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Stop by a Warby Parker store near you. Our service members won't be activists and ideologues. They will be fighters and warriors. They will fight for our country. And Pete, congratulations. Secretary of Defense. He's not big into the woke movement, I can tell you. I know him well.
I am pleased to report that in January the U.S. Army had its single best recruiting month in 15 years and that all armed services are having among the best recruiting results ever in the history of our services. They're not supposed to be smiling and clapping. So, you know, that was President Trump talking about U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. And he did it right in front of them.
And I just we just watched that together because Pete's in studio. Secretary of Defense. Great to see you. What a start you've had. What did that feel like to have the president talk about the one thing you always focused on? Let's build up the military. Let's find out about what's going wrong with recruitment.
And he says is already a difference in seven weeks. Well, the brave men and women of America have stepped right up when they see who their commander in chief is, what his focus is, back to basics, warfighting standards, accountability and readiness. They're ready to raise their right hand and join the U.S. military. And from the Marine Corps to the Army, to the Air Force, to the Navy, we've seen record numbers across the country of Americans saying, I want to serve under the commander in chief, President Trump. So it was a cool moment to hear him announce that there.
The military has responded. It's a renaissance in the Pentagon, for sure. And it was a historic night. The president gave a historic, strong America first speech. And it was surreal to be right in the front before I go on to the issues, just for you personally, to walk down that aisle as a member of his cabinet and to sit in that front row. We all watched it and covered the next day. But what was it like for you?
You're right. We've watched it. It was an honor. You know, it's and I don't mean to deflect, but it's even more of an honor to have a front row seat to watching him be president of the United States in the Oval Office on an almost daily basis, making decisions about what we're going to focus on, what we're going to prioritize, how we're going to bring peace. His commitment to following through on his campaign promises is historic.
So nothing surprised me about what he delivered last night. And I was proud to be there. So you're going to go after this. You got to go to the border with the vice president. You also bringing more troops to the border. The numbers are staggering. Your thoughts about what what is the mission right now? Is it down to zero? Almost not quite to zero yet. Ninety seven percent drop.
Brian, historic lows of crossings. The deterrent effect is there. We've brought in the military alongside Tom Homan and Secretary Noem. Oh, it's it's his ninety eight point eight percent.
And we're talking got a ways in the single digits. Brian, President Trump gave us a charge. One hundred percent operational control of the southern border. Border security is national security. Over 20 million people, as the president pointed out last night, poured in across our open border policy, which created recklessness, death, drugs for our communities. We're sending those folks home and we're not letting more in.
And you're seeing that right now. Are you hearing that Mexico's cracking down, too, because they evidently arrested nine hundred cartel members. They seem to be on the offensive on their southern border. Are you seeing enough cooperation? I mean, my message to Mexican leaders and Mexican military leaders has been we want to cooperate with you and we will cooperate with you. But if you don't police up the cartels on your side of the border, then we'll be forced to do it for you. We don't want to do that.
So right now, we have historic cooperation, military to military. But we're letting them lead. It's their country. It's their fight. We want them to lead that fight.
So far, they have stepped up, which is a very good sign. If we hear about ISIS, Al Qaeda leaders anywhere, we're taking them out. If if the cartels are now a terror group, we look at this terror group. Will we take them out just like they're in Yemen, just like they're in Sudan, just like they're in Syria?
I mean, Brian, you heard the president of the United States last night, just like I did. There are four designated foreign terrorist organization. We will not accept them controlling that border, poisoning our people with fentanyl, which those numbers have not gone down enough, which is why the president has continued tariffs on Mexico. So we are all options, as I've said, are on the table.
We would prefer that the Mexican government handle it themselves, and we hope they do. And we're partnering with them to do so. All right, let's change gears. As the speech wrapped up last night, this was posted by the Chinese by the Chinese embassy, quote, If war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we're ready to fight till the end as secretary of defense.
How do you take that? Well, we're we're prepared. Those who long for peace must prepare for war.
We are we are. That's why we're rebuilding our military. That's why we're reestablishing deterrence and the warrior ethos is because we live in a dangerous world with powerful ascendant countries with very different ideologies. You mentioned defense spending. They're rapidly increasing their defense spending.
