Biden defends Afghan troop withdrawal as Pete Hegseth is first Trump nominee to face questioning

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

So glad you're here. I'm here too. Brian Killmee coming your way, Lieutenant Colonel Alan West this hour, but we're going to be focusing on the first of many nomination hearings. It's going to be dominating over the next two to three weeks as Donald Trump takes over the helm on Monday. Thank goodness couldn't come soon enough as we wait for the nominees to come parading in.

It looks like because of paperwork problems, Doug Bergham and Doug Collins won't be going today. Collins next week, Bergham tomorrow, Thursday, excuse me. And I'll give you the whole rundown of what's happening. But today is as Michael Walsh will be meeting tonight with the, he's in National Security Advisor delegate, meeting with Jake Sullivan, will soon be his predecessor, and they'll have a nice conversation. But guess what?

Vice President Harris has declined to invite J.D. Vance to visit the observatory.

So they're with this young family. They can't even get used to the bedrooms. They're going to move in on the 20th. Class list. Big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. To watch Gavin Newsom pretend that he has nothing to do with this. No, you stand up and you accept responsibility for the things that you could have done. You don't have to accept responsibility for the fire itself.

Of course, and that is a former governor, now soon-to-be ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. LA fires, looting, high winds, incompetent leadership muddy the waters as a massive aid, as massive aid is debated and desperate. People yearn for help, and the fire is still burning out in Los Angeles. We'll bring you the latest. Number two.

In my view, It was time to end the war and bring our troops home, and we did. I commend the courage of all those who served in Afghanistan. And I grieve those brave service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal. Listen to him slur his way through his final foreign policy speech, delusional. Joe Biden's view of his four years in office.

He breaks down the first of his two farewell addresses. I'll do that today as he continues to leave, rushing through his massive left-wing agenda, student loan forgiveness, his disastrous DEI policies, now on steroids. Number one. Is someone with Pete Hexett's alleged history really the kind of person we want at the helm? When it comes to a job like Secretary of Defense, there can be zero question.

Zero. That the nominee is up for the job. Oh, please. We had that ridiculous four years of the four-star general who did absolutely nothing except disappear without telling the president. And I'm talking about Secretary Austin.

Now you have a guy that just fights 20 and works 20 hours a day. Nomination hearings begin as Peace Hakeseth is set to take the fire from the left. We preview the likely clash and why I think Hegseth not only prevails, but is the first confirmed.

Meanwhile, more details released on the pageantry and entertainment on Inauguration Day.

So, first, the fun stuff. It looks like. Uh Kid Rock is going to be seen. It looks like Carrie Underwood is going to be featured. America the Beautiful.

That's pretty cool, right? And then you're going to have, of course, Lee Greenwood, and you're going to have the village people. Village people will be there. I wonder why. Also, some of the pageantry: a garbage truck with wrapped in the Trump insignia.

You know, as he was called garbage, old Trump supporters are called garbage. Joe Biden was great at that, putting out those one-liners, as was the deplorable comment from Hillary Clinton. It's going to be forever memorialized in the parade. One of the unique things about what Donald Trump, one of the many unique things about Donald Trump's second term, everything's unique about him. We know that.

Real quick, at today.

So there was supposed to be a few of them today, but now all the focus is going to be on Pete.

Now I'm fine with that. I do have some reports that last night, Senator Richard Blumenthal thought he had a sensational story, but his source dried up and he's freaking out. Everybody is freaking out. I do have another source that said the Hag Seth Camp was being called left and right asking for comments from the news, but they didn't. And now it's just down to brass knuckles and brass tacks.

Cynthia Loomis from Wyoming met with Pete. One of the 40 you met with before Christmas. Overall, he met with over 50. Cut one. I've met with him personally, and I'm particularly excited and encouraged by what he brings to the Department of Defense in terms of recruiting news.

um people into the military. Uh we have a shortage. Yep, and she's a little mellow. I'm not going to slow down the show, but sh the recruiting is going through the roof. Why?

Because after Afghanistan, military brings in military.

So many families just served generation after generation, and they were just saying in the volunteer force, don't go in. Not under Joe Biden, don't go in. When they see that Secretary designate Heg Seth out there, a warfighter from the National Guard, served at Gitmo, served in Afghanistan, served in Iraq for 20 years. And they say the way he's going to be out there for the men and women that fight. They said go back in, and that's what you're going to hear about.

Democrats don't want you to know this, but one of the things we have is a falling off on recruiting, which shows the disastrous four years of Joe Biden. But they're going to just target them. And just be ready for it. But I think, as a country, we're done with the Kavanaugh-like settings. We're done really with the Al Franken Me Too.

Here's a picture during a. A USO tour and you're done as senator. I think we're done. Nobody's going to tolerate. Harassment Abused.

I'm not saying that. But the hyperactivity. And the holier than now, you better be perfect, or else you'll never serve. When the people asking you questions are as imperfect as they come, we're done with that. And I think it's going to be emblematic.

It's going to be on display here today. And if you go make... Senator Hirono and Tammy Duckworth. And if you're going to do that with Senator Richard Blumenthal, expect some blowback, and you deserve it.

So we'll see where that goes. President I have to say it a little bit longer. President Biden thought he'd have a farewell foreign policy address at the State Department yesterday. His final address, and he couldn't come soon enough, happens Wednesday. But it was so outrageous to watch him Make up stories about his legacy and his actions and his accomplishments.

So I thought we'd break it up. Play it out. And I'll further define it. How about correctly? And all of you could do this too, and you probably did.

I know most of you work in the afternoon, you're doing your thing, you don't have a chance to watch this stuff. I did. Cut six. I come here to the State Department to report to the American people. on the progress we've made in the last four years.

and our foreign policy and our Presidency. I've said many times We're at an inflection point. The post Cold War period is over. A new era has begun. In these four years we face crises.

That we've been tested. We've come through those tests stronger in my view than we entered those tests. Sadly, this President has not been able to and not even requested money at the Pentagon that would actually exceed inflation.

So he watched the dissemination, the decline. Of our military weaponry, the decay. Of our military base. As far as I can tell, he has not expanded it one iota. He has allowed Ukraine.

to be invaded War in Russia, they went in anyway. And all beca all because, in my view, of what he did in Afghanistan. Cut seven.

So when I took office, I had a choice. Ultimately, I saw no reason to keep thousands of servicemen in Afghanistan. I think I have my schedule with me and I keep on in my I don't hear. I don't have but I keep on the back of my card. The actual number of dead and wounded.

that occurred in our longest war, to remind myself. keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars a day. We're no longer doing that. In my view, It was time to end the war and bring our troops home, and we did. I commend the courage of all those who have served in Afghanistan.

We grieve all two thousand four hundred and sixty one Americans who made the element sacrifice in the longest war in American history. And I grieve those brave service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal. Okay. This guy was obsessed with playing in Afghanistan. We knew it as chairman of foreign relations.

We knew it when he was vice president. We also knew it when he was president. And we knew that he pulled out, not because Jake Sullivan told him to, Secretary of Defense Austin told him to, that it was recommended by Blinken. It was all him. And Sullivan was in charge of making it happen.

And he couldn't have done a worse job. And the fact is, he and Blinken don't even barely even talk anymore because of what a bad job he did. When Sullivan was asked to make it happen, he knew it wasn't going to be possible smoothly. He knew the Afghan fighters felt abandoned and they stopped fighting. He knew there are pull-outs happening so rapidly they couldn't secure anything.

And when the Taliban moved forward, they didn't even want to take Kabul. They knew they wanted to eventually take Kabul, but they wanted to be able to have the aid flow in.

So they wanted to have this so-called coalition government. But everybody fled, Gahani fled. This president was Watched as this Saigon was looked at as a day of the beach. He says, This won't be Saigon. You're right, Mr.

President. It was worse. And you authored it. It was your idiotic idea to leave this way. You're feckless, spineless.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley, signed off on it. Said, well, I wouldn't have done it that way, but whatever. Austin presided over it. The State Department dilly dallied and allowed all of our All of our biometrics of the people that helped us and the people that we were tracking to stay there. And we had to rush out.

And leave billions of dollars of equipment behind. All you had to do was leave 2,500 American troops. There was three times that of NATO troops. And what you have there in that base in Bagram is a looking glass on all our enemies: Pakistan, with a terrorist breed, China, who continued to try to unearth us and dislodge us as the premier power, economic, and military in the world, as well as Russia. All there.

But he chose to leave. It is now Terror University. Our allies are murdered. He's got hostages still being left behind. And this idiot is still pumping in humanitarian aid.

Did he mention the 13 that lost their lives on his brilliant withdrawal from there? No. Bye. During my Presidency, I've increased America's power in every dimension. We increased our diplomatic power.

creating more allies than the United States has ever had in the history of our nation. We've increased our military power. making the most significant investments in the defense industrial base in decades. That is just that is just not true. I don't know if more allies.

Tell me one ally we added. Please tell me what you've expanded. We don't have a bigger army. It's smaller. They're not better equipped.

We don't have more ships. We have less ships. Our main our navy has not been maintained. Our recruiting is in the dungeon. There's nothing better about our military under this guy.

And how he was able to sit there and brag about it, but that's as delusional as he was. He still says he would have beat Trump, even though there's not a person in his party outside maybe his drug addict son that thinks so.

So I I was just stunned by the idiocy. Here's his foreign policy. Cancels the China Initiative. What's the China Initiative? That was an all-points pushback at China.

They have set up. police departments in our cities, I'm not kidding, to police their people. They have set up in their embassies spy zones that we've we've excavated them of We have pushed back on the number of Chinese students there with the Chinese initiative, as well as trying to push back on all their cyber attacks while attacking back at them. They stopped all that. He waived sanctions on Vladimir Putin, and he said Nordstrom two could flow.

He says it's almost done anyway. We had an invasion right after that. This guy, along with President Obama, who tries to kiss up to Vladimir Putin, all he sees is weakness, for example, when Obama decides, for no reason, just to pull our missile defense system out of Europe. He does it. This guy sees weakness.

He takes Crimea. Botches the Afghanistan withdrawal in August of twenty twenty one. In October, images show Russia military buildup in Ukraine. He warns Putin not to invade. They invade.

He says they're going to fall within four days. They've been fighting now for three years. He's slow to arm them every step of the way, from no tanks to tanks, from no high Mars to high Mars, from no Patriots to Patriots, from no F sixteens to F sixteens, to no Attack'ems to Attack'ems. But I talked to you about over the course of two, three years, if they got him right away, Russia's probably back in their nest by now. Remember the spy balloon traveled across the US?

