WarRoom Battleground EP 970: Massive Throw Down In Senate Over SAVE ACT Cont; Joe Kent Resigns

Summary

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Podcast Episode Summary

War Room Battleground EP 970:

Massive Throw Down In Senate Over SAVE ACT Cont.; Joe Kent Resigns
Host: Steve Bannon | Date: March 17, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the political battle in the U.S. Senate over the controversial SAVE America Act, which aims to impose stricter voter ID and citizenship verification requirements for voting. The show features live reactions to heated speeches on the Senate floor, key interviews with lawmakers and correspondents, and breaking news regarding Joe Kent’s resignation as Head of the National Counterterrorism Center over disagreements with the Trump administration’s Iran policy. The episode is marked by urgent debate, partisan positioning, and a focus on the implications for U.S. democracy, foreign policy, and the upcoming presidential elections.

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Main Themes

• Fierce Senate debate over the SAVE Act, exposing sharp partisan divides.
• The SAVE Act as both a voter integrity measure and, as critics argue, a vehicle for voter suppression.
• Trump’s insistence on making the SAVE Act the GOP’s foremost priority.
• Fractures within the Republican Party and MAGA movement over foreign intervention, particularly concerning Iran and NATO.
• Joe Kent’s high-profile resignation in protest of Trump’s Iran war policy and its ties to Israeli influence.
• Broader anxieties about U.S. electoral security, foreign interference, and America’s international alliances.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Senate Showdown Over the SAVE Act

• Democratic Critique:

  • Senator Alex Padilla (CA) lambasts the bill, claiming, “This is not a simple voter ID bill. The latest version of the SAVE act is a Trojan horse…actually, it's a voter suppression bill filled with poison pills.” (00:00)
  • Padilla elaborates that requiring items like a passport (which half of Americans lack) is a deliberate barrier to voting: “...the SAVE act would require a passport in order to vote, something that half of Americans don’t have…there’s an estimated 21 million people who lack access to these documents.” (01:35)
  • Notably highlights the impact on married women and those with name changes: "If you're one of the 69 million married women who chose to change your name... tough luck... now you have to jump through additional hoops." (01:35)

• Bannon’s Commentary:

  • Frames Democrats' opposition as “Election Takeover act—that’s what they’re calling it. So we see their angle of attack on this already.” (03:36)
  • Insists the real driver is the 20–25 million “illegal aliens” he alleges influence elections.

• GOP Position and Internal Debate:

  • Senator John Thune (SD) maintains there are already state-level voter protections and stresses the Senate’s tradition of deliberation and the importance of the filibuster: “…the founders had for the United States Senate was that it would be one body that was majoritarian and one that wasn’t.” (04:21; see also 16:40)
  • Some moderate Republicans (Murkowski, Tillis) openly oppose the bill over concerns about disenfranchisement (14:19).

• Tactical Updates:

  • The GOP whip count hinges on a few holdouts; if the vote is tied, Vice President JD Vance would break the tie (16:26-16:40).
  • Bannon and guests worry GOP leaders lack “urgency” and criticize Thune for a “pro forma, no-fire” response (19:32-21:25).

• Senator James Lankford (OK):

  • Defends rigorous ID procedures in Oklahoma: “If you vote early absentee…you have to pull out an ID…If you’re going to mail in your ballot…you’ve got to show ID when you actually do it.” (32:02)
  • Argues, “Why don’t we just verify that only American citizens are voting? Because we all know it’s happening.” (39:32)

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2. Foreign Policy Flashpoints—NATO, Iran, and the Strait of Hormuz

• Correspondent’s Analysis:

  • The Strait of Hormuz remains closed; Europe unwilling to support U.S. moves, leading to global economic strain, rising fuel, and food prices (11:17).
  • Trump signals disappointment with NATO and questions U.S. alliance commitments:
    • “I’m disappointed in NATO…It’s one of the reasons we have deficits…Certainly something we should think about [leaving].” (13:28)
    • Emphasizes U.S. military preeminence: “We’ve wiped out their [Iran’s] navy, wiped out their military in every aspect. Their air force is now decimated.” (12:43)

• European Attitudes:

  • Allies like France and Italy seek direct talks with Iran; Germany flat-out says, “it’s not our war” (36:04-38:52).

• Neil McCabe’s Take:

  • Sees waning NATO resolve as signaling “the death of this rules-based order” (34:54).
  • Reminisces on European allies’ historical patterns of transactional military alliances.

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3. Joe Kent Resignation—Dissent in the MAGA Ranks

• Breaking News: Joe Kent, a decorated veteran and trailblazer in Trump’s counterterrorism efforts, resigns as Head of the National Counterterrorism Center, citing conscience and opposition to the Iran conflict:
  • Kent’s stinging critique: “I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.” (43:37)
  • Attributes war policy to “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
  • Trump quickly dismisses Kent as “weak on security” (43:08).
• Bannon’s Response:
  • Praises Kent’s service and calls for an “immediate investigation” into his charges.
  • Suggests this split is a rupture inside the Trump camp and the MAGA coalition (44:19).

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4. Concerns Over Election Integrity and Foreign Interference

• Bannon’s Claims:
  • Argues the 2020 election and subsequent events—from pandemic to Ukraine—are tied to "stolen elections" and foreign (primarily Chinese) interference.
  • Alleges: “During the pandemic, the [Chinese] party…went into the voter rolls and got people’s information, your addresses, your Social Security numbers, everything they needed…to steal an election by mail in ballots.” (06:18)
  • Cites the intelligence community and DHS suppression of evidence.

