
Episode 4882: ICE Under Threat; Stopping Illegals From Terrorizing The Trucking Industry; Indictment Of Jack Smith ...
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Julie Kelly
Let him testify publicly. It's a question with added weight amid revelations in a new book by journalist Jonathan Karl. The ABC correspondent says Smith had access to handwritten notes from former Vice President Mike Pence scribbled down on January 6, and Smith was prepared to use those notes to prosecute the President. We should add, if SMBC has not seen those notes or confirmed their contents. With everything the president has imposed on the federal government since he got back into office, his first term now looks like a model of restraint, as in looks a whole lot tamer back then. The president himself sees it, too. Quote, everyone is on my side now. He says they were fighting against me last time. One of my next guests argues the president is now on his way to creating a new World Order during this second term. Financial Times Ed Loose says he interviewed dozens of lawmakers, CEOs, military leaders, lawyers, diplomats and Trump insiders, all of whom described an administration operating on fear, control and retribution.
Stephen K. Bannon
Jack Smith has been talking lately and he has been revealing interesting tidbits. And I think the Republicans bring Jack Smith to testify publicly at their peril because he's a forceful and articulate narrator of what happened with criminal investigations into the now sitting president. And here's the thing. You know, the Republicans have been saying over and over again that Jack Smith weaponized, he was, he participated in the weaponization of the Biden Justice Department, that essentially this was all a plot by Democrats to target Jack, Donald Trump based on bogus allegations. Jack Smith is living refutation of that. They produce no evidence to support those allegations. And when Jack Smith comes up and talks, they're still not going to have that evidence. And he's got a lot of evidence to the contrary, actually many careful steps that were taken that show actually that this, this investigation didn't move as quickly as it could have and didn't take some steps that it could have that would have made it perhaps more successful. And so it's going to be a really interesting moment if he does testify publicly.
Ed Luce
So I wouldn't I go light on the New World Order. I would, I think that was characterized, the piece being characterized rather than by our headline writers, rather than what I was writing about, which is Trump's domestic supremacy. Now he can blow hot and cold to the rest of the world, vaporizing, you know, boats in the Caribbean one moment and saying, arranging a Gaza ceasefire and saying he deserves a Nobel Prize the next. But at home, it has been pretty much all in one direction. And that direction has been towards challenging the rule of law in some cases. Just blatantly ignoring court orders and rearranging the senior military brass, firing people who stand in his way, and indeed, casting a chill over law firms, corporations, employers, to try and intimidate them from standing up to him. So I think this is the really massive difference from his first term. And I think that the speed with which this has happened and this piece was looking at Trump's first year dating from November 5, his election victory, not from his inauguration in January 20. I think the speed with which he's moved forward on his agenda and the punch drunkenness of a lot of American civil society, not everybody. Some people are standing up. There are some. A couple of small law firms that represent, you know, people who are suing the Trump administration. But basically, there's been pretty much people keeping their heads down. And I think that's a very striking difference between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0. There are no adults in his administration.
Julie Kelly
Do you think he will ultimately be indicted or at least charged with a crime, at least an effort to be indicted? And what is to stop this administration from weaponizing the doj?
Ed Luce
There's not much to stop it. First of all, I do see him trying to do that. I think Jim Jordan and somebody in the White House, maybe Donald Trump, have come up with this plot to get him behind closed doors, get some snippets of testimony, do the same thing they did with Letitia James, taking information out of context and statements out of context out of her mortgage rider, the same thing they did with Jim Comey and making it into some kind of a substantive, look at least appearing substantive indictment. To just charge him with having brought two prosecutions against Donald Trump just doesn't kind of ring right in terms of a criminal prosecution. But a perjury prosecution is a little bit more technical, and it distracts the public and it distracts the press. They haven't even, you know, properly reported on the details of both of those prosecutions to show that they're just totally unfounded, totally bogus, because they've taken information selectively out of certain documents. And the only real kind of potential that we have here is one, if one of the judges in one of these cases felt that they had to do this, they could actually appoint a private attorney as a special counsel to investigate the matter.
Julie Kelly
So a judge could go do that.
Ed Luce
It wouldn't have to come from the.
Julie Kelly
Doj, like we've seen appointing special counsel.
Ed Luce
There's a Supreme Court case right on point where in terms of contempt of court, which this would be using Court processes to go after your political enemies, to seek retribution. That is not valid. That is contempt of court. And it would permit the judge to actually appoint a special attorney to look at that. And if he determined there was evidence, he could go ahead and prosecute that case right in front of that judge. They don't have to give it to the Department of Justice.
Steve Cortez
This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Christians not get 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.
Sean Duffy
And where do people like that go.
Steve Cortez
To share the big lie?
Ed Luce
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul.
Steve Cortez
I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
Stephen K. Bannon
DAY WAR ROOM here's your host, Stephen k. Ban.
Steve Cortez
Monday, the 27th of October in the year of our Lord 2025, of course, the President's on a triumphant tour of East Asia. Now he's in, he's in Japan getting ready to, to, to mar Japan. And then he's going to South Korea is going to have at least right now a meeting with Xi if everything kind of get worked out. There's all kind of accusations going around. Trump's not a, not a hawk, that the hawks are not ascended here, all kind of nonsense. We're going to break down all of that later in the show. I want to get to, we got to get to some very important signal up front because you see in Washington D.C. all they're doing is defending Big Tish James, defending Jack Smith. They're trying to get off the prosecutions of the deep state and the administrative state that weaponized the legal system to come after President Trump and his followers. And they're being very effective. This is why I had Tom Fitton on the show. We need a special prosecutor. That special prosecutor needs report to the needs report to directly into the White House. But we have Ben Berkwam with us. I got a clip from Ben Berkram. Let's play that. And then we're going to go to Ben Berkram down in Texas. He's an illegal entrant.
