercial available drone. Fixed wing as well as rotary. But As I previously stated, we don't know the people responsible behind the. By the way, there's not a lot of curiosity. Why does he have to be hauled in?

Like, why aren't they proactive about this? We've seen the sightings. We're having a press conference. Should have been November 30th. It's Insane.

It's insane. The governor of the state of New Jersey says I need federal help. I don't even get it. There was a story, a local story in New Jersey, an affiliate talked to a guy that he. Was looking at all the things outside his yard that were just right above there and decided to fly his own drone up there that had full battery power, and he flew it up.

near one of these things and the battery died and the drone fell down. Like, I don't understand what's happening here and why aren't people more inquisitive. And how does that f how does that go with the UK story about how many drones were over the UK or military bases over there? And what about this story? Um, about China.

You had a Chinese citizen charged with flying a drone over key U. S. military sites and NASA Rockets, a thirty nine year old, was arrested in San Francisco at the airport prior to boarding a China bound flight.

So, what's going on? I mean, we end the border situation. Remember the balloon? Like we didn't have any answers for several days. And then finally they shot it down over the ocean.

It took about remember that? It took about this is great that we shot it down.

Well, yeah, it already has been over every base that was in between there. I just think that there's a lack of curiosity, and something else is happening here, and we just have to find out what it is. And the other thing is, look at what's happening in Ukraine with the drone technology. We hear about these swarms hitting energy fields and energy grids in Ukraine, and Ukraine's been doing the same thing into cities not widely publicized in Russia. But they are rewriting drone technology and drone warfare in real time in Eastern Europe.

Trevor Burrus, Jr.: And doing it really well. Ukrainians have done it really well to counter the Russian attacks. It's interesting it's not getting out of publicity, but Ukraine says, look. I understand you can't keep giving us your weapons, you're running out.

So we're going to make our own.

So give us money. And they began to open up their military, their warehouses and their bases. They're beginning to make their own weapons. And a lot of these countries and NATO countries go, Yeah, all right, take some money. Sweden, Norway, take some money because we really can't give up any more than we have.

Yeah, and it's effective. And Zelensky and the Ukrainian military have done a really good job to the point where the U.S. is studying some of the things that they've done with drones. And. I mean, that's how advanced they are.

So let's look at what what's happened over in Syria. You know, a lot of times you bring that up to people who don't do what we do for a living. They're like, oh, you know. Middle East unrest. What else is new?

But this is so significant, and it caught so many people, and I imagine our intelligence too, by surprise. What has happened over the last 10 days? It's a total dissolving of the Assad government. The rebels have taken over cities and the leadership has just gone. That has opened the door to a lot of questions about what comes next.

There are questions about Islamists and terrorists, but right now there's a lot of joy that the Assad regime, which was brutal, is no longer in charge. There's obviously Austin Tice, who's a U.S. citizen who's believed to still be alive somewhere inside Syria. And there are a lot of questions about what comes next.

Well, think about this. Ukraine, by the way, evidently was there. They were running some drone teams in there to help out the rebels. Why did that happen? Let me see.

The Russians are distracted. Hezbollah has been decapitated. Iran's been neutralized. And the rebels say, I think we can move forward now. And they did.

But the ripple effects are, and this is what I'm hoping for. My main focus is the Russian bases. If we could get the Russians out of those bases, that makes it harder for them to get drones and to get military equipment to the Houthi rebels in the area. They were evidently in those tunnels. They found new Russian weapons in the Hezbollah tunnels.

So if you could neutralize and push the Russians back out of the Middle East, I imagine there's some bitterness about the indiscriminate way they killed these rebels, all the different sects. I imagine they are not welcome. That's big. That is big for us. Yeah, in the region with Russia, 100%.

And listen, it is a kudos to the Biden administration for putting the pressure on Russia through Ukraine. I don't think it's right for the Biden administration to take a bow on weakening Iran, if anything. I heard you bring that up the other night. It went the other way. In other words, Israel and Netanyahu Weekend Iran.

Despite the warnings and holdback from the Biden administration.

So you got this guy, Jelani. who we have a ten million dollar bounty on his head. And he used to work with Zarkowi, and he used to be Al-Qaeda. And now we find out that he's had a pitch battle with Al-Qaeda and with ISIS and a change of heart. I want you to hear what Ambassador Ford told us yesterday, and I believe he's the last ambassador to Syria from 2011, 2014.

Listen to this. I know that Jolani broke with Al-Qaeda and fought bloody battles against Al-Qaeda, and he broke with the Islamic State and fought bloody battles with the Islamic State. Kicked them all out. Lots of casualty. He allows the Christians in northern Syria to conduct worship.

Is there equality between Christians and Muslims? No. He's an authoritarian. But I can imagine that, especially in this state of flux and when everything is up in the air, that he will be trying to figure out how to build consensus and support among different Syrian communities. That's why he's putting out these slick PR messages.

So guys wearing a suit You know, he's trying to say the right things. Everyone's welcome. Don't want chemical weapons. Kind of interesting, don't want chemical weapons. For a terrorist, that's not usually the mantra.

And there's been 350 minimum Israeli bombing runs, blowing up various sites and destroying their air force. Your thoughts about this. I just think there's a lot of uncertainty. I don't know that he's not. Trump's like, don't even bother me.

Yeah, I think it's. You know, it's going to have to play out about how it goes. I do think that the chemical weapons are a big concern. They don't want the Islamists to get a hold of. The chemical weapons.

I don't know if this guy is on the up and up. I I can't vouch for him, but Doing saying the right things about moving forward.

So, listen. You know, the question is how much does the U.S. does get involved. And to your point, the new incoming president is not in that mindset. Famously, a couple of weeks before October 7th, last year, before the October 7th attacks, you talked to the Prince.

Over in Saudi Arabia, soon to be the king. And you talk to Netanyahu and move him forward in some type of relations, and everything fell apart because the October 7th attack, the dest the destruction of Hamas, and now the Hezbollah gets involved, they get decapitated, and then we see Iran attack twice and really pay a huge price for that. I'm wondering if after this 18 months of turmoil If we could be looking at a light at the end of the tunnel with Trump coming in. What are your thoughts about some of the pieces that could be falling into place? Yeah, I think that the normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel is very much on the table.

Very much. But they want this Palestinian state, which we know is not possible. Yeah, but it'll be worded a different way. Like the chance for a Palestinian state or, you know, something like that, that Netanyahu can agree to and that the Crown Prince can agree to. They they want to get to yes.

They do. They really do. Both of them. I actually think Trump could make a deal with Iran. As crazy as that sounds, because Iran is hurting.

And when Trump gets in, it's going to be the total pressure on their neck again. I just don't know what that deal would be like. I don't know what it is. Because we can never get the verification. They wouldn't let him in last time.

You think they'll let us in this time, and then we're going to back the weapons of mass destruction circus? Right. Otherwise, it's going to be really intense. Like the sanctions, while still in place, have never been enforced. I mean, they were selling billions and billions of dollars to Russia and China of oil, Iran was.

And that money was funneled to Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. You know what's amazing, Brett? And we can't write the last chapter yet, but that October 7th attack, as devastating as it was and as bad as Israel looked, totally intelligence failure on all parts. This is probably the The worst move in the history of the Middle East because it cost the for the For the Shia sect and for the terrorist movement, Hamas. Paid a fatal price.

