No Spin News - Weekend Edition - March 15, 2025

Summary

Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News Weekend Edition - March 15, 2025

Introduction

In the March 15, 2025, episode of Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis, host Bill O’Reilly delves into pressing geopolitical issues, including the strategic approaches of former President Donald Trump towards Russia and China, the stability of Ukraine, and concerns surrounding President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen for executive actions. The episode features insightful interviews with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and distinguished Professor Dr. Hal Brands, as well as a critical discussion with Kyle Brosnan from the Heritage Foundation.

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Interview with Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Appointment at Columbia University

Bill O’Reilly opens the episode with a conversation with Mike Pompeo, focusing on Pompeo’s recent appointment at Columbia University amidst significant financial withdrawals by the administration. O’Reilly remarks:

“I can't think of a better way to start your academic career by going to Columbia when the president just pulled $400 million out of there.”
[02:05] Bill O’Reilly

Pompeo responds by emphasizing his role as a differing voice amidst the university's challenges:

“I was invited there to come be a different voice and to share both, both my views as a political matter, but importantly my observations as a practitioner who had to actually deliver security for the United States.”
[02:10] Mike Pompeo

Strategy on Ukraine and Russia

The discussion shifts to Trump’s approach to Russia and Ukraine. O’Reilly posits that Trump aims to soften Vladimir Putin to facilitate ceasefire negotiations while restraining Ukrainian President Zelensky’s assertiveness. Pompeo concurs, highlighting Trump’s focus on deterrence:

“President Trump's pretty good at deterrence, and that's what he's going to try to get back. I'm counting on it.”
[05:16] Mike Pompeo

O’Reilly challenges Pompeo on the feasibility of a ceasefire given Putin’s motivations, to which Pompeo suggests that economic reintegration and offering Russia a pathway back into the global economy could incentivize Putin:

“The solution is that you find a mechanism by which to permit Russian activity back in the economic system.”
[06:46] Mike Pompeo

China’s Growing Assertiveness

The conversation then turns to China’s increasing assertiveness under Xi Jinping. O’Reilly questions whether the U.S. response will include military action, to which Pompeo clarifies:

“We're not going to attack China militarily.”
[09:35] Mike Pompeo

Pompeo warns of China’s strategic push for global hegemony despite economic challenges, emphasizing the need for a robust American response.

Trump Administration’s Foreign Policy

O’Reilly reflects on Trump’s foreign policy effectiveness, particularly in deterring aggression:

“We were pretty good at deterring the bad guys from doing exactly what they did to President Biden and invading Europe.”
[05:16] Mike Pompeo

He contrasts this with Biden’s approach, suggesting that Biden’s administration has faltered in maintaining stability, especially concerning Afghanistan.

Personal Insights and Future Prospects

The interview concludes with O’Reilly expressing surprise that Pompeo was not retained in the Trump administration, to which Pompeo remains uncertain about the reasons, acknowledging Trump’s unpredictable nature.

“You let me know, Bill.”
[16:53] Mike Pompeo

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Discussion with Dr. Hal Brands on Geopolitical Alliances

The Eurasian Century and Modern Threats

Dr. Hal Brands, a Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, discusses her new book, The Eurasian Century: Hot Wars, Cold Wars, and the Making of the Modern World. She outlines the escalating alliances among Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, likening the current geopolitical climate to the pre-World War II Axis powers:

“We have four of the bad guys working together at the heart of Eurasia to try to shape the wider world.”
[21:15] Dr. Hal Brands

Comparisons to the Axis Powers

Brands draws parallels between today’s autocratic regimes and the aggressive nations of the 1930s, emphasizing the combined destabilizing effect on global order:

“Today you have a similar phenomenon where Russia and China and Iran and North Korea... they're all putting pressure on the international system that America and its friends built.”
[22:31] Dr. Hal Brands

Strategies for U.S. Foreign Policy

When asked for advice for President Trump, Brands supports continued pressure on Iran and cautions against attempting to divide Russia and China, arguing that such efforts are unlikely to succeed.

“I don't think that's how it works.”
[25:13] Dr. Hal Brands

Brands stresses the importance of a U.S. backstop for European security, ensuring that European nations do not become overly dependent on American military support while maintaining robust defense capabilities.

“I think that Europeans know that they're going to be in trouble if they get attacked by the Russians if the US Isn't there to help.”
[26:35] Dr. Hal Brands

President Trump’s Approach to International Relations

Brands acknowledges Trump’s focus on pragmatic, results-oriented foreign policy, praising his departure from idealistic moralizing in favor of hard power realities.