Stephen K. Bannon
We got a criminal arrest warrant that we're gonna go in on to get him for illegal re entry.
Sean Duffy
He's Already been deported once.
Steve Cortez
They were attempting to make an arrest of him at a different location. He fled to here and then got.
Stephen K. Bannon
Inside the house and barricaded himself.
Ben Berkwam
And so he fled in the vehicle?
Steve Cortez
Yeah, first in the vehicle and then.
Stephen K. Bannon
On foot into the house.
Ben Berkwam
Copy.
Ed Luce
Oh, no, that's.
Steve Cortez
I think I sent you to your G phone at that point. We went, got the criminal arrest warrant connected with local law enforcement to make.
Stephen K. Bannon
Sure we can secure the scene. Obviously, as can see, there's a lot.
Steve Cortez
Of folks here that are trying to. They are upset.
Stephen K. Bannon
And so we want to make sure everybody's safe. The public, the officers, and the individual that's barricutting himself inside the house. And right now, I'm sure they're making a plan to go in there safely.
Sean Duffy
And get him out so that nobody gets hurt.
Steve Cortez
I think two of them. You want to get him probably over.
Ben Berkwam
There on this side?
Steve Cortez
Yeah, right.
Julie Kelly
All right, let's clear. Let's clear.
Brett Bradford
Let's clear.
Ben Berkwam
You're endangering your baby. You're endangering your baby. We're up against America. It's not just the illegals that were let in. It's the communities that are aiding and abetting, protecting them. Like this right here, walking out in traffic. Walking out in traffic with her baby. Just pathetic.
Steve Cortez
Okay, Ben, what did we just see there? It looks very dangerous for certain of the officers, both in the initial arrest and, And. And then afterwards with the folks kind of crowding around and getting all worked up by these lefty protesters. What did we just see there?
Ben Berkwam
Well, sadly, it's what we're seeing across the country, where you have these activist organizations that are training people on how to undermine law enforcement, undermine ice. So in this case, this was an illegal alien that was stopped at a traffic stop. He fled with his vehicle, as you heard from the agent there, the pio, and got to the house, got out. Him and two others went running inside the house. And at that point, the ICE officers surrounded the home. They got a criminal warrant, and they were actually planning on going into the home. Got word that there were kids in the house, and within minutes, you've got this rapid response network, they call it. It's this network of leftists, communists, all of these organizations across America, the same NGOs that invited the invasion into our country, that profited off it. Many of the same organizations that sent people to your communities around the country are on the phone. They get the neighbors out, they get everybody out. You get these violent, chaotic scenes that puts everybody's lives in danger. And ICE has to deal with that. And sadly, this is what we're seeing, not just here in Houston, but everywhere across the country now, this idea that ICE doesn't have a right to go out and catch the bad guys. And by the way, Steve, these guys have no idea who is inside that house, why ICE is there to pick them up, any of the background, what their criminal history is. They have no idea. They're just out there to obstruct ice.
Steve Cortez
But they have no idea. They also don't care. If they had an idea, they wouldn't care. We have the what regional director is Brett Bradford for ice. Brett, can you just walk us through what is the strategy of ICE right now? Because clearly you guys are outnumbered and you're not going to be able to recruit, you know, tens of thousands of people. So what's. What's the plan?
Brett Bradford
I think the biggest plan is not to spend too much time in any particular area. We like to try and hit different areas, get in, get out, before you give the protesters time to organize and the activists time to organize and get into the area. So I think the quick hits are the best way to do that. Right now we're doing a lot of vehicle stops. We're working a lot with our partner law enforcement agencies here. We have a 287 program with a lot of our local PDS and local sheriffs that we're working with so that we can actually use those forced multipliers. Because you're right, we're not going to get enough people ourselves to go out there and solve this problem. We've got to work with our partners out here to do it.
Steve Cortez
What, what I hear that most of the communities are working with. You guys are supportive of this, but it's where they have these agitators or where they've had these lefty organizations go and train people for resistance to the. To the ICE efforts. Are you seeing that in Houston?
Brett Bradford
Yes, absolutely. You're absolutely right about Houston especially. This is a very friendly environment for the most part. You have pockets and you have the activist groups that have these networks, as Ben mentioned. So once you're in an area, it may be a fairly friendly area, but once they find out you're there, they flood in from the other pockets and other areas around the Houston area that aren't as friendly and converge in that area. That's why you've got to try and get in and get out as quick as possible and not give them the time to organize.
Steve Cortez
Brett, can you hang on? Brett Bradford is the regional director for ice. Ice. Some of those, some of the bravest people you've ever seen. They're going into oftentimes hostile environments with bad hombres. So really, really, really appreciate the ICE effort. Ben Berkwam is also down and he's going to be on the road reporting live. He's got a lot to report on this situation. We're going to take a short commercial break. Is once again bouncing all over the map. Why is that? The good news is President Trump is in Asia. Looks like he's working on an overall deal with the Chinese Communist Party. Of course, we're all for declub decoupling, but as long as they got the knife to our throat on these heavy rare earths, that may not be possible. President Trump trying to work out the best deal possible. That's the good news. Why? Gold is a little tame, but on the other side, the kinetic war in Europe only increases. Orban today blocked taking the Russian people's money and using it to buy weapons to go after them. A lot going on. Birchgold.com the end of the dollar empire. Check it out today. Promo code Bannon Go check it out today. Short break. Back to Houston in a moment. Want to tell you about a new offer from our sponsor, Birch Gold Veterans Day Free Silver. Buy gold and get free silver. That's right, for every $5,000 purchased from Birch Gold Group this month in advance of Veterans Day, they will send you a free patriotic silver round that commemorates the Gadsden and American flags. Look, gold is up over 40% since the beginning of this year and Birch Gold can help you own it by converting an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA in physical gold. Plus, they'll send you free silver honoring our veterans. Qualifying purchases if you're current or former military, Birchgold has a special offer just for you, waiving custodial fees for the first year on investments of any amount with an A plus rating. With the Better Business Bureau and tens of thousands of happy customers, many of which are my listeners, I encourage you to diversify your savings into gold. Text my name, Bannon B A N N Owen to number 989898 for a free info kit and to claim your eligibility for free silver with qualifying purchase before the end of the month. Again, text my name, Bannon to 989898. You will get the ultimate guide which is free for investing in gold and precious metals in the age of Trump. Do it today.
