← Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
Bill O’Reilly’s No Spin News and Analysis
What Happened in Venezuela and Was the CIA Involved?, Colombia’s President Responds to Trump’s Threats & Ken Silverstein Weighs in on Media Deception
00:37:32
Loading summary
Transcript47 lines
- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Bill O'Reilly here. Welcome to the no Spin News. Tuesday, January 6, 2026. Stand up for your country was a good day for us. Once again, we were far ahead of the repertorial pack in telling you about what was happening in Venezuela from Saturday night onward. And when I go out there and say things, report things, analyze things that turn out to be true, that is a good thing. And that's why you're here. So we are an independent news agency. As you know. We do not do podcasts. We do actual reporting in a broadcast linear fashion. And we have an amazing amount now of people delivering what I say and do. I'm going to tell you a little bit about True social that just exploded later on the broadcast. Anyway, what am I talking about specifically? That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. Okay, so I get a letter from a concierge member in California. Now I we keep the identity of concierge members private. That's one of our services to them. It's private line to me. You have a question, you have a comment, you have a situation you need help with, we are there for you. Concierge program on billoriley.com so this guy writes, O'Reilly, I heard you say something like the Venezuelan military did not protect Maduro because they had a deal with the CIA to give them up to Delta Forces. What was your source for this information? I cannot find any mention of this anywhere. And you will not find any mention of it. Now, my source for the information is anonymous, so I did not report it as fact. I used it in my opinion analysis on News Nation Saturday night. Roll it. So the CIA pinpointed where Maduro was, that the army would not help him. His own army didn't help him. His own police force didn't help him. Okay, nobody helped him. Delta Force went in, the CIA guy said, there he is, go get him. They got him. And now he's walking around with a silly hat in Brooklyn. Okay, so the concierge member goes, well, how can you say that if you're not going to source it? And again, the sources are all anonymous. And I don't report anonymous stuff as fact, which separates me, but I can incorporate it into my opinion analysis. All right, so today what happens? The Wall Street Journal pops an article that says, quote, late last year, the CIA cultivated a source within Maduro's inner circle who provided information about its whereabouts. Wall Street Journal previously reported that the spy agency's close tracking Maduro's location, which leverages surveillance elements including stealth drones, allowed the Army's Delta Force to nab him and his wife during the raid. People familiar with the operation said. Maybe they're the same sources I have. But what the Wall Street Journal didn't report is that the CIA made a deal with the Venezuelan army. Because you cannot have a foreign army USA drop into a military compound where the president of a country is residing, grab that guy, take him out of the country without one single gunshot fired. That is impossible. I'm not on the level of Sherlock Holmes, but I have some deductive reasoning powers and I know a deal was made and there are other deals have been made and I'll tell you about them as they unfold. But the CIA, which largely resides in the American Embassy, there is no American ambassador to Venezuela, by the way. That has not been. And nobody's been confirmed. CIA is running that country. Now. The Venezuelan military has to go along with it. And that's why Maduro is in Brooklyn, New York. And he'll never get out of prison, this guy, okay? He's there. He's going to get 40 years, just like Noriega. So I'm telling you all of this because when I say something, I'm very, very precise about whether it is I'm reporting a fact or. Or I'm reporting an opinion. And when somebody tells me something and I'm on the phone all the time, all the time with sources in our government, foreign governments, whatever, and they need to be protected, I protect them and I won't tell you it's fact, okay? Like most of the others will. They'll use anonymous sources as facts. I don't. Okay, and that's why you're here. And I don't get it wrong. Can remember the last time we had to correct a story. But doing this nine years now, an independent news agency, and before that, more than 20 years on a Fox News channel, maybe I corrected three stories because we are very, very, very disciplined in what we put out there. But my service to you is if I say it, you can trust it. Trust is earned. And that is the memo. Now, the Trump haters, the dissenters, which is most of the media, they don't know what to do, okay? Because the raid was successful, Maduro's out, and that's better for the people of Venezuela. But now they seized upon a really absurd situation. Now, a guy named Rick Stangle used to be, I think, the editor of Newsweek, veteran journalist. He works for Ms. And he's paid to say bad things about Donald Trump. When you sign on with ms, that's the deal. We pay you money, you say bad things about Trump. Here's what Stengel's latest is on Venezuela. Go. I'm going to give you a sentence that never came out of Donald Trump's.
