Episode 4718: Crying Comey; Ending Mail in Ballots; Cleaning Of The Deep State

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bannon's War Room

Episode 4718: Crying Comey; Ending Mail in Ballots; Cleaning Of The Deep State
Date: August 20, 2025
Host: Natalie Winters (for Stephen K. Bannon), with guests including Scott Pressler, Sam Faddis, Julie Kelly

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Episode Overview

This episode unpacks three central themes:

• President Trump’s new push to end mail-in ballots and impose stricter election integrity measures,
• Efforts to “clean the Deep State,” with an emphasis on personnel and structural changes at the FBI and DOJ,
• The ongoing “meltdown” among former establishment figures, exemplified by ex-FBI director James Comey.

The War Room brings frontline activists, intelligence veterans, legal experts, and live field reports, aiming to energize grassroots action and expose what they see as hypocrisy and failure in Washington D.C. institutions.

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1. Ballot Warfare: Trump’s Push to End Mail-in Voting

Key Segment: [00:55]–[13:46]

Host: Natalie Winters | Guest: Scott Pressler

• Trump’s Announcement: President Trump used Truth Social to declare a campaign to end the use of mail-in ballots, casting it as an issue of election integrity.
• Grassroots Insight: Scott Pressler, live from a voter registration drive, argues that “election integrity is one of the most important issues that the Trump voter base cares about” [02:40].
• The Plan: Pressler outlines a three-pronged strategy in response to legislative gridlock:
  • Plan A: Pass the SAVE Act (requiring proof of citizenship to vote)—stalled in the U.S. Senate.
  • Plan B: Citizen-initiated petitions to end automatic mail-in voting in liberal states like Oregon, California, and Washington.
  • Plan C: Trump could declare a “national security emergency” over election integrity to issue executive orders ending automatic mail-in ballots at the federal level.
• Distinction Highlighted: Differentiates legitimate absentee voting (military, elderly) from states where every registered voter automatically receives a ballot, regardless of request.
• Notable Quote:
  • “If we don’t peacefully fight fire with a flamethrower and make sure that we are enacting every level of election security...every option is on the table.” – Scott Pressler [07:41]

Mobilizing the Base

• Pressler issues a call to action for Republican voters to pressure their state legislators for aggressive redistricting, mirroring Democrat tactics in blue states.
• Quote: “Every tool that the Democrats have done for the last 50 years, dare I say 100 years, you use their playbook against them.” [08:30]
• Callout to Pennsylvania & New Jersey: Pressler details on-the-ground organizing, calling out specific judicial retention votes in Pennsylvania and promoting NJ gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli.

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2. Geopolitics, Oil, & US National Security

Key Segment: [16:54]–[24:55]

Host: Natalie Winters | Guest: Sam Faddis

• Ukraine & Russia Update: Sam Faddis credits Trump for forcing hard concessions in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, noting that both Putin and Zelenskyy must accept reality: neither side gets everything.
  • Quote: “Both sides, you know, reality check. But the president is doing a superb job and there is definitely reason to be cautiously optimistic.” – Sam Faddis [18:08]
• Genius of Trump’s Oil Tariffs: Faddis explains how Trump’s threats of tariffs on India’s imports from Russia leverage geopolitics to undercut Putin’s war funding.
  • “If the Indians stop buying that oil and The Russians lose 50, 60 billion, Putin can't fund a war in Ukraine.” [20:06]
• Rare Earths & China: China is maneuvering to counteract Trump administration policies, deepening ties with India and Russia as US tariffs and market pressure increase.

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3. Deep State Reckoning & Surveillance State

Key Segment: [22:06]–[51:18]

The Surveillance Fight

• Privacy Win: The UK backs off forcing Apple to put a “backdoor” in iPhones after US diplomatic pressure.
  • Faddis: “It's a big win for liberty and privacy...The CIA and these other agencies have no charter to spy on American citizens.” [23:19]
• Pushback against the Deep State: Faddis notes the ongoing challenge: many agency officials remain entrenched and opposed to Trump’s agenda.
  • “You've got lots of people still in these agencies who are completely hostile to Donald Trump and his agenda...” [25:51]

FBI Overhaul

• Leadership Shakeup: Appointment of Andrew Bailey (former Missouri AG) as co-deputy director of the FBI alongside Dan Bongino.

  • “The task of actually transforming an agency which is tens of thousands of men and women strong is mammoth....putting two guys at the top and thinking you now have transformed the agency...that's wishful thinking.” – Faddis [26:30]
  • There’s more chaos at lower levels; senior staff digging in, awaiting potential change in administration.

• Crime and Policing in DC:

  • Crackdown in DC led to dramatic drops in carjackings and street crime.
  • DC “has been cooking the books” to manipulate crime statistics; new federal tactics have “temporarily” restored order.
  • “It says something really bad about the Democratic Party...that instead of celebrating that...they're attacking the President.” – Faddis [32:10]

Local Color

• Host Natalie Winters shares a personal story of package theft in DC, using it to highlight law enforcement dysfunction and the effects of the new security presence. The “vibe in the city” has changed: quieter, fewer homeless individuals, and upper-class liberal residents expressing discomfort with increased law enforcement.

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4. Double Standards & Establishment Meltdown: The Comey Segment

Key Segment: [35:57]–[51:18]

Host: Natalie Winters | Guest: Julie Kelly | Clip: James Comey

DC Residents' Hypocrisy

• Julie Kelly compares local outrage over January 6th to current opposition to federal law enforcement in DC:
  • “Cannot even reconcile in their own heads the hypocrisy of how they approach different things based on where Donald Trump is in the equation.” [35:57]
• DOJ & FBI are ramping up grand jury probes into the perpetrators of Russiagate, with new appointments signaling a focus on prosecutions.