Sean Duffy
Kill America's voice Family.
Steve Cortez
Are you on Getter yet? No.
Julie Kelly
What are you waiting for? It's free, it's uncensored, and it's where.
Steve Cortez
All the biggest voices in conservative media are still speaking out. 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? Go to Getter.
Sean Duffy
That's right.
Steve Cortez
You can follow all of your favorites. Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobi, and so many more.
Sean Duffy
Download the Getter app now.
Steve Cortez
Sign up for free and be part.
Julie Kelly
Of the new bin.
Steve Cortez
Okay. From Houston, we just saw a ICE enforcement operation earlier today. With Ben Berkwam is Brett Bradford. He's the field office director for ice. So, Brett, how do you keep morale up and how do you keep these folks motivated to go in harm's way? When I think it was just Friday on the steps of the U.S. capitol, you had this huge group of Democrats saying that Democrat congressmen that. Saying that they're launching an app that. That outlines or gets in front of every ICE raid in the country so people can see it real time and so agitators and protesters can get there to work up people. How does that. How does that play with these brave ICE officers who are going in harm's way every day?
Brett Bradford
Well, the first thing I would say to that is it really drives me crazy that these members of Congress are calling us names, coming up with these apps, doing all that stuff. And we are enforcing the laws they put on the books. We didn't write the laws. Our job is just to enforce the laws. They write the laws. If they don't like the laws, they need to change the laws. That's the first thing. Morale. It's difficult. But what we have to do, and I go around and meet with my folks all the time, is we have to remind them of the good we're doing, and we thoroughly believe that. I'm proud of the work that these folks do every day. You know, last year, and these aren't official numbers, but I think we arrested. It was around 18,000 or a little over 18,000 people last year, just the Houston field office and remove them from the United States. And I believe in that. And again, I'm just going off my recollection, I think it was about 1,500 folks that were actually had convictions for assault or aggravated assault. There were 400. There were sex offenses, many of those against children. That's what we got to step back every now and then and look at all those folks that we not only got off the streets, we got out of the country. How many children didn't get victimized now because those folks aren't here? How many people didn't get assaulted because those folks aren't here? How many people didn't get killed? That's what we have to remind ourselves of because that's the good we're doing every single day. It's a hard stat. You can't measure it. But I know we're saving a lot of lives and keeping a lot of folks from being victimized, and we have to be proud of that.
Steve Cortez
Brett, is Houston. Your field office is Houston, one of the hottest spots for ICE enforcement operations.
Brett Bradford
It is, actually. We're typically in any week, we're in the top five as far as the number of arrests go. We see a lot of activity here. We're very active. And again, part of that goes to this being a fairly friendly environment. We get a lot of cooperation from our partner agencies here and the community as a whole.
Steve Cortez
Brett, how can you have social media or as a field office? How can this audience have your guys back? How can we help you guys?
Brett Bradford
The biggest thing is just countering the misinformation. All these activist groups throw out all kinds of misinformation out there to try and get people on their side. It's not true. And that's why it's important to do these interviews and have people like Ben out here tell our story. We're proud of what we do. We're not ashamed of what we do. And I'm glad to show anybody how we operate here. We're doing great work. We got to counter that narrative. We got to quit trying to demonize the folks here that are keeping our communities safe and enforcing the law. We got to show them that we appreciate what they do. Like I said, there's a lot of crimes that are prevented because of the work that these brave men and women do every single day.
Steve Cortez
Ben, you're doing what you do best, going harm's way to report these stories. Where are you going to be in the next couple of days?
Ben Berkwam
Well, I'm going to be in and around the Texas area covering ICE and working with ice. Can't talk about everything we're going to be doing, but some major operations happening across the country. The numbers continue to increase, and that's what we're looking for as President Trump continues this exponential growth of deportations and changing tactics and utilizing different tactics in different areas to and watching these guys as force multipliers, as the director said. So I'm going to continue to cover that all week here and then actually later this week I'll be at the end of the week, I'll be in Utah speaking at an event utahspatriots.com an event out there, just not too far from where Charlie was assassinated. So we'll be doing paying our respects and I'll be speaking about everything we're seeing out here and all across the country. This move to restore America and save this country.
Steve Cortez
Berquhm social media where do people go get your content, sir.
Ben Berkwam
Ealamvoice on all real America's Voice news platforms. Our new episode actually with our first time out here with Houston will be next Saturday. And then my personal social is Ben Berkwam. Our substack is Frontline America and my website's frontlineamerica.com.
Steve Cortez
Brett Bradford, make sure you let everybody know in your field office and all the officers out there and troops doing these raids that America greatly appreciates this work and 85% of this country have their back. So just make sure they know that. But people are incredibly proud of these guys, men and women going in harm's way every day.
