Eric Bolling (3:27)

You know, Oscar told us so your kids are still going to school, right? You have to leave. Just give us a day to day. Your what? Tell us how you survive in a place where you know, any moments a cartel member who's already allegedly looking for you might show up.

Oscar Ramirez (3:42)

Well, it has happened before. In the year 2018, I was going up in the mountain reporting open border gaps and we got threatened and you know, that led to a persecution to my house. Also had to advise the authorities of what was going on. In the year 2020 we almost got killed in a mountain in Guatemala. So we returned back to our country, to our city of Tijuana and safeguarded over here. And now, you know, we have to just remain guarded in the house. If we go out, we have to advise several journalists and also several authorities that we know that we're going out and doing some investigative reporting. I have a 10 year old only so you know, it's difficult to. My, my son, he knows what is going on. He watches my social media and he's, you know, he's concerned absolutely what can happen to his dad. Ultimately at the end of the day I have to let him know, you know, what this is, what is going on son, you know, in my life. So I don't tell them the whole story. We have seen, you know, older types of stories of other journalists, how they talk to their family members and how they handle these kind of situations. So from now on, you know, I have a couple of colleagues that they have advised me what to do and we're following their instructions.

Eric Bolling (4:58)

Allow me just. This is the video, a surveillance security video of the people who showed up with, with armed who were trying to get into your community. But they were stopped.

Oscar Ramirez (5:09)

Yes, yes. Well, they didn't. It's really there was a security guard in the. In the front gate of the community. And the security guard told us that they had, you know, a. Weapons in the middle of the. The automobile, but they didn't force the entry. They could easily done it, you know, threatening the security guard, but they did not force the entry because there were family in front of the front of the gate. So they didn't want to make a spectacle about it. But they stay there for like 30 minutes, you know, trying to force the entry, trying to say, like, we need to go in, we need to go to this specific, you know, house and we are looking for this guy. We want to record just from outside of the house. Of course they did not want to do that. They wanted to go in there and possibly do some harm, immediate harm to myself. But after that they left. The most concerning thing is that they went to several addresses of my family members and they tried, you know, look, where am I possibly was located at that particular time or day. So the, you know, the mission for them for that day, they did not accomplish it, you know, thanks to God. I don't know what they were.

Eric Bolling (6:15)

What's the mission? Is the mission to intimidate you, to scare you? Or is the mission to take you out?

Oscar Ramirez (6:19)

What is it both of them? I believe that at this particular point, it just to, as they say over here, Levanton, pick you up, take it for a little ride and let you know, you know, what kind of circumstances they are uncomfortable with or you know, at this moment that they're coming into the addresses, they just knock on your door and say, hey, let me in. We want to talk to you for a little bit and let you know that what kind of situations that they need from now on. Extortion, possibly that that is what they are most know of from now on, what they're doing. But, you know, the most concerning thing is that they can easily come pick you up and then, you know, as we have reported multiple times, Eric, the mass graves, the most difficult thing about this is that they will not find you. So that will be the most concerning thing for my family.

Eric Bolling (7:10)

It really is one of the. Since you've been on, right? It's about 10 months since I've been on. Rav. We've had you on countless times, dozens of times. The reporting's amazing. You brought us mass graves at the cartel that were. That no one knew about, that were just discovered. You showed us the mass graves. We've seen cartel dump bodies in refrigerators onto the street. We've seen the video. You've brought us that video. I. And almost to a time I say, can you please, please be safe, Oscar, Be safe. Nothing's worth that. I mean, you're a professional, you're a journalist and you're doing your job, but it's, it's. You don't want to put your family in harm's way. I'm just very nervous that they're going to make you stop doing this. Not by intimidation, by worse. I mean, so here, here's the point, folks. We had this conversation with Oscar the other day a couple days ago. I was compelled. I called some friends at the Department of Homeland Security and Oscar, they're going to reach out to you. If you haven't, if you haven't. They haven't yet. They will. And I'm not sure what they can do. I don't know what they can do, but I certainly would like Homeland Security awareness of your situation. Any thoughts on what might be the right way to go with some of this for them at least? I mean, can you get over here on this side? Maybe. I don't know. I don't know where we go with. I just want to make sure you're safe.

Oscar Ramirez (8:27)

Well, of course, everybody knows that I have been really open about my past in the past, you know, years that I have been, you know, second opportunities in life happen to every individual and everybody makes mistakes in the past. So, you know, everybody's aware of my past and I have good. Completely renewed my life and changed my life completely. It's been almost 17 years of that mistake that I have made. But, you know, hopefully something positive can happen, not specifically in the United States, somewhere else. The most concerning thing about this is that what I can say to the public, it is that, you know, my family could not find where am I located on my body so I can have a proper funeral if something aggravated happens in that particular case.

Eric Bolling (9:15)

We can't talk this way. We can't. We need to get you out of.

Oscar Ramirez (9:19)

Eric, we have to be. I have to be completely honest about the situation, how it is over here in Mexico. And that is. That is the most honest way that I can say.

