Episode 5040: The Lies of Jack Smith: Behind the Protest in Iran

Summary

Bannon’s War Room — Episode 5040

Title: The Lies of Jack Smith: Behind the Protest in Iran
Date: January 3, 2026
Host: Natalie Winters (subbing for Steve Bannon), with guests Curt Mills and Julie Kelly

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on two explosive topics:

1. Escalating U.S. involvement in Iran—the saber-rattling over Iranian protests, foreign lobbies, and analogies to neoconservatism.
2. Jack Smith’s role as special counsel—analysis of his recent Congressional deposition and alleged prosecutorial misconduct regarding Trump, plus a related discussion of DOJ overreach and political weaponization.

Additional segments examine the issue of political and financial fraud tied to Minnesota’s Somali community and ActBlue. The tone throughout is combative, conspiratorial, and direct, consistent with War Room’s “MAGA first” perspective.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. U.S. Escalation Toward Iran: The “Regime Change” Playbook

[00:52–13:35]

• Human Rights as Pretext for Intervention

• Curt Mills describes the shift in official rationale for possible U.S. military action against Iran:
  • June’s bombing was justified by the nuclear program; today, “the new line is... to eliminate the basically the ballistic missile arsenal of the Iranians” ([02:25]).
  • Mills draws direct historical parallels to Bush-era neoconservatism:

    “It is 2005 Bush second inaugural stuff. It’s straight out of the Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz playbook.” ([03:55])

• Israel’s Role in Shaping U.S. Policy

• Netanyahu was in Florida with U.S. defense officials for New Year’s, described as “prepping round two” with Iran ([02:25]).
• Mills criticizes what he calls “tail-wagging-the-dog” attempts by Israel to spark broader U.S. intervention:

  “They’ve created... at warp speed over the holiday season a new causus belli.” ([02:54])

• MAGA and Regime Change

• Natalie Winters and Curt Mills address the internal contradiction in claiming this isn’t about regime change:
  • Winters: “All of a sudden, you know, a few weeks later, Israel’s like, actually no, we’ve just been going for regime change the whole time.” ([05:23])
  • Mills: “The idea that the President or elements within the President’s midst are not actually flirting with regime change, they’re not actually flirting with doing Israel’s foreign policy for it, I think is a laughable contention.” ([06:14])
  • Points out President used “Make Iran Great Again”—a gaffe that incited backlash within MAGA.

• Iranian Response and Military Calculus

• Hardliners in Iran threaten to target U.S. soldiers if the U.S. intervenes ([07:35]).
• Historical context: Iran’s prior retaliations (2020, 2025) notably minimized U.S. casualties, but rhetoric is escalating.
• Mills warns: “It’s not that the US couldn’t defeat them. It’s just the question of why is this the use of resources and what is the plan for after.” ([08:40])

• Foreign Lobbies Driving Policy

• Mills bluntly attributes this policy focus to the power of “foreign lobbies”:

  “There’s not a major Taiwanese lobby... there IS a hardline Persian diaspora... and a hardline Israeli diaspora... That is the background... why this is so loud.” ([10:40])

• Memorable Quote

• Curt Mills:

  “The baseline of our prioritization shouldn't be foreign lobbies. I think this is deeply unhealthy and basically ahistorical in the history of the American republic.” ([11:00])

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2. Domestic Fraud, Immigration, and the Uniparty “Racket”

[17:02–27:39]

• Minnesota Somali Community as Political and Financial “Racket”

• Natalie Winters launches into a detailed monologue on alleged fraud tied to Somali immigrants in Minnesota:
  • Connects Somali-run nonprofits to both federal grant money and the Democratic Party’s ActBlue platform.
• Criticizes “Countering Violent Extremism” programs:

  “That’s how sick our elites are. They will import people from countries where they have to create programs to combat terrorism and then lie to you that you’re a bigoted, xenophobic racist if you won’t accept them.” ([19:32])

• Links government funding of Somali organizations to campaign support for Democrats such as Keith Ellison and the construction of political machines.
• Memorable moment:

  “If they're so great, then maybe they should stay in Somalia.” ([23:35])

• Immigration, Assimilation, and Cultural Critique

• Winters questions what, if anything, Somali immigrants contribute:

  “If everyone can just be an American, then maybe these Somalis could just be Americans in Somalia and then turn their country into America. Except it doesn't work like that...” ([24:56])

• Asserts “importing hordes of foreigners from countries—though I guess that's maybe too nice a term. It's [from] failed states into this country” is a deliberate policy to undermine U.S. identity and politics.

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3. Jack Smith’s Congressional Deposition: Alleged Lies and Weaponization of Justice

[29:53–48:56]

• Overview of the Deposition

• Julie Kelly recaps Jack Smith’s 8-hour Judiciary Committee deposition, accusing him of:

  • Misrepresenting the strength of his cases
  • Lying about Trump’s lack of First Amendment protection
  • Omitting the collapse of the Florida classified documents case under Judge Cannon, who ruled Smith’s appointment unconstitutional

• Kelly:

  “Jack Smith defiantly telling the House Judiciary Committee last month that [Trump] was not protected by the First Amendment in talking about election fraud because he was lying about it. That’s what Jack Smith said. So that was, of course, galling.” ([30:53])

• Specific Allegations Against Smith

• Smith and his team allegedly:

  • Relied on rarely-used statutes (“Conspiracy against Rights”)
  • Misrepresented facts about Trump’s cooperation with NARA and DOJ
  • Engaged in evidence tampering or mishandling in the documents case

• Kelly contends prosecutorial overreach is part of a recurring DOJ pattern:

  “The reason why we got a Jack Smith and... two unprecedented criminal federal indictments... was because no one was held accountable from Russiagate... If we don’t hold Jack Smith... we are going to get this all over again on steroids.” ([37:52])

• Smith’s Motives and Future Accountability

• Kelly suggests Smith is “smug” because he thinks he’ll get away with it—yet has “lawyered up” post-2024 Trump victory ([36:02]).
• Senate Republicans, led by Sen. Ron Johnson, plan further investigations and public hearings.