Hezbollah never thought they could be taken apart like this. Iran, two strikes have cost them their air defense and their radar ability over in Iraq. And now you have a situation where Syria has fallen their one ally in the area. He now calls Moscow home. Think about it.

I'm not closing the book and saying it's over. But man, they have to be saying, what did we do? Hania is dead, assassinated in Tehran. My goodness, Sinwar is dead, Nassarela dead. And now Israel has got their reputation back as this incredible power.

Yeah, and it's all going to come to an end. There's got to be some peaceful negotiation, ceasefire that eventually gets there. I think Israel is feeling pretty confident about what they've been able to do. The Pager attack, the walkie-talkies, the taking out of Hezbollah. It's.

Massive what they've been able to do in a short time. And again, been able to do despite some of the holdback from the Biden administration. And I didn't realize this. I was watching some Israeli T V yesterday. Because you do that all the time, don't you?

And it's in Hebrew. I watch in Hebrew. I don't even need the translation.

So, with my Catholic upbringing, it works out perfect. But but he was he I did not know that Netanyahu has not talked. He is not talking to the press. He doesn't hold press conferences. And that's as unusual almost as Trump not talking, who's not talking much.

So, fascinating tactic. We come back. I want to talk a little bit about the transition, and then Brett is going to focus on, I guess, my role in the panel tonight on special reports. Really excited about it. That'll be the sole folks.

Really excited about it. Back in a moment. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show.

So, Brett Baer's here, he's chief political anchor at Fox News Special Report. And I don't know if you've heard of it. Has it leaked out yet that I'm on the panel? We put a separate promo. Right.

It was just about you. It makes me awkward with the other one. I know. You really must have a little tough. It's a little tough for the other one.

So, so, Brett, and not many people know this, and I'll break this story. Brett's wearing a blue suit, right? But he brought another blue suit just in case. Me, for you. Just in case.

Do you like doing that in New York? You like doing the show in New York? I actually do. I like checking in and the mother shit. You're coming out here a lot now.

I mean the election. I was here a lot. Oh. Yeah. Okay, that's a story.

I thought I had something there. I didn't know if you were looking at a place. I will say this: I came in, the tree looks lovely, and I was getting out of the car out front. And I was looking at the tree going, yeah, that looks lovely. And I literally almost died because bike came by.

It was scary. And I felt the hair from the guy's things. No question. He was going 30 miles an hour. They will hit you.

And I literally almost died. My assistant was like, that would have been heinous. But she wasn't going to. She was stepping back. She was stepping back.

I was looking at the tree. She would have survived.

So there was somebody, I walked in this morning, and one of the security guys said someone proposed there last night. They say it's happening almost every night. Wow. Because it's become a place in New York City that people go to. That's pretty cool.

That's been a salute to our management making this a Fox Square. You know, we were rewarded by having it burned down the first time. Which got a lot of attention. It did. And we came back with a smaller tree, but we came back with a tree.

Yeah. We deserve credit for that. I agree. Right. And I love the show, you know, the lighting show.

I loved all that.

So a couple of things with the transition. Pete Hakeseth, what a comeback. I'm not saying he's out of the woods yet, but what a comeback. He met with Murkowski yesterday. She is not committed either way, but that's still a puss.

Joni Ernst is coming around. What are you hearing? Yeah, I think he had a good week. I think Joni Ernst's statement, I'm going to support Pete through this process, didn't mean that she's voting yes, which we should point out, but it does mean that he's having some success in these meetings. There is more confidence and optimism in the Trump world.

I I think they have some bumpy things ahead. I think the hearing's not going to be wonderful for everybody publicly, and there's going to be some efforts to take him down. What do you think they're going to go Kavanaugh and focus all the time on the the veteran vet program and this relations do you think they're going to do that? I do think it's going to be You know. It's going to be public and it's going to be ugly and Uh but I don't know if it's gonna sway votes.

Listen, you can lose three Republicans. That's that's it. But I mean there's some people we haven't heard from, like the Tom Tillises of the world. Uh reasonable, moderate Republicans. You know, is Mitch McConnell?

Does he have he said he had a good meeting with Hegsleth, but does he have a problem? You know, I think there are others that we haven't focused on that we still have yet to hear from. But I'm saying he had a good week, and there is a lot more optimism than there was two weeks ago in Trump World Cup. The only thing he's underappreciated, maybe at least just by me, is that what he's going to do for recruiting.

So many of the warfighters are like, yeah, he cares about me. You know, he cares about when I'm in there. He's going to care about my accommodations. He's going to care about daycare on the military bases. He's going to care about pay.

He's going to care about putting people into battle harm's way unnecessarily and rules of engagement. I think his interview with Hannity went a long way. I mean, he really laid out some of that stuff very specifically. And I think that was a positive form, too. Tulsi Gabbard.

A lot of stuff that they're going to pull back and say this is anti-Trump. You were against a lot of Trump policies in the first term. And I'm very confident that she can handle a lot of this stuff. But it's going to be an interesting. It can be interesting.

Bumpy as well. I think the fact that Bashwal Assad is in Moscow doesn't help her. You know, because of her trip to Syria and how she talked about it. Cash Patel is better received than I thought? 100%.

He's going to, I don't think he's going to have any problem at all. Senator Grassley said, I want Christopher Ray to go. I've had a problem. He looks like he could go this week. I did not know that.

Yeah. Are you telling me that for the first time? I said it last night on the show.

Sorry, you missed it. But you'll be on tonight. I'll be on tonight. Please watch me and Brad. Thanks, Brad.

It's always great to see you. Back in a moment. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. If we do not want violence on our subways.

And the point of our justice system is a level of accountability to prevent a person who does not have remorse about taking another person's life. I mean, even people who have engaged in manslaughter or have taken a life accidentally express remorse. And so the fact that a person has expressed no remorse indicates that there's a risk that it may happen again.

So which I found it amazing that Alexander Ocasio-Cortez in New York City, who spent a lot of time here in the subways, I imagine as a bartender. It doesn't matter how much money you have. You can't get anywhere in New York City without the subways, so you need it. She actually thinks that Danny Penny has made things more dangerous when he stood up to Jordan Neely. Nobody wants Jordan Neely to die, but he wanted to kill people on that subway if you listen to his words.

Is that the takeaway the Democrats want to talk about after that case came to an end? I think it should be about Alvin Bragg and the woke DAs hurting the party. John Reinish joins us now, Democratic strategist. John, you were shaking your head. Great to see you.

Good to see you. You were shaking your head as you heard that. Yeah. Well, I also took the subway here, and the riders, commuters, tourists, it's Christmas, were crunched in the middle of the subway car because on both sides, you had homeless people with their hands in their pants sleeping on the subway who looked like they were on drugs, looked like they were out of it. Look, people, to your point, are compassionate.

No one wants to see a life lost. But when people feel threatened and when people feel that quality of life and public safety are crisis level, And out of hand. They want to feel Like elected officials, public safety officials are listening to their concerns, not calling them. Racist. Why would she say why would she say that?

Would someone tell her to say that? Uh I think this is how she thinks. I think plain and simple, you know, AOC, the squad, et cetera, and you and I have talked about them many times, they are ideologues first and public officials second. They don't prioritize public safety. She is going to be in a she is going to be in a leadership position this year.

Yes, she is. That's really going to improve Democrats setting with swing voters, is having AOC on the news every night as head of oversight.