FBI Internal Chaos

• Ongoing distrust within the FBI, with firings of key interim leaders (Brian Driscoll and Steven Jensen).
• Kelly sees new appointments as a positive sign for reform but acknowledges chaos at the “rank and file” level, as loyalists to the old regime resist.

Comey "Meltdown": Viral Substack Clip

• James Comey posts a confessional video to Substack, intertwining personal anxieties about Trump with his love of Taylor Swift.
  • Quote: "I've been thinking a lot this week about Donald Trump's tendency to radicalize me...His behavior has earned him in my life a presumption of badness…and in a way, it's also his superpower to prevent me from being what I really want to be, which is a thoughtful person." – James Comey [45:02]
• Host and guest ridicule the video as evidence of establishment meltdown.
  • Winter’s reaction: “James Comey, you sir, are a certified freak. I've never seen a weirder video from a self professed or avowedly straight man, alpha male? No, you are a beta male.” [46:43]
• Kelly analyzes Comey’s motives, suggesting the video is an attempt to deflect from his growing legal jeopardy:
  • “It’s really a window into a very disturbed man who hopefully is on the verge of getting his overdue comeuppance...” [47:52]
  • More highlights of the video, and Kelly’s deeper analysis, are available on her Substack.

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• [02:40] Scott Pressler: “Election integrity is one of the most important issues that the Trump voter base cares about.”
• [07:41] Scott Pressler: “If we don't peacefully fight fire with a flamethrower...every option is on the table.”
• [18:08] Sam Faddis: “Both sides, you know, reality check. But the president is doing a superb job and there is definitely reason to be cautiously optimistic.”
• [26:30] Sam Faddis: “The task of actually transforming an agency...is mammoth.”
• [32:10] Sam Faddis: “Instead of celebrating...they're attacking the President.”
• [45:02] James Comey: “His behavior has earned him in my life a presumption of badness…and in a way, it's also his superpower to prevent me from being what I really want to be, which is a thoughtful person.”
• [47:52] Julie Kelly: “It’s really a window into a very disturbed man who hopefully is on the verge of getting his overdue comeuppance...”

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Takeaways for Listeners

• For Activists: The episode is a rallying cry—pressure state legislators, organize locally, and embrace aggressive political tactics.
• On National Security: Listeners are reminded there’s a larger chessboard in play, where oil tariffs and the confrontation with China underpin US advances.
• On Government Reform: Even with bold political appointments, dismantling entrenched “Deep State” bureaucracies is portrayed as a long, complex struggle.
• Establishment Fracture: High-profile critics like James Comey are mocked as symbols of a “dying regime,” revealing supposed psychological unraveling under the pressure of MAGA ascendancy.

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Additional Resources and Socials

• Scott Pressler: earlyvoteaction.com | Social: @ScottPresler (on X, Gettr, Truth Social)
• Sam Faddis: Substack: andmagazine.substack.com
• Julie Kelly: Substack: "Declassified with Julie Kelly" | X: @Julie_Kelly2

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(Sections related to advertisements, fundraising, and product promotions are omitted as per instructions.)

Transcript

[Steve Bannon]

This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. There's not got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people, the people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen.

[Scott Pressler]

And where do people like that go.

[Steve Bannon]

To share the big lie?

[Scott Pressler]

MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.

[Steve Bannon]

Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved. War Room here's your host, Stephen K. Band.

[Natalie Winters]

You're in the war room. It's Natalie Winters Hosting today, Tuesday, August 19th in the year of our Lord 2025, coming at you live from Washington, D.C. there are so many layers, I think, where the Trump administration is engaging in full spectrum dominance, DC Public safety here being one of them. Obviously, everything that transpired yesterday with the European leaders, everything we got going on on the China front, the border front. But I think President Trump opening up yet another, the very important war on the election front, or as we call it here in the war room, ballot warfare. If we want to toss that truth social post up on screen, we can see President Trump declaring that he wants to essentially end mail in ballot usage. I think we definitely stand by that. And some nice euphemistic adjectives describing some of these wonky voting machines trying to make a voting system that is actually deserving of, of this great country that we live in, not third world or maybe even fourth world banana republic vibes. I wanted to bring on probably one of the strongest advocates of all things, all things taking agency into your own hands when it comes to the security and sanctity of elections. And that is none other than Scott Pressler, who this is actually very fun to have you on, Scott. You are actually, as we speak, I think, registering voters. You're out and about in New Jersey, so maybe we'll, we'll have some people come and stop you if they do bounce. It's all good. We want to maximize the voter registrations. But before we get into what you, you've been doing on the ground game perspective, I'm curious your thoughts on just sort of the, you know, cursory plan that President Trump laid out with regard to ridding mail in ballots from, from our elections.