Modern technology. They want to supplant the United States. If we want to deter war with the Chinese or others, we have to be strong. And that president understands peace comes through strength. He also has a great relationship with that gentleman right there to Xi Jinping. So where we can partner, where we can can cooperate to recognize that we don't want war with with with China, we don't seek that war. We will. And the president has sought historic peace and historic opportunities. But my job as the secretary of defense is to make sure we're ready.
We need the defense spending, the capabilities, the weapons and the posture in the Indo-Pacific, which is something we're very much focusing. Work days can be unpredictable, but your work wear shouldn't be with a syntax apparel plus program. You'll have freshly laundered garments for everyone on your team delivered every week.
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At the same time, Doge is in there cutting back and and and speeding up the systems, making it more efficient. How much money are you asking for when you talk to the president or when you talk to the Treasury secretary in this budget? How much more do we need? Because we watched it, not the defense spending was not even keeping up with inflation over the last four years. My message has been I'm both a fiscal hawk and a defense hawk, and I think America first represents both with peace through strength. So Doge is going to cut fat where we need to, and we're going to reprioritize on the right thing.
So it's not about a fixed dollar amount, Brian. It's about addressing the president's priorities. Golden Dome, southern border modernization, hypersonics, UUV's, UAV's, the fight of the future against China. They know we're serious and we're building for that. So let's talk about the big announcement yesterday. The mastermind behind the Abigail bombing that injured so many and killed 13 captured is coming here. Special thanks to Pakistan.
What could you tell us? Well, special thanks to Pakistan. Indeed, they cooperated with us. But this started, I want to be very clear under this administration, we had our leadership director Radcliffe and others in CENTCOM and in the military passing information to the Pakistanis who helped us action it after this president was elected. So this is a president who saw what happened, the debacle in Afghanistan and said, when I'm president, I will make sure those held accountable, those who perpetrated the death of 13 Americans and the injury of dozens others, we will find them.
We will keep our word. We partnered with the Pakistanis based on intelligence we provided. They nabbed him, positively identified him.
We've known that for a few days. He's on his way, I believe, already in the United States and will face justice. You see, what did the Biden administration done? So it happened and they wiped their hands of it and said it's the best airlift in American history.
We're not going to hunt these guys down. President Trump never forgot and delivered at the State of the Union. You're doing an investigation, your own investigation into what went into the decision to evacuate that way in Afghanistan. Because Brian, no one was held accountable. It was one of the biggest disasters in American history, an embarrassment, a black eye to our country. We handed over billions of dollars equipment to the Taliban. We counted on them for our security and then we got people killed. We gave away Bagram Air Base and no one in military leadership was fired.
Now that's not going to sail under President Trump. So we're doing a full review and investigation of what happened in Afghanistan. Those who were involved and made the decisions that put our troops at risk will be held accountable.
I've stated that before and we continue to be committed to just real quick. J. D. Vance was misinterpreted perhaps when he said 20,000 soldiers helping out Ukraine. We haven't fought a war in 20 years is not going to be helpful. And the UK said that looks like you were putting us down as fighters.
Uh, and that's making a lot of international news. You fought with the British. You, I, you've told me before you have great respect for them as fighters. Uh, J. D. Vance is an incredible vice president.
He's just been fantastic. Um, and he said what I've said, which is NATO needs to step up, whether it's the French or the British or others who we fought with in certain conflicts. And I've, I have served in Afghanistan with great British soldiers.
The question is, will their government step up and provide that security guarantee with European troops? Right. The vice president recognizes the necessity of that as do I, and we're hoping they will step up. Mr. Secretary, I know, thanks for your first stop and route to the border. It's good to see the only guy, the one secretary I know that can handle early morning hours. Thanks. Great to see it. Congratulations. Everybody in New York.
I know. And we miss you a lot, but you're doing a great job. This week on the bread bear podcast, my all star panel weighs in on the top stories at home and abroad. Fox News, senior white house correspondent, Peter Ducey hosted the guy Benson show guy Benson and Fox news, political analyst, Juan Williams. Listen and follow now at Fox news podcast.com. Listen to the show ad free on Fox news podcast. Plus on Apple podcast, Amazon music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