“Trump thinks we just need to get sort of the moralizing out of US Foreign policy and focus on hard power realities.”
[29:19] Dr. Hal Brands

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Heritage Foundation’s Kyle Brosnan on President Biden’s Autopen Controversy

Use of Autopen for Executive Actions

Kyle Brosnan, Chief Counsel of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, raises concerns about President Biden’s use of an autopen to sign executive orders and pardons, questioning the implications for presidential authority and mental capacity:

“We have found evidence that President Biden did not hand sign multiple pardons and acts of clemency throughout his presidency.”
[32:10] Kyle Brosnan

Potential Implications and Legal Challenges

Brosnan discusses the constitutional ramifications and the unprecedented nature of the autopen’s use, highlighting ongoing legal battles to obtain evidence, including audio recordings of Special Counsel Robert Herr’s interview with Biden.

“The use of the auto pen to this scale to exercise a power that solely belongs to the president and cannot be legally delegated to anyone is unprecedented.”
[35:40] Kyle Brosnan

Influence of White House Staff

He identifies key figures in the Biden administration who may have had access to the autopen, such as Ron Klain, Neera Tanden, Susan Rice, and Jeff Zients, suggesting that they could have played significant roles in executing unauthorized executive actions.

“...adjusting to leftward turn during the Biden administration from... policies, energy policies, you name it.”
[36:05] Kyle Brosnan

Future Actions and Investigations

Brosnan outlines the Heritage Foundation’s plans to pursue Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and potential lawsuits to uncover the extent of the autopen’s usage and the individuals involved.

“We are uncovering multiple exercises of the pardon power, which only belongs to the President of the United States, that he did not hand sign those documents.”
[32:10] Kyle Brosnan

Brosnan warns of the unprecedented nature of this situation and its potential to become a significant scandal regarding the legitimacy of presidential actions.

“Maybe there is a written trail of evidence of who, who had authorization to sign these pardons?”
[35:08] Kyle Brosnan

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Conclusion

Bill O’Reilly’s episode provides a comprehensive analysis of current geopolitical tensions and domestic political controversies. Through in-depth interviews with Mike Pompeo and Dr. Hal Brands, the episode explores strategic foreign policy approaches and the consolidation of authoritarian alliances threatening global stability. Additionally, the segment with Kyle Brosnan highlights critical concerns about the integrity of presidential authority in the Biden administration. This edition serves as a thought-provoking examination of the challenges facing both U.S. leadership and international relations.

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Notable Quotes:

• Mike Pompeo:
  “President Trump's pretty good at deterrence, and that's what he's going to try to get back. I'm counting on it.”
  [05:16]

• Dr. Hal Brands:
  “We have four of the bad guys working together at the heart of Eurasia to try to shape the wider world.”
  [21:15]

• Kyle Brosnan:
  “We have found evidence that President Biden did not hand sign multiple pardons and acts of clemency throughout his presidency.”
  [32:10]

Transcript

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So we have a very important interview here. You know him. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo under President Trump is also the head of the CIA, also a congressman from Kansas. He joins us now from his new appointment at Columbia University. Now, I can't think of a better way to start your academic career by going to Columbia when the president just pulled $400 million out of there. I hope you had your contract signed before that. And they're deporting students and there you are, you show up from Kansas right in the middle of it. So can you straighten the place out or what?

[Mike Pompeo]

Impeccable timing as always, Bill. First of all, it's great to be back with you.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Thank you.

[Mike Pompeo]

Look, the it's interesting. I'm actually happy that I have this opportunity to go to Columbia. It's a place that has had all kinds of challenges. We've all seen them. Violence, protests, anti Semitism running rampant, a faculty that is left of left of center way too often. And I was invited there to come be a different voice and to share both, both my views as a political matter, but importantly my observations as a practitioner who had to actually deliver security for the United States. And so it'll be fun. It's a, it's a very challenging time for the university, frankly, all of America's major universities. And I hope I can be a constructive part of getting them back to something that. That honors the traditions that these great places had.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Now, no looney students have given you a hard time so far, right?

[Mike Pompeo]

No, my interaction so far have been great. Kids have been interested, and many of them didn't agree with me on much. Some of them agreed with me on some, and a handful were more simpatico, if you will. But nobody's given a hard time.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Let us know if that happened, and I'll come. I'll come out there. I was born in Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, so they happened at me on campus. All right, let's go to. Let's go to Ukraine. So my hypothesis. Let me use that word. But I. It's not really a hypothesis, because I know President Trump, as you know pretty well, and I do talk to him. So he doesn't want to alienate Putin. He wants to soften Putin up so he gets him to a ceasefire discussion, and that's why you're not seeing call Putin names and do all that kind of stuff. He also wants to tamp down Zelensky's arrogance, which we saw. Is this the wrong strategy on Ukraine?