[Scott Pressler]

Thank you. Well, it's good to be back here on the war Room. Thank you, Natalie, for having me. You know, I'll tell you, on behalf of the millions of people that follow me, I can tell you that among peace and the economy and securing the border, election integrity is one of the most important issues that the Trump voter base cares about. And we want to make sure, especially going into this November in the midterm elections, that every American can know that their vote is going to be legal, lawful, and that one person equals one vote. And so it's a lot to unpack with President Trump's plan, If anything, I would probably surmise. What it means, Natalie, is that President Trump may declare a national security emergency when it comes to election integrity, and therefore he will then be able to issue executive orders at the federal level in order to provide for layers of election integrity. Now, when it comes to mail in voting, what I believe is probably going to happen is when it comes to federal elections, the president will probably make sure that we put an end to automatic vote. By and what I mean by that is states like Oregon, California, Washington, even Utah, Hawaii, you have these states that every registered voter, California, receives a mail in ballot, whether or not that person has requested one, which is totally different than absentee voting, or for our military, for example, or for the elderly or for people that aren't going to be able to vote on election Day. And so I believe that there are probably still going to be some ways that people can legally and lawfully vote and have their voices heard. But President Trump will be curtailing the automatic vote by mail. And I do want to give a brief shout out to Ben Edel in Oregon, who is working right now to collect signatures to end automatic vote by mail in the state of Oregon. And that's probably what I see happening.

[Natalie Winters]

Natalie, I'm curious about this national security emergency that you, you brought up. I'm sure Media Matters and all of MSNBC, or whatever their new network name is, I can never remember it, it's so bizarre. They're probably in melt hearing those terms put together. Is this something that has been done before, or why do you think that that would be the path forward that the Trump administration would choose?

[Scott Pressler]

Well, in order to issue an executive order, a pathway to quickly having some sort of reconciliation or a remedy would be declaring national security urgency in regards to election security. Let's put it this way, if I were in the executive, that's how I would immediately be able to spur progress when it comes to election security. Because let's be real, President Trump's House, the Republican House, has already passed the SAVE Act. But what is stopping us right now, Natalie? Well, we need 60 votes in the Senate and we know that Fetterman and a lot of these senators aren't going to come to the table. And it's already really difficult for us to get 53 Republican senators to coalesce, notwithstanding getting seven Democrats to come across the aisle and actually vote for election security, which by the way, is probably going to detrimentally impact their ability to win their elections. And so therefore we have to look at a plan B option. That's why we're looking at citizen initiated petitions in states like California, Oregon and Washington. And in my opinion, a plan C and something that we can do imminently without having to collect millions of signatures would be an EO from the President of the United States.

[Natalie Winters]

And sort of linking this to what you were talking about, how it seems like a lot of these issues, they start out with good intentions. Oftentimes a very nice bombastic truth social post, but oftentimes from within the tent, not even from the Democrats. But you can see them try to co opt these issues and go soft. What would your advice to the White House be in terms of who you think should be helping guide them, providing input, people like yourself, people who really work with the grassroots. Obviously, this is an existential crisis and I use that not in the way the left does to describe climate change, but what would your sort of suggestion be if you were advising the White House, of course, hypothetically on this issue as to the type of people that they should be really talking to to figure out the best way forward?

[Scott Pressler]

Well, I'd like to take a little bit of a more stern tone. I know probably some White House individuals, I know they do watch Stephen K. Bannon's War Room with you, Natalie. And here's my advice. If we don't peacefully fight fire with a flamethrower and make sure that we are enacting every level of election security and making sure that we have the candidates in order to win the midterm elections in 2026. President Trump already knows that history may repeat itself. And what I mean by that is we lost the House of representatives in 2018. And what happened when Democrats took over? They impeached our dear president. They stalled his America first agenda. And you hear me, if we do not maintain control of the House of representatives in 2026 and they take over in 2027, it's going to be a blank check for Ukraine. We're not going to have funding to secure our border. And President Trump for the remainder of his presidency, he will have only served, out of eight years, four years of legislative success, and the Democrats will have successfully taken four years from him. So I say every option is on the table. You redraw Texas and Florida and Indiana and every state that you possibly can. Because if the Democrats are going to do it, and they have in Massachusetts and Maine and Vermont and New Hampshire and California, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, every tool that the Democrats have done for the last 50 years, dare I say 100 years, you use their playbook against them.

[Natalie Winters]

And, Scott, if you can still hear me, I know we're, we're coming in live from. I think it's Camp Grange out in New Jersey. But I think, I think. Should I. All right. I think one of the reasons that people appreciate you so much, Scott, Sorry, we're having some connection issues, but I think we can hear you now is that you say it how it is. You obviously are boots on the ground, right? I think you are the action, action, action ethos that we preach here in the war room. You know, speaking about our congressional Republicans who frankly lack the spine to do anything unless it has to do with jamming more funding through for Ukraine or Israel or, you know, any foreign country or any foreign border, do you think that they actually have, like, my point essentially being that it's up to President Trump, right, to take this into his hands, because he doesn't necessarily have backup on this issue from anyone in Congress.

[Sam Faddis]

To.

[Natalie Winters]

Do you think that we have the ability to do this, or how can the posse make sure we push it across the line?

[Scott Pressler]

Yes, without hesitation and without a doubt. And so what the posse needs to do is, especially in states like Texas, which are purportedly Republican, you need to have everybody call your state representatives and your state senators and let them know that you support the redrawing of the maps at the state level in Texas, in Florida, in Indiana, and in every state, quite frankly. See, what, what makes 2024 different than 2016 is especially that we won the popular vote together. The posse helped deliver the popular vote for President Trump. And so these legislators need to know that the majority of the country stands for the president and his agenda. And that means that we must be vocal and we must let them know that we support the redrawing of the maps in order to make sure that we have success in the midterm elections that is critical to having success.

[Natalie Winters]

And, Scott, just take a few minutes and walk through, you know, where you are, what it exactly is that you're doing, and maybe more broadly, your sort of take on where we stand. Just from the people that you've been interacting with going into the midterms.