• New Revelations

• Notably, Smith himself sought out participation in Trump investigations as early as 2022, contradicting the official story that Merrick Garland simply “plucked him out of The Hague” ([40:13]).

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4. January 6 Pipe Bomber Case Update

[42:37–47:34]

• Julie Kelly analyzes the assignment of the J6 “pipe bomber” case to Judge Amir Ali, potentially problematic due to perceived bias.
• Discusses procedural irregularities: indictment obtained from D.C. Superior Court rather than a usual grand jury, possibly reflecting resistance to DOJ prosecutions within D.C.
• Notes a Soros-funded activist group teaching D.C. residents how to block DOJ cases—implying political resistance even among jurors ([46:32]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Steve Bannon [00:02]:

  “This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people.”

• Curt Mills [11:00]:

  “The baseline of our prioritization shouldn't be foreign lobbies. I think this is deeply unhealthy and basically ahistorical in the history of the American republic.”

• Natalie Winters [23:35]:

  “If they're so great, then maybe they should stay in Somalia. Maybe that's where they're undergoing a civil war.”

• Julie Kelly [30:53]:

  “Jack Smith defiantly telling the House Judiciary Committee last month that he was not protected. The President was not protected by the First Amendment in talking about election fraud because he was lying about it. That’s what Jack Smith said.”

• Julie Kelly [37:52]:

  “If we don't hold Jack Smith [and his team]... we are going to get this all over again on steroids. Even worse, because this is how we got to this point. No one being held accountable for Russiagate...”

• Curt Mills [12:57]:

  “The Israeli lobby wants to radicalize people on [Somalia] to distract from the larger macro issue... they're going to widen it... Turkey... Saudi... it will never really stop... The idea that this is separate [from post-9/11 neocon wars] is laughable.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:52–13:35: U.S.–Iran escalation, regime change, foreign lobbies, MAGA/media narratives (Winters, Mills)
• 17:02–27:39: Minnesota Somali fraud, ActBlue, domestic political “regime change” (Winters)
• 29:53–39:45: Julie Kelly dissects Jack Smith’s deposition and prosecution strategy
• 42:37–47:34: Breaking news: January 6 “pipe bomber” case assigned to Judge Amir Ali, issues with D.C. courts (Kelly)
• 47:45–48:56: Final thoughts and where to follow Julie Kelly and Natalie Winters

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Conclusion

This episode weaves together foreign policy critique (U.S.–Iran brinkmanship and Israel influence), domestic scandals around immigration and NGO fraud, and deep skepticism toward the DOJ’s prosecution of Trump and his allies. The driving tone is one of populist outrage, suspicion of official narratives, and warnings of escalating “regime change” both abroad and at home.

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Follow the Guests:

• Curt Mills: @CurtMills on X; The American Conservative
• Julie Kelly: @julie_kelly2 on X; Declassified with Julie Kelly on Substack
• Natalie Winters: nataliegwinters.substack.com

Recommended for those interested in populist criticism of U.S. foreign policy, immigration, and DOJ actions.

Transcript

[Steve Bannon]

This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. Reasons I got a free shot on 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.

[Curt Mills]

It's going to happen.

[Steve Bannon]

And where do people like that go to share the big lie?

[Natalie Winters]

MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul.

[Steve Bannon]

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]

War ROOM here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.

[Natalie Winters]

You're in the War room. It's Friday, January 2nd, in the year of our Lord. I'm going to say it for the first time, 2026. It's Natalie Winters hosting today. We've got a packed show for you. From everything that's going down in Iran to the latest with Jack Smith to the latest in Minnesota, I've got some exclusive investigations linking it all to Act Blue in the Democrat political machine, which I think when you carry that scandal, although I like to call it a racket, because that's what it is, out to its logical conclusion, of course, that's what you're going to find and I'm sure you probably share my feelings. I thought we would be, I don't know, flooding that state and frankly all the other states that that kind of racket is happening in, frankly, probably with the National Guard. But I would have at least taken federal law enforcement authorities to get some criminal charges of the people not just who carried out the fraud, but those who allowed it and turned a blind eye. But I guess instead of that, we're discussing about yet again, maybe potentially sending troops to Iran because human rights abuses or something like that. Kurt Mills, I wanted to bring you on to unpack what is one of the issues that the second anytime I see it in the news is like always surrounded by the same words, right? It's human rights, it's troops getting involved and then it's MAGA getting upset and then us being accused of not understanding what MAGA is about. It's always a nice deluge of misinformation. I want you to walk us through the signal, not the noise with everything that's going on over there.