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5. Memorable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• Sen. Alex Padilla (CA):

  “No, this is not a simple voter ID bill. The latest version of the SAVE act is a Trojan horse.” (00:00)
  “If you’re one of the 69 million married women who chose to change your name…tough luck…your recourse [is]…jump through additional hoops.” (01:35)

• Sen. John Thune (SD):

  “The founders…divided power in a way that enabled the United States Senate…to ensure there are bipartisan majorities…in which to accomplish that.” (04:21)
  “States have the authority…to do this already.” (16:40)

• Steve Bannon:

  "What’s always been front and center is stolen elections…the railhead of everything…the financial destruction of the country…the problems in Ukraine and in Gaza." (06:18)

• Sen. James Lankford (OK):

  “We protect the right of all individuals to vote—every American citizen.” (22:19)
  “Why don’t we just verify that only American citizens are voting? Because we all know it’s happening.” (39:32)

• Donald Trump (on NATO):

  “It’s one of the reasons we have deficits…certainly something that we should think about [leaving]. But I will say that I’m not exactly thrilled when we help them with Ukraine.” (13:28)
  “I always thought [Joe Kent] was a nice guy…but very weak on security. When I read his statement, I realized it’s a good thing that he’s out.” (43:08)

• Joe Kent’s Resignation Letter (read by reporter):

  “As a veteran…as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife…in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.” (43:37)

• Neil McCabe:

  "This is really the death of NATO and...the death of this rules-based order." (34:54)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–03:36: Sen. Padilla denounces the SAVE Act, voter suppression angle.
• 03:36–06:18: Bannon reacts, frames debate as election integrity vs. Democratic partisanship.
• 06:18–08:00: Bannon alleges 2020 election foreign interference, ties to pandemic.
• 11:17–14:19: Update: Strait of Hormuz crisis, Trump and NATO relations.
• 14:19–16:40: News anchor outlines Senate whip count, procedural hurdles.
• 19:32–21:25: Bannon and McCabe: GOP lacks energy, base wants a “real fight.”
• 22:19–26:05: Sen. Lankford defends state-level ID laws and Voting Rights Act.
• 32:02–33:14: Lankford details Oklahoma’s strict voter ID processes.
• 34:54–38:52: McCabe and Bannon deconstruct collapse of NATO consensus.
• 42:32–44:19: Joe Kent’s resignation and fallout in the Trump world.

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Notable Moments

• Bannon’s running theme—that the SAVE Act is the "litmus test" for GOP loyalty and electoral security.
• Kent’s resignation is a ground-shaking moment, exposing the brewing civil-military–political rift on war policy within the Trump administration.
• Padilla’s speech is highlighted as emblematic of Democrats’ civil rights concerns about the bill.
• Sen. Lankford’s invocation of the Voting Rights Act as a foundational text for the GOP rationale.

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Useful for Listeners Who Missed the Episode

This summary captures the passionate arguments, key revelations, and high-stakes maneuvering in the U.S. Senate over voting rights and national security. It provides clear attribution, direct quotes, and timestamps for key segments, distilling the essential themes and controversies from an episode marked by urgent political drama.

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Transcript

[Alex Padilla]

And misinformation and misrepresentations repeated over and over again by our Republican colleagues. So let me make a few things very clear. First of all, no, this is not a simple voter ID bill. The latest version of the SAVE act is a Trojan horse. Actually, it's a voter suppression bill filled with poison pills and, and designed to change the rules of the election as we're in the middle of primary election season already and the November election on the horizon. And for what? For partisan political gain? The President himself has said that if this bill passes, Republicans, quote, will never lose a race for 50 years. We won't lose a race, end quote. The lead sponsor of this bill in the Senate has stated, quote, republicans will lose power, likely for a long time if we don't get the Save America act passed, end quote. Colleagues, it doesn't get any more obvious than that. And here's how it works, okay?

[Steve Bannon]

You're in the war room for the 6 o' clock hour. Alex Padilla of California is their fourth Democrat or actually fifth Democrat in a row. They are trying to bring the heat against the Save America Act. We're going to watch and listen in. We've got some guests. We're going to have play some clips. Let's go back to the senate floor.

[Alex Padilla]

Alex Padilla, CA to use their driver's licenses or comment IDs to register to vote. The SAVE act would require a passport in order to vote. Something that half of Americans don't have. Not to mention the $165 it costs and a four to six week wait time to get one. And if you're one of the 148 million Americans who does not have a passport but you're otherwise eligible to vote, you'll need to what, maybe dig through the attic or call your parents to try to find your original birth certificate. That's if you still even have it. According to one survey, there's an estimated 21 million people who lack access to these documents. That's a big chunk of the electorate. And if you're one of the 69 million married women who chose to change your name when you got married, tough luck, your name doesn't match your birth certificate anymore. Even if you can find the birth certificate now, you have to jump through additional hoops and bring your birth certificate and your marriage license to the election office. That is your recourse. Because just to make this even more of a burden, the SAVE act mandates that you bring these documents and let me quote from the bill in person to the office of the appropriate election official and sign an affidavit. That's what the text of the bill says. And as a result, millions of women are going to face additional barriers to the ballot than their spouses have to face. Why does anybody have time for that some evening after work, maybe on a weekend? That's assuming elections offices are open in the evenings and on weekends.