[Scott Pressler]

Thank you. Well, we have elections this year, Natalie. I am currently, as you can see behind me, we have a Republican tent here at the Grange Fair in Center County, Pennsylvania. This county is home to Penn State where all of our students and all of our teachers are for the by and large and PA notice I'm out in the field. We're continuing to register voters. We're continuing to make sure that we're setting up the infrastructure for 2026. And so to any in Pennsylvania, please hear me loving clearly. I need your vote this November. We have three Democrats, Supreme Court justices that locked you down during COVID that stole the 2020 election and that gerrymandered maps in 2018. I need you in Pennsylvania to vote no to retention to Justice Dougherty, Justice Donahue and Justice Wet. And I have 25 full time staff on the ground in Pennsylvania. Natalie. We have 14 full time staff on the ground in New Jersey. And to every New Jersey voter, I court you and I ask for your vote for Jack Ciatarelli to become the next governor of the Garden State. The election in Pennsylvania and the election in New Jersey is on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. If every Trump supporter that voted last year votes this year, you will deliver a red Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and you will deliver a new Republican governor, Jack Chattarelli and drive down property taxes, not raise them with Democrats on Tuesday, November 4, 2025. And that is the mission at early vote action.com early vote action.com.

[Natalie Winters]

Scott Pressler sir, we are very lucky to have you. Thank you for all the work that you do one more time. If people want to follow you, support you, stay up to date with everything you've got going on. Maybe even come and knock doors canvas, meet with people. Where can they go to do all that?

[Scott Pressler]

Thank you. Well number one posse, thank you for having Stephen K. Bannon's back and also thank you for having mine. You can support our work by going to early voteaction.com and please you can also go to my X account. I'm also on getter and True Social. All of my social Media is at ScottPressler. Scott P R E S1S L E R and I would love to knock on doors personally with you. I would love to register voters personally with you. And thank you again to the war Room posse.

[Natalie Winters]

Thank you sir for joining us. We'll have you back on.

[Scott Pressler]

Thanks Natalie.

[Natalie Winters]

Of course, Scott Pressler Love to see see actual Patriots out in the field walking the walk, not just talking the talk. You guys also know I think Birch gold, they certainly don't just walk the walk or they do walk the walk. They don't just talk the talk though. They are fun to talk to. That's why you got to give them a call. Or text Bannon to 989-898 to get your free copy of the ultimate guide for Gold in the Trump era. That's birchgold.com Bannon we'll be right back. Sam Fadis after the break.

[Steve Bannon]

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[Natalie Winters]

Kill America's voice family.

[Steve Bannon]

Are you on Getter yet?

[Julie Kelly]

No. What are you waiting for? It's free, it's uncensored and it's where.

[Natalie Winters]

All the biggest voices in conservative media are speaking out.

[Steve Bannon]

Download the Getter app right now. It's totally free. It's where I put up exclusively all of my content 24 hours a day. Want to know what Steve Bannon's thinking?

[Sam Faddis]

Go to Getter. That's right.

[Steve Bannon]

You can follow all of your favorites.

[Natalie Winters]

Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack pos and so many more.

[Scott Pressler]

Download the Getter app now.

[Natalie Winters]

Sign up for free and be part of the movement. You're back in the war room. We love Getter. We Also love Birch Gold. Hopefully you checked out Birch Gold in the break. If you didn't, you still can text Bannon to 989-898 to get your free copy of the Ultimate Guide to Gold in the Trump Era. Or go to birchill.com/bannon. Great domain, great service. We love Birch Gold. We also love Sam Faddis, who I was just saying in the break, he's one of the easiest and best guests to have on the show because he has such a deep bench of knowledge. And I guess maybe it's because all of the issues that I want to talk to you about are all essentially convergent. They have to do with, I guess, China replacing us as the global hegemon and the deep state here distracting us from the real fight, which I would argue is the threat of the Chinese Communist Party. I want to start your sort of general assessment of where we stand one day post all of those European leaders coming to the White House having to look at the murals, the hats and everything. Also, of course, the historic Anchorage Accords, what went down there. I'm curious your thoughts where we sort of stand on the Russia, Ukraine front.

[Sam Faddis]

Yeah. Well, look, I think so far so good, right? I mean, what the president has accomplished already is historic and amazing and more than anybody else came within a light year of accomplishing. So all good doesn't mean that we're out of the woods and doesn't mean there's not a lot of work to be done. And I would sum it up this way. Both sides, Russia and Ukraine, are going to have to sort of wake up, smell the coffee and face reality. Putin invaded Ukraine. His intention was to conquer it, seize Kyiv in about two days, turn it into a client state or annex it outright. Okay. The best he's going to do now is take some portion of Ukraine's territory along the border and admit that he failed. By the same token, Zelenskyy is going to have to face the reality that he is not getting back all of that territory and that's just not going to happen. So both sides, you know, reality check. But the president is doing a superb job and there is definitely reason to be cautiously optimistic.

[Natalie Winters]

And I want to broaden this out to how you think this is impacting other regions, other kind of country dynamics. Obviously, what's going on on the tariff front plays into it, but we obviously track rare earths very closely here in the war room. There's interesting reporting coming out today talking about how China is sort of, I think, expanding their, you know, newfound to some Extent. Buddy, buddy. Relationship with India Post, you know, President Trump raising those tariffs, that they were going to help them with their rare earth supply. I'm curious your thoughts first on that, but also just more broadly, what you think the ramifications of what's going on with regard to negotiating with Russia and Ukraine mean for the U.S.