They wanted the balloon back. Not only they were unrepentant, they cut off relations with us after they spied on us and asked for their balloon back. And then we watch Hamas on October 7th. One two days prior, you had Jake Sullivan making a speech in the Middle East, saying the Middle East has never been so peaceful. And then you have the worst attack, one of the worst attacks in Israeli history, one of the worst attacks in Middle East history, with over a thousand died and hostages still being held longer than Jimmy Carter's Iranian hostages.

And I'm not kidding. We're going to talk when we get back about some breaks in the hostage negotiation. This is good news. But at what cost? They're in Doha right now.

And almost all sides are saying something's going down. I'll give you the latest on the Brian Kilmeat Show. Giving you everything you need to know. You're with Brian Kilmead. Fox News Audio presents the Fox Nation Investigates podcast.

The Menendez Brothers. Monsters or Misunderstood? We have evolved to understanding that this type of stuff would happen. Judge Jeanine Piro and a panel of experts break down the Menendez Brothers' new fight for freedom, and their defense attorney explains why he's optimistic he can clear their names. Are these convicted killers monsters or just misunderstood?

Listen and follow at FoxtrueCrime.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. At the early times, we endorse Karen Bass. I think right now, up front, that's a mistake, and we admit that.

We were one of the few to say competence matters. Maybe we should think about how we elect people. on the basis of did they actually run a job, did they actually make a payroll? Do they understand what it is? And rather than having professional politicians whose only job is really to run for office.

So that is the editor and owner of the LA Times, the same one that told the editorial section: we're going to balance out the Trump coverage. We're not going to endorse a presidential candidate. We're going to play it by year. Same as Jeff Bezos with the Washington Post.

Now it's looking at this mayor who's way over her head, was never a consequential congresswoman, and then became a mayor. of Los Angeles, and I can't give you the inside story on local politics. But this guy, Rick Caruso, is incredibly competent, a Democrat who used to run the power and gas on two terms, and he's a self made billionaire.

So he was got, you know, I'm going to go run this place, and you know, couldn't do it. Bass beat him. Fast end turns, gives all the unions huge raises they can't afford, puts incompetent people in powerful positions, and has huge salaries. I mean, the person in charge of power and gas now. Water power and gas make seven hundred fifty thousand dollars, double the predecessor.

That's called incompetence. How much money do you have to attract the best talent from the private sector? You don't give it all to one person, especially the last thing she was in, the person in charge, The last person thing you was in went bankrupt.

So the Palisade fire is 14% contained. Eden Fire, 33%. Hearst, 800 acres is burned, but 97% contained. But the thing is, you got to see this video. This fire is not subsiding.

It's it's really bad. Don't let it affect the people. Whatever you do, don't be like, well, Los Angeles, they're all not left. They're not. A lot of people are agnostic, they're just trying to make a living.

Don't also think Malibu and Pacific Palisades is all rich people. They are not. I live there. And some people are in there, and it's very rural. You know, it's very woodsy, rural.

Some people are raising chickens. You'll see these small shacks on the side of mountains.

So it's pretty significant. Jay Leno is somebody that lives there, cut sixteen. It's unbelievable, p it's the Biggest natural disaster, not that 9/11 was a natural disaster, but it's literally on that scale. I mean, it's. ten thousand buildings.

I mean, you can't even if you drove all day you couldn't see ten thousand buildings. I mean you get on that hill and you look for miles and there's nothing. It looks like Hiroshima or just some horrible thing. Uh but you know the sense of community neighbors meeting neighbors never met before and people all pitching in. It was also interesting.

You know, they're all pitching in. And uh don't matter if you're a celebrity or not. Because if you lost your house, you lost a $10 million house or you leave a $200,000 house, it means the same to both of you. And more than likely, the person in the $10 million house used to be in a $100,000 house. A radio show like no other.

It's Brian Killmead. We don't need. A general from the Pentagon. We've tried that. We need a drill sergeant.

Somebody that's been in two wars.

Somebody that understands camaraderie and team and work ethic and time restraint and respect. I'm a hundred and 10% behind Peak Hudson. We will have this time tomorrow, we'll be going through a confirmation process. He will be ripped. He will be Um The main He will be talked about.

But we're going to get him across the finish line.

So that was Senator Tommy Tuberville, the former coach, who sounds like he's getting his team ready to play. And that's his attitude. And that's where Pete's attitude is. Theories have gone underway. The chairman, Senator Roger Wicker, making his first statements as chairman of Armed Services is addressing Pete.

He also addressed the audience saying it's all full of veterans who came on their own. I talked to the Hegseth camp. He had nothing to do with you. A bunch of veterans just want to be there. Most of them are elite services, Navy SEALs, and Green Beret.

Mike Waltz is going to give the opening statement in support of Hegseth. And now you're about to see the ranking member, which is Jack Reed. I was going to give a speech. And he is not somebody who's a firebrand partisan. He's a military guy, but he's very much anti-Trump.

And expect him to bring up negative things about Pete and his background, most of which are allegations. Lieutenant Colonel Alan West joins us now, Dallas County Republican Chair, American Constitutional Rights Union Executive Director, former Congressman from Florida. Colonel, your thoughts as we wait for Pete to read his opening statements and Wicker kicks things off. Yeah, it's good to be with you, Brian. Without a doubt, what we're going to see today is.

The progressive socialist left, the Democrat Party, they're going to do everything they can to embarrass Pete Hexeth, which means embarrass President Trump and try to make him toxic for Republicans to want to support. They're going to try to go for the headlines and the talking point that can get out there across social media and what have you. But I think what Tommy Tubberville brought up was very important. And again, this is about understanding what type of person we need. We need to have people that have been at that tactical level, people that have been on the receiving end of a lot of the decisions that have been made at the strategic level to understand how they need to be better aligned.

And even when I was there on the House Armed Services Committee, which is the largest committee in the United States House of Representatives, some 73 members, I believe almost. Most of the people that sat on the House Armed Services Committee had never been in the military. They maybe had a military base in their district or something like that, but you had people. they were making strategic decisions that had never understood how the ramifications, the consequence of those decisions on the tactical level.

So I think that's the important perspective that someone like Pete Hexeth brings. And maybe hopefully we can get beyond all the character flaws that people see because there's no perfect person that ever walked the earth except for Jesus Christ. And I think that some of these people need to think about that before they open their mouths to. Also, Pete doesn't say this, but you lived it. When you come back from war, that really, and then you come back and they tell you to put a suit on and go to the office.

It's hard to assume that Princeton, Harvard, roll again, right? I mean, he definitely had an adjustment period before I really knew him. I don't know what went on there, but they did a lot of good things along with that, too. uh with the concerned veterans for America. That's when I first ran across him.

But then I worked for him ten, twelve years. I mean, one minute he's hosting the show at nine o'clock, the next minute he's up at six o'clock, hosting the show fair the next four hours. Yeah, I mean the production level is off the charts over the last 12 years.

So we'll see what happens on both ends. And the thing is, Colonel, is around him is going to be the hedge fund leader, the guy that runs the major corporations, the undersecretary, the deputy secretaries. You'll have a lot of experience around him. But you know what I'm encouraged about? I hear about military families looking at suboptimal housing.

And daycare when they live on basis, they're going to have somebody who goes, really? I care about that. You know, don't tell me, don't tell my staffer, tell me. And they got to have people you know, what are you doing in Syria? What is life like there for 1200 people in Syria in the middle of a government change with the Turks on one side, the Kurds on another, terrorists being held in prison?

He's going to go, I'm going to go see what it's like for these guys and these women.

So I think that there's going to be a sense that the men and women who are fighting have a voice. And don't you believe that that is vitally important? And sometimes four-star generals just don't get it? Yeah, look, four-star generals have been severely removed. And one of the things people need to understand: two-star, three-star, four-star generals, those are all political appointments.

It is not about being elevated by a panel of your peers. Last time that happens for a general officer is at the Brigadier General level or the Rear Admiral level, the one-star level.

So, yes, it's important to have someone that has that T-shirt and they earned that T-shirt. And, you know, what General, I mean, what Coach Tuberville, Senator Tuberville brought up was very important. Look at Lord Austin. Lord Austin, a four-star general. But you want to tell me that he was a successful Secretary of Defense?

No. Yes. And I think that that's a very important point that T. Hex has to bring out today. Look at all the command and duty positions that Lloyd Austin had.

Look at how he worked for defense contractors and things of this nature. But yet look at the policies of our Defense Department, our national security posture, the lack of meeting our recruiting and retention levels. We even have stories, and I've confirmed this, that soldiers on certain military installations out at Fort Carson. In Colorado, Fort Hood, Fort Cavazos here in Texas, they are running out of food at their dining facilities, their child halls. That's unconscionable.

And you need to have someone that has eaten at a chow hall recently, maybe, that could go back in and say, hey, look, we're not accepting this. And you already talked about the housing.

So, yes, it's important to have someone that has that perspective and not the perspective from the top down, but maybe from the bottom up.

So, Joe Biden gave a speech yesterday as we wait, as Roger Ricker is still reading his opening statement. But Joe Biden wrapped up his foreign policy. It's a total slice of fiction. His view of what he's done to the military, what he's done to our foreign policy, what he's done for our allies and how he's bolstered our enemies is totally upside down deck. And this is what he threw in at the end, cut eleven.

Come on. Let's get something in mind about the border. When I became president, the numbers came way down on the war. Number two. We had a circumstance where I pushed very hard for a bipartisan agreement to put more on the border, more Secret Services.

And guess what? He's on the phone saying, don't do it. Don't do it. Make me look bad.

Okay. I mean Well first of all, more Secret Service agents on the border. I mean, this shows the lack of mental acuity that this guy has. And furthermore, when you looked at that legislation, the whole purpose of putting more quote-unquote border patrol agents down there was for them to be more babysitters. They were not going to be down there to enforce the border, to make sure that things were going to be happening to deport individuals.

He told ICE not to do their job. And there's nowhere you can sit and say that numbers went down. I saw him trying to take a victory lap over fentanyl. A quarter of a million Americans died on his watch in four years.

Now, that's unconscionable. We lost 37,000 in the entire Korean War, 58,000 in the entire Vietnam War. He lost a quarter of a million Americans to fentanyl, and he's trying to take a victory lap about that. Give me a break. And I think that everybody that watched him, if they did watch him, They said this is the reason why he is on his way out.

So Bill Malujian tweeted this out: a stunning bold-faced lie. I'm having trouble picking my jar up off the floor that he will make such a claim. It's unbelievable. Let's get something straight about the border. When I became president, this is the quote: the numbers came down.