Brett Bradford
Thank you for that. I appreciate you having me here today and I appreciate the time to, like I said, shed some light on what we do and how we do it. You know, we got to quit emboldening these folks to resist and fight. They're only putting themselves in danger, the community in danger, and simply adding criminal charges to their own case. It just doesn't make any sense.
Steve Cortez
Thank you, sir. Very proud of you guys. Appreciate you. Berquam and Brett Bradford down in Houston at the ice. You see what's going on. I got another cold open that is very hard for me to swallow when I saw it. It'll make your blood boil. Let's go ahead and play it. And we're going to bring in Kyle Olson to interpret it for us.
Ben Berkwam
The AG has got to be able to sue them. Otherwise, if we have NYARS and he's.
Steve Cortez
Not willing to do anything, not even.
Ben Berkwam
Willing to argue anything in court.
Steve Cortez
Yeah, nobody challenges the like. That's the whole point of this era.
Julie Kelly
Right.
Ben Berkwam
We're like trying to test presidential power.
Steve Cortez
Because, like this is a purplish kind of thing.
Sean Duffy
Are you even confident they would too?
Steve Cortez
Because I feel like not a lot of were they Democrat, the Democratic attorney general, a lot of these Democrats are completely. If he were to send in the National Guard, I think they'd sue in a minute.
Ben Berkwam
We had a Democratic general.
Steve Cortez
Yeah. And I Think from a policy perspective. Every, every, every tool that we can explore in terms of state legislation to make it harder as well and also to change the rules so that, for example, ICE can't show up with masks in a courthouse. Look at legislation like that to make sure that as a matter of Virginia code, you can't do that.
Ben Berkwam
That's a violation.
Steve Cortez
So there'll be a whole list of things that we look at to see if we can strengthen protections.
Ben Berkwam
But we need the right people, we need majorities, and we need Democrats.
Steve Cortez
Okay. Particularly for the podcast audience that don't watch on tv. Carlos and joins us. So the audio was a little. Because I was undercover. Tell us what went on. Because we just came off the field director in Houston saying with the biggest problems they have is, you know, other hierarchies, other elected officials, people fighting ICE and really jeopardize it, putting them in harm's way by saying they shouldn't be masked, things like that. What did we just see right there, Carlos?
Stephen K. Bannon
So that was a delegate from Virginia, Phil Hernandez, and basically he was making the point that we have seen across the country that there are Democrats that are testing presidential powers. And so basically what that means is they are going to, they're going to fight the Trump administration every step of the way. And so you take ice, the Trump administration has various agreements to go into some of these cities, but some of the agreements say they can't use chemical agents. Well, if you have some of these agitators attacking officers, attacking federal agents, et cetera, and they use chemical agents, well then they have violated the agreement and therefore they can kick ICE out of the city. So this is really, it's almost like hand to hand combat in these various cities. And so you've got ICE just trying to do their job. And the clip that you showed with Ben, it is difficult circumstances. These agents are just trying to do their job and they've got very nasty people fighting them every step of the way.
Steve Cortez
Kyle, I take it this is also, this is during an active campaign. Hernandez is running for reelection. Spamber, he's talking about this already. Radical attorney general. They got that's said these horrible things on text messages. But they're essentially planning this already, Right? They're running, but their plan is, hey, here's what we're going to do. So Spanberger and this team, they sit there and say so moderate and we just represent middle America. It sounds like it's anything but because they already have a pretty devious plan of how to basically thwart the ice. Operational events already.
Stephen K. Bannon
Correct. And that's what's at stake in this election, is Democrats badly want the governor's, the governor's seat and the Attorney General's office because they can then use those platforms to attack the Trump administration. Because where is a lot of the bureaucracy? It's in Virginia. It's in Washington D.C. it is right there. They want those offices badly because they want to test the presidential powers. And we're seeing this elsewhere in the country where I live and the Midwestern recovers Michigan politics. Our Attorney General, Dana Nestle, she has joined over 30 lawsuits against the Trump administration. So these Democrat attorneys general are fighting every step of the way.
Steve Cortez
I get it. Before we let you go, is that the implication also is that Spamberger's governor is not going to be volunteering. In fact, she'll be fighting Trump in a call up of National Guard. Right. Is that how I took Hernandez's, what he's talking about, that they don't tend to really cooperate with President Trump in trying to bring law and order to some of these blue areas?
Stephen K. Bannon
Yeah, I think that's exactly what they want to do. They want to kick out ice. They don't want sheriffs and local law enforcement to work with ice. They want to make it as difficult as possible. And she has basically said she wants to protect illegal aliens in the state of Commonwealth of Virginia and she's going to do whatever it takes in order to make that happen.
Steve Cortez
Kyle, your social media, where do people get you?
Stephen K. Bannon
You can find me at Kyle Olson 4 Kyle O L S O N 4 or also the Midwesterner. And you can find our website, TheMidwesterner News.
Steve Cortez
Let's go check it out right now. Kyle, you're one of the old hands from Breitbart back in the old days, are you not?
Stephen K. Bannon
I am. I was there during the pandemic exposing what Gretchen Whitmer was doing in Michigan.
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Ed Luce
His nose at us. He's refused to comply with the rules that have come from dot, which is stop issuing these licenses, number one. And number two, go back and review all the licenses that you have issued and make sure it's been done legally. Gavin usima said no. So one I'm about to pull $160 million from California. And as we pull more money, we also have the option of pulling California's ability to issue commercial driver's licenses. Gavin Newsom cares more about illegals getting commercial driver's licenses than he does the citizens of his own state and the safety of Americans. It's shameful. He's been lying about what he's been doing. And again, we're going to fight tooth and nail under President Trump's administration to make sure that we hold states like California accountable.