[Sam Faddis]

Well, one of the things that the president has grasped, I mean, one of the, one of the elements of, I believe, truly the genius of Donald Trump is he, he gets to the heart of the matter. And when he doesn't like the way the cards are dealt, he deals new cards. He resets the, he resets the table. What he did when he placed oil tariffs, what he did when he told the Indians if they didn't stop buying oil from Russia, he was in effect going to impose a 50% tariff, which would mean he was going to kill all of their industries selling to the US and kill all hopes they had of picking up additional market share as American companies move out of China. Okay, that's not in. What does it have to do with Russia and Ukraine? Well, India buys roughly 30% of Russia's oil, and then we're talking 50, 60 billion dollars a year the Indians hand to the Russians. Waging war in Ukraine is not cheap. If the Indians stop buying that oil and The Russians lose 50, 60 billion, Putin can't fund a war in Ukraine. It seems to have nothing to do with Ukraine. And yet it goes to the heart of the matter. He's. He's going to cut off the lifeblood for that war. Okay. And that's genius. What are all the bad actors that wish us ill and are always looking to mess things up going to do? Look for ways to counter that. And that's part of what China's doing right now. They're talking to the Russians about buying their oil instead of India. They're talking to the Indians about helping them out. I mean, there are always multiple sides here, but everybody understands that if things stay as Trump has set them up right now and the Indians have to walk away from buying Russian oil, then Putin will literally have no choice but to stop the war in Ukraine. He won't be able to buy fuel, he won't be able to buy ammunition.

[Natalie Winters]

And I want to bring this back now home here. Obviously, the deep state that we're facing, they obviously played a very critical role in all things Ukraine, 2014, color revolution and all that. I think it's interesting. I think it was, what, the week after Putin rolled into Russia that the Pentagon reopened their office of I think perception management and influence. And despite all the FOIA requests that people have submitted, they're very vague. The only thing that they'll say is that they were helping to shape narratives and discourse around what was going on in Ukraine. And to that point I remember seeing a bunch of Farah filings about Western companies that were working and sort of consulting with these social media companies to help push certain pro Ukrainian narratives. And I think it's interesting sort of to counter that. We saw Dni Gabbard in Denver. If you want to toss the tweet up on screen, I have the announcement. But Director Gabbard talking about how she had been working with the UK for a while and finally got them to agree to drop their mandate for Apple to provide a quote backdoor that would have enabled access to the protected encrypted data of American citizens. I'm curious your thoughts on on that.

[Sam Faddis]

It's a big win for liberty and privacy by the way. Obviously I was laughing earlier not because it's funny, but because it is so absurd that we live in a reality in which our government believes it can spy on its own citizens. I mean the Constitution's pretty clear on this issue. What has now happened is the UK government has backed off on this idea that they were going to force Apple to put a backdoor in. In other words, they were going to allow the UK government to access all your, all of your private communications and read and spy on everything you were doing. It's another marker. I mean it doesn't apply just to UK citizens, it would apply to anybody. And it's another marker being put down that this administration is saying no, we're, we are not going to tolerate this continued violation of the fourth Amendment in the US Constitution. We are not spying on our citizens, which we obviously have been doing and I should add having served undercover in the CIA for a long time. There's no ambiguity about legality here. The CIA and these other agencies have no charter to spy on American citizens. No permission, no legal authority. You want to spy on an American, eavesdrop, It's real clear. Go to a court and get a fourth under the fourth Amendment and get a warrant. If not, then I'm sorry, you can't read my mail. That's real clear. And people have been riding roughshod over that for many years now.

[Natalie Winters]

I'm curious your general assessment just from a kind of, you know, several agency view in terms of pushing back. I mean it's not really even weaponization. It's so far beyond That I think that's too nice a term. But from the actual personnel perspective, it seems like we've seen reporting every now and then talking about how there really hasn't been any massive turnover, certainly of career types within these agencies or departments. And oftentimes, you know, the politicals haven't even been confirmed or aren't even in yet. I think we're seeing that with the Senate on vacation and obviously everything going on at the FBI, which I'll hold you to the break. We got a few minutes, but I'd love to get your, your assessment there too. But do you think that we're seeing meaningful pushback? In other words, it's great that the UK Is doing this, but do we have any movement on what the US Is doing, too? Because I'm sure they're equally culpable, if not probably far worse.

[Sam Faddis]

Are we making progress? Yes. Have we made enough progress? But absolutely not. You've got lots of people still in these agencies who are completely hostile to Donald Trump and his agenda and are doing everything they can to frustrate it. No question.

[Natalie Winters]

And let's go to the FBI stuff. Obviously, former, I guess, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, we've had him on the show. He's a real fighter, was named the co deputy director of the FBI. Pretty uncommon unusual, I believe. I'm curious your thoughts on the sort of significance of that and why you think the White House is doing that.

[Sam Faddis]

Well, I do not know him personally, but what I know of him says, yeah, this is a very serious guy. Why is he being brought in? Because the task of actually transforming an agency which is tens of thousands of men and women strong is mammoth. And putting two guys at the top, Cash and Dan, both of whom I know personally have nothing but respect for. But putting two guys in at the top and thinking you now have transformed the agency or that bureau or control it, I mean, that's wishful thinking. You've barely scratched the surface on really getting control. And if anything, it's worse at CIA, by the way. I mean, we haven't even seen the changes at CIA that we've seen at the bureau so far. So you're looking at. And I'm not badmouthing the rank and file at the working level for whom I have great respect, but you still got a lot of senior folks who are dug in and their whole, their whole mission for the next, well, until the next presidential election is dig in, fight, hold out, and get ready to and resist in the hope that there will be a Democratic president back in the White House and everything can go back to business as usual.