So we were just talking about Seth Moulton came out and said, you know, I got two daughters. I don't think they should be playing with transgender males. And he got such blowback, they're going to primary him. The Tufts University said, we're no longer going to send interns to your office, whatever that means. But the symbolism's there.

Sure. You know Seth Moulton. I do.

So he's a Democrat who ran for president. Yes. Not a Trump fan. Veteran. Would you all, yes, true?

Would you say he's center left? Would you say he's moderate? I would say he's a get-it-done guy. I'd say his temperament is moderate. His district, most importantly, is certainly very moderate.

He's from the North Shore of Boston, suburbs, et cetera.

So this is not a guy with a super, super progressive district. Look, I think that the point of this whole argument is, again, as I said before. People are good, people are compassionate. The transgender argument, though, and that whole issue is new and foreign to the vast majority of Americans. It's not something that people know, it's a foreign concept.

So the idea that Democrats are being seen as prioritizing an issue like that, as making that a litmus test of some kind, is a huge mistake to make. Bring the American people along in time the way other social change movement has, and maybe you get a shot, but why lead with it? Right. John, I don't think we're going to evolve like same-sex marriage. Carson Wood is a good example.

We're never going to evolve on that because you're not asking people to go with horrible white males. Everybody likes to target white males because they've had it too good for too long. But when you go ahead and target women and say that, wow, I'm not making that team. I'm not in that lineup. I got destroyed.

I got slammed in the head in volleyball. I still have headaches today. I lost my gold medal in boxing. That's what you're talking about. Like, you're going against a group of people that worked very hard just 130 years ago weren't able to vote.

Right, right. I think that's very true. I think it also, though, goes to the point of why are we not listening to voters and meeting them where they are? When voters say the economy is bad, why are we handing them data and white papers and saying, no, no, the economy is actually really good? When people are concerned about people.

I'm talking about Bidenomics last summer. I'm talking about Bidenomics last summer, but also it's not just Biden. The party has recently made some terrible decisions over the last several years to follow DC in CLA. Elites down these rabbit holes that are unrelatable to voters.

So, a lot of people thought, and this was a conventional wisdom after Mitt Romney lost: Republicans change your spots, man. Every time you talk about cracking down on the border, Hispanics get the message you don't like them.

So, they did an autopsy and they said, Don't bring it up. But then comes Trump, who doesn't got to keep your autopsy. And it turns out, every time he talks stuff on the border, he seems to gain Hispanic votes to the point where it's in the 40s now of approval because Hispanics are Americans first. They're proud of the way they came, they're proud of their work ethic and their family first.

So, obviously, I think if Democrats realize that, we could together crack down on the border and realize it's not anti-Hispanic or anti-immigrant. But again, also ask actual Hispanic voters in cities on the border what their opinions are. Don't go to the same woke D.C. groups that the party has ended up going to. Those are activists-led, out of touch with voters.

Talk to actual voters.

So, Congressman Quayar is somebody who's always. Always had it right. 100%. And he was told, go jump in a lake by two Democratic administrations. We don't want to hear from you.

Because he was pro-life. Because he was pro-life. Do you think it's more pro-life or more strong on the border? No. The exact issue, as you'll remember, is he was primaried by a local activist, Cheeridon.

Elizabeth Warren campaigned down there, AOC campaigned down there. And their main anger at him was not about border issues, but about the fact that he dared to be pro-life and go against party orthodoxy.

So he got canceled. Democratic strategist John Reinish here.

So, John, where do you stand? Or should the Democratic Party stand when it comes to illegal immigrants and sanctuary cities? I think you should listen to voters who have spoken loud and clear over the last several years who have said that they want a secure border. Period. End of story.

So in Massachusetts, the mayor and governor, even though it's cost them $2 billion, they say we're going to support sanctuary cities. In San Diego, they said the same thing. They took a vote to reaffirm and L.A. County the same thing. But listen to Chicago residents two weeks ago.

Mm-hmm. You so strong about protecting those aliens, but you won't do nothing for the U.S. citizens. Here you are with an undergritty property tax hike, trying to push the half lots to house your oppressed illegal immigrants. You told Trump you ain't gonna blink?

Well, we ain't either. You won't above the law, and what are you gonna run to when Trump pulls that Trump card out on you? I will make it my duty to try to get my girl to Pluma, Operation Graylord, 2.0 in Chicago, and lock all you crooked Democrats and judges up, and it's just like that. Yeah, that's right. Those are inner city.

Working class voters in Chicago.

So, John, you're a Democrat and you want to and you're listening to this, and this is the time to reset.

Soon, both parties are going to be in their corners and getting ready for the midterms. What's your takeaway?

Well, first of all, I think the Democrats should get out of their corner, because sitting there in their corner, which gets smaller and smaller with every election, is not exactly serving us. We haven't had a big win in a dozen years since the second time that Obama had a big win. Read the tea leaves, read the room. If you're not winning big, you're doing something wrong. It's not the voters who are doing something wrong, we're doing something wrong.

And now, when I listen to the clips you just played, Brian, this isn't surprising to me. You know, I'm not cherry-picking them. You know, I could have gone for 12 or 15 of them. Sure, I'm sure that they were fairly, you know, across the board in whatever this town hall or public event or news show was. You go out and listen to a voter.

Look at how black and Hispanic voters in New York City, liberal, deep blue New York City, swept for Trump, and it was largely along the lines of anger over the migrant crisis. People are struggling, and then they see migrants who are here getting three hundred dollar a week Cash cards to go and spend, however. What do you expect people are going to react? People are going to be angry. There is so much anger at a broken system.

Can you bring me into the school of thought? Because you had a Democratic mayor and Mayor Adams say, I need in the beginning, I'm wearing a sanctuary, we're so proud of it, welcome all the buses from Texas. And then he said, wait a second, I have 67,000 illegal immigrants and no federal money. And the White House reaction was not to take his calls. Correct.

So bring me inside the thought. Like when you hang out with the other consultants, who's right? I mean, when you guys sit around and say. The other consultants would not say that I was right coming here and telling the truth on matters like this. But look, I think, you know, for Mayor Adams, At first step, you want to think these are people who have been bused across the country, only the clothes on their back, women and children, et cetera.

So you want to put your best foot forward. But then reality sets in, and you've got, to your point, 67,000 people straining law enforcement, straining the city budget, straining schools. You have a quality of life situation playing out. And then you're hearing from your constituents, and then the reality of, oh, God, what do we do now sets in? And then you turn to the White House.

And they say go pound sand. What are you supposed to do? I mean, if you had a younger, more vibrant president, and maybe he got caught up in the chief of staff, it didn't get to him. But for a while, Mayor Adams says, I'm a Biden guy. Sure.

And he was going to be on the re-elect Biden campaign. Yes, he was.

So at one point, when a guy's been in this business for 50 years, why don't you go, hey, guys, they're drowning in New York. I can't let these guys twist here. I could lose more House seats. I could lose the Senate. You know, not Senate seats.

Gillibrand was never a threat. But we could be losing ground. You saw that Zelda got within four points. Yes. So why wouldn't they say we got to take his call?

Like, who are the people that said don't worry about it? Right. A big problem is that Biden was surrounded the whole time he was in office by a very close group of Very, very loyal to a fault AIDS who put him first, access to him first, loyalty to him first, and they created an impenetrable wall around themselves and the president, I would put in there, his family also. And they were so insular and prioritized their own power of access to the president first, where they made themselves an institution that was so out of touch, and it was an us or them mentality, and Adams ended up being them and not us. Very interesting.