[Mike Pompeo]

Well, Bill, what you're describing there are the personal interactions, right? So that's a very personalized view of this. I think both of those are correct. There's no reason for the Commander in Chief of the United States to mock or call names for any leader. You remember with Chairman Kim, he'd say we exchanged love letters. He talked about Xi Jinping in glowing terms from time to time. That was. That was the personal. Same with Zelensky. In that sense, I think you're right. I think he was trying to make sure zelensky understood. Without U.S. support, they were going nowhere. And I'm untroubled by either of those. The real proof is what's the policy, what's the outcome that President Trump's seeking? And from my vantage point, President Trump has always been someone who understood winning, and in this case, can't be the case that Putin can be perceived as having won. Whatever the outcome, whatever the geography, whatever the disposition, in the end, we can't. That kind of aggression can't be rewarded because it'll get you more of it. And if there was one thing I'm proud of from our first four years, Bill, is we were pretty good at deterring the bad guys from doing exactly what they did to President Biden and invading Europe. We're pretty good at convincing folks like Hamas, not to invade Israel on our watch. President Trump's pretty good at deterrence, and that's what he's going to try to get back. I'm counting on it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Okay, but you're going to have to let Putin save a little face. He's not going to surrender because he doesn't care about how many people are dead or anything like that. He just cares about himself. So you got to give him an exit ramp off. I think Putin wants the ramp, but you're dealing with an evil man here. He's just flat out evil. Do you believe that there will be a ceasefire? See, I said once Trump was elected, I think that ceasefire is going to happen. Do you believe it?

[Mike Pompeo]

Yeah, there'll be a ceasefire. But the interesting question is really the one that you pose, which is you have an evil dictator like Vladimir Putin, who has to date evidenced nothing that suggests he's actually looking for that off ramp that you described. Maybe he is, but he's been pretty good at masking any, any, any willingness to concede a single thing. In the end, though, what, what I think, how, I think this ends up the, the call it face save and call it what you will, I think he wants to be back in the global world, his economy back connected to the global international system. There's the, there's. The solution is that you find a mechanism by which to permit Russian activity back in the economic system. We rebuilt Japan. Right. There's a long history. When these wars end, we allow these economies, the people of those countries to engage in the world again. That's what I think Putin desperately needs for his own political stability back home. But also that's the ticket to give him something to say, look, look, look what I got us back.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, and, but if you give him that ticket, you got to have European peacekeepers in there. So you've got to give the Ukrainians some assurance. I mean, Trump was smart not to sign a document saying Putin breaks a ceasefire. United States going to go in with troops. You can't do that. But you can negotiate a deal where the UN or the EU would put, and you call them rebuilding, you know, security to rebuild. And it'd be good if Putin kicked in a couple of billion, too, which he'll make easily by, you know, having the sanctions lifted on the oil stuff. So you, you know Putin pretty well. A lot of people just think that he is some kind of crazy guy. I don't see him that way.

[Mike Pompeo]

I just think he's flat out evil, not crazy. And I've Been criticized for saying he's actually pretty shrewd. And while he. While he screwed this up, he thought he'd get to Kiev. He thought he'd get victory on the ground. Terrible strategic mistake. No doubt about it. He's not crazy. He is evil. And the rationality flows from that. I don't think there's any doubt that his intentions were even greater than that. In my judgment, he wasn't fearing NATO was going to attack him. For goodness sake. That's just nutty. He was trying to begin the revisit of something greater for Russia.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. Just like Georgia and Belarus. He was trying to duplicate that.

[Mike Pompeo]

That's it. And he didn't get. It was a fail. And now he's got to find a way.

[Bill O'Reilly]

So now you got to give him a push out. But you can't hammer them between the eyes like the idiot Democrats are trying to do. You say to them, well, if you do that, you'll never get a ceasefire. And they have no answer. Let's go to China. So China slapped tariffs on the USA Today. That situation seems to be deteriorating. Is it?

[Mike Pompeo]

I think it is. And I know some will want to blame President Trump for that. I think this is all Xi Jinping, this challenge that's being faced by the entire world. And by the way it's connected to Russia. We shouldn't forget for a second that the primary consumer of Russian energy today is the Chinese Communist Party getting discounted crude oil and gas out of Russia. China is a huge beneficiary of this war continuing in Ukraine, in Europe, but I think it's deteriorating because Xi Jinping now believes that he's got a place where he can actually exert influence and shape things in a way that his predecessors didn't believe. The old. The old. This is a rough translation from Mandarin, Bill. You'll have to forgive me, but the old motto was hide your power and bide your time. And Xi Jinping's no longer hiding his power. He's showing it full force. And it's going to require a real American response.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, when you say a response, everybody gets nervous. Is that going to be a military response? Can't do that. Right.