[Natalie Winters]

Yeah, the burrowing and it's quite wild how will allow Biden holdovers to stay. But I think anyone who is even tangentially related to MAGA is an automatic fire and frankly persecuted by the highest levels of the DOJ under, under Biden. I guess that's the double standard. Not for the posse but for our establishment Republican pals. Sam's going to hang with us through the break if he can. Warren Posse. We also got Julie Cast Kelly joining us. In the meantime, make sure you're checking out Tax Network USA. That's tnusa.com Bannon give them a call. Don't wait.

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[Natalie Winters]

Welcome back to the War room. We still got Sam Fatis with us and we're going to be joined next by Julie Kelly. We're going to dive a bit deeper into everything going on at the FBI. And just some wild cringe clips from James Comey. If you think the Taylor Swift video one was the worst one, just you wait. I think we might even have the chance to play some of them. But before we get to that, I hope I didn't make you want to turn off the show, it's important. We always got to mock James Comey because you know why? Posse. It's you guys who are making people like Comey freak out and post weird videos worshiping Taylor Swift and making people like, I guess, Adam Schiff start legal defense funds. What is it now? The preemptive pardon? The legal defense fund. You wreak like a very innocent or guilty man, which we know you are. But Sam, I'm just curious, before we let you go, your thoughts on President Trump's D.C. crackdown, how it's going? The numbers seem pretty staggering in terms of dropped crimes and people that have been swept off, off the street. But the execution of that. How's it going?

[Sam Faddis]

I think it's going great. The numbers are conclusive, right? I mean, the carjackings have virtually ceased in D.C. and that was an epidemic, a massive problem. It's also clear, by the way, look, the, the, the other side wants to claim that this is all unjustified because, because crime has been decreasing. Okay? That's a blatant lie. And it has been established now conclusively. We've written about it at Ann, but a whole bunch of people have written about it. I mean, DC has been cooking the books and reclassifying things and downgrading charges deliberately now over the course of years to complete create completely false statistics. So, I mean, everybody that lives in the District, around the District, knows crime is not down. And it is, it has been a major problem and it is now at least temporarily under control. And it says something really bad about the Democratic Party in its current state, that instead of celebrating that on behalf of the citizens of the District, they're attacking the President.

[Natalie Winters]

Indeed. These people are crazy. Can't believe I live here. I don't want to, but in the meantime, I'm sure we'll have you back on before I get lucky enough to move out of here. Where can people go to follow you and stay up to date with everything you're working on and writing about? Sam?

[Sam Faddis]

Yeah, the best place to go is just on substack and magazine and magazine.substack.com and obviously I'm out all over the net, the places that haven't kicked me off yet, but and magazine will get you there.

[Natalie Winters]

Thank you, sir, for joining us.

[Sam Faddis]

Thank you.

[Natalie Winters]

A not so fun fact, or maybe funny story. Depends how you look at it. Literally, as President Trump was doing his press conference talking about crime in D.C. while I guess concurrently the left wing networks were melting down, telling us how crime doesn't exist in D.C. i literally had a very, very expensive package stolen from my front porch. And the thieves were so kind, they didn't even take the package. They just cut it up, took the what was inside and left the box there for. For several days I was out of town and someone promptly discovered that that had happened. But the best part, and what I realized, why D.C. is such a gaslighting awful city, is that it doesn't even come to mind to report it to the police because they're not going to do anything about it because frankly, a lot of them don't care. There's a bunch of DEI initiatives plaguing that police department and they're so busy focusing on other, of course, more serious crimes. I'm okay, I'm not hurt at all. My bank account maybe, but they don't have the bandwidth to deal with it. And it's very sad that this is what our nation's capital has come to. I will say, as someone who lives here and has been living here on and off for several years, the vibe in the city, and I'm not one for much vibe assessment, but is extremely different today and just in general since the troops or whomever, the law enforcement presence has been upped. It's so much quieter. There is the least amount of traffic I've ever seen. There's a shortage of delivery drivers. I'll let you come to the conclusion on what that means. But people seem to be very, very, I guess, intimidated and sort of ticked off by the presence of a lot of these law enforcement people. The sort of deranged lib types with all the signs now hanging from their banners or their balconies instead of saying, you know, screw Doge, we want to end Doge now it's Protect dc. We don't want you here. But I don't see a lot of homeless people anymore. A lot of the kind of shady underpasses with the graffiti everywhere, they've actually been fenced off. Rather seriously and quickly, my only tip I would give to the people who are now embarking on the quest of removing graffiti in dc. I was actually walking around earlier today. A lot of the graffiti that I saw are actually murals that were done in coordination with get ready NASA. I think that's a bit of a far cry from what NASA's original mission was supposed to be. But that's everything that you learned from just going on a 30 minute pre war room walk here in Washington D.C. i will keep you guys updated on all the other things that I find here. Hopefully no more crime. Homeless People are stolen packages. It's okay. But Julie Kelly, you have always the inside scoop on the people who should have been protecting my package and are now keeping D.C. safe. That is what's going on over at the FBI. I'm curious to get your thoughts on what it means that we're having a co deputy director, sort of unique. But your thoughts on, on Andrew Bailey, the fact that this position even exists, what it means for the FBI.