So everyone's focused now on retribution. Is Donald Trump going to get retribution? Here's what he said Sunday. Are you going to do that? Are you going to go after Joe Biden?

I'm really looking to make our country successful. I'm not looking to go back into the past. I'm looking to make our country successful. Uh Retribution will be through success. If we can make our success, this country successful, that would be my greatest.

That would be such a great achievement. Bring it back. And he also went on to say another great line, which was: What do you say to people who didn't vote for you? I love you just the same. I'm here for you anyway.

And he talked about the MAGA movement. Then he went back and finished off on that.

So that's the message. They keep on people, keep fearing retribution. We're talking about preemptive pardons. Are you for the preemptive pardon? You know, look, if I were any of these folks who are.

Yeah, I think that someone like you know the former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, she whatever you will say about her, she is a strong individual. She can stand on her own two feet. Does she want a preemptive Pardon from an outgoing president? Has anyone asked Liz Cheney or Adam Schiff or any of these other folks, hey, is this something that you want? It seems performative.

Right. So, what is the right message?

So, John, by the way, who are some of the candidates you work with? I work with a candidate who's a young outsider candidate for DNC chair, who's someone who wins a Trump district in upstate New York by 15 points and outruns the Democratic Party in his very red district. He's coming on the show soon, actually.

So, I'm very proud to be working with him because he is an outsider voice. His name is James Skoofus. He's a very interesting young guy, 37 years old, had office since he was 25, wins a very red district. That's the kind of candidate I love to work with because you're breaking new ground.

So, tell me who are some of the candidates that you bet on? Everyone goes to Governor Shapiro. Sure. What do you think? I actually think that, you know, again, one of the most unfortunate circumstances of the Biden-Harris administration is he was supposed to be a bridge to the next generation, and then he closed the gates, and he never lived up to that.

There are a lot of people who are. Lot of young and talented people. To your point, everyone brings up Gretchen Whitmer, Josh Shapiro, Wes Moore, Bashir in Kentucky. Those are all young, really dynamic folks. I would also say, let's look at.

What is the secret sauce of Elisa Slock and Ruben Gallego? They outran Harris, won in purple states. They actually had campaigns that showed that they knew how to listen to voters, and they knew how to listen to voters' concerns and talk about the economy, talk about education, talk about housing costs, choice, et cetera, school choice, affordability. They didn't talk like academics. School choice is something I thought the Democrats 10 years ago were going to be running on.

They're not. They're against it. It's because of the teachers' unions. That's it. But school choice does seem to be a Democratic ideal, doesn't it?

Why should people stuck in bad school districts be forced to go there? Why can't they? Isn't that the ultimate progressive idea? Why can't they take their money and go somewhere? Isn't that perfect?

You would think so until nobody wanted to get crossways with the teachers' union. But that's another example, Brian, of party leaders not listening to their constituents. I work with another organization. They'd be great to come on the show, National Black Empowerment Action Fund. They polled in majority black districts, Corey Bush's former district, or about to be former, because she's got a pink slip from her own constituents.

Yeah. And Jamal Bowman's. And they poll black voters in lower and middle income areas who said that their top concerns were jobs, economy, affordability, public safety, housing costs, and school choice, being able to choose the public school for their kid, charter school, whatever it's going to be. Party recently has said no to them. These are people who hear the word no a lot.

John Ryan, just the last question. You have only a two and eventually a five vote difference in the House. What should be the approach of Akeem Jeffries? Stop. There's a lot of people that won acting like Republicans, like Tom Swazzi in New York.

A lot of these Democrats over in California came back and got their seats back in some cases. What should their approach be? Because I'm sure you want to get the House back. Of course. And I'm sure you want to get some Senate seats back.

Yeah, of course, that's true. Look, again, I think the point should be, and I actually wouldn't say that these folks acted like Republicans. They acted like common sense, non-ideal Democrats who listened to their constituents and got stuff done.

So should Jeffrey say, march with me or pick your spots? I think that Jeffrey should say what is right for your district and how are we going to win the House back. Let's listen to voters about what they want. All right.

That's going to be a very interesting time. John Reinish, great Democratic strategist who wants to chart a different message, and hopefully people are listening. Back in a moment. Both sides, all opinions. It's Brian Killmead.

The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. It's one of a few things. It could be a commercial enterprise, but the bottom line is no reputable commercial enterprise is going to do anything like this.

So then you're going to think maybe it's government.

Well, the federal government, the Department of Defense, the military is not going to put drones out that are that obvious, that big, to extract information without giving you some kind of a notice or warning.

So then you're left with: is it a foreign country? And if it is a foreign country, is it adversarial? It possibly could be. Yeah, listen, it is Jeff Andrew of New Jersey, and the fact that he's got to punch out the possibilities is crazy. And he also said something else that I thought was telling the former Democrat turned Republican, and he's very successful.

Obviously, he gets it and cares, extremely competent, too. But when you talk about this drone technology, he went on to say this that I never heard before. About we're behind China, CUT 28. Here's the real deal which we need to learn on this. We are 10 years behind in drone technology from where China is, and that's bad.

We don't have the proper radar systems. We know this for a fact. There's holes in our radar. We cannot identify drones through our radar easily and quickly as we should. The Department of Defense is now bringing in that radar to our area of New Jersey, which is my home state.

Thank God, at least, we're doing that. But we have holes in our radar system. We have holes in our monitoring system over these airspaces.

So I did not know that. And I never heard it characterized that we're ten years behind. China, when it comes to drone technology, especially when they were knocking us off and stealing our secrets, in order to ones that were built exactly like ours, like their fighter jets. But we got to get quickly. Pete, Hegset, you get this job?

Focus right away on neutralizing these drones and a way to bring them down through technology, let alone shooting them down. Hopefully, it won't come to that. That's what we got to deal with with the Red Sea, with these ships and what they're sending at us now. Brian, kill me, Choe. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest-growing radio talk show.

Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone. Welcome to the latest moments of the show. Brian Kilmey Show coming your way this hour. We're going to be joined by Muaz Mustafa.

He's in Damascus right now, Executive Director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. He's someone working with the Kurds to help us out when all hell was breaking loose with Assad wiping out everyone and ISIS on the march. And now he has a situation where he knows a lot of the players who have forced Assad from power and are about to take over. And he helped Trey Yinks get into Damascus. He's there now.

So I cannot wait to talk to Muaz. He's actually been on the show before. We tried to get him on Fox and Friends, but the signal was not good. Hopefully, it'll be better with us. And Neil Chatterjee is in the studio, former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under Trump.

Might be going back there. Former senior advisor to Mitch McConnell, who just fell today, yesterday. And we'll talk to him about that. But first, the big three.

Now with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. We are 10 years behind in drone technology from where China is. And that's bad. We don't have the proper radar systems.

We know this for a fact. There's holes in our radar. We cannot identify drones through our radar easily and quickly as we should. Yep, how about some answers? Drones blank in New Jersey, parts of New York.

They're big, they're loud, they're worrisome, and nobody has answers. No joke. Number two. And in fact, Intelligence of the American people and the Levant. Luigi goes batty.