[Curt Mills]

Yeah, I mean, hard to know where to start. I guess the president kind of fired the starting gun this morning around 3:40am Eastern Time. You know, he's known to keep very early hours on occasion. And it was one of those ex posts that was sign off with thank you for your attention to this matter. And these are the kinds of posts and look, I don't want to speculate but I guess I'll just do it. That seemingly seem to be talking points written for him, messages uttered out under his account. I don't doubt that he wrote it himself in some way way. There was a typo, you know, shooting, shot, shotting. But it appears that he was delivering talking points and it's not exactly speculation. Benjamin Netanyahu spent the entire New Year's in Florida with senior administration officials, including the Defense Secretary, with the war Secretary, Pete Hegseth. And you know, it seems as if they want to begin, quote, round two on Iran, that what we saw this June was merely the opening act and there's a push to do this again. And they've created really just, just at warp speed over the holiday season a new causes belly. Recall that the official reason why we bombed Iran in June was for the nuclear program. Of course, the president takes great pride in having allegedly eliminated the nuclear program. I think different intelligence assessments cast disparage, disparagements or questions on that question, on that assessment. And so the new line is that we need to eliminate the basically the ballistic missile arsenal of the Iranians. As you can tell, effectively all of the criterion will be exhausted by the Israelis, by the Israeli lobby, by Prime Minister Netanyahu in particular for the US to keep going back to war here. And I think finally it's very important to conclude a lot of the people make the point, including leading members of the administration to that this is not Bush style neoconservatism, that this is a changed Republican Party. But with all due respect, the president actually singling out intervention on humanitarian grounds on the shooting of protesters, which again, not excusable, but also not my country, is actually Bush style neoconservatism. It is 2005 Bush second inaugural stuff. It's straight out of the Dick Cheney Paul Woof witness playbook. And it's just really disappointing to see.

[Natalie Winters]

You know, we never like to be right here in the war room because our understanding of how the world works I think is, it's quite concerning. But it's sort of like a moment of vindication where because you know, that crowd, whether you want to call them neocons or whatever, didn't get what they wanted, you know, back with the strikes. It's like now they're just straight up calling for regime change.

[Steve Bannon]

Right.

[Natalie Winters]

They're using the protest, the logic chain that they usually say, oh, we have to go after this program. But then all of a sudd, you know, a few weeks later, Israel's like, actually, no, we've just been going for regime change the whole time. So just, just sort of walk us through, like, the escalation of this and why you think the timing is now, what you think a potential timeline on this could look like actually playing out. Is the Trump administration going to get involved? That seems like kind of a flimsy metric to rest, you know, potentially starting the kinetic aspect of World War three on. But what do I know?

[Curt Mills]

I think, you know, quite a bit. I think it's extremely flimsy. I think you were right to highlight the sort of first piece which is that the idea that this is not a regime change war. Well, I mean, with all the respect, actually asked the president, who has explicitly flirted with regime change language, he used the term, you know, miga over June, in the summer, make Iran great again. I think it was a sort of a major gaffe because a lot of people criticized this element of MAGA as actually making Israel, quote, great again. And so the idea that the president or, you know, elements within the president's myths are not actually flirting with regime change, they're not actually flirting with doing Israel's foreign policy for it, I think is a laughable contention. Due respect to some of my friends who actually think that. I just think that it's not borne out by the facts. And I'd actually, you know, urge those, you know, who think that, you know, what level of coordination with the Israelis, what level of menacing the Iranian government on behalf of the Israelis, would you accept, what would be too much for you to reject this sort of line of thinking? And as to the sort of last question you had there, you know, what's going to happen here? I think it's, you know, I think after this started around sunrise today, Eastern time, it's been remarkably quiet. That being said, most of these bombs that went out often June, kind of went around sunrise or dawn, Tehran time, which would be in a few hours from, you know, this taping effectively. But we've seen sort of a twofold messaging from the Iranian state itself. Number one, it's hardliners, it's conservatives, so to speak, those who want to conserve the regime. That is, I have been, you know, pretty, I'd say, downright ultra violent in their rhetoric since, since the post, they said that they would target American soldiers in the region. And this is something that effectively, as we are approaching today actually as the sixth anniversary of the strike on Qasem Soleimani, and we are approaching this, you know, the seven month anniversary of the 12 Day War, this is something that Iran basically has hesitated to do. You recall the retaliations in January of 2020 and the retaliations in June of 2025. And this did not kill American soldiers. They tipped off the U.S. american soldiers were injured. None were killed in the January 2020 retaliation. You have the signal from the Iranian hardliners. Publicly, we know they thought this behind the scenes, but publicly today that they would begin targeting American soldiers if the US Intervened. I wonder if that rhetoric actually has chilled the administration off this. I hope it does because contra, a lot of countries in the Middle east, you know, Iran is very much a fearsome military. And you know, it's not that the US Couldn't defeat them. It's just the question of why is this the use of resources and what is the plan for after. And in the meantime, if Israel tries to go into this war by itself and without the US which it may try to do as a means of basically trying to get the US to come in the sort of tail wagging, the dog analogy, the Iranians have been able to respond to Israel. It's an open question of whether or not the 12 Day War was actually ended on Israel's behalf because the Israelis are running out of missile interceptors.

[Natalie Winters]

I have another question. As you were talking, you know, it wasn't that long ago that I think I had you on to talk about the new, you know, national security strategy. We've heard all this talk about focusing on the Western Hemisphere. Obviously we've seen that manifest in everything related to Venezuela. But I have a twofold question. I mean, how do you even begin to square even the prospect of getting involved with regime change in Iran with that document? But also why is there, and I'm not saying that it's a double standard that I agree with or disagree with, but why is there such a double standard where, I mean, frankly, I think what China is doing off the coast of Taiwan is a heck of a lot more aggressive and frankly, more applicable and dangerous to the United States, whether from a Taiwan versus Iran perspective or just the military exercises. But there's sort of silence about that. I don't really see a lot coming from the Trump administration, certainly even from a human rights angle.