[Steve Bannon]

Election Takeover act, that's where they're calling it. So we see their angle of attack on this already. Maybe we'll get some more Republicans up here in a while, but it's been Patty Murray, Amy Klobuchar, Andy Kim, Mark Warner, now Alex Padilla. They have stepped into in the second hour of this and taken over and they're letting you know in no uncertain terms that they although many of these people believed it before, they don't believe it now. Let's go ahead. We've got a clip from an interview earlier in the day, just right before the start. Let's go ahead and play that.

[Neil McCabe]

Why is the filibuster more important than stopping illegals from voting?

[Senator John Thune]

Well, look, I mean, I think that the there are many ways in which you can stop illegals from voting. A lot of states have some of those measures already in place. But I do think that the filibuster, or maybe more specifically the concept that the founders had for the United States Senate was that it would be one body that was majoritarian and one that wasn't. And so they divided power in a way that enabled the United States Senate, which we have six year terms, staggered terms, more of a methodical way about going about solving the country's problems and generally in ways that ensure that there are bipartisan majorities in which to accomplish that. So and frankly, I mean, I think most of can't speak for all my colleagues, but a lot of our colleagues believe that many of the things that Democrats want to do when they tried to nuke the filibuster a couple years ago were all things that we don't want to have our fingerprints, whether that's adding D.C. and Puerto Rico estates or expanding the Supreme Court. You can go right down the laundry list of nationalizing elections. You can go right down the laundry list of things that I think there are a lot of my myself and my colleagues have grave concerns about if the Democrats ever had that power handed to them.

[Steve Bannon]

Thune, I just, you could feel the body language. He's going to have to step up here to get this done, to actually turn it into a filibuster or grind this through for the Next couple days, because I'm hearing, hey, they may want to have a hearing tomorrow. And Mark Wayne Mullins confirmation, which to me is not a priority. I mean, we got to get him in his dhs. But DHS is not even funded. And if you're weak on this, they're not going to fund dhs. So yes, it's important to get Mark Wayne Mullins confirmed. But in the priority, this is everything. It should be treated as everything. President Trump has said. It's everything. And we had these converging forces finally after years of fighting this.

[Guest/Advertiser]

And to me, you kind of.

[Steve Bannon]

I judge. One of the ways I judge people of how serious, how really MAGA they are is not simply the fact were they with this early, are they populist nationalists and are they held tough, particularly in 16 and during the first administration when they were coming at President Trump and then right after us in the 2020 with the pandemic and then the, the big steal and then the horrible years of 21 and 22 before he took back the House. You look at that and where are they on the vital, vital issues of the day? And never was a vital issue. The Middle east or Israel just wasn't after we took out isis. It's a sideshow and should remain a sideshow. And now it's kind of front and center. There'll be a topic for later. But what's always been front and center is stolen elections, the stolen 2020 election, which was the railhead of everything. It's the railhead of the financial destruction of the country. It's the railhead of 20 or 25 million illegal aliens in the country. Henceforth, we're having this debate right now. It's the railhead really, of the problems in Ukraine and in Gaza. None of that would have started if President Trump had won the had had been allowed to close on his victory in 2020 and not had it stolen. And so now three massive things are happening simultaneously. We have a real investigation going on in, in Fulton county, and the Justice Department is not folding on that. They didn't this arbitration kind of mediation kind of fell apart. And the Democrats, what are they doing? They're trying to get the ballots, they're trying to get the evidence. What's happening in Maricopa County? Something along the same lines then John Solomon's breaking massive blockbuster after massive blockbuster. And we know this because the intelligence community controlled by political appointees of President Trump don't want to really step forward and push it. Now, we do understand that John Ratcliffe, the Director of the CIA has been quite helpful to John and I think they're actually going to release some documents over the next couple of days. But the White House, John Solomon's words, not mine. The White House told him, hey, can you tamp this down? Just hold it for a while. We don't want to upset Xi and, you know, we want to make sure that we can have this state meeting, you know, at some time in the future, the China meeting. But we have now evidence of what we always thought that during the pandemic, the Chinese Communist Party, who started the pandemic as a biological weapon from the Wuhan lab, they started the pandemic because they couldn't defeat Trump. In May of 2019, they had declared a people's war against us because they said, we're never going to sign the light hazard deal after we, after we negotiated for two years, we're never going to sign it. We're never going to become part of the economic order driven by the Americans, the foreign devils. We're not going to do that. And they declared a people's Warners. And what did they do? They let off a biological weapon, I don't know, summer of 2019, fall of 2019, at the military Games, and then push it out into January, February, March of 2021. And we now know that the Chinese Communist Party, excuse me, in 20. The Chinese Communist Party, January, February, March of 2020. We now know in April 2020 because John Samas brought it out and Glenn Beck's done a tremendous job. I'll play that Glenn Beck clip in a minute. That they went and got not ballots, they went into the voter rolls and got people's information, your addresses, your Social Security numbers, everything they needed. Everything they needed to steal an election by mail in ballots which they knew were coming because they knew they put the pandemic out there. A very well thought through plan. And what's so shocking about John Solomon's discoveries is that the intelligence community and DHS knew about it and suppressed the information. Suppressed it now for what, five years, going on six years. Suppress the information. Now you know why? They didn't want to look in too much into the laptop from hell in the same time frame. And it's starting. They had a laptop from hell in November, December of 2019. They made a conscious decision to try to thwart us when we start bringing forward revelations on it. In September 2020, after Rudy Giuliani got his hands on, started going through it and called me up to go through the Chinese Communist Party of it which was unreal of the Biden's involvement in that. Let's go ahead. We do have a cold open. We've got Padilla. I think we have a couple more Democrats. We're definitely gonna make sure you hear what they have to say. But let's say this. They're not fans of the Save America act because their business model is predicated upon those 20 million illegal alien invaders in the country. Look at Mandami. Mike Davis said it very well. Mondame up in New York City. We have a cold open. Reset the play. I don't want to jump the gun here. We're good, we're good. Okay, it's the six o', clock, guys. Let's go ahead and let it rip.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

The problem that is facing the globe right now, beyond the war itself, it's the Strait of Hormuz still being closed, not getting reopened, and the president clearly unhappy that Naito and other allies are not going to come to the aid to reopen it.