The Twisted Ivy Leaguer is in jail, and it's clear he's not adjusting well. His behavior, his rock star status in certain sectors, is disturbing. We try and get answers on why he would execute the healthcare titan, Brian Thompson. Number one. Would you do it again?

Yeah, totally. I would not be able to live with myself. If I didn't do anything in that situation. So it got hurt. Danny Penny speaks.

Danny Penny speaks. The understated subway hero talks about what he's been through over the last 18 months.

Now he's exonerated, trying to get on with his life. First interview will bring you some of that sound. But Neil, welcome back. Thanks for having me, as always.

So we don't know yet if you're going to be rejoining Trump, right? But you'd like to. Yeah, I mean, it would be an honor to serve my country. It would be an honor to serve in this administration. Guys like me, we're way, way lower on the importance list in the totem poll.

So they're not going to get to any kind of jobs that would fit me for a while now.

So let's talk about Mitch McConnell. He took another fall, and now he's in a wheelchair, but just out of precaution, getting around, he's having problems. Yeah, look, he used to have a saying that a Kentucky farmer once told him not to worry about him because he's stronger than meal piss. And I love that saying. And look, he's a tough guy.

You know, took a hard fall. Looked like he had a band-aid on, but I'm not too worried about him. He's. Pretty tough. Let's talk about this administration.

One of the things they want to do is lower inflation. You know what they tried to do here? In New York, Kathy Hogle says: I'm mailing everybody who makes under $150,000 $500. Is that going to solve the problem? I'm just going to exacerbate it.

They haven't learned anything, and they're totally misreading the outcome of this election. This election was decided on two issues: inflation and the border. And it seems like they haven't learned their lesson on either front. But let's talk about energy, another area of your expertise. You like the Lees Elden ZPA to loosen up those regulations while being cognizant of being responsible.

And Doug Bergham with energy, but an overarching energy portfolio to really get things done. Trump is really counting on that to drill down on prices. Can you play that out and why he believes that? Yeah, look, this is actually going to be a really significant challenge, but also an opportunity the next couple of years. And it's really because of AI.

So President Trump has made two commitments to the American people when it comes to energy. One, he says we have to win the AI race. We have to beat China, beat the Chinese Communist Party, and win the AI race for national security purposes. And the way you win the AI race is through power. We have to have enough energy to power AI.

He wants to do that while at the same time bringing down the cost of energy for Americans who have been suffering from inflationary pressure. And so that's going to take really smart people curbing these burdensome regulations to make it easier to build things in this country so we can build the natural gas pipelines and build the transmission. Lines to get power on the grid. All kinds of power. Natural gas, nuclear, but also solar, storage.

We're going to need every available electron to win the AI race.

So they say that nuclear would be, they make them smaller now, they're effective, but you have to actually defend them because they could be used as a weapon if they're attacked. Does that make it cost-prohibitive? That's the challenge with nuclear. Even smaller nuclear, still a weapon. You still have to protect it 24/7.

You still have regulatory burdens. You've got safety requirements. You've got, quite frankly, still culturally. Pockets of this country. People don't want nuclear in their backyard.

I think we need nuclear power. I think nuclear power is going to be huge for not just energy security, for national security. When we're leading the world in nuclear power, it helps us in nuclear security. But there are economic challenges to nuclear discrimination.

So now we have oil and gas. We've got to start drilling like crazy. And there's going to be pushback on it from these environmental groups.

So it's going to be really key to have a great legal team in place. Have you seen that? Trump seems to have acknowledged that. Yeah, look. And everyone's freaking out because he had a post on Truth Social yesterday where he said that anyone who invests a billion dollars in the U.S., they're going to expedite the permitting process.

And immediately, the environmental left went bonkers. What they don't get, look, I do a lot of work with solar companies, with energy storage companies. The permitting process hurts renewable energy just as much as it hurts oil and gas. The political left in this country needs to come to grips with the fact that it's too hard to build things here. And if we want economic growth, if we want to fight inflation, if we want to bring down the cost of energy, we need to make it easier to build all forms of energy.

And so what they don't realize, and I was screaming this from the rooftops when I was in my days at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, that you cannot tie up the process for approving a natural gas pipeline in bureaucratic red tape and legal challenges and not expect the same challenges to building out clean energy. We've got to make it easier to build stuff in this country. Right. The XL pipeline, they say that it's been so dismantled. That it might be tough to unmothball it, for lack of a better term.

What do you hear? That's the problem with these kind of regulatory delays and uncertainty and economic uncertainty is, you know. when you don't complete projects in a timely manner, they just get more complicated and more Expensive to finish. That's the big thing. I think the importance of President Trump coming into office is just sending a clear investment signal that America's back in business, that energy's back in business.

Biden kind of was talking out both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, he's like, we need U.S. liquefied natural gas exports to save Europe. And at the same time, he had his DOE put a pause on licenses for these very same export facilities. That confused people.

It confused investors. It had investors thinking, can we rely on this? That's the way he does everything. He does Ukraine, the way he does Israel. I'm going to support him, but I'm not going to go all the way.

I'm going to hold back weapons to Ukraine. I'm going to give them weapons, but I'm going to restrict them. That's the way he does everything. And it confused everyone. And so now, just having clarity of purpose, folks, our allies now know they can trust that the United States is going to be there and they can enter into long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas, which, by the way, not only are good geopolitically, not only create jobs in the U.S., they lower global.

Global carbon emissions and actually help the environment as well, which that drove me crazy. The Biden administration never understood that. But we have to get it to Europe right away. They were talking about a pipeline that went through the Alps, went through Europe and the Alps. And Frank said, no, we're concerned about the environment.

Now they regret that, especially with an advent of the boycott of the Russians. Do you think there could be a plan in place to expedite natural gas to our best customers? I mean, we've already got Japan too? Asia needs it. Europe needs it.

Look, I was very proud. We approved 12 liquefied natural gas export facilities when I was the chairman of FERC. Many of those are under construction now and are ready to go, but we need more. And so I'm hopeful that the incoming leadership at agencies like FERC and DOE will be in a position to build on the work that I did five, seven years ago to get these projects going because they're huge. Again, not just for the economy, but for the environment as well.

But would you also say that it would be important to get Anwar going? Because ANWAR was in the tax reform. How do you just Stop it. I mean, it's in legislation that passed. Was it because it's reconciliation?

Like, why did they even have a decision?

Well, see, what Biden's doing now, again, he's getting clever. In his last 40 some odd days in office, they're putting out language now to kind of limit the footprint to the minimally available acreage in Anwar. And look, it's going to take time to unwind some of this stuff.

So that's what these guys, we've got to, we've, you know, you play an important role in this. The media plays an important role in this. We've got to keep our eyes on these folks because what they're going to try and do because they're disregarding the fact that energy was on the ballot in this election. And the American people were decisive in how they view energy policy. But these guys are trying to put obstacles in place on their way out the door in their last 40 days to make it harder for President Trump and his administration to deliver on the promises he made.

This is exactly your area, but when it comes to EPA and car restrictions and things to that nature, it was making it impossible to build a The combustion engine. At the same time, the subsidies gave the electric car a boost, but it wasn't sustainable. Where do you think Trump will stand with this? You know, it's interesting. I actually think Democrats made a huge mistake in politicizing electric vehicles.

Like, electric vehicles used to be cool. Like, people want them. They're kind of fun to drive. Like, I look, I drive right now, I drive a full combustion engine, Ford F-150, but I'm interested in a Ford F-150 Lightning. I think it's kind of a cool-looking car and it's fun to drive.