[Mike Pompeo]

Well, Xi Jinping is going to. We're not going to attack China militarily.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Mike Pompeo]

But Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping is already running into ships in the Philippines, the South China Sea.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He's doing that in the last five years, though. So as long as he doesn't touch Taiwan, then the US is going to allow some of that to happen. But I see it this way and maybe I'm wrong. I think that China's economy is really wobbling just like Russia's. But China is more intense and she, like Putin probably at this point in history would want a better economic situation and he would be willing to deal for that. Am I wrong? I rely on physical precious metals like gold and silver to protect my savings. And the only company I trust is American Hartford Gold. A tax advantaged gold IRA can protect your savings from inflation, recessions and more. You can even roll over your 401k or IRA tax and penalty free with thousands of five star ratings and an A from the Better Business Bureau. American Hartford Gold has delivered billions in precious metals. Trust American Hartford Gold. To help you, call or text American Hartford Gold. Tell them Bill O'Reilly sent you for up to $15,000 of free silver on qualifying orders. 866-326-1555-768632-65576 or you can text BILL to 998-899 again 866-326-5576 or text BILL to 998-899.

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[Mike Pompeo]

I think you're wrong. I think Xi Jinping has concluded that this is the moment. So you've heard some of our generals talking about 2027 and I, I don't want, I can't put a marker down. As for time, but I think she is willing to sacrifice an awful lot of as economy to gain a global advantage to get closer to the political hegemony that he seeks. It's going to be really hard. I agree. They've got huge long run demographic problems. Their real estate industry is way worse than anybody even knows. Over levered. So there are many, many challenges. But I think she has concluded, concluded that it's no longer time to supplicate to the United States on the economic front. And so he's going to push and push and push until the United States pushes back. And I think you see President Trump.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Trying to push back. 25% is a pushback. But if your opinion is Correct. Why didn't she move under Biden, who is extremely weak? Why. Why did he live four years of Biden and he didn't really do anything that catastrophic?

[Mike Pompeo]

Yeah, I, I don't think, Bill, I don't think for a second he's going to invade Taiwan. I don't. The military invasion there I think he believes is unnecessary. He's going to. His view is he's going to get Taiwan through propaganda politics. Same way he took Hong Kong. Right. Force choke them off, make their economy more difficult. And eventually the people will come to see they, hey, you know, what's that? Why fight this? And so I think this is a longer march for him, and I think he made real progress on that in the Biden administration. In the Pacific Islands, in Africa, you saw what's gone on in Panama under President Biden, where the Chinese got a foothold on our doorstep. I think this is a determined strategic effort, not a Xi Jinping military takeover. He knows he can't actually win, that the United States would, in the end, crush him.

[Bill O'Reilly]

The press, the American press portraying Donald Trump over the world as a villain, that hasn't stopped. And then they point to Trump denying Kyiv US intel, and then Trump saying to NATO, we're not going to do any military exercises. Let's take them one by one. As you know better than anybody, the reportage on the intel is just flat out ridiculous because British intelligence gets everything we have and they just give it to Kyiv. So it doesn't matter what any of the former CIA chief, doesn't matter what Trump said. Well, we're not going to give anything. The Brits have it all and they'll give it to him. Am I wrong there?

[Mike Pompeo]

I think that reporting is highly hyped. I always joke, Bill, that if I watch the, If I watch the BBC, I wouldn't like America either.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right, Right. But it's such. Most people don't understand that. They don't understand how it works. Okay. You do because you were in there and I do. I've been around for so long. The second military exercise thing, I didn't quite get why Trump did that. Do you know?

[Mike Pompeo]

No, I don't know. Look, we've been, We've been trying to help them with training for an awfully long time. When I was CIA director, we were helping the Ukrainians. It was President Trump who provided the Javelin missiles. Right. People forget President Trump did that. It was President Trump who put American energy in the front, making Vladimir Putin's resources worth less. I don't know why he chose that particular.

[Bill O'Reilly]

It might have to do with Putin and some phone calls.

[Mike Pompeo]

It might. And by the way, I'm not privy to any of that. I'm not either trying to solve this.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But that's the only thing I can think of. All right. Now, a lot of people, including myself, believe that you would have been an asset to this Trump administration, but you weren't invited. Do you know why?

[Mike Pompeo]

No, I. I don't know the particulars of why, but again, I give presidents lots of latitude to pick the team they want. He picked.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, but you did a good job.

[Mike Pompeo]

He picked an entirely new team, Bill.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But he even said you did a good job. He told me you did a good job. So I was. Yeah, I mean, I was surprised. A man of your experience and, you know, all of these players, I would have put you as Defense Secretary. I don't think he is the guy. I would have put you there. But you must have thought about it a little bit, Mr. Secretary, because it is a natural fit. You succeeded with Trump the first time around. Did you guys have a falling out of some kind?