[Julie Kelly]

Right.

[Natalie Winters]

Even saying the same thing. Why is Iran getting so much attention when it seems like whether it's based off of doctrine or just actual geopolitical relation to the United States, it just seems so far down the list.

[Curt Mills]

You know, at a certain point, it's only so generative to anchor on this. But to answer your question very succinctly, the answer is foreign lobbies. You know, there's not a major Taiwanese lobby in the United States agitating for the US to have the hard line there. There's not a major Chinese diaspora in the United States that's extremely anti CCP in the way that there is a hard line Persian diaspora in the United States and a hardline Israeli diaspora in the United States that wants to do regime change in Iran. That is at least the background or the foundation of why this is so loud. And I would say the same thing, frankly. Unfortunately for Ukraine, there is a Ukrainian diaspora, there is an Eastern European diaspora that is extremely anti Russian and it is overrepresented in American foreign policy thinking. Not to excuse everything the Russians are doing, but the baseline of our prioritization shouldn't be foreign lobbies. I think this is deeply unhealthy and basically ahistorical in the history of the American republic. I mean, it's not like, you know, people who were coming over in the 19th century, you know, basically German emigres were obsessively trying to control foreign policy in what was then the Kaiserreich or Italians trying to overthrow the Italian government in the 1920s. This is pretty astonishing stuff. And I think it needs to be limited if we're going to have a responsible foreign policy that puts Americans first.

[Natalie Winters]

Well, I hope the Minnesota National Guard doesn't end up in Somalia by that logic.

[Curt Mills]

But just Somali things related, right? I mean, I mean, look, not to, not to minimize it, but I mean, Israel is actually involved in the Somali thing. I mean, Israel has taken a side in the Somali civil war. They recognize Somaliland. And again, not to excuse that any of the fraud that is doubtless going on in some of these inner cities. But the reason why Somalia is so in the mainstream of sort of American media right now is that I think, frankly, the Israeli lobby wants to push it and it wants to radicalize people on this issue to distract from the larger macro issue of the Israel lobby in the United States driving foreign policy on this discrete issue. And when I say discrete, it's this specific issue, Iran. But I think if they get what they want on Iran, they're going to widen it. They're going to widen it to Turkey, they might even widen it to Saudi. The way that you hear people talking about the region these days and it will never really stop. And I think the idea that this is, this is separate from the process that went on in the global war on terror, the process that Donald Trump won the presidency rejecting in 2016 and again in 2024. The idea that this is separate, I think is pretty laughable. Benjamin Netanyahu has had a long career. He's been the most important Israeli politician since the death of the founding generation and Israel and his greater project has been remaking the Middle east with American force of arms.

[Natalie Winters]

Kurt Mills, I really appreciate you coming on. The way you break all this stuff down and link them together really, really is important. Before we have you back on, if people want to follow you, stay up to date with everything you're writing and editing. Where can they go to do that?

[Curt Mills]

Sure, you can see my own stuff at Curt Mills at Curt Mills on X. And I am the executive director of the American Conservative magazine, a magazine founded by Patrick J. Buchanan and friends in 2002 against the Iraq war, conservatives against the Iraq war, Republicans against the Iraq. And we're trying to prevent a repeat of history again here in the 2000 and twenties. And the website is ww.the americanconservative.com thank you.

[Natalie Winters]

Thank you, sir. And Warren Posse, don't go anywhere. We got a packed show. We're going to dive into the Minnesota fraud after this. But a quick message from Birch Gold. A new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. They're great people over at Birch Gold. I appreciate their educational approach and their understanding of macroeconomics. Until January 30th. If you're a first time gold buyer, Birchgold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, just text Bannon to 989-898. Birchgold can help you roll an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA for gold and you're still eligible for a rebate of up to $10,000. That's Bannon to 989-898. Claim your eligibility today. Text Bannon to 989-898.

[Steve Bannon]

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[Natalie Winters]

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[Julie Kelly]

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[Natalie Winters]

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[Steve Bannon]

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[Julie Kelly]

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[Natalie Winters]

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[Curt Mills]

Download the Getter app now.

[Natalie Winters]

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[Julie Kelly]

Of the new B.

[Natalie Winters]