Sean Duffy
Jashan Preet Singh just mowed down three Americans on the i10 here in California. An illegal alien behind the wheel of a big rig who never should have been in this country at all, let alone driving a truck. I'm here in San Diego at the National Trucking Convention and I'm telling you the truth. All only legal American citizens should be driving our trucks, not dangerous foreign nationals who may not know how to drive and don't speak English. But Gavin Newsom here in California, he has other ideas. So to virtue signal against President Trump. Newsom. He'll hand out a cdl, a commercial driver's license, to just about anyone, legal or illegal. It doesn't matter to him him. As a result, the industry suffers and people die. So here's the harsh truth, Governor. Political correctness isn't just dumb, it's deadly. Because when you don't know who you're dealing with, or worse, when you don't even care because you call it justice or cheap labor or voter replacement, you get terrible outcomes. Let's do better.
Steve Cortez
Steve Cortez, you join us now from San Diego. You're actually at the truckers convention. Tell us. This is a problem all over the country, but particularly in places like California, New York. It's really a plague and it's, it's driving down wages, but more importantly, or as importantly, it's killing people. Your thoughts?
Sean Duffy
That's exactly right. You know, in a tragic way, it's fitting that the trucking convention is here in beautiful California. What's going on here isn't beautiful at all. Gavin Newsom, simply to thwart President Trump is issuing CDLs in an incredibly reckless manner and making sure that dangerous illegals, many of whom don't have the requisite skills to drive safely in this country, many of whom are not proficient in English, that they're all over the roads, not just the roads here in California, but all over America. And you're exactly right. Same similar things happening in Illinois, in New York, in other renegade blue states. So this industry, by the way, Steve, the operators here, many of whom are small business folks, these aren't all big mega fleets. These folks employ American citizens. They don't hire the illegal migrants. So they hate this. They hate the loss of life, of course, first and foremost. But in addition to that, the drivers hate what it does to wages nationwide because these illegals are always willing to work for less. And also, this is an important aspect. These renegade firms that are not legitimate, American firms that employ these people knowingly, many of them owned by foreigners, by the way, legal foreigners from those countries, they undercut the legitimate firms on rates. So it's a scourge for this industry. It's a danger for all Americans, for every single American getting on the road. I'm sure all of your viewers have seen the horrific videos, the awful lot of dash cam footage. This cannot be allowed to go on. Thankfully, Secretary Duffy has taken some strong action, but this industry, from a private sector perspective, is also taking strong action. And this, this madness has to stop.
Steve Cortez
How? What Duffy's doing, the president and the in the industry, what's the convergence of this? How do we actually make it stop in a place like California that's trying to make a political statement about this, doesn't care about safety and doesn't care about American citizen wages.
Sean Duffy
Well, the first thing is what Sean Duffy is doing, right, which is very smart, which is removing funds. But I think secondly, ultimately, if these states don't get in line quickly, we're going to have to federalize commercial driver's licenses, these CDLs are going to have to be handed out from the federal level. Now, that's not ideal. We'd rather have the states manage their own affairs, just as they do with regular driver's licenses. But again, if they refuse to comply, even after they get very harsh financial penalties, and we'll see what happens next, if they still refuse to comply because they are just so committed to illegals, they're so committed to their globalist radicalism, then I think the federal government has to step in in a statutory way and issue these licenses. But I can tell you also, these firms, none of them want this. They know it's a PR nightmare for the industry. They know that they're operating the right way. They're paying fair wages to American citizen drivers. They don't want their rates to be undercut by these firms that are using the near slave labor of illegals that they're able to use. And then, of course, most of all, again, it's the safety issue. Every time you get on a highway right now, Americans are legitimately, validly worried. Is this truck next to me driven by an illegal who doesn't speak English, who can't read the road signs, who doesn't know how we drive in this country and might do something really scary and reckless and might put me and my family in danger? That that's just. It's front and center. I can tell you here at this conference, Steve, there's two things everybody is talking about. That's one. The other one are the ridiculous lawsuits, the jackpot justice that's going on in terms of trial lawyers who have targeted this industry and are chasing these owner operators. So those are the two things. Instead of talking about the things they should be talking about, Steve, they should be talking about things like what are freight rates, what is traffic like in this country, what's international trade like? Those are the normal topics at a convention like this. Instead, the top two topics are politically related. The first one being the illegals. The illegals that Gavin Newsom has unleashed on the highways all over this country. And this industry doesn't want it. No sane American wants it. But, Steve, this is how committed Gavin Newsom and his fellow radicals this is, how committed they are to illegals, that they will put their own people at risk. Three people killed not far from where I'm standing on the i10 in California. Does Gavin Newsom care? No, he does not. Because he believes that by placating the radicals and by playing to the far left, to the Marxist wing of his party, that that's going to vault him to the nomination in 2028. Well, let me tell you something. If he does in fact get that nomination, I can't wait to use this issue against him in that campaign. Because no sane American thinks that handing out CDLs like candy to illegal aliens makes sense for this country. No one's sane but believes that that's okay.
Steve Cortez
Steve, we got to bounce. But I have Dale Bigtree on for the entire hour at six. You just made this incredible Maha documentary. Where do people get all your content, including your substack this, your reporting out there at the conference, but also your new doc on make America healthy again.
Sean Duffy
Yes, please see my new Maha doc. It is breaking all records compared to my prior docs. Go to Cortez investigates.com millions of people have seen it. It's 30 minutes. It's concise, it's fantastic. Robert Michael Caputo, moms, doctors, all filmed in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Please go to Cortez investigates.com.
Steve Cortez
Incredible. Thank you, sir. Appreciate you.
Julie Kelly
Thank you.