[Mike Pompeo]

Oh, no. Look, I don't know why he chose the people he did. He went through a lot of folks, Bill. I'll leave to him the personnel choices. I had said before, if he asked me to go serve, whatever role, whether it was in the Defense Department, wherever, I'd happily go serve, and he just made a different decision.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I think he's going to ask you. I do. I think he's going to pull you back. Next time I see him, I'm going to get to the bottom of that, because that surprised me. Because you know how.

[Mike Pompeo]

You let me know, Bill.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Of course I'll let everybody know. You know, the president is unpredictable. I think that's an accurate word, right?

[Mike Pompeo]

Yeah. That's fair.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. He goes by his gut. I agree with you that maybe he wanted a fresh look. I like Rubio because he's a good counterbalance to Trump. I think that's a fairly good play.

[Mike Pompeo]

I agree. No, I agree. I think Secretary Rubio is going to do a very fine job because when.

[Bill O'Reilly]

He put Tillerson, the oil guy, who you saved his bacon, remember that?

[Mike Pompeo]

I went vividly.

[Bill O'Reilly]

What? That was a disaster. And then he brought you in because you're the pro, and then you guys straightened it out when Trump left office, when he was defeated in 20, the war was fairly stable then. I mean, it wasn't, as you pointed out earlier in this interview, there wasn't a lot of threats on the doorstep. Would that be accurate.

[Mike Pompeo]

We had things in a pretty good place if you think about what fell apart relatively quickly. Europe fell apart. The advancements that were the Abraham Accords in the Middle east were dead stopped even before the massacres of October 7th. And then we had come close to delivering on President Trump's commitment to reducing our forces in Afghanistan to zero or near zero. And President Biden came in and pulled the plug. And we all know the calamity that followed there, not only the 13 dead and many, many injured, but I think much of the chaos that ensued in the final two and a half years, the Biden administration was a direct result of that epic failure in Afghanistan. None of that happened for our four years.

[Bill O'Reilly]

There's no doubt in my mind that that's true. All right, Mr. Secretary, really appreciate your time and how busy you are trying to straighten Columbia University out. And if you need any help, I'm 20 miles away, I'll be happy to call.

[Mike Pompeo]

It's going to be bigger than me, but I'll give it a go.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, I mean, he'll be happy to see know it's all of that. And I hope you'll be available to us from time to time because I don't think there's anybody else who knows the world better than you do. I mean, you got a pretty good handle on it. And again, we're very grateful that very grateful you're speaking with us today. Thank you.

[Mike Pompeo]

Thank you. Bless you, Bill. Have a good day.

[Bill O'Reilly]

See you soon.

You're listening to the no Spin News Weekend edition.

All right. Joining us now in Washington is a guy, very smart guy, Dr. Hal Brand. She's got a new book out. I have it. I'm perusing it, The Eurasian Century, Hot Wars, Cold wars and the Making of the Modern World out in January. He is Distinguished professor of Global affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. It's a lot to get on a business card there, doctor, you know, allow that stuff on one little card. So but anyway, you know what you're talking about, what I'm interested in is the change and that danger rise. So we got with Russia and China allying to hurt the west over Ukraine, that that's a pretty, I mean, everybody knows the situation, but that's very intense. Right.

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[Dr. Hal Brands]

Dangerous situation we've faced as a country since the, the early Cold War because it's Russia and China that are working together. China has been a major supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, but it's also Iran and North Korea. Iran has provided a lot of the drones and North Korea has even provided some of the manpower that Putin has used in this brutal assault on Ukraine. And so it's a situation we have four of the bad guys working together at the heart of Eurasia to try to shape the wider world.

[Bill O'Reilly]

But they're not trying to shape it in any good way. Right. They're totalitarian, right?

[Dr. Hal Brands]

That's right. I mean, these, these are all deeply autocratic, deeply undemocratic regimes. They all want to carve out big spheres of influence which they would probably rule in a pretty brutal fashion. They want to bring about a world that is totally different than the one that Americans have known and have done so well in over the past.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, well, there's no place for freedom or free enterprise at all. Reminds me of the late 1930s when you had the Axis powers, Hitler, Mussolini, and some others joining together to try to impose fascism on the world. And then you had Japan, which was a fascist state as well, in the Pacific. Is there any difference?

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I think there are some pretty strong parallels. Back then, the problem was that you had a handful of separate, aggressive countries that were all sort of doing their own thing in their particular regions, but the combined effect of that was to destabilize the wider world. And of course, eventually the United States got dragged into the conflicts that resulted. Today you have a similar phenomenon where Russia and China and Iran and North Korea, they, you know, they all want their own things, they all have their own agendas, but they're all putting pressure on the international system that America and its friends build, build at the same time. And if anything, they're cooperating more closely than the axis powers did in the late 30s and early 40s.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. Now, from your vantage point, is there anything that President Trump should be doing or should not be doing if you were to have dinner with him tonight, would you have any suggestions for him?