- [06:39]
B
Mouth, which is, I want a really.
- [06:41]
A
Comprehensive, airtight plan for how we're going to govern Venezuela.
- [06:44]
B
And after we depose Maduro.
- [06:47]
A
Well, he doesn't have a really airtight plan because how would you know that? The Trump administration didn't know that Delta Force would go in and get Maduro as cleanly as it did. They hoped they had things lined up. How would you know? And even if the President has a plan in his mind, that plan is going to be difficult to execute. It's a foreign country. It's not easy. And why on earth. And Stengel knows this. That's why I don't have any respect for him. You wouldn't tell the world and your adversaries what you're going to do until you do it. I mean, that's the absurdity of, oh, Trump didn't consult with Congress about the rape because it couldn't have been a raid. Then once you go in and tell the world, hey, we're going to get Maduro, then it goes up in flames. Same thing with the bombing of Iran. You can't say we're going to bomb Iran on Sunday. You got anti aircraft. You know, come on, you're putting US Service people at risk. These people know this, but they don't care. They're lying to you. You know, airtight plan. Moron. But he isn't a moron. Stangle knows, but he's, you know. And if you know any history, which most television pundits don't, we do the same thing in Vietnam, El Salvador. We, the United States. CIA goes in to a troublesome country, a country that's hurting America, and they destabilize the country. Been going on since World War II. O A S, O A s. Okay. And that morphed into the CIA. It's ridiculous. All right, now we have the neighboring country, Colombia, which is just as problematic as Venezuela. Colombia's population, about 55 million. Venezuela is about 29 million. And Colombia is a whole different animal than Venezuela. Venezuela is fairly manageable. We have big time CIA presence in Colombia and Bogota and Medellin, other cities there. Now, I've reported, as you know, from both Venezuela and from Colombia. I can't say I'm an expert, but I know the turf.
- [09:22]
B
I usually ask potential criminals to have a seat.
- [09:26]
A
But now I'm asking you to join.
- [09:28]
B
Me, CR Chris Hansen, for my new series, have a Seat with Chris Hansen.
- [09:32]
A
Guests each week are fascinating personalities who are grabbing headlines, making waves or changing our lives for the better. Have a Seat with Chris Hansen, available.
- [09:41]
B
Wherever you get your podcasts.
- [09:45]
A
And the guy who's running Columbia was elected in 2022. I think it was a fair election. His name is Gustavo Petro. However, he's been accused of being bribed by the Colombian drug cartels. And I write about that in my book Confronting Evil. And I don't think Petro is he'd probably deny it, but everybody in Colombia knows that Petro is a Marxist. He was in a group called M19 as a guerrilla fighter. Those are Marxists. And they all know that he's taken a very light hand toward the Colombia drug merchants. So you know. Now the United States has designated Petro as being involved with the narco terrorism coming out of Colombia, but it has not been an executive order signed by President Trump. That's a big difference. If you see President Trump sign an executive order designating Petro and other and linking him to a cartel in Colombia that is designated a terror operation, then Petro's got to worry. However, this is not going to be like Venezuela if they go in after Petro because Petro's army would fight for him, there would be blood. So I don't think it's going to happen. They'll probably, they being the Trump administration, strangle him economically, already have cut off a lot of aid. That's what I think is going to happen there. And Petro himself knows that, knows that his army isn't going to sell him out like Maduro's army did and he's taunting Trump. I don't think that's a good strategy. But hey, El exe, you know, all right, poll on Venezuela. Now, keep in mind that most Americans know nothing about it. So this is Washington Post. First question, do you approve or disapprove of the USA having sent military forces into Venezuela? Capture Maduro proved 40 disprove 42 onshore 18th political party 74% of Republicans approve. 