He also claimed to have pushed very hard to put more secret service agents on the border. Nuts. Uh So he said in terms it's been ten point seven million illegal immigrants who have crossed.

Now they're sneaking them in through that app, so they fly them into various airports. Those are my words. The terror watch list, eleven under Trump. Under Harris and Biden. 388, a 3,500% increase.

VOX of all outlets on Wah the Crossings fell slightly in the early half of 2024. They're still significantly higher than the decade before Biden took office.

So no one's. Nobody is Is protecting him now. And for him to say that statement and still be able to shake hands with people, and Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State. Blinken, who by the way, evidently don't talk after Afghanistan. Yeah.

Don't tell me that that works in America's behalf. That's terrible leadership. Your National Security Advisor doesn't talk to your Secretary of State, and you call yourself a president.

So you settle that or fire one of them.

So I am just beside myself the way this guy and by note he did yesterday, he forgave thousands of more student loans for all those people, those welders out there, those plumbers who elected to go to a trade school or learn a skill. Thanks. You're paying for somebody else's college.

Well, and think about this. Nancy Pelosi said that Joe Biden did not have the constitutional authority to do that. The United States Supreme Court says you don't have the constitutional authority to do that. But yet he still continues to do it. And so here is a guy that has basically said, I don't care about the Constitution.

I don't care about what it says my duties, responsibilities, enumerated powers are. I'm going to do whatever the heck I want. And people are actually applauding him and saying that he's going out in a dignified and honorable manner, that they're trying to pat him on the back. I mean, this is sick. And it's delusional and it's deranged.

And thank God that he is packing up his stuff. And a week from today, there's going to be a different presidential administration. Yeah, I certainly hope so.

So as we move through and see the president inaugurated on Monday, he's going to have 100 executive orders ready to go. And he has got oil and gas is going to start flowing immediately. But now you have fires in California. Where you have a fire budget that was cut. The fire department chief said, We're not able to work because of cuts I told them not to make.

While Gavin Newsom has put aside $40 to $50 million to Trump-proof his state, here is the head of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Listen to her. Did they fail you? That is our job, and I tell you, that's why I'm here.

So let's get us what we need so our firefighters can do their jobs. Did they fail you? Yes. When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, We expect there's going to be water. We don't control the water supply.

Our firefighters are there to protect lives and property and to make sure that we're properly trained and equipped. Here's more. My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded. The growth of this city since nineteen sixty has doubled, and we have less fire stations. Since the three years that I've been in the seat, I've sounded the alarm to say we need more, this is no longer sustainable.

That's the fire department. That's not Brian Kilmey talking to Lieutenant Colonel Alan West about the terrible job Bass and Newsome are doing. These are the people that have to fight the fires. Yeah, but she also was very much so focused on all the equity and inclusion. And what about bringing back all of those firefighters that you got rid of because they did not want to take the COVID shot, which we now know they were true and their stance?

And then what about all of the excess fire equipment that you sold away, gave away to Ukraine? I mean, don't you think that that would be needed now? And so, again, it's easy to come out and say these things at this point, but why didn't you say these things when you saw all of these policies being enacted that you knew would harm your ability to respond to these fires? You know that you have a season for forest fires. You know that you are dependent upon reservoirs and things of this nature.

You should have been doing emergency preparedness action drills and thought through these things and say, hey, look, hey, Mayor Bass, Governor Nussa, we don't have the adequate water supply if we had this level of a fire. You always plan for the worst case scenario. Yeah, everybody can come back now and try to have a CYA moment, but she's at fault as well. Here's Gavin Newsom. You talk about anti-leadership.

Here's a guy, governor of a state, that's literally burning to the ground. And here's what he says: Cut 20. The reservoirs are completely full of state reservoirs here in Southern California. That miss and disinformation, I don't think, advantages or aids any of us. Responding to Donald Trump's insults, we would spend another month.

I'm very familiar with them. Every elected official that he disagrees with, very familiar with them. We do know, though, from reporting here locally that that one reservoir that serves the Palisades was not full. And that's exactly what triggered my desire to get the investigation to understand what was happening with that local reservoir. Do you believe this clown?

So that reservoir, so he got caught in a lie. Number one. Number two, the some reservoirs were full, but the electricity that would allow them to pump back into the energy, there was no backup authority.

So when the electricity went down, there was no way to pump the water out of the reservoir to the hydrants because there was no backup system.

So they w yeah, they might have been full, but what are you trying to spin the story for? And haven't we heard previously about issues with power and the electric grid out there in California? As a matter of fact, Gavin Newsom sent out an order asking people with their EVs not to plug in because they may crash the power grid. Look, there's a cacophony of failures, policy failures out there in California. And I think the most important thing that everyone needs to understand is that the American taxpayer, the federal government, is going to be asked to come in and rescue California.

There has to be some changes in the leadership of California before a penny is sent out there because you just cannot throw a good American taxpayer dollar after bad policies. And these people need to step down without a doubt. Yeah, I j the thing is, ca uh the mayor uh and and the governor. And this is not I mean, these are people in Los Angeles who are waiting for a leader to step up and say this was wrong, but this is right, and this is what I'm fixing, this is what I'm going to do. Instead, you have a guy running around doing podcasts to go after Trump while asking Trump to bail him out.

Crazy. Curl Allen West, thanks so much. Trying to Trump proof his space. I mean, that's silly. Crazy.

Thanks so much, Colonel. Talk to you soon. We'll see what happens with Pete. I'm sure he's going to get confirmed. Back in a moment.

Current events and news that affects you. Brian's got a lot more to say. Stay with Brian Kilmead. The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Killmead.

If there is one thing harder to extinguish than the fires, it is the most resilient of. the rights talking points. The whole thing is a complete disaster. A lot of it comes back to DEI. Kristen Crowley.

The fire chief in Los Angeles. She's a very silly woman. The first gay female fire chief ever. Wow. Under her is Christina Kepner, first elder First Lesbian Assistant Chief.

Didn't Under her is Christine Larson. They're all Christine or Christina. She's also a lesbian. Christina, Christina, Christina, lesbian, lesbian, lesbian. What?

What are you doing? You just summoned them! Do you understand? You can't! You can't just say the name three times?

Do you know what you just unleashed onto this earth? From now on, it's just Infernos. And lesbian firefighters.

Well, it is kind of funny. And he was having fun with Megan Kelly. I do think that she comes out in, and Lieutenant Colonel Alan West brought it up. I mean, they were so into. They're so into being politically correct in DEI, the fire fighter and uh fire fighters, they were just heralding the fact that um she's a lesbian running this organization, this uh Christian Crowley.

So it is crazy. In fact, one of the statements were When you go in when there's a fire, you'd like someone to save you that looks like you. Does anybody think that's a statement that makes any sort of sense at all? My goodness, I could get out of this fire, but I just need a white Irish Italian guy to get me. I'm not going to run out with some Asian guy.

All right. We have a lot going on. Michael Waltz is now speaking for Pete Hagseft on his behalf. We watch Jack Reed paint Pete as the worst person in the world, as a ranking member on armed services. But here we go.

Brian Kilmicho, so glad you're here. From Hia Tom, Fox News Headquarters. Order. New York City. Always seeking solutions, never sowing division.

It's Brian Kilmead. Hi, everyone. Brian Kilmey here. Thanks so much for listening. We have a big hour coming away.

I come to you from Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world, where there was actually a Survey done. Uh and they did a you know, it's uh it's not uh gallop. But they said who's the leading candidates to be, who are the leading candidates to be. The next mayor, Cuomo's winning with 32% of the vote. The current mayor has 6% of the vote.

A little bit later, we'll do a simulcast with Stuart Varney on FBN. We are seeing the testimony and opening statements from Pete Hagseth now as the first of 16, 18, 25 hearings going to be taking place. Over the next two weeks, Pete Cealing went on the docket, some paperwork.

some paperwork held up, Doug Bergam until Thursday. And we have Doug Collins for the VA. It'll be next week now.

So we have Steph Kite, who's standing by with Axios. But first, let's get through the big three.

Now, with the stories you need to know, it's Brian's big three. Number three. Watch Gavin Newsom pretend that he has nothing to do with this. No, you stand up and you accept responsibility for the things that you could have done. You don't have to accept responsibility for the fire itself.

LA fires, looting, high winds, incompetent leadership, mighty the waters as massive aid is debated and desperate people yearn for help and a place to live. There's just very little where places for them to go. Uh we have the latest. Number two. In my view.

It was time to end the war and bring our troops home, and we did. I commend the courage of all those who served in Afghanistan, and I grieve those brave service members whose lives were lost during the withdrawal. There we go. Joe Biden, delusional. Joe Biden's view of his four years in office.

We break down the fiction, which he calls accomplishments. and his DEI policies, which he's jamming down our throats on the way out. Number one. Is someone with Pete Hexeth's alleged history really the kind of person we want at the helm? When it comes to a job like Secretary of Defense, there can be zero question.

Zero. that the nominee is up for the job. Here we go. That is Chuck Schumer, New York Senator, as usual, an embarrassment, just a blatant partisan. Nomination hearings begin as Pete Haythess has said to his take the fire, and he has.

The opening statements came from the ranking member as well as the committee chair. And now we see, as Pete Hagseth got through three lines of his opening statements and he's making his way through now, we had code pink people get up and scream and get hauled out. When they come in dressed in pink, you know what they're going to do. Why are they allowed in? Repeated bad behavior cannot be rewarded with a seat at congressional testimony, in my view.

And again, a third one is just being hauled out now. This one, another, this one, a guy.

Some other loser. Steph Kite joins us now of Axios. Steph, the theatrics have been unrelenting so far. Yeah, I don't think I'm particularly surprised given just how controversial Hexeth's nomination has been thus far. He's really taken the most heat of all of the nominees over the past several weeks since Trump announced that he would be his pick to lead the Defense Department.

So, you know, we were expecting some kind of protest in the room. This is not unusual for high profile hearings like this. And we are expecting Democrats to go pretty hard at him. And even watching Ranking Member Jack Reed's opening remarks in his own way, it was a pretty clear and pretty critical opening statement of Hex Seth, of course, acknowledging his service, but also laying out some pretty serious concerns he has. About his nomination.

Right. In terms of, you know, he's not a four-star general who's going to go grab surgery and not tell the president and be disappeared for four weeks.

So I know that works against him, I guess.