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I think he's on the right track in terms of putting a lot of pressure on Iran. I think Iran is the weakest member of this autocratic axis, and it is the one that has been most softened up over the past year, mostly by Israel, for the imposition of this pressure. And so he's got a good chance to really squeeze the Iranians and maybe get a stronger nuclear deal than the US got back in 2015 under the Obama administration. The thing I would tell him not to do is not to think that he's going to be successful in prying Russia and China apart. You've sometimes heard this not so much from Trump, but from. From people around him, that if the war in Ukraine ends, maybe the United States can enlist Russia to help contain China. I just don't think that's how it works.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Let me. Let me challenge. Let me challenge you on that. Okay, so we got Johns Hopkins, You. We got Harvard, me. All right. It's kind of like a little, little game show here. If Trump makes the Ukraine deal, part of that deal has to be that. That Putin gets back in G7, he gets back into the Western economies where he can sell his oil. That's primarily what he's got. Okay, China, then. He doesn't need. Putin doesn't need China as much as he needs it now. So what Trump is trying to do is lure him back into the European sector and then de emphasize, because, as you know, historically, the Russians and the Chinese hate each other. I don't know if that's gone away, but I don't think they're buddies. And China's power dwarfs Putin's power. Putin can't be happy about that. Putin needs money. He needs commerce. So that's what Trump is thinking. Where is he going wrong?

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I think the theory of the case is exactly as you described it. I think the challenge is sort of twofold. One is, how much do you have to give Putin to get. Get him to put some daylight between him and China? And I worry that the answer might be quite a lot. And the second point is that Putin knows that if he cuts a deal with Trump, there's no guarantee that deal is going to last beyond January 20, 2029. And so he will welcome reduced Sanctions, greater economic engagement with the west, because I'm sure he's not entirely comfortable with the degree of dependence he's developed on China. But he's not going to push China to the side of the road because that's all.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I don't think he's going to push it. But China can't do him too much good economically other than buying his oil. But anyway, that's Trump's mindset and I think the deal is going to have to come down. Whereas Ukraine will lose 10% of its territory, but there'll be, you know, bogus elections. That's what they'll throw. And then Ukraine, EU will provide peacekeepers, USA will make the mineral deal and that puts a structure for the USA inside Ukraine. And then Putin will be allowed back into the G7 and he'll go to all the meetings and all that's what I think is going to happen. You got anything else that you think might pop in there?

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I would just say I still think the critical element is whether there's going to be a US Backstop for the European security.

[Bill O'Reilly]

That would be the, that would be the mineral deal that.

[Dr. Hal Brands]

Oh, I think, I think that's part of it.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah.

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I, I would just say I think that the, you know, the Europeans know that they're going to be in trouble if they get attacked by the Russians if the US Isn't there to help. And so they don't need the US there holding their hand every day. They just need a promise that the US will be there in extremists if things really.

[Bill O'Reilly]

No, but they'll up their spending. They're not suicidal over there. They're greedy, the Europeans. And, and interestingly enough, you look at the ambassadorships, you ought to have your students do this, who Trump is appointed in all of the European capitals. These are hard. These are tough guys. Yeah. So.

[Dr. Hal Brands]

And I think the Europeans have gotten the message on defense. Oh yeah, that's great. It's just, it's just going to take them a few years to get to the point where they're a little bit more self repaired.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Now Americans, by and large don't understand much of this. I'm not being supercilious, word of the day, but they just don't know. They don't know what tariffs are, which is why I took the time to explain it. They don't know the dynamic. They just want to live their lives. They don't want to get involved with geopolitics. They don't understand the dynamic that is taking place. And the huge changes in the world. This is a deficit for America that they don't understand. Right, right.

[Dr. Hal Brands]

Yeah. I think it's also a testament to the success of what the US has tried to do over the past 80 years. You know, we've been successful in preventing other global wars from breaking out, you know, great depressions from breaking out. And so it's become a little bit easier to forget what all this is meant to achieve. You know, my, my grandfather, he flew. He was a navigator in B24s and B25s in Europe during World War II. And so nobody had to explain to him why American global engagement mattered. And I think we've lost a little bit of that over the years.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Well, we have lost it now. We're in a deep age of narcissism and apathy. But here's the kicker on this. Got a lot of left wingers in the press screaming that Trump isn't pounding Putin as a fascist dog. If you look at Yalta, what Roosevelt did with Stalin, I mean, he kissed him up and down, in and out, every way. And he had to know, because Churchill knew that Stalin was going to break every treaty in the world, which he did, and come right across and try to dominate Europe, which he did. But Roosevelt said, look, I got to stop this world war. I got to stop it. It's very, very akin to what Trump is doing. Last word.