[Julie Kelly]

So I will. But Natalie, I just want to speak a little bit to what you were just talking about and the law enforcement presence in D.C. and the residents of Washington who are resisting this. You know, it's really a combination of infuriating and amusing to me. These are the same people, Natalie, who sat on over 100 jury trials for January 6th and they threw the book at anyone who interfered with a police officer, assaulted, had a minor scuffle with a D.C. cOP or Capitol Police officer. And I would sit in jury selection proceedings and I would listen to the residents of Washington who were just horrified about what happened for a few hours on Capitol Hill on a Wednesday afternoon. They were still traumatized by it and they were happy to defend the police. They wondered why there were not more law enforcement or national Guards as this issue was debated for years about the deployment of the National Guard. And now to have these same people confronting federal police officers, ice, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, whoever it is, watching these same liberals now interfere with police, assault police officers, try to stop them from doing their jobs, harassing them, mocking them. It is, it just demonstrates not just the double standard of justice, but how these people cannot even reconcile in their own heads the hypocrisy of how they approach different things based on where Donald Trump is in the equation. So I just wanted to kind of throw that out there after covering all those trials for so long. But also dovetailing with that, yes, it does appear that the DOJ and FBI ramping up their investigations, it appears that they are opening up grand jury proceedings, hopefully not in Washington, for some of the perpetrators of the Russiagate hoax. And now we have the announcement that Andrew Bailey, the Missouri attorney general, who has a long history background in state prosecutions, will be the co deputy director alongside Dan Bongino, of course, working for Cash Patel and AJ Pambandi to start moving forward in advancing some of these cases.

[Natalie Winters]

So you take this more as a sign of strength and perhaps more of a focus or orientation around prosecutions as opposed to, you know, chaos inside the FBI. That's obviously how the legacy media has tried to Spin it. You think that this is actually potentially a good sign for real accountability in the form of, you know, working it through the courts, going after these people from a prosecutorial perspective?

[Julie Kelly]

I absolutely do. And look, there is chaos within the FBI because you still have this systemically corrupt bureau under a systemically corrupt Department of Justice. The FBI is underneath the Department of Justice and they don't know who to trust. And they have found out the hard way and the good way by exposing a lot of the bad actors early on, firing J6 prosecutors, firing prosecutors, investigators and agents who are involved saying the Mar A Lago raid and investigation, but they don't know who they can trust. And we just saw the firing of Brian Driscoll, who is the acting, who was, had been the acting deputy for a while as they were awaiting confirmation and placement of Dan Bongino and of course, Steven Jensen, who also is the acting chief of the Washington FBI field office. Both of those gentlemen given their walking papers a week or so ago. So in terms of leadership, Natalie Cash and Dan need to know who they can trust. And they're not just going to pull some, you know, assistant chief, whatever, the ASAC from Random Field office to work alongside of them because the trust factor within the bureau is nil. So I take this as a very positive sign. They definitely have their hands full, not just with these politically motivated or politically natured investigations into Russiagate in January 6th and the Mar A Lago raid, Adam Schiff, Letitia James, et cetera, but also really fighting crime and reassigning, redirecting the resources and focus of the FBI to domestic law enforcement, to protecting the homeland, protecting cities, protecting the border. And so, yes, I definitely take this as a good sign, but I would not write off the chaos that is still going on. Not necessarily the leadership level, but certainly the rank and file who we hear is the still just horrified at the bad cops at the FBI are being weeded out and fired.

[Natalie Winters]

And Julie, on the topic of fighting crime, I'm curious, do you see the DC playbook being sort of replicated city by city? And what do you. Do you think that there's a quick timeframe for that or could you see the FBI doing that?

[Julie Kelly]

I don't for right now, obviously, you know better than anyone the rules are different in Washington, D.C. than anywhere else. For example, I'm here in Chicago right now. I know that the Trump administration has ratcheted up federal resources to the existing federal law enforcement partners that they have in cities like Chicago and New York and other areas that's happening, I think more behind the scenes. Do I see a scenario where National Guard troops, say Illinois, or you've got armed FBI or, or ATF walking Michigan Avenue? I don't see that. But I do think that just generally, Natalie, it has been a wake up call for the criminal elements and the illegals, that this is a different ballgame and that the president and his top officials will not balk at exercising their authority to keep neighborhoods and cities and areas of the country safe and secure. So I'm sure that, that I know that it's having a downstream effect in these cities and certainly politically and of course, Washington, D.C. not only being a different animal with, you know, with, you know, the federal local tension there, but the most democratic city in the country. So you're going to have definite more resistance there than you may in other cities. But I do think that there's political risk to broadening this to other cities.

[Natalie Winters]

Yeah. The hypocrisy that you pointed out, I think really hits the nail on the head. A town that, frankly, I think they probably thought the January six prosecutions were too light. They probably would have put these people to, you know, execution if they could. And now all these people are, you know, apoplectic because we're what, going after illegal gang banging, you know, rapist murdering thugs? Try to square that logic. Chain or value chain. I don't think you can. But then again, I don't think these people are motivated by anything resembling humanity, having just come from the the west coast and if you can believe it, Seattle barely survived. It's even weirder and scarier and more evil. Truly, it is a battle between good and evil out there. We got more Julie Kelly and some cringe James Comey after the break.