Steve Cortez
The truckers, Truckers, we got your back. It's a, it's a total disaster with people doing account for these truckers. Illegal aliens getting driver's license, killing people, driving down wages. It's obscene. We start today the cold open with Jack Smith, the left. Julie Kelly joins us. Julie, what in the hell happened today with Jack Smith? They're sitting there going, this is amazing. Jack Smith's got to testify. He's got notes from Pence. What the hell's going on, ma'? Am?
Julie Kelly
So there was this report in the Washington Post today talking about how Jack Smith became the special counsel. And I think, Steve, it really demonstrated how desperate Jack Smith was to get his dirty hands on the two investigations into Donald Trump. Think about this. He'd shattered his leg in a biking accident. Apparently, he's a triathlete. So he had surgery. He's laid up. He can't move. He's in Amsterdam because he was at the Hague, prosecuting, handling a war crimes case there. Merrick Garland calls him, asks him if he'll take the case. He agrees to do so and works from Amsterdam for at least the first eight weeks of the investigation of taking over those investigations as special counsel. DOJ prosecutors had to fly to Amsterdam to meet with Jack Smith because he was laid up and couldn't move. Then by the time he got back to the States, apparently this was late December, he was already plotting how to put together a prosecution memo to outline the charges against President Trump in the documents case. He barely had time to even get up to speed as to what was happening there. And then what was really revealed today is how there was disagreement in the Special Counsel's office about keeping that investigation, which began in Washington, D.C. even though the alleged crimes took place in Palm beach in Southern Florida. But they wanted to keep everything in Washington so they could get favorable rulings from Democrat grand juries and very favorable involvement and cooperation from Obama appointee Beryl Howell, who was chief judge, and then, of course, Jeb Bosberg, who took over for her in early 2023. Steve, there were discussions by Judge Cannon about an abuse of the grand jury process during the documents proceedings because the DOJ and Jack Smith conducted almost the entire investigation in Washington, D.C. and then moved it to Southern Florida at the last minute to get an indictment because the alleged crimes in the timeline took place after the President left Washington in January of 2021. Then, when Judge Cannon dismissed the documents indictment on July 15, 2024, concluding that Jack Smith's appointment violated the Constitution, Jack Smith wanted to go directly to the appellate court, a very rare move, the Washington Post calls it, to have her recused, removed from the proceedings. Because, of course, as you know, we talked about, she was already giving the DOJ and Jack Smith a hard time because she already knew how dirty and corrupt and dishonest they were, and she was calling them out every step of the way. So then after the documents case was dismissed, Jack Smith wanted to go to the appellate court to recuse her. And Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelude, a Biden appointee, told Jack Smith no.
Steve Cortez
Is this guy obsessed? Was this an obsession with trying to take down President Trump? I know the article I want your opinion is, does this show an unhealthy obsession? Because he had a terrible reputation in the Hague of going after these supposed war crimes that he would. People considered him a nutcase. Is that why Merrick Garland reached out to him?
Julie Kelly
You know, I interviewed John Lauro, the President's defense attorney in the J6 case, and he said that Merrick Garland served up Jack Smith because he basically knew what a dirty prosecutor he was. And Merrick Garland wanted to wash himself of both of these investigations and cases. That's what John Lauro told me. So you're right. Why did Merrick Garland go to someone with such a. I mean, Jack Smith did not have a good record as a prosecutor in the Obama DOJ. He was unanimously reversed by the Supreme Court in 2016 in his prosecution of Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife. And then he got a hung jury in the first case of Senator Menendez So Jack Smith has a terrible track record. But I think that maybe Merrick Garland, maybe again taking his cues from our favorite Lisa Monaco tap Jack Smith, because he knew the guy has no scruples, he has no integrity, he has no morals. He was going to do and pull every dirty trick. And he did in both cases. The documents case in Florida where he didn't get away with it, and the J6 case in Washington where he did because of course, he had Obama Judge Tanya Chutkan cooperating with him in those proceedings. So Merrick Garland, Lisa Monaco, maybe even Joe Biden knew that Jack Smith would go to the mats, the mattresses every single time, pull every trick, bring in every dirty prosecutor under him. J. Brad, David Harbach, J.B. cooney, Molly Gastone, both of whom the latter two wrote to Bill Barr and threatened to quit if he was going to pursue 2020 election fraud investigations. They were at the DOJ at that time as well. And he certainly did pull in every dirty prosecutor investigator he possibly could and threw everything he could at the president. And then, of course, Donald Trump won and he had to drop the J6 case in Washington.
Steve Cortez
Julie Hanger, for one second, I got a pipe bomb question and I got Are we pursuing these hard enough, ma'? Am? Short break. Okay, let's be honest. You never thought it would get this far. Maybe you missed the last IRS deadline or you haven't filed taxes in a while. Let me be clear. The IRS is cracking down harder than ever and this ain't going to go away anytime soon. That's why you need Tax Network usa. They don't just know the irs. They have a preferred direct line to the irs. They know which agents to deal with and which to avoid. Their expert negotiators have one goal. Settle your tax problems quickly and in your favor. Their team has helped clear over $1 billion in tax debt. Whether you owe 10,000 or 10 million, even if your books are a mess or you haven't filed in years, Tax Network USA can help. But don't wait. This won't fix itself. Call Tax Network USA right now. It's free. Talk to a strategist. And finally, put this behind you. Call 1-800-958-1000. That's 1-800-958-10000 or visit tnusa.com Bannon make sure you tell em Bannon. You'll get a free evaluation. That's 1-800-958-1000. Do not let letters from the IRS or your failure to file work on your nerves anymore. Take action, action, action and do it today.
Stephen K. Bannon
Here's your host Stephen K. Band.