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I think there are definitely some parallels. I think Trump thinks we just need to get sort of the moralizing out of US Foreign policy and focus on hard power realities. There's something to be said for that. But I would just also point out that one of the great things about America is that we do stand up for principle in the world. And so I just hope we won't correct too far.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Trump doesn't see it that way. He's not. He's not one of those guys. He's a businessman, cold blooded businessman. So you're right. The theory about, you know, here comes America to liberate everybody, not this president. He's looking out for Americans. He wants peace. He doesn't want war. He's not a warmonger at all. Okay. But he's not looking at it like we have a responsibility to the rest of the world to keep them safe. Would you say that was accurate?

[Dr. Hal Brands]

I think that's a very accurate description of how Trump sees the world.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, professor, we really appreciate you coming on. Thank you very much.

This is the no Spin News Weekend edition.

So now there is allegations, there are allegations that Biden didn't know what he was signing when he made executive orders and auto pen. Now, it's insane because you see Trump every day signing executive orders, holding them up. Biden couldn't do that, and auto pan had to do it. Very strange. Worth investigating. Now, throughout history, beginning with Harry Truman, auto pens were used by presidents, but not on executive orders and laws and things like that. However, Edith Wilson signed her husband's name, Woodrow Wilson, to a whole bunch of very important documents because Woodrow had a stroke, couldn't do anything, and nobody knew about it. Confronting the presidents. You haven't read it. Shame on you. So Edith was actually running the government, but now we have auto pen running the government. Maybe. So an outfit that's looking at this very hard is the Heritage foundation based in D.C. and its chief counsel of the oversight project, Kyle Brosnan, joins us now from Washington. So how bad do you think this is?

[Kyle Brosnan]

It's pretty bad, Bill. So zooming out a little bit. The Constitution vests powers of signing bills into law, issuing pardons, things like that, in one person and one person only, the President of the United States. And for things like pardons and spill signings, his physical signature is what authorizes or completes that process. And we have found evidence that President Biden did not hand sign multiple pardons and acts of clemency throughout his presidency, including the pardons of the January 6th committee members, Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Milley, and the pardon for the commutation for everyone on federal death row in the waiting days of his administration. And so it leads to a question. If you combine that with the practical issues of Biden was clearly out of it. His mental faculties were diminishing throughout his presidency. It begs the question of who was running the country, who had authorization to sign these pardons? Who had access to the autopen? And so we are uncovering multiple exercises of the pardon power, which only belongs to the President of the United States, that he did not hand sign those documents.

[Bill O'Reilly]

An argument might be made that he knew about the documents and was just too lazy to sign them.

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[Bill O'Reilly]

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[Dr. Hal Brands]

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[Mike Pompeo]

Let's hear it.

[Kyle Brosnan]

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[Bill O'Reilly]

I've never seen anything like it.

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That.

[Kyle Brosnan]

That may well be the case. But. But we need to control. We need to understand who had access and control of that autopen. And maybe there is a written trail of evidence of who, of him authorizing those actions. But we've seen time and again throughout the last four years that the President Biden's mental capacity greatly diminished throughout his presidency. We saw the disastrous debate performance where he paused for over a minute. We saw gaff after gaffe on the media. And in speaking in public, we saw Special Counsel Robert Herr refuse to prosecute him, in part because he is an elderly man with the poor memory. And so if he is too senile to see his day in court for mishandling classified documents. And there are serious questions as to his mental ability to execute his offices of the presidency.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, so what if it comes to light that Biden didn't know about what he was signing or what the auto pen was signing, and he had no interest in it, and they just went out? There's no mechanism to reverse those orders, is there?

[Kyle Brosnan]

Well, that's an open question. We're studying that here at the oversight Project. Now we're engaging with legal scholars and continuing our research on that. But, but, but it's unprecedented here, generally speaking. You know, President Bush, for example, would. Would have bills flown halfway around the world for him to sign here. But, but use of the auto pen to this scale to exercise a power that solely belongs to the president and cannot be legally delegated to anyone is unprecedented. So I think. I think the next step is to. Oh, it's terrifying.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. There's no doubt about it. And I've said this from the very beginning, he was not in charge. Let's look at the men who were in charge, and you give me a rundown of them. First one is Ron Klain, White House Chief of staff from 21 to 23. Klain had an enormous amount of influence in that White House, correct?

[Kyle Brosnan]

Yes.

[Bill O'Reilly]

What's your assessment of him?