So Pete's given his opening statement now, but these people getting up, standing up, shouting out, I mean, why? You know, these people dressed in pink shirts. That's all they do. That's their job. It's amazing to me how tolerant these Washington police are.

Well, you know, I mean, we do believe in freedom of speech, and there are rules around letting people have access to the room. Of course, once they do, you know, interrupt the hearings, they are removed, as you pointed out. But there's not much you can do. You can't presume that someone is going to be disrupted ahead of time. You know, they have to allow people access to these public hearings in some ways.

But, you know, we have seen in the past that they do move relatively quickly to move people out. But of course, it is disruptive. It's not the first time we've seen this. And certainly, Hexeth was prepared for those kinds of interruptions. Yeah, he's moving right through it.

That's one thing in the jobs that you do and I do, we're used to this because when you're on the air, you're used to things happening, news breaking, cameras go down, things to that nature, live shots go down.

So this is maybe a day on Fox and Friends for him. But, Steph, it's just the way the format is. But, Steph, in particular, I think there's a lot at stake for the Democrats here. I mean, Senator Schumer's made it clear. We have to.

Shift the momentum in Capitol Hill. And we got to get our feet beneath us as we wait to get another DNC chair. And one way they want to do it is get vulnerable candidates that they think are controversial: Tulsi Gabbard, RFK, and Pete Hagseth.

So, do you think that the Democrats and the Armed Services Committee feel pressure? I mean, there is definitely pressure. I mean, you take a step back, and Democrats are clearly still reeling from their 2024 losses and trying to find their footing again, figuring out who they're going to be in the minority. And we're already seeing signals from minority leader Chuck Schumer and even Jack Reed's opening statements. They intend to go hard against some of these nominees.

Of course, some will get bipartisan support. For example, Senator Marco Rubio is expected to sail through with his nomination to lead the State Department. For example, there are others who will likely get some bipartisan support. But when it comes down to some of the most controversial picks, like you pointed out, Pete Hexeth, Tulsi Gavard, a few others as well, Democrats are ready to really fight against those nominees that they see as vulnerable, that they have concerns about. They're doing that through not agreeing to speed up the process, delaying some of these processes.

We expect to see votes delayed where Democrats are able to. And, you know, the question here is whether Republicans stay united. It seems likely that most feel comfortable with most of these nominees. My sense is that they expect all these nominees to still get through. But the people I'm watching are some of those Republicans who may have some concerns, whether it's Joni Ernst today on the Armed Services Committee, whether it's Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins when it gets down to a floor vote.

But Democrats are not going to make it easy for Republicans to pass some of these picks. Right. What about speed? I mean, what are the minority Ability to slow the process down. Because I think for Republicans and Democrats, it really puts the country at risk when you can't get people a hearing and a vote.

Yeah, so we've already seen some of these delays, and part of these delays are a part of committee rules. For example, there are rules that state that hearings cannot be scheduled less than a week after the FBI background checks have arrived at the committee. There have been times where the minority party and majority party would agree to overrule that and set a hearing for earlier than would initially be intended. And we've seen Democrats refuse to get on board with those with that kind of an agreement. We've seen that with Tulsi Gabbard, for example.

And then when it comes to floor votes, we could see Democrats refuse to agree on time agreements, which could delay votes several days. And that's where Majority Leader John Thune has already told Senate Republicans to be ready to stay in through the weekends if necessary so that they can get these people confirmed as quickly as possible.

So let me ask you, too. You wrote a column today that John Thune, assuming the job and doing Feeling very comfortable, in my view, very comfortable as majority leader, has put up, came up with his A-team, his support squad. Who made the cut? Right, so this is a group of senators who don't have any formal leadership, but they join in on these weekly leadership meetings and will have significant sway. You have Steve Daines, who of course helped give Thune his majority as NRSC chair last cycle, and Daines was also supportive of Thune's leadership bid fairly early, though not vocally until later in the game.

And then also Mark Wayne Mullen, who was the first to publicly endorse Thune for his leadership bid. He'll be in the room. John Cornyn, interestingly, ran against Thune for leadership, but he has long been an esteemed Republican senator. He was in the room when McConnell had his kind of kitchen cabinet.

So Cornyn will join them, as well as Marcia Blackburn is another one who will be joining in on those meetings. She really got a lot of praise for her work on the RNC platform, which Took on a much more Trumpian style, and so she's been someone that a lot of people in the conference view as a link to Trump and also just someone they rely on.

So let's look at the Lake and Riley Act. You mentioned that if people are going to be detained if they commit a crime or accuse of committing a crime, that's going to be a lot of illegal aliens that we have to house. It could be costly. Do you think this Lake and Riley Act might be more might be vulnerable? I mean, the question here is whether ICE is able to actually follow through on this law.

If it does pass, it seems likely to pass. We'll be watching what amendments get brought up, whether there are any changes to the legislation as is. This bill, of course, requires the detainment of any undocumented immigrants who are charged or convicted of certain non-violent offenses, particularly robbery, theft, these kinds of things. And while that may seem like a good idea to some people, in a bipartisan fashion, there's been support for such a policy. The reality is, logistically, ICE needs a lot more bed space to handle that kind of a requirement.

They have already kind of Done an analysis and found nearly 67,000 people who would meet the criteria of the Lake and Riley Act that they would need to detain. They already are near or at capacity in their detention spaces as it is, and they are already required to detain certain criminals, especially those who have committed violent offenses. And so they have told Congress that if they're going to be required to follow through on this, they could need at least $3.2 billion just to create the space. All right, so let's talk about what's happening out in California. We think the president-elect is going to be going out there.

He's been very critical of Gavin Newsom and Mayor Bass, but so is just about everybody. Listen to the editor of the LA Times, Cut 15. We endorse Karen Bass. I think right now, up front, that's a mistake, and we admit that. We were one of the few to say competence matters.

Maybe we should think about how we elect people. on the basis of did they actually run a job? Did they actually make a payroll? Did they understand what it is? And rather than having professional politicians whose only job is really to run for office, So, I mean, it's pretty significant.

I mean, out in the LA Times, not known as a bastion of conservatism. The owner said we made a mistake. Mayor Bess is impressing absolutely nobody, and her decision to go to Ghana is ridiculous, and it counteracts what she pledged not to do stuff like that when she became mayor. And now she looks totally overwhelmed. I don't really know many people coming to her defense, including the fire chief.

And Gavin Newsom's essentially acting like he's the governor of Greenland. It's not my responsibility. Let me get to the bottom of it. It's odd, isn't it? Yeah, I mean, to your point, there really have been very few defenders of Mayor Vass and the way she's been handling this.

She's clearly going to be in real jeopardy there. It's not a good look, and she's kind of delayed even answering for some of the criticisms that have been brought against her. And anyone watching the television and seeing the destruction, it's just It's heartbreaking, it's disastrous, and people are going to be angry at the lack of response when they see just how much damage and destruction was allowed to happen. And there's going to be a lot of investigations into what went wrong and how they could allow such a disaster to unfold and why it's taken so long to get these fires under control. And it's interesting, the Gavin Newsom element.

I was one who was thinking he could be a rising star for 2028 for the Democratic Party. And this is just an immediate, serious blow to any future political chances. Lastly, just your 30,000 feet view, how does this Trump term feel different on the lead up than the last one? You know, I think people have a better sense of how Trump operates. We've seen a lot more people, whether it's foreign leaders or business leaders here in the U.S.

or politicians of both sides of the aisle. John Fetterman meeting with him, people understand that Trump is willing to do deals. And we've seen a lot more people, rather than just protest, they're trying to find ways to work with him, work with his administration. And it's just a very different tone, I think, than going into 2017 when he first came into office, where people were really I think the fact that Trump won so handily in 2024 has been a part of that shift. And we'll see how long it lasts.

All right. Steph, it's going to be a very exciting week. We've got the inauguration on Monday, the major event with 20,000 people in an arena on Sunday. And then we'll see what kind of counterproof parades. Last time there was thousands marching against him, the women's march copped off by Madonna, threatening to blow up the White House.

So we'll see if things go smoother this time and how big the crowd is. Steph, thank you very much. Thank you. All right. Back in a moment.

We'll give you the latest and we'll play back some of the clips from the fiery Hegset nomination. Don't move. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead.

It's an honor to come before this committee today as President Donald Trump's nominee for the Office of Secretary of Defense. Two months ago, 77 million Americans gave President Trump a powerful mandate for change. to put America first. At home, and abroad. I want to thank President Trump for his faith in me and his selfless leadership.

for our republic. The troops Have no better commander-in-chief. Then Donald Trump.

So that is just a small portion of the opening statements from Peter Hagseth. Secretary of Defense nominee.

Now. That is it was interrupted quite often by some crazy code pinkers and some other people screaming out obscenities. And Senator Jack Reed was very aggressive. He actually asked for more time in a second round. It was rejected by the Chairman Wicker.

Here's Jack Reed, cut thirty-seven. mister Hag said, I do not believe that you are qualified to meet the overwhelming demands of this job. We must acknowledge the concerning public reports against you. a variety of sources. Including your own writings, implicate you with disregarding the laws of war, financial mismanagement, racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform, alcohol abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other troubling issues.

I have reviewed many of these allegations and find them extremely alarming. Indeed, the totality of your own writings and alleged conduct that would disqualify any service member from holding any leadership position in the military. much less being confirmed as the Secretary of Defense.

So that was a, he's very aggressive. There's a lot of pressure on him to come out very aggressive. Jack Reed is not a firebrand, but his words certainly were. He then asked for to put four or five pages of complaints forward to put into record. Roger Wicker said, yeah, I'll put him into record.

I'm not sure what that means.

So he goes ahead and does it.

So they're going to get seven minutes each, work their way up and down the line. It's going to go to about two in the afternoon. If Hexas gets through once Gaith, I mean, this is really. Uh this is the toughest one. And they'll realize.

That they might as well just confirm these guys because they're not going anywhere. They want to break the Republicans who have 53 votes. That means they could lose three because the vice president could come in and just gavel them in and okay them. They'll do it.

Now, with Rubio's case, he's going to get about 90. That might be, and I know Dick Durbin says, listen, of course I'm voting for him. Fatterman says, of course I'm voting for him. And. With John Ratcliffe, too, CIA, Missouri D and I.

But Pete'll be tough uh be tough for her because it's a little unorthodox. But the one thing about uh Pete You question his integrity, you question his toughness, and you got a problem. If you don't think he can keep up with you in the give and take, you got a problem. And Jack Reed, you're 100 years old.

Someone's giving you your questions. Even though you know the military, I don't think that you got the brainpower to stay with him. Can we come back? I'll be able to take some calls for the first time. I'm going to play some more from these hearings.