I was there with Ford at the plant before the first one rolled out, took a ride in it, self-driving too, and it was great, but it wasn't selling. It wasn't selling, and now they made it political. And so now you've got people that maybe would want to buy one who don't want to anymore because they feel like it's some kind of cultural signal if you have an EV or if you drive a combustion.

So I think they just made a huge mistake. Look, President Trump, obviously, I think in having conversations with Elon Musk, has softened his rhetoric around EVs. But I think where he's landed is basically: look, look, I like EVs. We don't have EVE. Have the infrastructure in place for it.

They're too expensive. Nobody can afford them without the subsidies, and we don't mandate them. I think that's his main assessment. And that makes Tesla make Tesla seem like a conservative car. But yet, it's the number one electric car.

Right. And then now you've got Governor Newsome, you know, kind of pursuing retribution against Elon Musk and denying him the availability of the tax. Oh my God.

So he is offering a new credit. He says if Trump does away with the federal EV credits, he will do a credit in California. But the way he structured it, it wouldn't cover Tesla.

So he's specifically punishing Elon Musk. But what he's doing is he's taking the number one selling EV in California. Out of the range for this credit to score political points against Elon Musk because he's mad at him. Again, it's this kind of stuff that the American people are just fed up with. I think so too.

And we'll see where it goes from here because we know this. He's the one who built the terminals. It looks like with the infrastructure bill, Joe Biden's built eight. This guy, before he got the car going, he made sure the terminals were amenable, worked for the Tesla owner. And it's up to the federal government to mimic that, but they can't do what the private sector can do.

Look, I know you're a soccer guy. I think the biggest own goal of all time was Joe Biden snubbing Elon Musk and really driving him into Donald Trump's arms. And he did. I mean, this guy is the Leonardo da Vinci, the Albert Einstein of our time. You look what he's done at SpaceX, what he's done at Tesla, what he's done in the AI space, even the way he turned around chips.

Jumps and brains. How about the boring company tunnels underneath this? To be able to go from California to San Francisco in like eight minutes. Like the guy is a genius. And instead of embracing him, the Biden administration drove him away.

I love that he's involved working with Vivek Ramaswamy to try and bring efficiency to government. I'm a possibility. It's going to be a fight, right? Look, I. I live in Washington, D.C.

I'm in the heart of the bureaucracy, of the swamp, if you will. There's a reason Washington, D.C. has become one of the more affluent cities in the country. There's a lot of largesse that is the result of this federal bureaucracy. And No one's going to give that up easily.

And so there will be challenges and fights throughout.

So, Neil, you were with the federal agency, the regulatory commission.

So, scenario. Let's say he was not even with your party. He walks in there and goes, Look, I looked at your whole department. It's way too fat. There's way too many people.

Here's the efficiency. This is what kind of software we can use. This is how you can consolidate things. I think you should have a satellite office here. You don't need and they start doing it.

Would you be like, hey, I don't know who you think you are, but I'm running this agency. I'll make my own decisions. No, I mean, to think that you can't make government more efficient is absolutely absurd.

Now, look, there's some extremely talented people that work there, and FERC's responsibility, making sure the lights stay on, approving energy projects. It's actually an enabling agency. It's not like a punitive agency like EPA. But even still, you can find efficiencies. It's ridiculous.

You're open to it. I I can't imagine any of you. Uh, I don't remember. Yeah, I think we did.

Okay, civil service unions. Civil service unions, but to be totally honest, I never got into that kind of stuff, so I'm not even entirely sure how that stuff works. Got it. Hopefully, Neil, you did such a good job. You're so into it.

They'd be lucky to have you. Hopefully, the president calls you again. Neil Chatterjee, thanks so much. Thank you so much for having me. Hey, listen, we'll come back, take calls, and bottom of the air.

We go out to Damascus, Syria. You'll listen to the Brian Kill Me Show. Learning something new every day on the Brian Kill Me Show. Information you want, truth you demand. This is the Brian Kill Me Show.

Is the public at risk? Is public safety at risk? Are we concerned that they're Or nefarious intentions that could cause either national security or a public safety incident that would put Americans at risk? There's nothing that is known that would. Um uh lead me to to say that.

But we just don't know. And that's the concerning part. Right. There's nothing that they know that has them worried because they don't know anything. That's Robert Wheeler yesterday testifying.

To August Fluger of Texas. It's insane. Go to listen more. Cut 25.

So the public reports and what we have from eyewitness sightings, some of those very credible police personnel and others are what we Describe as unidentified drones. We do not know the particular specifics of what those drones are.

Some are described as being slightly larger than um than a uh commercial uh available drone, um fixed wing as well as rotary. But As I previously stated, we don't know the people responsible behind that, and that's what we're working on.

So that is a clueless Robert Wheeler Jr., an FBI agent, testifying at Capitol Hill, which means he's their communicator about what's going on. By the way, you heard. Brett Baer say it looks like Christopher Wray might be packing up his office now. He should. When Grassley calls you out, you should go.

So. These since really November 13th was the first confirmed drone sighting in New Jersey. And up until yesterday, and Rachel Campos Duffy, who sits next to me on the couch this week, she says that they have their own video of these huge drone-sized cars above their heads. And nobody has any idea what's going on. At least they are telling us that.

A New Jersey base. Had 11 confirmed mystery drone sightings, according to the U.S. Army. New Jersey State Center says they're getting briefed today at 10 o'clock. It happened already.

That's Governor Murphy called that meeting already.

Now, a Chinese citizen was charged with flying a drone near a military base. Whatever this guy's name is, last name ZHOU, 39 years old, arrested last week in San Francisco over at the San Francisco International Airport prior to boarding a China-bound flight. The Justice Department said he is charged with failure to register an aircraft.

So why don't you just bring it down? Why can't you fi block one of them and bring him down? Does anyone you know, with all the satellites and Starlink that we have everywhere, you could probably see where these drones take off from, wouldn't you think? It's crazy. It's crazy that we don't know.

And it's also crazy to get this far if you do know you're not telling us. We go out to Damascus next, and then I'll end with some Danny Penny talking. You'll hear him in his own words. He was in the Brian Kilmy Show. Don't forget, February 15th, Jacksonville, Florida, Florida Theater, BrianKilmey.com, History, Liberty, and Labs.

Go get tickets. From his mouth to your ears, it's Brian Killmead. Honestly, we've been talking about this so much, I almost don't even care at this point if it's some big U.S. government conspiracy or this is, in fact, adversarial. I'm more concerned about the lack of transparency on behalf of our federal government and their inability to even want to.

To alleviate the public's concerns at all. And the question is: why?

Now you've got the White House that has come out and basically said there's nothing that they can tell us about what's going on, simply that the matter's being investigated. It's unacceptable.

So, Brent Velikovich is one of this premier experts on drone technology, and he's been over in Ukraine. He's been seeing the latest, and I'm sure he's playing a prominent role in their evolution of rain drone warfighting. And now he's here looking at this, and he says, I cannot believe we can't answer that question of what this is. And I'm wondering if he knows what they are and who could have made them. I'm sure they're very distinctive.

Cut 30. And it's clear to me, our current leadership knows nothing about what drones can actually do and the real-world threats that we face these days. And if this is adversarial in nature, we're just showing that we don't know what's going on at all to the enemy, and it's only going to embolden them more. You know, I can't tell you how many meetings I've been in with government officials who are supposed to be in charge of our UAS airspace. They think they've got it all figured out.