Yeah, it's the problem that's facing the world, Katie, but clearly it's the problem that's facing the president now as well, because as you mentioned there NATO allies, countries aren't standing with him on this decision to essentially bring warships to this water behind me to try and take up back control of it. Yes, they do need to take back control of these waters from Iranian military because we've seen the devastating impact that oil prices have had over the last couple of weeks whilst the Strait of Hormuz remains relatively short and oil can't transfer through. We've seen the knock on effect that it's had on everyday people. Fuel prices have gone through the roof. We've seen in some countries food prices doubling because fertilizers can't get through as well. But clearly there are many countries like Australia, like Japan, like Germany, all that you mentioned, who don't feel as if they want this to escalate. And that would happen if they were to stand by the president and send warships to this part of the world

[Steve Bannon]

and escorting those oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz?

[Donald Trump]

Well, we don't need too much help and we don't need any help, actually. In fact, we just put out a notice I was watching over the last couple of weeks, and all of our NATO allies were very much in favor of what we did. They thought it was very important. We were just discussing it, actually, very important that we take out the nuclear threat from Iran. And we've done that very strongly, very powerfully. We've Wiped out their navy, wiped out their military in every aspect. Their air force is now decimated. They have no air force, no navy. They have no radar. Their radar is entirely gone. They're anti aircraft.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

Are you rethinking the United States relationship with NATO, possibly getting out?

[Donald Trump]

Well, I'm disappointed in NATO that we spend trillions of dollars on NATO. Think of it, trillions over the years, many trillions of dollars. It's one of the reasons we have deficits and we help other countries and when they don't help us, I mean, it's certainly something that we should think about. I don't need Congress for that decision, as you probably know. I can make that decision myself. I'd work with some very smart people and I'd always deal with Congress anyway. But I don't need Congress for that decision. But you know, when you, when you say rethink, I'm not. I have nothing currently in mind. But I will say that I'm not exactly thrilled when we help them with Ukraine. Look, Ukraine would have been over in one day if we didn't help. Frankly, Ukraine would have been over the first day. They had the best equipment in the world. It was our equipment.

[News Anchor/Reporter]

Right now we have two Republicans who are on the record saying that they plan to oppose this procedural vote that is set to happen, really within the next hour. That's Lisa Murkowski and Thom Tillis. Murkowski in particular, not such a surprise. A few weeks ago she had put out an op ed saying that she was opposed to, to the Save America Act. And let's remind viewers what exactly this is. It would require proof of citizenship to vote in addition to voter id. Now, some Republicans and virtually all Democrats have raised concerns that maybe all Americans don't actually have access to those documents. They would be needed to verify their citizenship and the voter id. For example, everybody may not have a driver's license. Everybody may not have a copy of their birth certificate. That was one of the chief concerns. Concerns. Also married women, there was concern that maybe they would run into some issues at the ballot box if their married name does not match the name on that identification. So this is all set to come to a head finally, right after weeks of President Trump calling this his number one priority, urging Republicans to vote on it. We are going to see the Senate barrel towards that. So later this afternoon, there's going to be this initial procedural vote to kick off this process. It requires a majority vote. Now, if there is one more Republican who votes against it, it would be 5050 and that means that Vice President JD Vance would be needed up here to break that tie. One person we're paying close attention to, Senator Mitch McConnell. We'll see how he votes on that. If this procedural vote is successful, whether with Republican votes or with the tie breaking vote from the Vice President, we would then see what could end up being a days or weeks long debate over the SAVE Act. We expect this to be an elongated process. We're in a bit of uncharted territory right now. So we don't know how long it's going to be. But at the end of the day, let's not forget this has no chance of becoming law. It would require 60 votes in order to pass through the Senate. And there just are not enough Democratic supporters, really any Democratic supporters who could get this behind this legislation. But still President Trump using it very much so as a litmus test of support with the the Republican Party and as a way to rev up conversation about what he's calling his number one priority.

[Neil McCabe]

So illegals voting and the other things that are in the Save America act do not approach an existential threat to our democracy. It's just something that can be casually dealt with. Not worth losing the filibuster.

[Senator John Thune]

I don't think you're. I don't think it's being casually dealt with. We're going to have a spirited debate on the floor here. And as I said earlier, states have the authority to do this already. My state has those requirements in place. So this is a way of ensuring at the federal level that we have a requirement that if you want to vote in this country you have to register and you also have to have an ID to vote. But that's something that's done in some fashion in 36 states already.

[Steve Bannon]

The Iranian regime has told Sky News

[Senator James Lankford]

if you put boots on the ground

[Steve Bannon]

in Iran, it's will be another Vietnam. Are you afraid of that?

[Donald Trump]

No, I'm not afraid of. I'm really not afraid of anything.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay. Welcome back. No one it's open right now. We'll see if it's a Republican or a Democrat. They've had five Democrats in a row. Have you enjoyed that? Let's go to Neil McCabe first off. Birch Gold. Take your time. I got my hard copy right here. Love the hard copy.