Brian killed me, Chad, don't we? Radio that makes you think. This is the Brian Kill Me Show. When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me. was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense.

He like me wants a Pentagon laser focused On lethality, meritocracy, warfighting, accountability, and readiness. All right, so there you go. That was some of the interruptions early on after he got through introducing his family and his kids. As soon as Pete got started talking, people started interrupting again. But I actually think things like that kind of relax you.

So if you're worried about the scripted situation, what Jack Reed's going to be saying to you, what Elizabeth Warren wants to know from you, and someone just stands up and just breaks the tension, I actually think it works to Pete's. To Pete's benefit, my personal opinion. I'm not going to spend the whole time talking about the hearings. I do want to spend a little bit more talking about what he had to say. about the culture of the Pentagon.

And what they say about his personal attacks, which you know are common. Cut 43. I'm not a perfect person. As has been acknowledged. Saved by the grace of God.

By Jesus and Jenny. I'm not a perfect person. But redemption is real. And God forged me. in ways that I know I'm prepared for.

And I'm honored by the people standing and sitting behind me. And I look forward to leading this Pentagon on behalf of the warfighters.

So that was pretty strong. And they're ready to go. And by the way, Jen Hegsef too has been through a lot.

So we'll see where this one goes. The other thing that's happening, there's so many subplots happening right now. Many of you listening, I have a TikTok account. I don't. As soon as I talk to Mike Gallagher on the On the China committee before he left.

Another office. He was frustrated about how little was getting done in the House. I mean, I went to school on what's going on in TikTok, and essentially their news feed and their ability to infiltrate and find personal information about the next generation of Americans through what I think is a very innovative algorithm that they put together that's very addicting for the American public. It's got them banned in a lot of other countries and is about to get them banned here. And unless the Supreme Court decides to go against where their oral arguments are indicating, they're going to ban it in two days.

At which time, one of my guests today, and we'll put it online if you don't hear it, is Frank McCord and Kevin O'Leary put together a group to buy it. They said, keep your algorithm, China, but we can't afford to have you here. Many of you listening to me right now say I do business on TikTok. I understand that. Many of you say I love it, and I get it, and they do deserve credit for their business model.

But it's a Chinese-owned entity. We wouldn't let ABC, CBS, or Fox be bought by a foreign entity. Out of nowhere comes a word from this China-owned company that they're looking at possibly selling it to. Elon Musk So that's kind of interesting, right? Cut twenty-five, Kevin O'Leary.

TikTok is Trump's deal. All right? He's not giving it to anybody else. It's his deal. He's going to use it for all kinds of leverage.

I get it. It's a negotiating tool against China. I get it. But he is the consummate deal maker. He's not going to let this drift into someone else's hands.

That's my personal take. I asked him myself just 24 hours ago: are you going to support? Bringing this thing and keeping it alive, because I got, you know. A lot of businesses running on it and he will. Let's see what happens next.

We'll see what happens next. And that's why China says we want to sell to Elon Musk. Elon Musk's got a lot of entity there. Maybe they feel if they sell it to him, they might have leverage over him. I personally, Elon Musk has already shown he doesn't have more loyalty to the country than he does his companies, and that includes China.

And look. Uh if uh if it turns out That one of his companies suffers because of his loyalty to the government or what he's doing on Doge or getting rid of the electric car subsidy. Or in this case, if he loses manufacturing base in China for Tesla, that happens.

So, I think this is a big move. I think it's a big deal. And I agree with Senator Mark Kelly on this: cut 26. Based on the oral argument in the case two days ago, it looks like the Supreme Court. I mean, I don't really want to speculate, but it does look like they're going to uphold the law that we pass.

So I think on the 19th, so one day before the inauguration, you know, TikTok. on our systems, on our servers, become something that's now been banned by Congress.

So I imagine there's going to be a disruption in the service here, starting on the 19th. I know this is controversial. I know there are folks out there that earn a living on TikTok. But it has a national security risk to it. Huge, and it's already been shown that we have a Chinese entity on the Chinese Communist Party in their version of a Politburo, I think it might even be called that.

They have a member on the TikTok board from that bureau.

So enough. Senior Chinese officials have already begun to debate contingency plans for TikTok. See, is this a the business owners? Chinese officials So, TikTok is part of an expansive discussion on how to work with Donald Trump's administration. And one of which involves Elon Musk.

Said the people, asking not to be identified. Confidential discussions. A potential high-profile deal with one of Trump's closest allies holds some appeal for the Chinese government, which is expected to have some say of whether TikTok is ultimately sold. They could just dissipate it. Must spend more than two hundred fifty million supporting Trump's reelection has also tapped for a prominent role in improving government efficiency, which he offered to do on his or when he was streaming on X.

I don't really know. Can you own X? I mean, I guess you can 'cause if you if Meta can own Instagram and Facebook. But do you think as X And TikTok, would he merge them together? I don't know, maybe they feel they can manipulate Musk.

I'm not sure.

Some of the good news, it looks like they're zeroing in. And according to one report, Hamas has already agreed on the parameters of some type of hostage swap for prisoners, I'm sure. But what I have heard coming out of Doha Officials close to the negotiations say there are 98 hostages in Gaza. Thirty-three hostages are known to be alive. They would be released, mostly women, children, and elderly.

Officials hope two Americans are included in the release days before the inauguration. They say the phase one of the deal would kick off with a forty-two-day ceasefire. During this time, Israeli forces would not withdraw from Gaza. IDF would pull back from the corridor, Sevdafili corridor, separating Egypt and Gaza. Phase two of Freach would involve the release of Israeli soldiers and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

Right now, Phase III would involve the recovery of the bodies of the remaining hostages.

So here we go. Why do I think it's going to get done?

Well, everybody else seems to think it's going to get done. Why? Because President Trump said there's going to be hell to pay, number one. Number two is they know when Trump comes in, Netanyahu is unleashed. He's not going to worry about who's rallying on Columbia.

He's not going to worry about what AOC says. He's going to ask Netanyahu to worry about women and children. This guy, this president, cares more about that than any other in my lifetime, probably. And he's going to say, you better preserve life, but I understand you've got to finish off your enemy.

So we'll see where this goes. because Trump coming in shows things are only going to get worse for Hamas. It's probably the best deal they're going to get. Yesterday, it turns out that Sinwar's brother is now in charge, and he's quickly recruiting. They've killed seventeen thousand roughly, plus seventeen thousand Hamas fighters, hopefully more.

and they're starting to recruit more into it. Here's the issue now. They're not going to be getting the money from Iran anymore. They're not going to be getting the diversion of support from Syria. And Hezbollah anymore.

They're going to get the direct attention of the IDF, who know exactly who was responsible, many of which are dead for those October 7th attacks.

So look out. This is going to be really interesting.

Now. My fear not my fear, but my worry is that Joe Biden, who's done nothing but slow walk and undermine Netanyahu after giving some support, it's always half measures with him, which is another sign of terrible leadership. They're going to say, look what I did on the way out. I got a hostage deal for the next president, setting him up. When we all know.

That if it was up to President Biden. Nanyahu never went into Rafa. They never would have gone back and destroyed Hamas to the degree they did. They never would have gone into the West Bank and tried to extradite who was there. They never would have had the pager explode in the killing of Nasarella, his underlings, and the beheading of that entire organization.

But he's taking credit for it. Which to me is nuts. We got the latest on the HegSet situation. When we come back, I got Stuart Varney going to be joining me, and I'm joining him. We'll do a simulcast on FBM.

Also, look at we're getting a sense of what the Trump Team two is going to look like and what they're going to be up against in Washington. at a time in which I think that we in America have stopped holding Our political leaders, our music stars, our actors, our celebrities, our comedians are leaders to this ridiculous policy. of perfection. Of the Me Too movement, which gave way to the America Sucks movement, to a war on history movement. and the political correctness movement.

that's almost destroyed everything we were built on. We came out of that. That's what makes me think we're going to get to real questions and not the soap opera stuff. If you listen to the Brian Kill Me Show, don't move. Educating, entertaining, enlightening.

You're with Brian Kilmead. Now, the Brian Kilmead Show joins Fox Business's Varney and Company with Stuart Varney live on your radio and on Fox Business. Here's Brian Kilmead. Welcome back, everybody. I'll be doing a Samocast in FBN.

I'm also watching some of the nominations of the fireworks. We saw Senator Janine Shaheen, former governor, I believe, from New Hampshire. Seem a little dismissive, but I don't think she landed anything on Pete Hegseth, who's really come in, I think, any type of nerves that he might have had, which would have been understandable. I just don't think. Are in play right now.

He's dealing with a friendly voice, but a consistent one is Senator Tom Cotton, who also left an Ivy League institution after graduating and decided to join the military. But instead of just joining the military, he said, Give me the infantry. That's exactly what Pete said as well.

So when we come back with Stuart, we'll talk about what the foreign policy success is. If I could, you put that word, underline that word. If I could put that under Joe Biden, so let's listen. Thank you, Curry. If I don't see you again.

I, well, you know. In the briefing. Thank you for all waiting. You could have stopped taking the hard questions years ago, and you didn't.

So we appreciate that. Over two years, my friend. This is, let's say, one last dance, right? I don't know how I'm going to fill my dance card now. How will I fill that void without you?

You told me. You told me. Start some rumors in here, I guess. He's getting red, too. Look at it.

You know, Brian, they had a kind of contentious relationship, but I think that's a nice way to go out. What say you? It is. Jensaki, I thought, was very. You know, that was a there was a lot of sparring there, too.

I thought it was a classy way to go out. And it was good that she kept on calling on him and vice versa. It was just a shame there weren't more people who were challenging the administration. And I think that's going to be one of the stories, Stuart. I know, like, whatever happens between them, unlike Jensaki, Gensaki gave.

Peter answers, even if they weren't the answers you wanted. But they gave answers. I I never remember an answer from her. It's almost as if she wasn't in the room.

So I found it kind of painful to watch, but it's not Peter's fault, it was hers. But Gen Sake, I thought, were was right on the money. All right. A former senior White House staffer Says Biden became a different person as he aged in office. Why are we just hearing this from the staffer now?

Listen. We're getting this. We're seeing these stories. This is going to be the ongoing story. And people, Stuart, are going to continue to say, oh, I knew it all along.

No, no, there's almost nobody knew it all along. The derision you got for bringing up. His cognitive failings.

Well, he's a stutterer. Oh, you just don't like old people. You're being unfair. You just don't like what he's saying. No, I can't understand what he's saying.