13% of Democrats, 34% of independence. Next question. Was it appropriate for President Trump to order the operation on his own? Should he be consulted with Congress? Appropriate on his own. 37 Congress 63. Now, that's because people don't understand you can't do covert operations with congressional debate underway. Okay. Because the media doesn't really explain it. All right, next question. Do you think the United States should or should not put Maduro on trial for drug trafficking. Should. 50. Should not. 14. Unsure. 36. And that's, again, if you're unsure, that's an honest answer. You don't know. Okay. But I can tell you without any doubt at all, Maduro will be convicted, and he will get what Noriega got. The indictment against him and his wife is fairly extensive. Because why? Because they got the DEA and CIA all over Venezuela. Come on. All right, now, the Associated Press is part of the problem in the United States right now because it hates Trump. It hated me. Probably still does. All right? Because I wasn't a liberal commentator, and for years, Associated Press is nasty things about me. Never said anything good, even though I was the dominant anchorman in the country. Never. So they hate Trump, and they filed a report about Venezuela. It was filed by a White House reporter for the Associated Press named Amir Madhani. Amir Madhani. January 3, quote. While there are no visible signs of a US presence on the ground of Caracas, Trump was demonstrating chutzpah that's become a trademark of his foreign policy approach. It's one marked by grand confidence that his will on the international stage is immovable force. Now, this is in a news report, not a commentary. So if Mr. Madhani wanted to write a commentary, that's fine, no problem. But a news report with the word chutzpah and all this other business about, you know, grand. Hey, what are you, a psychiatrist? This is what the AP does all the time. And that wire service goes out to all the newspapers all over the world. And people just read this stuff. They don't know the slant that is built into the AP's coverage of Donald Trump. Joining us out from Washington, D.C. is a former Associated Press correspondent in South America. He's been around a long time, Ken Silverstein. He now is an independent investigative reporter. So am I making any mistakes in my analysis, Mr. Silverstein? First up.
- [15:04]
B
Well, on Venezuela, spot on. And I have. I have reported from Venezuela numerous times since going back to 1990. And Colombia, too. I mean, the U.S. government, the CIA clearly cut a deal not just with the army, but with Delsey Rodriguez, who is going out and saying, I mean, we'll never stand for this.
- [15:36]
A
Let me interrupt you for a moment. The deal with Delsey Rodriguez, the vice president under Maduro, was made after the snatch, not before.
- [15:44]
B
No, no, no, no. Wait.
- [15:45]
A
No, no, no. Trust me on this, Kent. She had no blanket clue, because if she did, she would have blown a whistle, and she did not, because you didn't know the deal with the army generals who control the country, as you know, they control it. When you were there. When I was there. Okay. They got the guns. Okay. It was made before the snatch. Go ahead.
- [16:07]
B
Yeah, no, well, I, I disagree.
- [16:11]
A
Okay.
- [16:11]
B
Because, I mean, there's no question that she doesn't have the authority to. And she, she, the deal had to be approved by the head of the army and the head of the Interior Ministry, who controls. Absolutely, as you said.
- [16:29]
A
But Dulcie has a cell phone and could have blown a whistle on any raid before it happened, and that's why she did not know. Go ahead.
- [16:36]
B
Yeah, go ahead. So anyway, I think it was certainly a deal cut. There's no question about it. I mean, you know, you.
- [16:45]
A
So why didn't the Associated Press report that?
- [16:52]
B
Well, I guess, I mean, what, you.
- [16:56]
A
Know it, you know it. I know it. All the veteran reporters in the country had to know it. Or you have to resign from. Be your status of a veteran reporter. What an EAP reporting.
- [17:11]
B
I just, I, I absolutely think that mainstream media, with the exception of Fox News and, you know, Newsmax and, you know, right.