Steve Cortez
President Trump's going to meet with Xi on Thursday in South Korea. It'll be approximately 10 o' clock at night on Wednesday. We're in covered life 10 to at least 1 o' clock in the morning to make sure that we cover it all and can give you the breaking news potential deal also potential deal on maybe rare earths or at least a one year stay of execution. All of it. Make sure you understand the de dollarization program of the CCP and the BRICS nations and everything else related to this including right now the saying hey gold's lost a little bit of its heat because of safe haven as a hedge in times of turbulence. Understand this. Go to birchcold.com promo code banded the end of the Dollar Empire is a starter. Seven free installments. All of its free and you can talk to Philip Patrick and the team Philip Patrick and team of Birch Gold the best ever. So make sure you go check them out today. Julie Kelly are we Tom Fitton was on here. You got Jackson. We got all this going on. You know Lisa Monaco, all of it. The the DOJ main justice is overwhelmed. There's not enough U.S. attorneys. You know guys aren't getting paid right now. They're having a tough time recruiting. You should Finn and I are adamant about naming a special prosecutor and have it report to the Oval Office as part of President Trump's Article 2 powers. As Mike Davis keeps talking about your thoughts ma' am.
Julie Kelly
I my initial thoughts and actually they have been my thoughts for a few months is that is a mistake because we see how quickly special prosecutors special counsel can get away from the mission even if you pick someone that you think will do a stellar job. Furthermore, because Judge Cannon tossed out Jack Smith's appointment in Southern Florida, finding that his appointment violated the appointments clause of the Constitution, that order still stands. Now of course Jack Smith was planning to appeal that had to drop the appeal after the president won. But how the special counsel there is no special prosecutor or independent counsel statute on the books anymore. As you know. That expired I believe it was 1999. So what Merrick Garland did was kind of stitch together and they did this with Robert Mueller. Three or four different statutes, kind of random statutes to say that this justified the appointment of a special counsel. That said, I think what we're hearing about a grand jury being impaneled in southern Florida starting in January, I think that that is very hopeful. The new U.S. attorney there sounds like A real stand up guy and sounds like he's aligned with the mission there. They're going to have to work very quickly, obviously, to start calling people before grand juries and try to get some indictments. I don't think that a special counsel will expedite that process. There's a chance that it could be more problematic and slow down what needs to be a very. An orderly process that we can get something done before the time is up. Focus. So I'm not so sure that that's the best solution.
Steve Cortez
That's good. That's good. We get all opinions here and we value yours first among equals of fitting in the viceroy. Okay, Julie, one other things. Beatty is in the State Department, so you're pipe bomb. I don't. I know you do, but I don't understand. This video the FBI put out. Give me. I only got two minutes. What in the hell is going on with the pipe bomb? And what is this video? The video doesn't match the timeline, does it, ma'?
Julie Kelly
Am? Well, the video is kind of for the most part. I know that there's some new clips in there, but this is basically the video that we've seen for the last few years. This unidentified individual in a hoodie wandering around for about 45, 50 minutes and cat on Capitol Hill close to both the RNC and then sitting down at least twice in front of the dnc. It looks like the video might show the suspect planting the pipe bomb. I had some very deep doubts about the authenticity of that video. So did Darren Beatty. This is when I miss him and I wish that he was around. But they did. The FBI did post another public plea to help identify and convict that hoodie suspect, saying that that individual planted the bombs that evening. However, and this is part of my report today on the woman who allegedly found the pipe bomb by the RNC. Steve. She told authorities as early as January 8th that the device by the RNC had to have been planted. And this is Carlyn Younger had to have been planted between noon and 12:40 on January 6th because she did not see it on her first trip to this laundry room. There's the device right there that she said she spotted around 12:40, but she said she did not see it at noon. So even that little tidbit contradicts the official timeline, but nonetheless raises questions about Carlyn Younger and recently released FBI documents about her first contact with the FBI on January 8, a follow up interview on January 11, and then contradictions and inconsistencies with media reporters afterwards, and contradictions in her statements and what the surveillance video shows especially related to her allegations that a suspicious woman that she encountered a suspicious woman on her way to detect to spotting the device trying to suggest that this woman was a MAGA supporter, a J6 or. However surveillance video shows no such woman that Carlin Younger ever encountered or came close to during her laundry trips.
Steve Cortez
That may be that. That may be a projection bias. Suspicious woman. No, no, I get ahead of the story. We'll figure that out over time. Julie Kelly, where do we go to your substack? Where do we go to get all your content, ma'? Am?
Julie Kelly
Thanks, Steve. So I have this report on declassified with Julie Kelly. We have at least two follow up pieces on this the woman related to the RNC pipe bomb. So declassified with Julia Kelly on substack Also ask Julie underscore Kelly 2. I also have reporting on the pipe bomb on Real Clear Investigations.
Steve Cortez
Fantastic. Julie, thank you for carving time out today to join us.
Julie Kelly
Thanks Steve.
Steve Cortez
Love your other take. Love love your other take on the on the special counsel Mike Lindell. You've been with lawyers on all day. I knew your energy is a little down. Jack it up brother. And sell me a towel, a pillow and a sheet.
Sean Duffy
Yeah.
Steve Cortez
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Sean Duffy
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Steve Cortez
Stage with our great president. Looking forward to the up and coming 2020 election.
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Today I spent five hours with lawyers.
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Date: October 28, 2025
Main Theme:
This episode of Bannon's War Room centers on multiple high-stakes issues: the future of the special counsel Jack Smith and his investigations related to former President Trump, escalating confrontations between ICE and activist groups amid immigration enforcement, political and legal challenges in the trucking industry, and partisan power struggles over law enforcement and executive authority.