You're back in the war room. We are waiting for Julie Kelly. I think we're going to have her in the next block. We're going to go through all things Jack Smith. We have some clips we're going to play. She's going to walk us through through it. It's going to be great. But until then, I want to talk a little bit about the fraud, the racket that is going on, not just in Minnesota and frankly every state, but I think we've really seen just an explosion. Great work by Nick Shirley exposing what's going on there. But I think with the cleanest and clearest point to link it to, what we were talking about in the last segment is that the United States, especially the Trump administration, does not need to be supporting regime change abroad when the United States is effectively dealing with their own regime change from within. And you guys know here in the war we focused on so many aspects of the you know, Democrat Party, uniparty led color revolution. And we could, of course, talk about that. But I think one of the natural outcomes or outgrowths of that is the importing of a bunch of backwards third World countries that have literally nothing in common with the United States for precisely that point through, of course, the NGO industrial complex, the Democrat Party. Not a lot of space between those two entities, but pumping them into the heartland of the United States, some of the best towns, best communities of people where they have nothing in common with a bunch of Somalians, considering that I think dozens of them since 2007 have joined terrorist groups in the Middle East. Al Shabaab, to be specific. But it wasn't that long ago, right, that we were all celebrating the new national security strategy because it was talking about focusing on America, focusing on securing our borders, focusing on the Western Hemisphere. And I understand that that rhetoric is very important. But I think when you see a split in priorities where we're surging more, you know, resources potentially to Iran than Minnesota or these states are actually auditing the books, I mean, I don't really think you can make that make sense with that doctrine that was put out not too long ago. And frankly, I'd extend it all the way if we really want to focus on regime change, which I hope the midterms don't shape up to look like regime change here, but let's focus on Islamic extremists. I think today, especially of all days, we should probably be looking to New York and everything that's going down there with Mamdani, not drawing arbitrary human rights violation lines in the sand with which we're going to stake the prospect of World War III on. Maybe we're crazy, but I think that that's what putting America first means. And, you know, importing hordes of foreigners from countries, though I guess that's maybe too nice a term. It's their failed states into this country where they're stealing more than what the GDP of the places they're leav. I mean, I think it's government propaganda that we could only accuse the Iranian regime of what the American government has engaged in and trying to deceive the American people. That immigration is a net good, that diversity is our strength, and that it's our burden and responsibility to take in communities like a bunch of Somalians in the tiniest and most patriotic of Minnesotan towns. You know, I know Vivek and all of our. Our tech bro betters have a very interesting concept of what it means to be American and that they think you can just, you know, step over the border or pay some odd million dollars and get a, you know, EB5 visa or a gold card or green card and all of a sudden you're an American. Or if you study hard enough, I guess maybe that makes you not American, as I was instructed by the vec. But then if everyone can just be an American, then maybe these Somalis could just be Americans in Somalia and then turn their country into America. Except it doesn't work like that because not everybody can actually just be American. It's not something that you can just switch on in yourself. And frankly, the more we see examples like what happened in Somalia, the more I'm convinced that these people actually just conflate and connote being American with robbing American taxpayers of their hard earned dollars. And they just try to get creative with what grifty program they can create. Whether it's the weird whole autism money laundering operation in Minnesota where they were setting up fake autism centers to get millions of dollars from the government, or the fake leering and learning centers. I'm sure you guys have all seen those pictures by now. But I want to focus on what is, I think, the most illustrative example of what happened in that space state, and that is when Minnesota was dealing with a problem of dozens of Minnesotans. I think we can view that through the Kilmar Garcia lens and take that for what it is, which is Somalians were leaving Minnesota to join all Shabaab and become Islamic extremists. Terrorists. Take your pick of adjective. Instead of just stopping the flow of people coming from a culture where if the country's net worth is like negative, I'm not sure what these people could be bringing to the economy of Minnesota. But that aside, instead of deporting these people or saying, hey, maybe we should put a halt on importing more of these soon to be terrorist foreigners, welcoming them into our communities, paying them to come here, they launched a federal government pilot program whereby they were giving hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to various community organizations across Minnesota to combat terrorism. It was called the Countering Violent Extremism pilot program. That's how sick our elites are. They will import people from countries where they have to create programs to combat terrorism and then lie to you that you are a bigoted, xenophobic racist if you won't accept them. And then they'll actually take it a step further and say, no, you have to say that they're a net good for your community. $85,000 to the Somali American Parent association working on youth identity program. My personal favorite, sending money to the UMA project where they work on mediators and restorative justice facilitators using curriculum shaped by Islamic teachings. That's what your tax dollars are going to support. There's a whole list of these that I could read, but unfortunately the show's only an hour. But one of my personal favorites is 100 grand to the confederation of the Somali Community in Minnesota because apparently that exists and it's tax exempt. And one of these groups actually partnered with a group we're going to spotlight today by the name of Issaroon, which if you're not familiar with what that means, it's because it's a Somali word. So here in America, I don't know about you, I don't, I don't speak Somali. Despite their best efforts to get us to. But this is a group that, believe it or not, they was actually specially allocated not through the typical appropriation process, but its own bill. SF3452 to be specific. $3 million for pre design, redesigned construction and renovation of a property to create like a community center so Somali women could fight racism in Minnesota. And while that in and of itself is a scandal and should be stopped immediately, what is so interesting about this is that the director of that very progressive organization, an individual who honestly, I don't know how to pronounce her name and I'm not going to learn, but I think it is Fartoon Welly. Well, she is also the director of a political action committee by the name of Somali American women Political Action committee Sawpack. And you can guess what kind of candidates they support. People like Keith Ellison and a bunch of Democrats, a bunch of Somalians and a bunch of people who are committed to her crusade of, quote, combating the dehumanization of Muslim women, immigrants and refugee rights, educational equity and reproductive rights for Muslim women and their families. And so much so that our girl actually co sponsored or hosted an event with none other than Tim Waltz in 2023. It was the inaugural Somali day at the Capitol where a bunch of Somalians got together with Tim Waltz and believe it or not, after the call to prayer played inside the Minnesota State Capitol, Tim Waltz gave some blustering, weird, weak guy speech about how great Somalians are for Minnesota. So if they're so great, then maybe they should stay in Somalia. Maybe that's where they're undergoing a civil war. And to that point, which, like I said, the real story here isn't just the fraud. It's what these people are doing with that money. Isaroon, again, a Somalian word for something, is also one of these organizations of which I have identified. Again, all of this is on my sub stack. But at least five of these charities that are receiving in some cases millions of dollars from the government, whether it's DHS grants, EPA grants, grants from Minnesota, the state level itself, are also listed on the Act Blue registry as taking in money from them for charitable purposes. Now, I'm not an expert in tax loopholes and things like that, but that's quite interesting to me, that connectivity, shall we say, that connective tissue there. I'm certainly going to keep digging on into that. That's obviously Natalie gwinters.substack.com if you want to read both of these stories. But that's the real story with what's going down in Minnesota by importing these foreigners. It's about campaign finance and it's a racket not just to destroy these states, to destroy these communities, but it's a money laundering operation and they're putting money back into the campaigns of the people who are allowing them to come here. It's like Chicago style politics, except the machines are not even for American citizens. Therefore maybe they are citizens, I don't even know. But they're not real American citizens. Denver I know I ended up taking up a lot of that block. There's nothing that gets me as radicalized as to talking about the death and destruction of this country at the hands of people like Tim Walls. But let's play a little bit of the Jack Smith stuff. We'll roll it through break. And then I think we should have Julie Kelly.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Compelled to make an observation about the risks of participating in this deposition. The most powerful person in the world has said that Mr. Smith should be informed. Jail because of his work as special counsel. Not because Jack did anything wrong, but because he had the audacity to follow the facts and the law and apply them to that powerful person. And through its actions, this Justice Department has demonstrated its eagerness to follow President Trump's orders despite the facts and the law. Yesterday, the president chief of staff is reported to have confirmed in interviews that the president is indeed pursuing criminal prosecutions against his perceived adversaries as part of a retribution campaign. Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.