I don't know where he is. Why does he not do anything unscripted? Remember. Only in June, when he failed in front of the entire world, did he decide: I'm going to go put myself out there. I'm going to do network interviews, I'm going to do press conferences to try to save my career.

The role epic fails. And now, yesterday's speech, when he tried to defend his foreign policy as a great success, where almost everything about our military has suffered under him. He says our allies have increased name one. Please tell us, are we strong are we safer in Europe? Absolutely not.

Is the Middle East calmer? Do we have a bigger presence there? Absolutely not. What about China? Are they back in a box?

Are they contained? Not even close. Tell the Philippines. Tell Taiwan that. And he never submitted a budget for the defense that even matched inflation.

So don't tell me we're stronger. The recruiting has not hit its goals in any branch except the Air Force briefly. This follows on from a new Gallup poll, which I've just seen. It shows the majority of us, majority of Americans, think the U.S. lost ground on the economy, immigration, and our position under President Biden, in the world, position in the world under Biden.

Brian, this is a failed presidency. It's harsh to say something like that, but I believe that's the case. It's going to be impossible to defend in America's answer. They said, let's leave the House. In the Republican hands, let's give the Senate a respectable majority of 53 seats.

And let's go back to the other guy in the White House and let's put him in there to go back to what we were doing. It's not continue this ridiculous path with Kamala. Let's change with DJT. And that's what I think America has already spoken. I don't need to see a Gallup poll.

And sadly, they've kept almost all facts from this president, and we suffered as a country because of it. And there's no way to softpedal it. The worst is yet to come. The books that are going to be written that Bob Woodward thoroughly missed, by the way, Mr. Investigative Reporter put out a book that missed all this.

Yeah, where were they? Where were they? Brian Kilmead, we know where you are. Good stuff. See you again later, Brian.

I'll get them, Stuart. Thank you so much. Uh 1866-408-7669.

So I don't know where they were. Right now, we're moving along with these testimony right here. I do have some news. When it comes to the inauguration day, Carrie Underwood's gonna sing. It looks like, no surprise, Lee, Greenwood will be there too.

I also understand that Kid Rock's going to be performing, and Snoop Dogg is either going to be at the inaugural or doing something in town at the time. Who knows? With those twenty thousand people packed Uh the Washington Arena. Maybe he's going to be there. Because Snoop Dogg and President Trump, believe it or not, always got along.

In fact, Snoop Dogg got a couple of pardons done. Ford Trump did a couple of pardons for him before he left office. And a guy that did a brief video that showed President being, I think, killed in one of these music videos. That was the first term.

Now I think it's kind of changed this term.

So I think you see some mainstream artist performing, which just shows you how more he's going to be accepted. I make a prediction. Even though Trump is not talking about it now, I believe his crowd will be bigger than Obama's crowd. Which might be the biggest crowd. That we've hacked.

Uh at an inaugural. I think the weather will be somewhat mild. We're going to be there Monday and Tuesday doing the show. We'll have the who's who of the Trump team and administration and perspectives and insight Monday, Tuesday. Saturday night, I'll be on One Nation at nine o'clock.

And a quick note, coming up on February fifteenth, On February 15th, I'm going to be at the Florida Theater in Jacksonville, Florida. Go to BrianKilme.com and do me a favor, get some tickets so I can see you in person. We're almost sold out on the VIP, which is huge. I also have another announcement: March 22nd, St. Louis, Missouri.

Yup, History Liberty, and Laughs will be on stage at the factory. Tickets go on sale this week, not quite yet. That's 1705, 1705 North Outer 40 Road, Chesterfield, Missouri.

So, BrianKilme.com for more. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian In Kill Mead. Hi, everyone from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world. This hour going to be joined by Dr.

Rebecca Grant. I have a source in Doha that just wrote me and said they're making great progress, and they could have an announcement today or tomorrow about a hostage release. And Steve Woodkoff evidently is getting plund accolades all around. He is Trump's guy as a Middle East envoy, I think his correct title is. He doesn't even really have the job yet.

But obviously, I give Biden people great credit. Is there not Brett McGurk and others? They're not resenting their presence.

So keep your fingers crossed. We get something going. And it's a good deal. Rebecca Grant, the bottom of the arrow for that.

So I'm watching Pete Hagseth testify right now, and you know, his opening statements were were strong, uh and the criticism for Senator Reid was equally strong, really personal. Read it doesn't befit him. And then you have Senator Gillibrand. Obviously, she's upset about a few things that he said in terms of. Uh women in the battlefield.

Why don't you let him answer a question? Why are you using your time just to make speeches? What you said, I wish you came to my office and we had our meeting. I don't know what happened with that. But Why don't you let him answer your questions now?

You literally talked the whole time. And then you complain that you only have one round. Why should you get to?

So we're following that testimony. We're following the crazy wildfires that are reignited in many sectors out in California. And I cannot believe the widespread. Derision of this ridiculous mayor who's totally overwhelmed by the process and took great pride in cutting the fire department budget. And she's paying the price now.

We all are. And tens of thousands are without houses. I don't care how rich you are. I don't care how working class you are, single, family. When you lose your house, whether it's a $100,000 house or a $10,000 house, hundred million dollar house.

You've lost everything. You got to start again. There are not enough housing units. They got to go in there with massive modular homes and campers quickly. Not enough hotels.

But who could ever plan for something like this? Effectively, you could ever maybe stop it, but minimize the damage. Guy that you don't used to own, the Dodgers joins us right now, knows the area intimately. He is the chairman of McCourt. McCourt Global is the executive chairman there.

Frank McCourt joins us again. Hey, Frank, your thoughts about what's happening in California? Oh, utter catastrophe. I mean, just a heartbreaker, Brian. It's.

You know, I know the area well. I have family there, and thank God they're safe. But, you know, the loss of life, the The you know, people being dislocated. Uh, you know, the Hughes said, when you lose your home, you lose everything. And then, what about these young kids whose schools have burned down?

I mean, what are they doing right now, right? It's just. completely Um, almost incomprehensible. I think what you know, this is going to be for LA what nine eleven was in New York. I mean, totally different origin.

Uh the loss of life is no comparison. Obviously the the loss of life in in in nine eleven was just you know, it's just unthinkable. But the dislocation, the broad dislocation and the in the kind of the emotional toll on the community, I think it's of that scale. And you know, I don't really, you know, I I lived out there for a while. All my stuff burned in 92 in Malibu, but I was living by myself in a in a room in Malibu.

So I just lost my stuff, you know, and but I really had no family. Then with Sandy, Same thing happened when I got three feet of water in my house. It's much harder with a family. And I don't care how much money you have, you got to find a place to live constantly, got to keep moving. And there's so many people in the same situation.

And with Sandy, you could you had to get gas and oil.

So it's just amazing. Jay Leno is out there, and you see all these celebrities. There is no, you know, James Woods. There is no difference between a celebrity or a multi-millionaire and a blue-collar worker when stuff like this happens. Have you noticed that?

Well, totally. They were all just human beings. And and when you When you pull all the layers back, and it's we're all like this, we're all just human beings with the same emotions. They are the same. The same Cares and considerations.

And, you know, what you see, like, I saw that interview with James, and you know, he's in tears. And, and, you know, he's. It's anybody, any profession, any age, this is devastating. Again, I really, really am thinking about these kids though, or that are completely dislocated. Brian, I'm a father of eight.

And my job, number one, is to take care of my kids and protect them and make sure they're safe and they feel safe, right? And When these kids are, you know, their homes are gone, it's scary enough for the parents, but for kids, it's like the whole, everything they assumed. Just change, right? In one moment, because now it's like, what do you mean my home is gone? What do you mean my school's gone?

What do you mean my. It's j it's it's devastating. And that's when I'm when I say emotional toll, that's what I'm referring to. Right. I want to get to TikTok, obviously, but I do want to tap into your our knowledge as a business person.

So Rick Caruso is a businessperson, and he ran for mayor and he didn't get it. He was ran as a Democrat, I think, too. And but the first thing he did is when the he said in case of a fire, he had his own fire department spraying his whole I think it's called The Palisades community, some Palisades condo complex. And he's saying it's drip malls because he said, I need a plan. I'm not happy with water and power in this area.

I'm not happy with their situation, and I got to save my business. It's amazing to me that the people of Los Angeles didn't see the benefit of having a business person among the people who regret not voting for him is the owner of the LA not excuse me, not endorsing him, is the owner of the LA Times, Cut 15. At the early times, we endorsed current bass. I think right now, up front, that's a mistake, and we admit that. We were one of the few to say competence matters.

Maybe we should think about how we elect people. on the basis of did they actually run a job, did they actually make a payroll? And we shouldn't worry about DRR. Do you find that sentiment is spreading through the country? I think it is.

I mean, I think we've seen it in the national election and in the presidential election. And I I I think we're we're beginning to realize that Uh Mm-hmm. These cities States, this beautiful country, these are. difficult things. To manage, they're big enterprises, and of course, they're not businesses per se, so I don't think we should just.

you know, immediately say that everybody you know, you know, running one of these cities or big cities or or states of the country has to be a business person. I don't I'm not implying that at all. But but the you know, the acumen in running things, I think, is is important. They're big enterprises and uh But I mean, we also should recognize that that these Running a city is far, far different than running a big company, right? Because there's all kinds of considerations and needs of a city that a CEO per se doesn't have.

But there's no question that there's a level of complexity. Yes. And I think with our politics and so forth, we can get very, very distracted on Minutia? And issues that you know they might be important to a few people. And I don't, I mean, I respect everyone.

So if an issue is important to any one person, they're entitled to that. you know, to prioritize in that way. But we have to remember that there's You know. Millions of people in these cities, right? And there's basic, basic necessities and concerns that need to be addressed and prioritized.

And I feel like whether it's in big cities or in this country, we tend to get distracted on issues that are. Um to take us off the main Kind of the main issues that we want to be concerned about. You know, safety being job one, protecting kids, protecting the country, you know, health care and jobs, jobs, jobs, just making sure that things are humming.

So, what people really want to just have a nice life, take care of their kids, be able to, you know, buy them a. A new baseball mitt or whatever it is on their birthday, and just feel good about it and that their community is safe, their kids are getting a good education, getting taken care of. And the distractions, I think, throw us off. And I think we're seeing that right now.

So let's talk about TikTok. It's got to happen, it could happen any minute. The Supreme Court has had oral arguments on whether Donald Trump will get his wish and have control and whether TikTok is forced to sell or be banned in America. And judging by the oral arguments, it looks like it's going to be forced to sell or banned in America through a congressional measure. Your thoughts about you and Kevin O'Leary putting together a group, are you ready?