- [17:23]
A
The right wing people, right.
- [17:25]
B
They're directing, who are favorable to Trump for the most part. There's no question the media has a bias against Trump. The mainstream media, the elite media, the New York Times, the Washington Post, CBS News, ap. I mean, that's obvious. It was obvious. I wrote an article in 2016 before the election, before the presidential election, shortly before the election, which Trump won. Which, you know, I'm, I'm, my. Politically, you and I probably disagree on most things. We will agree on some stuff, but I'm on the left. But I work for the New York observer, which was owned, owned by Jared Kushner. And I was hired, I was given a column because I was considered to be like an honest lefty, which I think I am, because I will go after the who. If I get a good story, I'll go after whoever it is. And, but it was obvious that, you know, the media has always treated Trump unfairly. And I have to say I, I guess I'm reluctant to say why. The AP didn't do anything because I. Maybe somebody else wrote an article that talked about a deal.
- [18:43]
A
No, they didn't research it.
- [18:45]
B
Okay, well.
- [18:46]
A
Okay, but, but here's my point. I don't want to get too deep in the weeds because folks are not in our industry. They don't do what we do. But the Associated Press is really the far and away the strongest wire service in the world. It goes out Everywhere. Okay. And they cannot stop. All right, with their anti Trump coverage. Now, they do it a number of ways. They don't report stories, as we just demonstrated. If you and I know what happened, and I believe you did, too, because I know your background. All right?
- [19:17]
B
Obvious. Yeah.
- [19:18]
A
They obviously knew what happened, but they wouldn't report it. That, to me, is sinful. That's deception. That's not. That's hurting the American people. It's hurting the people who rely on the information coming out of the Associated Press.
- [19:37]
B
It's fundamental information that you cannot understand what's happening in Venezuela or what happened with the raid to get Maduro without knowing that. I didn't agree. If they didn't report that. If they haven't, and I trust you, that you searched for it and didn't find it. I haven't, which is why I was reluctant to say too much about this one guy. But, you know, that's a terrible omission. I mean, it's.
- [20:03]
A
Right. And then the guy, the White House correspondent, concentrates on chutzpah. Put his own opinion in there and. And again, fine, if he's a commentator, but he's a White House correspondent. What the douche you doing? The new year brings new health goals and wealth goals. Protecting your identity is an important step. Your info is in endless places that could expose you to identity theft leading to lost funds. LifeLock monitors millions of data points per second. If your identity is stolen, our restoration specialists will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Resolve to make identity, health and wealth part of your New year's goals. With LifeLock, save up to 40% your first year. Visit LifeLock.com podcast terms apply. And so what I want to know from you is because you work for these people and it's a whole different outfit now than it was when you were there.
- [20:53]
B
We have.
- [20:56]
A
Do they know how dishonest they are, do you think?
- [21:02]
B
I don't think they do. And I don't think probably. Stengel, you said he knows. He's lying. I doubt it. Because. And this is a question that we will never be able to answer, really, unless Stengel sends an email to somebody and says, I get paid to lie because it's hard to know. But I think the elite media is again, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the cbs, cnn, they are unbearable because they are so sure they're right. They don't do any reporting. When I was in Venezuela covering an election 20 years ago or 25 years ago, and all of the reporters that came down all they do is they, you know, they're not stupid. You're right. They're not stupid. They're the cream of the country. They're Ivy League, you know, and they're, you know, I'm sorry, I don't know if you went to an Ivy League school, but you get you, it makes you dumb because it teaches you that you people come out thinking that they really are smarter than everybody else.