[Natalie Winters]

A new year means new financial goals, like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. Will this be the year you finally listen to me and talk to someone from Birch Gold Group? Honestly, they're great people. I appreciate their educational approach and their understanding of macroeconomics. There are forces pushing the dollar lower and gold higher, which why they believe every American should own physical gold. So until January 30th, if you're a first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, just text ban into 989-898. Birch Gold can help you roll an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA in gold and you're still eligible for a rebate of up to $10,000. Make right now your first time to buy gold and take advantage of a rebate up to $10,000 when you buy by January 30th. Text ban into 989898. Claim your eligibility today. Again, text band into 989898. You are back in the war room. We are joined by the one and only, the fantastic Julie Kelly, who has a wonderful Christmas sweater on that I love. It's still Christmas time. We love Christmas here in the war room. I think we're allowed to say that. But Julie Kelly, I just want to want to tee you up. You go off for as long as you want. I think you're the best person to be able to lead our audience kind of through this. But what we saw, what we heard from the, the Jack Smith deposition or testimony, Right.

[Julie Kelly]

So Natalie, this was the eight hour deposition by former special counsel Jack Smith before the House Judiciary Committee. That was last month. And they released the full transcript and the video recording of that deposition on New Year's Eve. So I want to thank them for that because all of us were kind of scrambling to, to look at the transcripts and look at the video. So I've been posting clips of that eight hour interview on my X account. Julie underscore Kelly too. But Natalie, look, as you know, you and I talked about my coverage of Special Counsel Jack Smith who indicted President Trump twice in the summer of 2023, once in Florida on the so called classified documents case and then once in Washington D.C. on the so called January 6th case. And this was unprecedented. But the way Jack Smith discussed these cases before the House Judiciary Committee was as if both cases were slam dunks. The president but for the fact, thankfully, that he was elected president on November of 2024. But for that victory, he would have, Jack Smith would have sailed through both cases, both trials. Now, part of that might have been True in Washington, D.C. of course, the city filled with Trump haters that voted 92% for Kamala Harris. And of Course, the judge who presided in that case, Tanya Chutkin, the Obama appointee who hated Donald Trump probably as much as anyone in that city. He might have been right there. The Florida case, though, Natalie, he forgot to mention, was dismissed by Judge Aileen Cannon in July of 2024 after determining that Jack Smith's appointment by Merrick Garland violated the appointments clause of the Constitution. So that documents indictment actually had been dismissed. But. And we can talk a little bit more about the details of what he disclosed, but basically what he was Bringing in the January 6th case was a First Amendment protected prosecution of a sitting president at the time who was trying to get to the bottom of what we now know, and we knew at the time was rampant voting election fraud in several states. Jack Smith defiantly telling the House Judiciary Committee last month that he was not protected. The President was not protected by the First Amendment in talking about election fraud because he was lying about it. That's what Jack Smith said. So that was, of course, galling. Think of this, Natalie, an unelected, unaccountable former prosecutor, DOJ prosecutor under the Obama administration. Jack Smith was head of the Public Integrity Unit for almost four years under President Barack Obama. So we know his partisan roots there. Jack Smith talking about what can, what the sitting President, elected President of the United States can and cannot lawfully say, especially about an election that we know was rigged, was highly flawed, to put it nicely, rigged and corrupted. So that is something that I think House Republicans and even Senate Republicans are going to look into a little bit more. But in the documents case which I covered, I was in, I think every court proceeding in Florida in that case, misrepresenting the facts there, claiming that the President willfully took national defense information and hid it at Mar A Lago and then obstructed investigators who were allegedly trying to find those papers. That is a provable lie, Natalie. The President and his team, starting in the spring of 2021, just a few months after he left the White House, started cooperating with nara, the archives, and trying to find these classified documents they claimed belonged to the government. Then throughout 2022, continued to cooperate with the Biden Department of Justice, going so far as In June of 2022, the President delayed his relocation, summer relocation to Bedminster to greet Jay Bratt, one of the most corrupted, dirtiest prosecutors in DOJ history. Along with Jack Smith, Jay Bratt and three FBI agents allowed them voluntarily to come into Mar A Lago, showed them around, said, we'll give you whatever you want, as they traipsed through the President's private residence, allegedly trying to find more classified documents. Then Jay Bratt turns around a few days later and starts pushing for the raid at the armed raid of Mar a Lago. So these are just a few of the things that Jack Smith has lied about, lied about in that testimony, misrepresented the facts, but overall just brazenly sitting there stating that the President committed all of these crimes when in fact especially the J6 indictment, Natalie, relied on extremely vague, rarely used statutes like Conspiracy against Rights. These were not cut and dry statutes. He was going to have a terrible time. He already was gutted, part of his indictment gutted by the Supreme Court in the immunity decision. So for him to sit there and just act so arrogantly, so smuggler that he and so self righteous about what he did and in the process misrepresenting the facts, I think we are going to have to hear a lot more from Mr. Smith this year.