Totally. Totally ready and waiting, you know, like lots of people are on the Supreme Court decision. You're right. People are. Kind of universally agree that the Supreme Court is going to rule in favor of the government, uphold the legislation, and uphold the January 19th date, so it's not a matter of if, it's just when and Hopefully the decision will come down sooner rather than later.

So this time. between now and the nineteenth to get something accomplished to keep you know, TikTok. uh lit up in a and and uh um And operating, and because the legislation, as you know, requires it either be shut down on the 19th or there be a deal in motion. And what Kevin and I have done is we've put a deal in motion. And so we have made a formal offer to ByteDance, and we're looking to make a deal so that TikTok can.

Can stay lit up, that everybody can enjoy it. The six or seven million businesses that use it can continue to. you know, make money and employ people. And we can do it, however, in a way that the technology is operating in a way where American citizens are not being taken advantage of.

So our tech stack, which is a clean, made in America tech stack, would solve for the national security issues, which Our Congress is so very much concerned about, which prompted them to pass the legislation in the first instance.

So there was good reason. that this legislation was passed in a strong bipartisan manner because The technology that's being used by bike dancers is harming Americans.

So, Frank, I'm sure you saw yesterday, senior Chinese officials have begun to debate contingency plans. Should TikTok be sold as part of an expansive discussion of how to work with Trump's administration. One of them involved said maybe they'll sell it to Elon Musk because they've had some business with him before. Must spend more than $250 million supporting Trump, so they feel as though by selling it to Musk, that would be like the best of a bad scenario for them. Would you is Musk even in did you know that he was interested?

Is this just China doing their own thing? Yeah, I'm not sure that that's real, but my takeaway from it is it's the first time that we're hearing something come out of the China side that they're entertaining a sale, isn't it? And that to me is a breakthrough. I think there's a recognition that this thing's going to be shut down. And why not?

Why not sell it and do it in a way where everybody wins? I mean, what. What as a business person, what I focus on every time I enter a transaction is, okay, what's the win-win-win scenario? How does everybody come come away with something? And what we've designed and what we're doing here with the bid on behalf of Project Liberty is a win for President Trump because this keeps this it doesn't ban the app.

The app stays lit up and operating. It's a win for the investors. The US investors in US TikTok, instead of getting nothing, they get sizable checks. It's a win for American citizens because the technology we've built Is, as I said, a clean, made in America stack. It is something that will protect Americans.

There's no but so, Frank.

Well, I know if you get this, and I hope you get it, especially Kevin, I know him too. He's a great guy. I know you get it. And you know how they've really cornered the market. They're number one in the country and banned in a lot of other countries, by the way.

But if you get this, will it be the same? Will it feel the same? Even though you're not you're saying I don't need the algorithm. It will feel the same, but it will be better. And what I mean by that is the user experience will be just as.

You use it the same way. It'll be just as polished and easy to use and fun. The difference will be everybody on TikTok will actually own their identity, own their data, own their relationships, which they don't now. And they'll be able to, you know, permission the use of the data. They'll even, in time, be able to get paid for it.

So, this is a whole new world we're entering. And if we're successful at buying TikTok and move it over to this new tech stack, this new upgraded internet, let's call it, then people are going to see that their data has value and they're going to participate. And equally importantly, they're going to be in charge again. Rather than have their data scraped from them and goes and other people know everything about them and then can manipulate them and so forth, people will be permissioning the use of their data and not be targeted and surveilled all the time. We have a problem here with a tech stack that's really doing a lot of harm.

And I don't have to tell you whether it's the polarization in our politics, whether it's the, we can't tell fact from fiction. You see, we talked about the fires. Fake videos that are being put up, and now everybody has to say, Is that fake? Is that real? This lack of this erosion of trust is killing us, and we need to restore that.

And the best way to restore it, in my mind, give people ownership and control of their data, let them have permission to use, let them benefit from it, and then we have an internet that everybody can trust again. Frank, I'm sure you saw Sundays, and we already know this with Christopher Wray. He said that China is embedded into our infrastructure, into our water, our power, our gas, our pipelines. And part of their comprehensive in through our colleges. This isn't me being paranoid.

You see the spy balloons, you know this stuff. The FBI director, outgoing, says it's an underreported threat. This is part of it. Manipulate Americans through the news feed, through addiction of this algorithm, through the newsfeed. You're not going to find anti-pro-Taiwan things on there.

You're not going to when we get into a trade war with China, which is inevitable, I think, you think there's going to be anything positive Trump on that? They're going to think of anything positive for the Israelis. They're going to find a way to manipulate the American public.

Well, I mean, I think you're hitting the nail on the head here. People talk a lot about. you know, how it's kind of creepy that um you know, bite dance. Scrapes the data on 170 million Americans. And so they have information, quote unquote, and by the way, by information, it's everything about 170 million.

People, and that's bad enough, but what's worse. and and really harmful is be able to actually Um You manipulate the 170 million people, right? To get them to think in a certain way and act in a certain way. That's the threat. And that's what we need to stop.

And you're right. I mean, this cyber warfare is this is the warfare of the current day and age we live in. And whether it's interfering with in presidential elections, whether it's hacking our telecom systems and now what Ray said about all of our infrastructure and so forth, this is what we need to be very, very concerned about.

However, bottom line. We have a solution for this so we can take this problem of TikTok, turn it into a solution that all Americans benefit from. Because people make their livings off TikTok, I get it, and aren't interested in anything else. And I understand it. Frank Buccourt, I hope you get this.

Kevin O'Leary, as a partner, probably couldn't be better.

So, Frank, I hope to talk to you soon when you sign on the paperwork. Thanks, Brian. Good to be with you. Take care of yourself. Got it.

Back in a moment. Coming to you on a need-to-know basis, because Mandy, you need to know, it's Brian Kilmead. Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Show.

So Pete's been going through the gauntlet, doing pretty well. I just don't understand, and I'm going to play it when we get back, of Senator Gillibrand going with Peach. He obviously has a problem with him, but doesn't let him answer any questions. I put this to the record. I put this to the record.

All right, this is the only shot you got. You might as well ask short, crisp questions. And Now Senator Joni Ernst who initially said I wasn't sure about Pete.

Now she's pretty sure about him and they're going back and forth and they're talking about women's role in combat. Good. You also have Blumenthal, same thing, not asking any questions.

Now it's going to be 10-8 and one of his biggest critics is Senator Rono. who Pete was going to meet with. Uh and she wouldn't meet with.

So let's see what she has to say. I mean, she's one of the worst. I mean, I don't know what people of Hawaii are thinking, putting her out there. I don't know what good she does. She's on the Armed Services Committee.

As far as I could tell, with absolutely no experience. And no expertise, but we'll see. Senator Runo and Pete Hex have next when we come back with what he said to Jillibrant. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead.

On the record statement after on the record statement from people who have served with me, worked with me at Fox News, Concerned Vets, Vets for Freedom, you name it. From the top of the chain to the bottom. Who will say, I treat them with respect. with kindness With dignity, that's men, that's women, that's black, that's white, that's every background. I have prided myself as a leader.

of respecting people, being professional. That is the balance of mind.

So that's a little of the give and take.

Now we're watching Senator Rono and Pete Hagseth as Pete is making his way through en route to becoming the next Secretary of Defense. Senator Rono is really comically stupid. She keeps on bringing up things that make absolutely no sense. When he gives an answer, she just runs over the answer and says, I guess it means you are going to invade Greenland. That means you are going to shoot people in the leg.

So she's not making any progress. She's not convincing anyone. I don't know if she's trying to get reelected, but I think the people of Hawaii have got to raise their standards. On a separate note, one thing Pete Hegsmith will be talking about eventually is the Middle East, and he will definitely have a focus there, especially you look at the condition of Iran right now, as vulnerable and possibly as dangerous as they've ever been. Syria, with the regime change that we're looking at in real time, and we are on the cusp, according to multiple sources, of some type of hostage swap in the Middle East in Gaza.

I get into details on it, but I do have a contact in Doha, and they say that Witkoff is playing a major role, and this is not an American contact, playing a major positive role. And we're getting closer and closer to a hostage release, which I believe would be thirty plus hostages, mostly women and children, and in exchange Israel would move out of certain sections of Gaza. I think that would be the Philadelphia corridor. Dr. Rebecca Grant is all over this, president of Iris Independent Research, a public policy research organization in Washington.

Also serves as director of the General William Mitchell Institute for Air Power Studies. Dr. Grant, welcome back. What are you thinking now when we're getting so close again to some type of hostage release? We are very close this time to seeing a deal.

And, Brian, the key here is that everybody is in Doha, like you mentioned. Word coming out of Gutter just a moment ago was that Hamas and Israel have accepted an agreement. What I think this really means is that the paper has been put in their hands, so to speak, and now Hamas will have a chance to look it over, as will Israel, Netanyahu, of course, and then also his cabinet will have to approve it.

So, the signs are that everything is very, very close. You know, what encourages me is that a couple big points were agreed on back in December due to President-elect Trump's pressure, and that was that Israel will guard the Philadelphia quarter down in the south for a period of time, and also that there's going to be a buffer strip across Gaza to make sure that we don't have Hamas operatives going back and forth or moving weapons during a ceasefire. Those two major sticking points out of the way.

Now it's up to Hamas to agree on the details of the first release of hostages. Tell me if you like this information or if you have better information. I understand there are 98 hostages in Gaza right now. If Hamas agrees to phase one, it'll pave the way for 33 hostages to be released, women, children, elderly. Officials hope two Americans are included in the first release.

Phase one of the deal would kick off a 42-day, I don't know where they came up with that number, 42-day ceasefire. During this time, Israel would not withdraw completely from Gaza, but the IDF would pull back from the Philadelphia corridor and other locations. We understand that Sinwar's brother has taken over and is increasing the ranks. And last week, some rockets were going into Israel again.

So where do you think what about the terms I just relayed?

So that's all good information, Brian. Understand, you know, there are still seven U.S. hostages there. We're looking to hear the two of them. We haven't had the names.

You know, those hostages range in age from, I think, just 19 years old to one who is 73. And the key part of this with Hamas has always been that they wanted an immediate ceasefire forever, for all time. Obviously, Israel and the more cautious approach was to do an implemented ceasefire for a period. Whether that's going to be 42 days or 16 days, we don't know. We'll see that in the details if they get to yes.