- [22:14]
A
I know it is an arrogance that, and I did go to Harvard, but I got around that. I took a shot of vaccination against it. Here's my last question for you. Okay. So if we are in a country that is dependent on a free flow of information, okay, we are dependent on it. As I said, the regular folks, they don't know Maduro. They don't know what's happening. They don't know why Trump did what he did. They hear and they're reading and they're not getting the story. I think the younger brigade of reporters aren't smart enough. They don't know what happened in Vietnam in 1964. They don't know the CIA was running South Vietnam. They don't know the CIA deposed the people over there. They don't know anything. And yet they're hired by these outfits to do important reporting. But if the American people can't get the information, isn't that going to damage our country severely pretty soon?
- [23:13]
B
I mean, it probably it already has. I think it's, you know, the media is people with journalists, you know, if you call, I write about the press because I think the press is an important, powerful institution, as powerful as Congress, as powerful as the White House. It plays an incredible, incredibly important role in shaping the narrative on every, every story. And, but you know, you can't call reporters. They don't, they won't talk to you because they're, you know, they're arrogant and they, it's, it's already damaged the country.
- [23:52]
A
Yeah. But I see much worse stuff ahead. You're right. It has damaged the country. And if you compare the Biden coverage with the Trump coverage, I mean, it's just crazy. All right, Ken, thanks very much. We appreciate your voice. Thanks for being a stand up guy. And coming on Pete Hegseth. Okay. You know that I'm not a big fan of his, but the Delta Force operation in Venezuela was magnificent and the Secretary of war deserves credit for that. Okay. And his Pentagon planners. So you got to be honest. So Hegseth is locked in a brutal feud with Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona. And the genesis of the feud is that Kelly, for some unknown reason, it was a foolish move on his part, went public to tell military members not to obey, quote, unquote, law, unlawful orders. Well, everybody, every military person knows that. So if you're in the field and your commander says shoot those civilians down, you don't do it. Everybody knows that what Kelly was doing was injecting politics into the order situation. So if you don't like the order, don't obey it. Here's what Kelly said initially. Go.
- [25:06]
B
This administration is pitting our uniformed military.
- [25:09]
A
And intelligence community professionals against American citizens like us. You all swore an oath to protect and defend this constitution. Right now, the threats to our constitution aren't just coming from abroad, but from right here at home.
- [25:21]
B
Our laws are clear.
- [25:23]
A
You can refuse illegal orders. Now, that's just absurd because it's a politically based commentary by the senator. And I said at the time I didn't like it, but I wouldn't sanction him. I have changed my mind now on that. So Kelly is in the reserves. He's a Navy captain, and he gets a pension. All right? And Hegseth is going to try to bust him in rank and to bust his pension to punish Kelly for what he said. Though, in the beginning, I went, I don't know if we can do that. Kelly has got a pretty distinguished record of service to this country. But now Kelly is being so absurd, so irresponsible that if I'm commander in chief, if I'm the president and this guy is doing this, okay, I'm busting him. So Kelly goes, of course, on Ms. Rachel Matta go.
- [26:23]
B
Well, I'm surprised that they're continuing down this path and taking, you know, these steps to try to silence me, silence other members of congress, silence retired members of the military, former service members, really.
- [26:38]
A
Silence the American people. I mean, this isn't totally only about me.
- [26:43]
B
This is about all of us.