[Natalie Winters]

Is the smugness because he thinks he will get away with it. And do you think his thought that he will is correct or what do you think the timeline looks on how this plays out?

[Julie Kelly]

You know, that's such a good question, Natalie. He definitely has lawyered up. He started lawyering up right after the President won. And we know, I think he got $100,000 in pro bono work from Covington, who is now still representing him. So I think there is a little bit of fear. One of his attorneys talked during the testimony, during the deposition that the President was pursuing Jack Smith was threatening him with criminal charges, that he had done nothing wrong. So I think that he, he might be a little bit worried. But look, Jack Smith has been sitting by and watching how House Republican, not just House Republicans, but Republican leadership has been handling a lot of these egregious cases of loss fare against the President. Now to be fair, they've had their hands full, especially with all the litigation lawsuits that have been filed against the Trump administration and all the scandals that they are uncovering, especially at the DOJ and FBI, that they are trying to get their arms around. But in my view, holding Jack Smith and his team of thugs in both the Florida case and the Washington case should take priority and I would argue take priority even over Russiagate, because of course the problem there is statute of limitations has run out. Public interest is not as nearly as high as it is in something like this. The reason why we got a Jack Smith and we got the J6 prosecution, we got two unprecedented criminal federal indictments against the President of the United States was because no One was held accountable from Russiagate. And you know that as, as well as anyone, Natalie, if we don't hold Jack Smith, his team of thugs, David Harbach and Jay Bratt, JP Cooney in the Florida case, excuse me, in the Florida case, Tom Windom and Molly Gaston in the Washington January 6th case, we are going to get this all over again on steroids. Even worse, because this is how we got to this point. No one being held accountable for Rushgate, everything in between. So there have to be consequences for Jack Smith. I think he teed up enough evidence of at least a few criminal referrals for him, not just for his testimony, which contradicts a lot of the facts, but also what he and his team were caught doing, especially in Florida case, misrepresenting the facts to Judge Cannon, tampering with evidence, missing evidence in that case, missing files. So there's a lot happening in that case in particular that I think the DOJ should be looking into. And I think that they might be in this Florida grand jury that we know, this grand conspiracy case that Mike Davis has talked about. So it's yes, he is smug for now. Will that last? Let's hope not. Senator Ron Johnson, who is the chairman of the Senate Senate Permanent Select Committee on Investigations, has said that they are going to now pick up some of the slack here on Jack Smith investigation and will ask to have Jack Smith testify again in public.

[Natalie Winters]

And Joe, you just got a few minutes. I want to, I want to hold you through, but how do you take Jack Smith out of it for a second? How do you assess sort of our side of the football, how, how they've shown up from, you know, the congressional side and potentially the DOJ side.

[Julie Kelly]

Sorry, I have my sweater on. I think I'm having a winter cold attack now, spiritual warfare. So I'm not really sure what this is all going to look like. Yeah, exactly. Usually my connection cuts out and I used to blame it on Chris Ray, but now I can blame this on Jack Smith.

[Natalie Winters]

Many, many, many offenders. Yes.

[Julie Kelly]

On the other side, though, I do want to talk about what I think was a very interesting revelation that Jack Smith talked about, and that is his discussing how he reached out to the Department of Justice in the summer of 2022 and wanted to be part of the investigations into the President. This is a new development and I think it really contradicts and undermines what we have been told, Natalie, which is just that Attorney General Merrick Garland plucked Jack Smith out of the Hague. He was prosecuting this Kosovo war crimes case just plucked him out of there, brought him to Washington to take over these two investigations and wasn't really involved before that. What Jack Smith told the committee completely contradicts that narrative and contradicts the idea that Jack Smith was not interested in working on these cases before he was appointed in November of 2022.

[Natalie Winters]

Julie, if you can hang with us through the break, I know there's some breaking news on, on the pipe bomber and the judge case. So I want to get get your thoughts on that Warren Posse. We got one more message from Birchgold. Then we got Julie Kelly and Mike Lindell, Denver. Feel free to put the Birchgold stuff up on screen because as you know, a new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and diversified. Will this be the year you finally listen to someone from Birch Gold? They're great people. I appreciate their educational approach and their understanding of macroeconomics, their forces pushing the dollar lower and gold higher, which is why they believe every American should own physical gold. So until January 30th, if you are a first time gold buyer, Birch Gold is offering a rebate of up to $10,000 on qualifying purchases. To claim eligibility and start the process, text BAND into 989898. Birch Gold can help you roll an existing IRA or 401K into an IRA in gold and you're still eligible for a rebate of up to $10,000. Make right now your first time to buy gold and take advantage of a RE $10,000 when you buy by January 30th. Text Bannon to 989898. Claim your eligibility today. Again, text BANON to 9898. 98. We'll be right back after this break. We will fight till they're all gone. We rejoice when there's no more. Let's take down the ccp.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.