And it's this constant ineptitude and unwillingness to make any rapid changes to our national security infrastructure, which is actually needed to protect the American people from these 21st-century airspace threats we face. And there is major risk to us. There's a lot of risk that they are collecting on us. These drones, by the way, they're not undetectable. I deal a lot with this in the industry.

This is very easy to figure out what's going on if the proper experts were actually brought in. And what you got to care enough to do it. I know you're going out the door and everyone's getting bubble-wrapped for all their equipment, but please, can you do something? I mean, you drop the ball in the Middle East. You don't go over to France for the opening up as a Catholic president, for the opening up a Catholic church, the most famous one in the world, after it nearly burned down.

Now you don't really show up. You have no you never read any report on the Afghanistan withdrawal, but you send your Secretary of State out there. And you do a Christmas tree lottie and then disappear again. You say you want Austin Tice out of Syria now that Assad fell, but you don't want to do anything about it. But we haven't heard you since.

You do it as a side leaving that you think he's alive. And now we have drones going all over New Jersey. Democratic governor All over Staten Island, Democratic state of New York. You can't pick up the phone and just say, listen, this is what's going on, or this is my concern, or at least express that. You just watch KJP.

If she has a press conference today, and I'm not sure she does, who's now a key advisor for Biden, will be asked about these drones.

Well, we're doing everything we can to find out. There's no reason to think there's any danger, which means I haven't really done anything to make you feel any better about it.

So I promised you we'd go over to Damascus, where Moaz Mustafa is the executive director of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. And that's exactly what we're going to do.

So in the region, as you know, Assad is now out of power. In a matter of a few days, the rebels finally take advantage of Hezbollah being elsewhere, Iran being distracted, Russia being fighting in Ukraine and take over the country. And Assad runs for his life after millions have left that country as refugees. They're coming back. And we know at least 500,000 are dead.

So he could stay in power. Moaz, welcome back to the Brian Kill Meet Show. Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me. Yeah, I know the the line's not great, but just we'll talk as long as you can.

Tell me what Damascus looks like today, and do you feel safe? I feel super safe. I drove actually through Idlib province, Aleppo, Hom, Hama, all the way to Damascus.

So, almost all the major cities of Syria. Everyone's in the streets jubilant, celebrating that Iran and Assad and Russia have been defeated by the Syrian people. And what they really love is that, look, nobody helped us. We did it ourselves, and we're proud of that, and now we can help build our democracy.

So, could you have done that before with Assad in power?

Sorry, the connection is a little bit confusing. No, no problem. Could you have driven through Aleppo into Damascus, all the cities that you went through? Could you have done that if Assad was still in power? Absolutely not.

Nobody could. Not just me as an American, but literally Syrian, millions, 14 million displaced, the most displaced people in the world between internally displaced and exteriorly displaced refugees. None of them could go back home. And as I was driving back, there were lines, lines of people coming back from Europe through Turkey, internally displaced going back. It is incredible.

I mean, to have, imagine, imagine a million Syrians that are like in. Germany and and other places going back home. First, they rebuild their country. And second, they also like, you know, are not a a heavy lift on the economy of of these different countries. I think it this is This is huge for the world just in terms of people coming back.

But what's even bigger is that the Iranian hegemony of the Middle East is no more. Um that's huge. And the fact that Russia has also been defeated now, that's also huge. You know what that allows? That allows our Air Force to go after ISIS targets in regime held areas that they could never go after before because of the Russian deconfliction.

If anything, Russian presence and the Asset regime protected either unwilling or incompetent in being able to battle ISIS.

Now we can wipe ISIS out and we can get our troops home way sooner than than previously thought, God willing. Who are you with?

So, I work with the Syrian Emergency Task Force, SETF. It's an American NGO that works for democracy in Syria. We're headquartered in Arkansas and Washington, D.C. We prosecute war criminals. We pursue policy like the Caesar Act, and we run humanitarian work in Syria to help people have education and not have to flee in the war.

But now, Many are coming back because the whole country is free. And what I want is, I think that Syria, the new Syria, could be a very important and valuable ally to the United States. And I'm so grateful that President Trump made a great statement about what was happening. First, he didn't just blanket say that terrorists are taking over Syria because that's actually not true, although that's what Biden said. Number two, he said it's the opposition.

He said, Russia, you don't need to be in Syria. You need to get out. Russia did exactly that. And everyone here, when I talk to them, they're like, thank God that President Trump's coming back. We believe that this is a good future and he can help us build our democracy by, you know, just his statements that are really helping keeping their enemies away and helping them get hope that they can do it themselves.

And now, what I stand for is doing everything I can to make sure that Syria. On this new path, becomes a democracy. Syria is actually the closest Arab country. In the whole world to becoming a democracy. But how can people feel optimistic, Moz, about it being a democracy?

There's no example outside Israel of a democracy in the Middle East, although we had great hopes in the past.

Well, that's right. But, you know, look, this was a fourteen year war. Um, in Syria, it went through a lot. A lot of countries intervened from the Gulf states to the Iranians to the Russians, etc., etc., but after those 14 years. people kind of left Syria alone.

No one thought about it. No one said anything about the bombing of schools by Iranians and Russians and Assad and the torture of people, including Americans. I mean, I'm here in in Damascus looking for Austin Tait and Meskamalov and other Americans. um that were detained by epidemic and God willing we can find them. All right, I want you to hear Al Jolani.

He's the man who might very well be in charge. And he was former Al-Qaeda. He was former Al-Qaeda, former ISIS, and then fought both of them. Here's what he said you could expect from him. You've gone through quite the transformation.

Once An al-Qaeda leader, and now you are projecting this image of a moderate leader in a moderate group. I believe that everyone in life goes through phases and experiences, and these experiences naturally increase a person's awareness. A person in their twenties will have a different personality than someone in their thirties or forties.

Do you believe he went through a transformation? You know, look, I don't think we should trust people by their words. I think we should trust people by their actions. Here's what's gone on in Syria over the last decade. HTS used to be something called Annusha.

That was the thing that had this loose al Qaeda affiliation that didn't have to do with transnational terrorism as much as it had to do with inter climate jihadist politics. But He dissolved An NUTRA, created HGS and cut off ties with Al Qaeda. What Al Qaeda did in return is start a new branch in Syria called HLR. He decimated them. As well as he, including HGS and other rebel taxes, completely wiped out ISIS out of the Northwest as the US and its partner forces, the SDF, Wiped ISIS out of the the northeast, and the Syrian Free Army, again alongside the US, wiped ISIS out of the south.

Um and now by HPS alongside all this bigger rebel faction, other rebel factions, taking Iran and Russia out of Syria.

Now, the U.S., alongside both the new Damascus government and its partner forces, can go after the last remnant of ISIS, which could be wiped up quite quickly. And hopefully, you know, in the beginning of President Trump's second term, we can have our amazing hero men and women come back home.

So, look, another thing.

Now, let's not look at international.

Okay, so this proves that he's not a transnational terrorist.

Now, let's look at how he's treating people here. I went to Aleppo, sat down with the bishop, the highest-ranking Catholic in Syria, and I said, Hey, are these guys terrorists? He's like, No, they're revolutionaries. I was like, Why is that?