- [26:45]
A
No, it's not. This is about you in your capacity of a military captain, telling military members not to obey orders they don't like. That's what it's about. Not about me. It's about you and you being responsible, irresponsible, capital I. Then Kelly gets personal. Here's what he posted on Donald Trump. He deferred the draft five times because he had bone spurs. Look, not everyone is a servant of military. I get that. But when you're going to question my patriotism and lecture me about duty to the country and threaten me with a court martial, four generations of service to this country earns Me the right to speak. Five deferments earns nothing. That's a personal attack. It's a personal attack on the Commander in Chief. It's another reason. Oh. Out of here. Gone. We got to. You have to. You're going to have a military. You can't have a guy like Kelly running around doing this. So I hope he gets busted. Now, there may be lawsuits in civil court, but should be tried in military court. All right, let's go to Minnesota, which is probably the most screwed up state in the Union right now. I'm bypassing California. So ICE has launched a big campaign there to round up. They're targeting 1500 deportations in Minnesota. Now a bunch of ICE agents try to get hotel accommodations because they need to stay somewhere at the Hampton inn in about 25 miles from Minneapolis. Okay. And the Hampton Inn said, no, we're not taking your reservation. Now, the Hampton Inn is owned by Hilton. And ICE put out Department of Homeland Security. Hey, they won't book ICE agents. All hell is breaking loose. So the upshot to the story is that Hilton is firing the Hampton Inn. It says, quote, this is the Hilton hotel chain. The independent hotel owner assured us they had fixed the problem and published a message confirming this recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values. As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. So Hilton is booting out this Hampton Inn. Good, Good. You know, if you're going to do that, everybody should know about it. Waltz, as you know, is out because he presided over that massive billion dollar fraud, did nothing about it. Neither did the Attorney General, Keith Ellison. Look the other way. Yeah, I know it's going on. I had to know. So Amy Klobuchar, the senator, will probably be the next governor of Minnesota. She's going to step into that breach. All right. Minnesota is a screwed up state. Sorry. I love the state. Rainy lake, you know, boundary waters, all of that. Every time I go to Minneapolis, St. Paul, have a good time. Screwed up, ruined it. ICE workforce. So they launch a $10 million. I'm not sure if that's $100 million. I'm sorry. $100 million recruitment push seemed to be a bit excessive. You know, trying to cut down a debt here. $100 million to recruit ICE agents. And they've been successful. 120% increase going from 10,000 ICE to 22,000 this year under President Trump. So just so you know, plenty of ICE agents. Okay. Flu everywhere. Here are the top states. I got my flu shot by the way I'm not paranoid vaccine person. All right, States with very high flu activity are Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio, Tennessee, North Carolina, Michigan, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota. They have very. This is caught according to cdc. Okay, there it is. So I told my son who's in school, you better get a flu shot. He's been procrastinating, okay? And so today I said, look, if you get the flu, nobody's going to help you because I'm the only one to help you anyway, okay? And nobody's going to come in to your dwelling at school and nurse you when you have the flu. They're going to be there suffering alone, get the flu shot. We'll be back in a moment with final thought. All right, final thought. So I'm overworked. My own kids are yelling at me. And that's true. They're yelling at me, hey, you're an old guy. Why are you working 60 hours a week? I don't have an answer for that other than I think I'm doing a service. But I got to cut back. And I am going to cut back. I already have. So on wabc, our flagship radio station. And we love that they were carrying my program 9 to 10, but I was doing fresh material for them in that hour. I can't do it anymore. So I've handed the hour off to Joe Concha. You know, Joe, talented broadcaster. So he's going to take the 9 to 10, but I'm still going to do the morning commentary with Sid Rosenberg and the noon commentary on wabc, though I can do those because they're not quite as involved as a nighttime commentary. All right, so WABC and I will continue along, but in a. I'll have to do what I usually do for them without the 9 o' clock hour. But I want everybody to know that I'm going to continue doing this. This is our mainstream broadcast and I have to do that. I told my kids that. I said, look, you take my voice out of the equation, and then what do you got? All the years that I've been reporting, 51, they disappear. And I'm honest. I'm going to tell you the truth. I don't care where the truth lies. So I'm gone. And then what? So I have a responsibility that I'm going to continue to do, but I'm shaving off. You know, I don't know whether I'm going to write any more books other than Confronting America. It's hard to write these books, particularly when you're working full time. I'm doing it now, you know, about 60% done with it. But it's hard. And I'm not whining. I'm well paid, but. But I don't need the money. I shouldn't say that. The money that I accumulate now. Go. All goes to charity. Okay. For the foundation. So, you know, I'm pleased to have it. Anyway, that is the final thought of the day. I'll be around in our very aggressive form, but we'll cut back around the edges. And thank you for watching no Spin News tonight. We will see you again tomorrow.