[Kyle Brosnan]

So, I mean, you see the reports that President Biden kept a notoriously close circle. He had a number of consigliers throughout. You know, his. His political. His very long political career. One other person that may have had access to it is Neera Tanden. She served as what is what is called the staff secretary, which is basically the nucleus of the White House. Any piece of paper that goes in front of the president, the staff secretary sees and sort of keeps the train running on time. And she served for a staff secretary for, I believe, two years during the Biden presidency, including times where we noticed that clemency warrants and pardons appear to have been auto penned.

[Bill O'Reilly]

I don't think there's any doubt that she saw everything that went through the system. What I'm trying to get at, though, is Klain. Was his governing style different than Biden's? Was he far left? Was he a moderate Democrat, or was he.

[Kyle Brosnan]

Well, I think you saw a leftward turn during. During the Biden administration from, you know, ranging from their cabinet appointees to policies, energy policies, you name it. You know, I think president Biden ran in 2020 as a moderating and uniting candidate. And then when he got into office, he veered the country sharply in the leftward direction.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Executive order was absolutely stunning. Second guy is Mike Donilon, senior adviser to Biden from 21 to 24. You know anything about him.

[Kyle Brosnan]

Personally? No, other than public reports that he is a very, you know, close advisor to him. He's part of the Biden inner circle. You know, depending on what his position was in the White House, he may. He may have had access to the autopen. We were going to assume that there was some sort of policy governing this and the individuals that had access pursuant to that policy are people that were likely need to be spoken to by investigators.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah. All right. Because you got to run this down and see what the point of view of these people were. Now, Susan Rice is the next one, our National Security Advisor 13 to 17 under Barack Obama. She was in the White House all the time. She's a committed leftist, no doubt about that. And if there was a link to Barack Obama, she would be it. Because they're close friends, correct?

[Kyle Brosnan]

That's right. She's a prominent force in the Obama White House and in the Biden White House, she served as domestic policy advisor. And she played a big role in another investigation that we uncovered about the Biden administration's attempt to federalize elections and mobilize the weight of the federal government to support Democratic candidates.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, that. If I'm you, I'm looking at Susan Rice real hard. Next guy is Jeff Zients, White F chiefs of staff 23 to 25. I don't know anything about him. Do you know anything about him?

[Kyle Brosnan]

Well, he was Biden's original Covid czar when he first came into into office. And we saw all the efforts from the Biden White House to censor any dissent about COVID and then was elevated to the chief of staff by the end Here again, as chief of staff, he's, he's side by side with the president all the time, oftentimes accesses, proxy and meetings and things like that. He has the potential to be a big player here as well. He would have been chief of staff when those, you know, auto penned pardons. In the waiting days of the administration for the January 6th committee, General Milley, Dr. Fauci and Biden family members were issued.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Yeah, those four individuals, I think were running the country. But you know, you really have to get in and bore down on what their agenda was, who they really are, and it's complicated. The final thing is will the Heritage foundation file a lawsuit here? What's the end game for you guys?

[Kyle Brosnan]

So we have submitted a follow up Freedom of Information act request to gather more information. We have the potential to sue for those FOIA requests if they're not answered and they don't follow the law. But we are in court on a number of cases concerning President Biden's mental acuity. And the most significant one on that is for the audio tape of Special counsel her interview with President Biden.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Right.

[Kyle Brosnan]

And in that interview, in that interview, President Biden forgot key details of his life, like when his son passed away, when he was vice president and other important details. And that interview is it formed the basis for Special counsel her to determine that he was not going to try and prosecute President Biden. As an elderly man with a.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Do you think you're going to get that?

[Kyle Brosnan]

Who knows? You know, President Biden asserted executive privilege over those documents. The case has been pending and fully briefed since August. And the judge is asking for whether the new administration has a new policy here. But you know, when, when, when the president has served executive privilege, it's rare and it's a big deal unless we're continuing to.

[Bill O'Reilly]

All right, Kyle, let us know. Keep us posted. I want you to find out. I'm going to predict it's going to be a huge scandal about Joe Biden not being in charge for four years. That is unprecedented in this country. We appreciate time very much today.

Thank you for listening to the no Spin News Weekend Edition. To watch the full episodes of the no spin news, visit billoriley.com and sign up to become a premium or concierge member that's billoriley.com sign up and start watching today.

[Mike Slater]

Hey, I'm Mike Slater. I have a podcast called Politics by Faith. We have a very simple mission. We take the news of the day and we filter it through a biblical worldview. So here's the big story of the day. What does the Bible say about it and how can we apply it? It's amazing. There's nothing new under the sun. The Bible has something to say about everything that's going on today. So basically we thumped the Bible over on Politics by Faith. I think we ought to keep MAGA going. And I think the way to take it beyond just a political victory into a true rebuilding and awakening and revival in America is to make sure that this is all grounded in biblical principles. And that's what we do on the podcast Politics by Faith. And you can subscribe to Politics by Faith wherever you're listening to the show right now.