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[Jim Comey]

Lot this week about Donald Trump's tendency to radicalize me. He's so dangerous and does so many lawless, mean and just stupid things that thoughtful people have a tendency to react negatively to anything that relates to him. And I guess I shouldn't say people because I can't speak for you, but I do. His behavior has earned him in my life a presumption of badness. And that's okay to a point. He earned it after all. But in a way, it's also his superpower to prevent me from being what I really want to be, which is a thoughtful person. Hey everybody. Welcome back to my substack. Last week's cold turns out to have been Covid quite a flashback and Donald Trump is still president and still humiliating America on a national stage standing next to Vladimir Putin. It's like a dream, a bad dream you can't wake up from. But I don't want to talk about that bad dream this week. I want to talk about a truly inspirational publication figure named Taylor Swift. Of course I watched her podcast interview with the Kelsey brothers. Of course I watched the whole thing, although on YouTube, Patrice and I got kicked off for the last 15 minutes and finished it on her phone. But I watched it. You see, Taylor Swift and I go way back. I went to my first concert of hers 15 years ago. I've been to a second and I have helped financially support the attendance of a lot of family members. At others, I'm in a family's Swifty group chat. I know all her music and I listen to it in my headphones when I cut the grass. So yes, I have a favorite of hers. Although honestly, for me it's a top.

[Natalie Winters]

James Comey, you sir, are a certified freak. I've never seen a weirder video from a self professed or avowedly straight man alpha male? No, you are a beta male. That is maybe the weirdest video I've ever seen. Especially hostage style. Also, don't you have like contracts with major networks? Why are you posting these videos? Although I guess maybe I can't knock you out for realizing that your efforts to be a real man and be in control of yourself have slipped by the wayside. I don't usually like to take ad hominem dunks on people because James Comey has a rap sheet for probably longer than Taylor Swift has songs in terms of an album list. But yikes. Julie Kelly, thank you for bringing that to our audience's attention. You have a great substack, I think, as you said, watching the entirety of his bizarre rant so we don't have to walk us through before we get to the fun stuff. Also, you know why you think he is doing this now? Or are they that desperate where they're now posting weird Taylor Swift worshiping culty videos?

[Julie Kelly]

So I'm listening to this. Even though I've watched these videos for the past two days, it still cracks me up. This is a 64 year old man who has, I think five children, various grandchildren. I don't know any man who speaks that way to your point. Raises a lot of questions. So why, yes, did he start this subject? And by the way, I have a lot more clips on my substack declassified with Julie Kelly. If people want to really get a good laugh, please check it out. There's much more I could have made, but I tried to focus in on the key ones. I'm not sure. A lot of people have some mixed opinions as to why he started the sub stack, which he did in May. He started it two days before the infamous beach rock formation stunt that he posed on Instagram that landed him in some hot water. He's trying to sell his third fiction novel and I think this is his way he thinks of laughing off the ongoing investigations into his conduct related to Russiagate, the criminal referral that CIA Director John Ratcliffe sent to the DOJ on Jim Comey and John Brennan last month. So this is his way of just trying to act so light hearted. None of this really bothers him. I'm just a grandpa, but you know, writing with chalk with my grandkids, cutting the grass, doing yoga with my wife. But no one's buying it because you just have to look at the man. He is so broken, he is so disturbed that you are starting to sense that maybe for the first time he realizes that he might be in some serious trouble for being one of the main perpetrators of the Russiagate hoax, lying about it and continuing to do whatever he could behind the scenes to try to destroy Donald Trump. But I mean those that just scratches the surface of what he said. He talks to about how Donald Trump, well you heard him there, is stopping him from being a thoughtful person. Then he goes on in another video to talk about how he how he deals with the haters and he doesn't allow comments on social media and substats. And Donald Trump is trying to prevent him from being him, that who he is is a father and a husband, that he's not defined by his work. I mean, this is like Oprah Winfrey level thinking. You know, this is like stream of consciousness that you would get from, you know, a housewife whose husband just left her. Not someone who just ran, who ran for many years the nation's most powerful law enforcement agency and used his authority in a such a highly partisan, destructive way to try to take down Donald Trump and by the way, successfully destroyed other people's lives and families and bank accounts. So it's really a window into a very disturbed man who hopefully is on the verge of getting his overdue comeuppance for what he puts Donald Trump and the country through for many years.

[Natalie Winters]

Indeed. Julie Kelly, if people want to read the substack, watch those clips. I highly encourage them to do so. They're wild. Where can they go to do that?

[Julie Kelly]

Declassified with Julie Kelly on Substack, where I have a lot more subscribers than Jim Comey and on X JulieKelly too.

[Natalie Winters]

Thank you, ma', am, for joining us.

[Julie Kelly]

Thanks, Natalie.

[Natalie Winters]

I would also add to a Julie's housewife comparison. Hey, maybe I didn't know that James Comey had started hormone therapy. I don't know. You know, nowadays on that side of the political aisle, maybe he's undergoing transition because I have never seen a more weaker beta male man talking about Taylor Swift. I mean, I'm sorry, you can't even make that up. And don't even try to say that that's a deep fake. I don't even think deep fakes could be that cringe. But to tie a bow on all of this and bring it back to signal, not noise. Think about everything that James Comey and his apparatchiks over there put this movement through, put MAGA through, put Stephen K. Bannon through. Right? Obviously rooted in nothing. All a witch hunt. And we didn't just survive, we frickin survived. We came back 10 times stronger. These people having to face actual accountability for stuff that they actually did. And I think that's an important distinguisher between what they went after us for. But I guess maybe that's why their response is so different than ours. We double down, we fight harder, they post weird, makes you question your sexuality. Substack videos. We are not the same. And thank God for that. Also make sure before we go, you're checking out Rickard's war room. Someone else who is certainly not of the comey mold. Much smarter that is. Rickardswarroom.com you can get a free book money GTP I stand by it. That video is not a deep fake chatgpt Anything like that did not create it. That's just pure comey cringe. But rickardswarm.com thank you guys for hanging with me. Have a good one.

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