Key Points & Insights:
Jack Smith’s Potential Testimony & Republican Calculations
Julie Kelly and Stephen K. Bannon discuss journalist Jonathan Karl's reporting that Jack Smith had access to Mike Pence’s January 6 notes and considered using them for prosecution. The conversation explores the wisdom (or danger) of House Republicans calling Smith to public testimony, given his preparedness and potential to counter GOP claims of DOJ weaponization.
"Jack Smith is living refutation of that. They produce no evidence to support those allegations." – Stephen K. Bannon [01:08]
New World Order or Domestic Supremacy?
Ed Luce qualifies the idea of Trump launching a "new world order," stressing his focus is on domestic supremacy – particularly, undermining rule of law, rapid personnel changes, and an intimidation-based governance style.
"There are no adults in his administration." – Ed Luce [02:09]
Risks of DOJ Weaponization & Special Prosecutors
Ed Luce explains how the administration could weaponize DOJ processes and how court-appointed special counsels could enter into investigations if judges see evidence of contempt or abuse.
"A judge...could actually appoint a special attorney to look at that. And if he determined there was evidence, he could go ahead and prosecute that case." – Ed Luce [05:34]
Julie Kelly on Jack Smith’s Motivation and Origins
Kelly details Smith’s history, starting with his appointment while injured in Amsterdam. She describes DOJ strategizing to keep indictments in Washington D.C. for favorable rulings, and how Judge Cannon’s dismissal of the documents case critiqued Smith’s constitutional standing.
"Jack Smith did not have a good record as a prosecutor in the Obama DOJ. He was unanimously reversed by the Supreme Court in 2016..." – Julie Kelly [41:03]
Notable Moments:
Key Points & Insights:
Coverage of ICE Raid in Houston
Live report with Ben Berkwam and ICE Regional Director Brett Bradford: They walk listeners through a tense ICE raid on an illegal entrant who had re-entered after deportation, tracing the suspect first via vehicle, then on foot as he barricaded himself inside a house.
"You're endangering your baby. We're up against America. It's not just the illegals that were let in. It's the communities that are aiding and abetting, protecting them." – Ben Berkwam [09:46]
Activist Groups and Rapid Organizing
Ben Berkwam and Brett Bradford describe how activist “rapid response networks” swiftly respond to ICE operations, swarming locations and escalating tensions – often putting officers and bystanders in danger.
ICE Strategy and Morale
Bradford underscores ICE’s new “quick hit” strategies to avoid drawn-out confrontations, emphasizes cooperation with local authorities and the emotional toll stemming from political attacks and misinformation.
"We are enforcing the laws they put on the books. We didn't write the laws. Our job is just to enforce the laws." – Brett Bradford [17:43] "We got to step back every now and then and look at all those folks that we not only got off the streets, we got out of the country. How many children didn't get victimized now because those folks aren't here?" – Brett Bradford [17:43]
Timestamps:
Key Points & Insights:
State vs. Federal Power Over ICE Operations
Play-by-play analysis of a “cold open” (hidden recording) featuring Virginia Delegate Phil Hernandez, plotting legal maneuvers to block ICE raids via state policy, including barring masked ICE agents in courthouses.
Democratic Resistance to Federal Enforcement
Stephen K. Bannon, Kyle Olson, and others interpret these maneuvers as evidence of a coordinated Democratic effort to thwart Trump administration policies and protect undocumented immigrants – particularly with a view toward gaining gubernatorial and AG offices in states like Virginia to resist federal actions.
"They want to kick out ICE. They don't want sheriffs and local law enforcement to work with ICE. They want to make it as difficult as possible." – Stephen K. Bannon [27:02]
Timestamps:
Key Points & Insights:
California’s CDL Policy & National Security
Sean Duffy and Steve Cortez raise the alarm about California policies under Governor Gavin Newsom, which allegedly grant commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) to undocumented immigrants. The segment ties specific traffic fatalities to these policies and denounces their impact on public safety and wage depression in the trucking sector.
"Political correctness isn’t just dumb, it’s deadly...you get terrible outcomes." – Steve Cortez [31:07] "Every time you get on a highway right now, Americans are legitimately, validly worried. Is this truck next to me driven by an illegal who doesn’t speak English..." – Steve Cortez [33:34]
Call for Federal Action
With states refusing to comply, Duffy and Cortez suggest federalizing CDL issuance if needed, emphasizing that both safety and industry viability are at stake.
Timestamps:
Key Points & Insights:
Risks of Special Prosecutor Model
Julie Kelly pushes back against the frequent right-wing call for more special counsels, describing constitutional ambiguities and the risk of mission drift, referencing the Judge Cannon ruling that found Smith's appointment unconstitutional.
"Special counsel...there is no special prosecutor or independent counsel statute on the books anymore." – Julie Kelly [46:08]
J6 Pipe Bomb Investigation Doubts
Kelly questions the FBI’s timeline and surveillance video release regarding the January 6th pipe bomb at the RNC. She highlights inconsistencies in key witness Carlin Younger's statements and missing evidence, keeping alive suspicions of investigative misconduct or cover-up.
"This is basically the video that we've seen for the last few years... I had some very deep doubts about the authenticity of that video." – Julie Kelly [48:21]
Timestamps:
Where to Follow Guests:
This episode highlighted deep partisan divides over law enforcement, both federal and local, in the Trump era. It cast the actions of Democratic officials as dedicated resistance to Trump’s agenda (in courts, statehouses, and on the streets), while valorizing ICE and law-and-order responses as essential to national security and sovereignty. The episode also called out legal complexities in prosecuting Trump, critiqued special counsel powers, and underscored the intersections of policy, politics, and industry in the trucking debate.