But the key is the release of Hostages, as you said. And to make that happen, this is very important. Israel is going to release Palestinian prisoners. I've heard the number, up to 50 prisoners coming out of jail for each of the female Israeli soldiers that Hamas holds. And in the end, it could be as many as 1,000 prisoners being released.

This is very key to the deal. Israel has done this in the past to make a deal work. Remember, Sinwar was in prison for 20 years. He ends up heading up the biggest insurrection and damage done to Israel, in death, and destruction, and human life in modern times.

So I'm worried about the thousand about to be released, are you? Oh, I am worried. And, you know, Gaza, it was just a failure to let Hamas go in there and let Sinwar run that. And that's the big question: who takes care of Gaza after Israel does some of its repositioning of forces? We have heard that Egypt may be willing to step in a little bit.

We see Saudi Arabia very active. They're doing a lot of talking with Syria, another issue. But there are players in the Middle East who really, really want this settled. But of course, I'm worried.

Now, Hamas is going to continue to fire rockets till the last minute and possibly even afterwards, but there's no question that Israel has really diminished their capability. They've really wiped out Hamas. And what we want long term is to get back to the Abraham Accords. The real prize here. Is normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Trump wants peace in the Middle East. He can get it. That is the crucial stepping stone.

So it looks like the the Trump administration has a new blueprint to put maximum pressure on Iran, but this is a much different Iran thanks to Israel. Israel is the one who wiped out their air defense and took, I hear, damaged some of their nuclear program.

So they've also took out some of their air defense mechanisms in Iraq.

So I'm wondering at this moment when Trump takes over, He has a different regime in Israel. Hezbollah is decapitated. Hamas lost 17,000 fighters at least. Houthi rebels seem to be financed somehow, some way, I assume, Russia.

So, your thoughts on what Trump is inheriting.

Well, the good news on Iran is Israel flattened their S-300 air defenses, hit some of their missile research facilities. The bad news is that Iran has enriched a lot of uranium and is within sprinting distance of developing a handful of nuclear weapons.

So, top priority is Iran does not get a nuclear weapon. You know, that's why, Brian, we still see over 30,000 U.S. forces positioned in Central Command, everything from the Marines off the coast of Lebanon through to the aircraft carrier strike group and the destroyers down in the Red Sea.

So, you know, these are top priorities. There's got to be pressure on Iran so that they don't go towards that nuclear weapon. I also think that the Houdi crisis is something we need to resolve right away. I'd be in favor of enough airstrikes into that area to make it so that the Houdis can't continue to shoot at shipping in the Red Sea. But there's no question that Trump and his defense team are going to have a lot of hot button issues to deal with just immediately.

Immediately, you know, on day one, as they look at the Middle East. Are the Russians on their way out of Syria? And should we make sure that that's the case? If this new government wants any relations with us, and that's dicey, I realize my eyes are wide open, so I imagine our Trumps about who they've been in the past. But for us them to give any type of aid a recognition, We'll lift the bounty off the new president's head.

Should we say the military the Russians got to be out of there, or is that too much to ask? Oh, I like it. That's right. And right now, those two Russian bases, their air base and their naval base at Tartarus, are actually kind of behind the lines of the rebels.

So they're no use to Russia right now. But we have to keep it that way. I also want to see Russia not buying Iranian drones. And you're right, the Russians are helping with Iran to supply the Houdis.

So this is the major step that we need to take also is to really stamp out the rest of Russia's influence and access in the Middle East. Luckily, what Israel has done has taken a big step towards that and the fall of the Assad government too. But yeah, we got to clean Russia out of the Middle East in order to get that lasting settlement. And Iran is out of there.

So think about this, and I know you do, Dr. Grant, is that Saudi Arabia was going after the Houthis. And we looked at Saudi Arabia as the bad guys. Yeah, were they using a lot of skill? Were they was the was some of the strikes killing innocent people?

Yes. But why were they doing it? Because they were being rocketed regularly by the Houthis.

So this administration came in. remove the Houthis from the from the terror list, And then told Saudi Arabia, you're the pariah nation. How did that affect the Middle East that Joe Biden was dealing with for the next four years? It was crazy. And don't forget, the United Nations recognizes a legitimate government in Yemen, not these Houdi rebels.

And when Biden went down that path, what happened was he's ended up having to deploy five different aircraft carriers. We're on the fifth one that's been rotated over there just to keep some freedom of navigation in the Red Sea. We can't keep that up. It was a terrible policy mistake. You know, we need Saudi Arabia, who is our ally, as a pillar of stability in the Middle East.

They're ready to do that. They want to do investment in AI and computers. We want to help them with that. They have big plans, and they are willing to look at that key point of normalizing relations with Israel. That's what it's going to take.

Saudi Arabia is important to this mix. They're our ally, and we need to just get the Houdis out of the picture. Right. And whose idea was that? It was a way to kiss up to Iran to get them back into a nuclear deal that many, like me, perhaps you, thought, well, Was just a 10-year pathway to getting a nuclear weapon and being accepted by the world community.

And how did that work out?

Well, it worked out terrible. And again, just ask the UN. The IAEA Commissioner Rafael Grossi, he is the one who said Iran has enriched enough to make weapons. And this is not a situation that we saw five years ago.

So Biden's sort of behind-the-scenes sleight-of-hand effort to be hard on the Saudis and try to entice Iran was a complete failure. The only thing that's worked with Iran is military pressure and, of course, the massive sanctions. Although you know, Brian, I know you know this, that China is the one keeping Iran in business. 91% of Iran's oil is bought by China with their shadow fleet of tankers and their settlements in Chinese currency. And so we have to point the finger at China, too, for keeping Iran going.

And that goes right to the nuclear production and to their terror enterprise. Right. They're doing that, buying the oil. We have to find a way to give secondary sanctions on that oil, number one. And number two is.

Mm-hmm. We have to find a way to stop them from delivering those drones over to Russia that are creating so much damage in Ukraine. I want you to hear what President Biden said yesterday, cut eight. During my Presidency, I have increased America's power in every dimension. We increased our diplomatic power.

creating more allies than the United States has ever had in the history of our nation. We've increased our military power. making the most significant investments in the defense industrial base in decades. We've increased the technology power. taking the lead in artificial intelligence and other technologies of the future.

And we've increased the economic power. building the most dynamic economy in the world From the bottom up and the middle out, not the top down. In short, Common and I took office, our nation had. become stronger at home. Are stronger in the world.

Now America is more capable and, I would argue, better prepared than we've been in a long, long time. What America is he I'm just what do you think about what he just said? Defiant delusional There are little pieces of that that are true. Yes, we lead an AI. Yes, we've improved our defense industrial base.

But hey, what about Biden with his withdrawal from Afghanistan, opening the door to the Russia-China alliance that is the number strategic problem, and North Korea and Iran tacked on? I do not know what world he's living in. He has left. President-elect Trump a heck of a mess to clean up and not a lot of time to do it, and it's going to take tariffs. sanctions, smart policy, security deals, good allies and a lot of military pressure to get us back on course.

And any progress, doctor Grand, is really credited to Netanyahu by ignoring Biden, decapitating Hezbollah, unrelenting on Hamas, firing back at Iran. Allowing Assad to be no longer defended by Hezbollah has allowed his regime to fall. This chaos, this change happened because Netanyahu defied Biden. and therefore the Middle East benefited from it. Biden was incompetent as a commander-in-chief.

And you know, we're just lucky that our U.S. military was able to go and help put those defenses in place that helped take down those two attacks from Iran, the one in April and the one in October 2023. We had some great destroyers with some very fancy standard three missiles that helped to take that down.

So our military's been super, but Biden has been absolutely a failure. As commander-in-chief. There's no other way to say it. And if Pete gets this job, he's got to start auditing. We've got to increase the spending, but we've got to make sure it's going in the right direction.

It's a vital time for our military. Dr. Rebecca Grant, thanks so much. Thank you. Back in a moment.

Expanding your knowledge base, it's the Brian Kill Meet Show. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmey. I ask the following two initial questions. First, since you became a legal adult, have you ever made unwanted requests for sexual favors or committed any verbal or physical harassment or assault of a sexual nature?

No, Senator. Have you ever faced discipline or entered into a settlement relating to this kind of conduct? Senator, I was falsely accused in October of 2017. It was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared.

So she went on like that. And then when he went to Edson, it was one of the few times she let him finish. And that's Mazzi Arono. And then the center uh Kane, who's still not over the fact that he's not the vice president or wasn't vice president with Hillary Clinton and probably queuing up maybe last term. To run, uh, went really aggressively with a bunch of sources, and he should be embarrassed.

It would be something that you would uh probably see in the National Enquirer when we had one. Here's more from the center from Hawaii, Cut 54. Ah, Mr. Hexwick, I have noticed. a disturbing pattern.

You previously have made a series of inflammatory statements about women in combat, LGBTQ service members, Muslim Americans and Democrats. Since your nominations, however, You have walked those back on TV, in interviews, and most recently in your opening statements. You are no longer on Fox and Friends, Mr. Hicksett. If confirmed, Your words, actions, and decisions will have real impacts on national security and our service members' lives.

There are close to three million personnel in the Department of Defense, $900 billion Budget. I hardly think you are prepared to do the job. Judging by the series of statements you made, why'd you even bother having Pete there? Why don't you ask short questions that he can answer?

So you're not on Fox and Friends anymore, but it's good that she knows the name of the show. And by the way, we did have a lot of influence, and we do have a lot of influence. People do watch, millions do watch on a daily basis, including oftentimes the president, which is why Pete got the president. How one of the many ways Pete got the president's attention, one of which was alerting him to the fact that there's a lot of elite fighters who were in jail for things they did during battle that they should not be paying that price for. And people had a problem with that, including Senator Jack Reed.

I think he's going to get through. I think he's doing good. Got a couple hours left. Morning to deal with, and we'll go from there. Quick announcement: go to BrianKilme.com.

We've got a big date coming up in St. Louis. It's just announced. You can buy tickets shortly. But also, with Fox Nation, also is going to be one of the sponsors.

Expect to see me February 15th. With the W. OKB listeners, especially at the Florida Theater. Starts at 8 o'clock. Go to BrianKilby.com and get tickets.

See you there. Fox News Audio presents the Fox Nation Investigates Podcast: a look into the Menendez Brothers with victims or villains. Then, Judge Jeanine Piero and a panel of experts break down their new fight for freedom with monsters or misunderstood and follow three incredible cases where world-renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Botten helps change the course of the investigation with the Botton files. Listen and follow at FoxtrueCrime.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

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