[Guest/Advertiser]

End of the Dollar Empire.

[Steve Bannon]

It's the Patriots edition. The first seven installments that have, I think taught you guys a lot. You've learned a lot about capital markets and what it means to be a hedge, why it's not the price of Gold. It's the pattern recognition and the process of what drives the value of gold. Always remember that. That's why you got to make contact with Philip Patrick and the team and get all the different alternatives of how you can own physical gold.

[Guest/Advertiser]

End of the dollar empire.

[Steve Bannon]

It's birchgold.com, promo code. Bannon do it today. Learn about this because in doing it, you learn about the world and you learn about finance. Remember, the book itself is now taught at a major public university. It's given us one of the textbooks or one of the required readings, I guess, in the graduate level economics course or graduate level finance course, I think is correct. Neil is up. Neil McCabe at the White House. Neil, you've been covering this on Capitol Hill all day. What do you got for us?

[Neil McCabe]

The word I got, not from McConnell's office, but people are sort of doing a whip count, is that McConnell will vote with leadership because it's considered a procedural. A procedural vote is basically a party loyalty vote. Obviously, when other issues are at play, not so much, but you're expected to vote with your party on procedure. And then we have to see what the Democrats do. Are they, you know, the Republicans have some amendments, will they start filibustering the amendments or will they let them pass with the simple majority? You know, people are just waiting to see how the, how the Democrats are going to play it, but certainly Thune and the leadership are working with conservatives and MAGA to try to get this thing done and, and play it out.

[Steve Bannon]

How do you think it's going to go? How do you think it's going to go through? How do you think it's going to go through the evening or for the next couple hours? Because the Democrats is very, the battle lines are drawn. We already know Murkowski And Tillis are nos. So we're down to 51. Even if McConnell said no, we'd still get to 50. And you have, if Collins hangs in there, you've got the vice president. J.D. vance could come down and vote. But one thing that struck me about the cause you asked the question to Thune coming out of the lunch. And it looked to me, and of course I'm observing this from half the country away, that they had a lot more piss and vinegar before they went, before they had the lunch. And then around the table it looked like we went back to, you know, sad, the slump shoulders, the no energy, the no urgency, being very professorial, just telling us some basic stuff. No fire that this is actually going to get done. What, what Maga doesn't want to see in the president. Trump's base is just some, you know, Kabuki theater, performance art. They really want to see this thing hammered out and pushed through. They don't care how long it takes, but they want to see it really pushed through. A real fight to get this done,

[Guest/Advertiser]

to get it back to the House,

[Steve Bannon]

to get it figured out and they get it to the president's desk, get it signed, then have the lawsuits come, take it all the way up to the Supreme Court, I think before their June exit. Take it to the Supreme Court, argue it, win it there, and then execute on this to make sure that we have free and fair elections in the fall. Neil McCabe, you were there, your thoughts. Did Thune seem like he was breathing fire of a leader?

[Guest/Advertiser]

You would like to be jacking people

[Steve Bannon]

up on St. Patrick's Day about this?

[Neil McCabe]

I almost dozed off during his answer. It was just hoo, ha ha about the founders and the deliberative body. And he just started droning. And the two guys I'm watching are Mike Lee, who's sort of the behind the scenes strategist, and Barrasso the whip, who to my mind seems absolutely passionate about getting this thing done. I was under the impression, certainly on the floor speeches he was making this week that Thune had come home to Jesus and he was making it happen. But at that presser, I really wanna wonder. It's not so much what happened at the presser, Steve, it's what happened in that luncheon like you said. And that's where people said, whoa, John, we're not really sure we want to do this.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, let's go. We got Lankford of Oklahoma. He's always been kind of a, I think, a weak sister. Let's go ahead and hear what Lankford

[Senator James Lankford]

has to say for our own future, decide for our own families without having foreign interference coming across an ocean to be able to affect us. We determined that we wanted to run our own Nation. Now, 250 years later, we still want to run our own nation. We want to make our own decisions without foreign interference, without anyone stepping in and telling us as Americans who we're going to be and what we're going to do. We disagree with each other enough. We don't need individuals from the outside coming in and expressing their opinion. We handle this as Americans. And the way that we do that is with elections. Elections have been routinely done through the history of our country since our Constitution was ratified in 1789. It has been a distinguishing Mark of the United States. We're the oldest functioning constitutional democracy in the world. And in our republic, we choose representatives. Those representatives speak on our behalf. And if we decide we don't like them for whatever reason, we choose different representatives. But we as Americans, choose our own path through our own elected officials. That's what we do. And we do it on a regular, consistent basis. Now, in the earliest days, it was literally a wooden box and slips of paper. We've improved that over the years, step by step, decade after decade, we've done elections a little bit differently. Now they're done differently all over the country on it. But we have some basic foundational rules that also guide us. We choose our own leaders, but we do it the right way. Wasn't always that way. But as we've improved, we make our elections more transparent, better, faster responses, giving more trust. Many folks in my generation will never forget the photograph of staring at a hanging chad from the Bush election with a person in an election board closely staring through a magnifying glass to try to figure out if there was a dimple on a piece of paper. There's no election system in the country that does chads anymore, because we all determined that's a terrible idea. It's just a bad way to be able to try to prove the intent of a vote. And a whole younger generation has no idea what a hanging chad would even be, because we no longer do that anymore. We protect the right of all individuals to vote, every American citizen. Because in the middle of the 1960s, we as a nation passed the Voting Rights act, determining that every person in America has the right to be able to vote. And that would be protected. That if there'd be any jurisdiction in the country that would violate that, that a federal court could literally step in and say, no, every single citizen of the country would have a protected right to vote. In fact, if you want me to read it to you, the Voting Rights act actually begins with this simple statement. All citizens of the United States who are otherwise qualified by law to vote at any election by the people in any state, territory, district, county, city, parish, township, school district, municipality, or other territorial subdivision shall be entitled and allowed to vote. But this simple statement that the Voting Rights act begins with all citizens. What's interesting is the Voting Rights act protected the ability of a court to step in and say, if some citizen is not being allowed to vote.