Well, first, they didn't bother us. We've never seen the Taliban or Al-Qaeda or ISIS come into town and not slaughter Christians. And as a matter of fact, as you can see, we are decorating for Christmas. And so again, actions speak a lot louder than words. I'm encouraged.

Look, everybody wants to believe the best, but we've just been burned before with the Arab Spring, with Taliban. Although I never believed the Taliban, neither did you. But a couple of things. Are the Russians still in their military bases at this hour? Do you know?

They are evacuating those military bases. They only have two left, like Khmenim and Sartouz, and planes have not stopped taking Russians out of Syria. And and and Brian, I may have a tip on awesome type, so I I might have to run just to check because You know, God willing, he's alive and around, but this could be completely wrong. It could be something, but that's something that I'm going to rush through just in case. You know, he's in a place where, you know, if he God willing is still alive, we just want to get him, you know, the right.

So you got to run right now?

Okay. All right, so I'll let you run. I'm going to catch up on T V. I can do a few more minutes.

Okay, good. I want you to hear what Ambassador Robert Ford told us. He was the last US ambassador in Syria. This guy was in Al-Qaeda and with the Islamic State, broke with him, issues a message saying, I'm never going to use chemical weapons, and I invite the United Nations and the international community to come in immediately and secure these sites. I will work with you.

Can you imagine Osama bin Laden saying that? Never.

So that's why we need to have channels of communication. Maybe it's maybe it's baloney, could be baloney, but I'd sure want to test. I'd want to test.

So the ambassador says be open to somebody switching, and you feel basically the same way, right? I feel the same because I've seen it. You know, you know what he as I was here? He put out a decree across to all factions, not just HGS, because he now has the lead for every revolutionary rebel faction. He said, No one come near women.

If you see a woman, whether she's Muslim, Christian or whatever, no one even mentioned putting a head covering. People are free to do as they wish. They want to cover up, they cover up. They don't want to cover up, they don't cover up. It just everything I'm seeing reiterates exactly what Ambassador Ford has said.

All right, that's great news. And you and you were able to do you believe that news networks can go out of Damascus soon and feel secure doing live shots there? Like I know Trey Yinks is there.

Well, I'm here with Trey Yinks from Fox News, and I think he's going to have Uh prime time interview, hopefully, with with Joe Laney. I've also brought sixty minutes and other folks as well.

So Fox is on the ground with me in Damascus. We drove down here together.

Well, I think it's great. The other thing was the view on Israel. There have been three hundred fifty bombing raids. They're trying everyone's concerned about the chemical weapons. What should our audience know about what Israel should be worried about and what about the chemical weapons?

I just want to say, people should be worried about the chemical weapons when they were with the guy who used them against little kids. The guy who used them so many times because President Obama, after Assad murdered 1,400 people in the cover of Damascus. said, uh, yeah, you can get away with this and said, get get rid of your chemical weapons. He tricked Obama, got rid of like a tiny piece of chemical weapons, then 300 other attacks ensued. Do you know what chemical weapons being used by Essen?

It was when Donald Trump. Hit back, not risking off-strikes without risking any U.S.

soldiers, and got those places where they launched the chemical weapons attack from, and ESA didn't use them again. But now that they're with like the new Damascus, all this like this government wants to do is make sure that if there is any chemical weapon, come secure them, United States, UN, and get them out of here. New Damascus said there is no room for any weapons of mass destruction in Syria ever again. Moaz, stay safe and go find Austin Tice. Thanks so much.

Back in a moment with more to know. Don't forget, tonight, I'm on special report. He's so busy, he'll make your head spin. It's Brian Killmead. All right, welcome back, everyone.

It's time to find out if you want to know more. And of course, I'm going to be on Brett Bear tonight on special report. But before I do that, let's find out if there's more to know. More. Caitlin Clark, named Times Athlete of the Year, 22-year-old was simply phenomenal.

In Iowa, simply phenomenal. All NBA first team. Anyone who doubted that she could play at the highest level, like even Gino Oriyema of Yukon, said, I'm not sure she's got the build for it. She certainly does. She was fantastic, brought ratings in the league through the roof.

And she now wants to play golf. WNBA had its highest ratings in 22 years. No doubt about it. She deserves it.

Next, Cincinnati Bangladesh quarterback Jerob Burrow, the latest superstar, to have his house broken into while he played in the game. County Sheriff says he broke in in Hamilton County. The woman who called into 911 says I'm here at Joe Burrow's house, and there's someone breaking in the house. Other famous people whose homes were broken into while they played: Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelsey, Milwaukee star Bobby Portis, as well as Michael Connolly Jr. over in Minnesota.

This has got to stop. I'll tell you what, you got money. You got to put some security person, not a babysitter, in the house.

Next, Hall of Famer Ryan Sandberg announces. A cancer relapse. This guy indestructible when he played. He is a long time since a Chicago Cub. Ten all-star appearances.

The Hall of Famer provided health updates saying despite the news, he'll continue to have an optimistic mindset. Unfortunately, he told his fans, he's learned that cancer has come back. This means I'm back to more intensive treatment. Best of luck to Ryan Sandberg.

Next, Mike Tyson, Jake Paul, top Google searches. Tyson, number two, Jake Paul, number five. That was the worst. That was just a debacle. They should both be ashamed of themselves.

Next. What else can I tell you? Capitol Police suspect for allegedly assaulting Congresswoman Nancy Mace. 33-year-old James McIntyre of Illinois is facing a charge of assaulting a government official. Mace said, I was physically accosted tonight on Capitol grounds.

All the violence and threats keep proving my point. Women deserve to be safe. Your threats will not stop my fight for women. Keep in mind, she was assaulted in the military, too. She graduated from the Citadel.

She's extremely tough. Bad news.

Next, Mitch McConnell falls and sprains his wrist. He keeps falling. He's got some problems, physical ailments. That's why he's retiring. He's left leadership.

He fell and sprained his wrist. He is sitting now in a wheelchair being wheeled in the senator's office. He's got to watch it. When you get older, if you're having some problems with dropped foot, you begin to trip over things. It's sad.

Next, the most dangerous Christmas songs to drive to. Number 10, I saw Mommy Kissing Santa. Clause number nine, have yourself a merry little Christmas. Number eight, I wish it would be a Christmas Day, but dangerous. That's kind of interesting.

This, according to the research at South China University of Nectology, warned that listeners, this could be trouble. Rudolph is seven. Let us snow a six. War is over, number five. Santa Claus is coming to town, four.

Police Navida is three. All they want for Christmas is you and the most dangerous song Frosty the Snowman. And lastly, Bible sales are up 22% through the end of October. This, according to booksellers that tell the Wall Street Journal, quote, People are looking for hope with the world the way it is. Anxiety combined with the desire for certainty.

People are experiencing anxiety levels, says Jeff Crosby, and it's related to artificial intelligence, election cycles, and all of the feeds of desire for assurances. They were going to be okay. You could have asked me, I would tell you you're going to be okay, but you could go get the Bible. It's amazing. They put it in every hotel.

It's usually in every house, but still, people need more Bibles. Good news. This is Jimmy Phala, inviting you to join me for Fox Across America, where we'll discuss every single one of the Democrats' dumb ideas. Just kidding, it's only a three-hour show. Listen live at Noon Eastern or get the podcast at foxacrossamerica.com.

Listen to the show ad-free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Mm.