[Natalie Winters]

You're back in the war room. We got Julie Kelly still with us. Thank you, Julie, for joining us. The audience loves having you on. And perfect timing because there's some breaking news that the January 6 alleged pipe bomber case that it's been assigned to a judge and there always seems to be something interesting, something I guess interesting is euphemistic for left wing, partisan and anti Trump. But Amir Ali, walk us through, through the history there.

[Julie Kelly]

Right. So the indictment, the case against the alleged pipe BOMBER, Brian Cole Jr. Has now been assigned to Judge Amir Ali. I believe that that is one of Mike Davis's. He has so many favorite judges Especially in the Washington, D.C. district court. I believe this is one of them. I'm just going through his history. But he has also helped thwart some of President Trump's policy agenda. Just getting up to speed here on that. He recently just issued a preliminary injunction reinstating attorney Mark Zaid his security clearance that had been stripped by the president. I believe he might have a dual citizenship. I know that Mike Davis has talked about One of the D.C. judges, this one appointed by Joe Biden, has a dual citizenship. I have to see if that is if this is the individual, but he may be. So this case has been assigned to Judge Ali for now, which was just turned over by magistrate judge. The magistrate judge who is initially handling the Brian Cole case, has issued a pretrial detention order. He issued that order today, which means that Brian Cole Jr. Who has been in custody since he was arrested on December 5th for allegedly planting those pipe bombs outside the RNC and DNC on the evening of January 5th, 2021, both discovered 17 hours later, right around the same time that the joint session of Congress was convening to debate and consider the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. He has been in custody since then. Magistrate Judge Matthew Charbaugh today extending his time in prison, his time in custody pending trial. Little wrinkle in this case so far is that the prosecutors in the case working for D.C. u.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro had to go to the D.C. superior Court, which is the local court, not the D.C. district Court, the federal court, to secure an indictment. Now, the magistrate Judge Matthew Charbaugh, did not accept that indictment. This is somewhat of an issue for the Trump DOJ and D.C. u.S. Attorney's office, where you have grand juries sitting in the D.C. district, in the federal courthouse who are refusing to sign off on criminal indictments brought by the Trump doj. I'm not sure if that's the case here or. And then they have to go to the D.C. superior Court to get the indictment, bring it back to the federal courthouse. And a few judges, including Jeb Bossberg, have put a hold on accepting those indictments. This judge in this case as well, I know that's a little bit complicating, but I think it does speak to the challenges, whether it's getting a radical judge like this one to handle these politically sensitive, politically charged cases, or you have D.C. residents. And Natalie, there's a whole group called Free D.C. i know you're familiar with them, funded by George Soros, your favorite activist group in D.C. that is actually holding seminars to teach D.C. residents how to reject criminal indictments brought by the Trump DOJ and return what's called a no true bill, which used to be unheard of. Now it's very common in Washington, D.C. and also to be skeptical jurors when they finally are sitting on a panel for a trial and not hand the Trump DOJ a win, which we saw last month in the case of the man who was charged with throwing that subway sandwich at federal agents who were executing an illegal immigration arrest. So this is again an example of the really uphill battle that the Trump DOJ and Pirro's office faces when they're trying to bring forward some of these cases. So we'll see if the judge does accept this indictment. If not, I don't know what happens from there. But now we'll just kind of watch what happens as the proceedings in Brian Cole Jr's case moves forward throughout the next several months.

[Natalie Winters]

And Julie, just give us sort of your concluding thoughts on all things Jackson Smith, what the audience needs to know as we sweet advance forward into 2026.

[Julie Kelly]

So as I said, Natalie, I'm posting a lot of clips. I will continue to do so over the weekend. Julie underscore Kelly 2 on X. Also, I posted the entire 8 hour deposition video and transcript on my substack declassified with Julie Kelly. People want to watch for look at it themselves. They are free to do so. But again, following Jack Smith, keep in mind there's already a criminal referral pending before the Department of Justice for Tom Windom who was his lead Prosecutor in the J6 case for obstructing Congress and his deposition that he gave last year. So lots still to cover in the Jack Smith scandal saga, whatever you would like to call it. But hopefully another public hearing where the American people can see their $50 million man, Jack Smith, who spent at least $50 million of our tax dollars to pursue President Trump and you know, hopefully again, as I said, face some consequences for what he did.

[Natalie Winters]

Julie Kelly I know the audience is going to be all over watching those clips one more time. Where can people go to follow you, read all your work and and watch these clips if they so dare.

[Julie Kelly]

If you so dare, if you can take it, if you can tolerate watching Jack smith. Julie underscore Kelly 2 on axis and then Declassified with Julie Kelly on substack.

[Natalie Winters]

Thank you Julie for joining us. I really appreciate it.

[Julie Kelly]

Thanks Stanley. Happy New Year. Thanks.

[Natalie Winters]

Happy New Year. Merry Christmas. We say that here in the War Room Warren Posse. It's an honor to be with you I guess for the first show at least mine of 2026. And like I said, if you want to read more about those Somalian fraud stories, how it links to Act Blue Democratic campaigns, Keith Ellison, Tim Waltz, that's Natalie G. Winters.substack.com you also got to read the piece about how well, there's a lot of pieces you got to read obviously on the China front. But I think what's most maddening is that you have people groups, Somalian non profits who are taking your tax dollars while concurrently fundraising off of ActBlue.com telling you that you're crazy and a conspiracy theorist for believing in that and then in some cases using that money to directly support people like Keith Ellison. Yeah, we we got an Islamic extremism problem. It's just it's not in Iran. It's right here. And the regime change I voted for is getting rid of that, not sending troops to Rome. See you guys soon. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.