[Steve Bannon]

We're gonna take a short commercial break. We're gonna come back to senators in a couple of minutes. Senator Langford will come back to that not too shabby. And Neil is with us at the White House. I've got some other issues about the war that's being fought and want to make sure everybody understands. President Trump right now has had NATO come back to him and say, hey, look, we understand it's the Red Sea. We understand it's Hormuz, but your Navy's got to take care of it. Birch Gold. Now more than ever, you need to know the need to learn the basic building blocks of which Birch Gold in the war room teach you in the endothedollar empire. Birchgold.com, promo code Bannon the end of the dollar empire. The eighth free edition's coming out. Hopefully it'll come out before CPAC or around cpac. Online you can get a hard copy the Patriots edition of the first seven installments. There's a lot to chew on there. We're trying to teach you what a hedge is against times of financial and geopolitical turbulence. Ambulance where we are right now. Short break back to the Senate, back to Capitol Hill. We return.

[Guest/Advertiser]

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[Senator James Lankford]

You move the instant the election was done that night at 7pm so that it's public information immediately how many votes were taken in this area. So if at some point it shows up later, it was a different number. Everyone could see it. We have full verification through the entire process. In Oklahoma, we have voter ID at every single location in every single vote. How do we do it? If you vote in person and show up to vote on election day, you pull out an ID and you show an id every single person. If you vote early absentee, we have that all over our state, in county election boards, everywhere. As you walk up, you have to pull out an ID and to be able to show that ID to vote. And if you're going to mail in your ballot, we welcome that. But you've got to show ID when you actually do it. That means actually going to a location where you can get a notary that before you put your ballot in the mail, it shows your envelope. You show the id, it shows on the envelope who the person is on it, and you actually have a notary to do that. We have voter ID at every single stage. We don't allow ballot.

[Steve Bannon]

We'll come back to Lankford in a second. I want to go to Neil at the White House. Neil, today one of the most, I think, dramatic things was the European allies telling President Trump no. You know, France is kind of saying, well, we may be. And he's saying, England's saying that, but they're not saying that. Over in England, Italy, other nations were a hard no. And particularly where the Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf, Red Sea, the Suez Canal, that's all going out of Hormuz. I realize a big slice of it goes to Asia, but a big honk. I think 40% of the energy from Europe comes out of there. And suez, it's like 90%. And you've got multiple carry battle groups. And President Trump does say, yes, we can do it ourselves, but we do have other obligations, like in the South China Sea, I mean, we had to take a Marine ready group, amphibious ready group, the Tripoli from Japan and take it to the North Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, potentially for a potential takeover. If President Trump so orders CENTCOM to take Karg island or maybe other activities we've now taken, I think Thaad and Patriot missiles from South Koreans. And South Koreans are very upset about it because they understand what a tough time they had last time to put it in, particularly since there's a CCP kind of aligned party now in charge. These are major strategic issues for the United States. Your thoughts, sir?

[Neil McCabe]

Well, it's always disconcerting when your allies are seeking a separate peace with the people that you're at war with. I think another sort of the unspoken dirty secret is that these NATO allies have not invested in their military. And so their radios, their trucks, their equipment, it just isn't up to speed. And so, yeah, they're also making geopolitical decisions based on their oil supply. But it's also true that they just don't have navies and air force and armies like they used to during the Cold War. These allies had an obligation to sort of keep up with us, but that's all falling by the wayside, Steve. And everybody talks about, you know, working with other nations, cooperating. Right. But it's like when we need them, where are they? And I think this is really the death of NATO and I think it's really the death of this rules based order or however the FDR set up the world to be. I think it's now broken apart.

[Steve Bannon]

No, you make a great point. First of all, they've committed to 5% of GDP, but nobody's spending it. I've also said, you know, France, you bring up a point. I just want to make sure people understand it was reported and not refuted that both France and Italy over the weekend and I think continued into yesterday were trying to have direct conversations with the Iranian regime to because they are letting out certain vessels. We know they're letting out anything that is flagged with the Chinese Communist Party or one of these great zone ships with oil going to China. They're going to get cash for they let it. Look, I'm of the opinion they ought to stop everything coming out of there. It'll bring this thing to a head much quicker. But France and Italy were having sidebar conversations directly. I also think, and you're 100% correct, they've won. I think this is going to have a huge impact on this Ukraine situation because they want us to stand up for an American security guarantee. Remember that.

[Guest/Advertiser]

And they're going to show this big talk.

[Steve Bannon]

They're going to put in troops at the line of control and all that. That's not going to, it's not going to happen. And I think the American people now are going to be outraged because President Trump put out feelers to say, hey look, we may need some assistance here, particularly with the Houthis down the Red sea, which is 100% the Suez Canal. That's that they should I was bitching and moaning about that last summer, that when the, our carrier battle groups are under attack by the Houthis and they got off a couple of, they took down an aircraft, or at least got enough in an aircraft that had a mechanical problem and had to crash. And we had other situations. So these guys right here, I think they're treading on thin ice, particularly when it comes to the Ukraine situation. Neil?

[Neil McCabe]

Well, I'll just tell you, it is a fact that when I was serving in the new Iraq, when US Forces took over an area that was controlled by the Italians, they basically were confronted with the sheikhs who said, hey, the Italians paid us to keep this area quiet. What are you going to pay us to keep this area quiet? And that was all over the theater. Wherever the Italians were, they just paid to make it quiet. And so everyone knows that's how they do business. They've been doing business that way for 2,000 years. And so now it's confronted. It turns out that sometimes we need them like they always needed us. Now we need them. And so where are they?

[Steve Bannon]

President Trump's on, but we could do it ourselves. It's not a question whether we do it ourselves, not particularly the military operations. It's a question of we need burden sharing here because this could be longer, it could be more complicated. You may have vessels under attack in Hormuz, all types of things. And they just said no. And the German merge said, it's not our war. Well, yo, Ukraine's not our war.

[Guest/Advertiser]

Right.

[Steve Bannon]

Defense of Western Europe, that World War II is over, the Cold War is over. Anyway. I think it's gonna bring up all types of. It's quite intense, though.

[Guest/Advertiser]

And how brutally they were in President

[Steve Bannon]

Trump's face should not be lost on any American. Neil where do people go? Great job day on Capitol Hill and the White House, a lot going on. Where do people find you for your reporting?

[Neil McCabe]

Steve they can find me at reporter McCabe on all the socials. Good to be with you.

[Steve Bannon]

Thank you, sir. Let's go back. Do we have. Let's go back to Lankford, Senator Lankford of Oklahoma. He was describing the Oklahoma message the way they do it there. Let's go back to senators heading through Jericho.

[Senator James Lankford]

And as he approached Jericho, there was a tax collector there. His name was Zacchaeus. He was up in a tree because he was a little guy, because he wanted to see Jesus come by now, he was a wretched guy who'd stolen from a lot of people in town and everybody knew it. When Jesus saw this wretched guy. He looked at him and said, why don't you come down? I want to spend some more time with you. And the one person in town that everybody thought Jesus would ignore, Jesus actually pointed him out and said, I want to spend more time with you. And at the end of the conversation, everybody looked at him and said, why did you spend time with that broken, depraved person? Jesus responded, because I came to seek and to save what was lost. That's why. Just a personal privilege. If we're going to talk about saving America, maybe we should start with our own souls. But in the meantime, as we contemplate that as individuals, why don't we just do the most basic thing? Why don't we verify that only American citizens are voting? Because we all know it's happening. I just told you stories from my own state. Why don't we just verify as we go through the polls to increase the trust of all Americans for our election process. Looking forward to the debate on the floor this week and for folks to have the opportunity to be able to talk this through. This is something important that we need to be able to finish, and it's something strongly the American people are supportive of. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, Senator Lankford, we're in the third hour. I think we're going to get some Republicans or maybe we'll go back and forth. We've had an hour of Republicans, an hour of Democrats. Now in the third hour.

[Guest/Advertiser]

This is the preliminaries.

[Steve Bannon]

He just talked about the debate that is to come. And President Trump has made this a priority. I'm hearing now there may actually be. They may try to slip in the confirmation hearing for the other Oklahoma senator, Senator Markway Mullen, to take over dhs. I think if they can do that and do it appropriately tomorrow morning before this thing really kicks off for the seizing the floor and holding it, maybe that could work. I think they've got to show that this is a priority. The President said nothing else is going to happen until nothing else is going to happen. He's not going to sign anything. He's not going to push for anything until this is done. While we had this break, some big breaking news today. Joe Kent, of course, this audience knows Joe Kent and loves him. Big announcement from Joe Kent today. Stepping down as the Joint Terror. The head of the Joint Terror. Senate confirmed. Position. Tough to get him through. Joe's there, but resigned today. He said he couldn't serve, continue to serve where he thought Israel's interest was. Being pushed. White House immediately pushed back. Let's go ahead and play it.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

The head of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, announced just hours ago that he is resigning immediately over the war in Iran. And we just heard from the president, who essentially dismissed it. What's so striking here is that Kent is an ultra Trump loyalist, someone who supported the president through all three of his campaigns. But now, as someone who knows the threats the US Faces, perhaps more than almost anyone, is saying straight out that the President was duped by a misinformation campaign and that Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.

[Donald Trump]

Well, I read his statement. I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security. I didn't know him well, but I thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy. But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing that he's out because he said that Iran was not a threat. Iran was a threat. Every country realized what a threat Iran was. The question is whether or not they wanted to do something about it.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

In a letter to the president that he released online, Kent wrote, quote, it's clear that we stopped, started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. His final message, clear, quote, As a veteran who was deployed to combat 11 times and as a Gold Star husband who lost my beloved wife, Shannon, in a war manufactured by Israel, I cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people. This is just the latest sign of a massive split inside Trump's base over the war. And it comes as the US Grapples with the limits of its military dominance.

[Steve Bannon]

Now, there's some confusion about the. About how Joe wrote that letter, but how it was delivered, and the understanding now it's been out, that he met with the Vice President. He and Tulsi Gabbard together met with the Vice President on Monday, and the Vice President recommended he go see the Chief of Staff and the president, which I think in this situation would have been quite appropriate, given Joe Kent is a guy that's highly revered. Like I said, the Chief Warrant officer Kent was 11. Combat tours, valor and courage and dedication to country beyond question. His wife, his beloved wife died, I think, in the Syrian operation, leaving him as a. As a widower with two young, I think two young boys. So Joe Kent's dedication as countries unparalleled in this letter, being as controversial as it is with the content that it has, I think it would have been Very appropriate maybe for the Vice President to get him to the Chief of Staff and get him to the President, United States, so he could share with the President why he was considering resigning, in fact, why he had drafted a letter. I think that's. I think that would have been very important. Now, this is going to get played out, obviously in the media, but the charges are very. Coming from a guy like Joe Kent, to me, you're going to have to investigate this. There should be an immediate investigation of the facts of what he's talking about. We got to get. We can't. These are the type of things we can't kick down the road anymore. I've had many, many questions about the 12 Day War and about this whole imminent threat, exactly what's there and why things have to go at the time. As I've also said, hey, now you're in it. We got to win this thing and we must win it. And it's not a good sign when people that owe their security to the United States of America, and not just their national security, keeping the Russians and other bad guys away, but when they owe their economic security goods and services, products and oil that go through other Straits of Hormuz, but also through the Red Sea and up to the Suez Canal. The United States Navy's protecting all that. And so these questions have to be answered. And for a guy like Joe Kent to put it out, it's not going to go away. It's going to be very serious. Let's go back. We've got Ossoff, I think of Georgia. This is a. This is a. This is a very tough race down in Georgia.

[Senator Jon Ossoff]

Sergeant Simmons has been posthumous, posthumously promoted from Tech Sergeant to master Sergeant. He was a musician and played both the viola and violin in his high school. Amazing talent. His family says he loved to roller skate. Tyler loved his family, but was particularly fond of his grandmother Bernice, who at 85 years old is described as his confidant and workout buddy. Tyler's smile could light up any room. His strong presence would fill it, his family says. His mother said he loved serving in the military and that he was born for it. We mourn today alongside Master Sergeant Simmons, entire family. See them pictured there. You can see his smile, can tell what they mean. They talk about his smile. Third individual I would like to honor is Captain Seth Koval. He was 38 years old from Mooresville, Indiana, and he was an aircraft commander with 19 years of service to our country. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in aviation operations from Purdue University in 2011, he was a KC135R Stratotanker instructor pilot. See Captain Sovol there. Captain Covel first enlisted in 2006 as a machinist with Indiana's National Guard's 122nd Fighter Wing and transferred to the Ohio National Guard, which we were welcome and loved to have him. In 2017, he flew a total of 2,076 hours, 443 of those in combat. His wife said he grew up dreaming of being a pilot, a dream that his hard work made come true. He was a man of devout faith in Jesus. He was a man of devout faith in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He was described as loving, generous, selfless, kind hearted, smart, devoted, and a fixer of all things. And a real outdoorsman. His loss is one mourned by many, but most of all by his wife, Heather, his son, and countless other close family members and friends of Captain Seth Koval. See our three heroes right there, Mr. President. These service members, alongside their three other brothers and sisters in arms, gave the last full measure of devotion to their country last week. I thank my colleagues for hearing their stories this evening, for honoring their service and for celebrating their lives and for mourning their loss alongside a grateful nation. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate observe a moment of silence in remembrance of Captain Curtis Angst, Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons, and Captain Seth Covel.

[Senator James Lankford]

Without objection.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, that was Husted of Ohio. We're still here. A couple of things. All familypharmacy.com if you want medical freedom, just not about Big Pharma. It's how you get access to the drugs and medicine you want. You go to allfamilypharmacy.com let's go ahead and give a split right there on the floor so we can keep our eye on the action. The last couple minutes here. AllFamilyPharmacy.com promo code Bannon10, you get 10% off. Make sure you go check it out. This company was set up just to help you with your medical freedom. Look, they've got pharmacists. They have licensed physicians. Everything you need to make sure you get the prescriptions that you need when you need them. So talk to the folks today. That's allfamilypharmacy.com promo code Bannon10, you get 10% off. And of course, tomorrow we're gonna have Wynton Hall. The book is already a runaway bestseller and you got folks in the Senate, Tom Cotton and Senator Blackburn talking about it. It's Code Red. The Left the right China and the race to control Artificial intelligence. The great Wynton Hall, a long time colleague, also a partner over at Government Accountability with the great Peter Schweitzer. This book is out out today. We're going to have him as a guest tomorrow to talk about artificial intelligence and the race to control artificial intelligence. So that will be a blockbuster. Listen Artificial intelligence home title lock hometitlelock.com promo code Steve you get 16, you get 14 days. Two weeks of free, absolutely free access to the $1 million triple lock protection. Check it out today particularly with cyber artificial intelligence, all of it. Want to thank everybody. Want to thank real America's voice. Want to thank the Denver crew, everyone for making this additional hour possible. We'll be back here at 10am tomorrow morning. I want to thank our sponsors like home title lock hometitlec.com promo code Steve Talk to Manly Dominguez and the team today show is going to be lit tomorrow. Got a lot to go through. We got Joe Kent to go through overnight developments, the war across the Save America Act. We'll be following it non stop. Be streaming it Grayson Mo be streaming it throughout the evening. I may dip in there. Got a bunch of maze got to take place right now. But also we have Winton hall on code red. Not going to miss it. 10am tomorrow morning Eastern D time. We're going to be absolutely packed. We'll see you then. Thank you very much.

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[Steve Bannon]

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