Eric Bolling (9:28)

What about you had at one point you were talking to Mexican Senator Tilly any. Can she help out at all?

Oscar Ramirez (9:36)

Yes, absolutely. We have been, you know, in. In talks through text messages. This sadly happens to a lot of journalists over here in Mexico. It is one of the things that happens consistently, you know, and this is why with the journalist union over here, we have been completely in touch to not get to those circumstances and to not get to that extent. But we have to think about it the good way and the bad way. Eric. So what can happen, you know, in a difficult. In a bad situation?

Eric Bolling (10:07)

Dumb question, I know, but I have to ask it. Is it safe to alert the authorities? I mean, it's almost like the authorities, quote, unquote, authorities, the police, whatever. A lot of them are in the pocket of the cartels. So is it even worthwhile asking the police for some protection?

Oscar Ramirez (10:23)

No, no, it's good. You know, there's good authorities, and it's good and bad authorities. They're more the good guys than the bad guys, you know, and when it comes to this kind of situations, a lot of them, I. I know a lot of them, so a lot of them, they know that I'm here to work. I'm here to inform of the open situation that it is happening horribly in our borders and into the United States of America. So they know my good intentions of what am I doing. So in their good intentions, they know that, you know, they're. They're more intelligent. Intentional way is to protect the whole situation and to. For us to not get into the extent of being in an imminent. More in imminent danger that we are already right now.

Eric Bolling (11:05)

Am I putting you in any further danger by bringing this up? And I'm asking this because I don't want to do that. I think the world needs to see what's going on, but I don't want to put you in further danger, Oscar. That's something I want to make sure we're not doing here.

Oscar Ramirez (11:21)

No, absolutely not. In the first days when it happened, I remained quiet. I reached out to my brother, Ben Berkoum, and I told him what was going on. And they advised me to just remain quiet as they were doing the investigations. Then, sadly, the Charlie Kirk assassination happened. And I said, it's not the time. It is not the time at all. And I remained more quiet. And then I said, you know what? This is what is actually happening. Then after what happened, and I said, you know, I think it is. I. I asked if I could speak about it. And they said, yes, absolutely. Now we have a lead. So go ahead, Oscar. You can, you know, speak about what is going on.

Eric Bolling (11:58)

All right, we will have Trish. We'll have Trish McLaughlin, who's coming on in a little bit later in the show. She's hung up at the White House right now. We were going to have her come on at the same time or similar time as you. She will get to her later and we will ask her. I'm going to ask her point blank. What can we, how can we help Oscar? How can we, how can the United States help us? He's exposing some of the biggest crime and corruption on the planet, especially on our southern border. They're shooting drugs into our. I lost a son to fentanyl that came from the Mexico, came across the Mexican border. I think it's very, very important what you're doing. I don't want to put you in harm's way. So maybe, who knows, we'll see what we can do. But our hearts definitely go out to you and your family. Oscar Ramirez, we appreciate what you do, my friend.

Oscar Ramirez (12:41)

Thank you so much, Mr. Bolling, and thank you so much for having me in the, in your show.

Eric Bolling (12:46)

You keep us and let us know what else we can and we will continue to do it. Oscar, thank you. El Blue. Thank you.

Oscar Ramirez (12:51)

Thank you so much, sir.

Eric Bolling (12:53)

All right, folks, you know the Edge. It launched last week. Brett Favre was amazing. This week we're debunking all the health, men's health hacks, let's call them. And what works, what doesn't? Testosterone, creatine, cold plunges, lifting more weights. We take you through with a real doctor. We talk to Joe Rogan stuff, Huberman stuff. Here's a quick taste, but I need you to subscribe at Eric Bowling the Edge on YouTube at Eric Bowling the Edge on YouTube. Take a look. A project I've been talking about wanting to do for more than a year. I was kind of hung up in the whole political world. And the beautiful thing about the Edge is no politics whatsoever. I love doing things that are apolitical. We started from zero. Not a single subscriber, not a single view in just about a week or so, not even a week yet. We have thousands upon thousands of views. We're approaching 700 subscribers overnight. I can't imagine what this could be, what this will grow to be.

Donald Trump (13:50)

But we're going to do it.

Eric Bolling (13:51)

We're going to give it a shot. I want to do it a long time. And it is certainly nice to be away from the political world. And it's something where we talk about things guys, dudes do. It's okay to be a guy again. Isn't it great? It's okay to be a guy again. This is amazing. We've been told don't hold the doors open open for women. It's sexist. Or don't be such toxic masculinity. How many times have you heard that in the Last four years. Toxic masculinity. No, we're going to be the antidote to toxic masculine. We're going to be. We're going to be more toxic. How's that? We're going to amp up the toxicity of masculinity right here on the edge. All right, folks, Mike's got is my good friend, CEO and editor of Just the News, no Noise, John Solomon. Thank you for being here, John. I guess the big story of the day, former FBI Director James Comey. We're waiting to hear. We're waiting. Bated breath. Will he or won't he be indicted? John, what do you know?

John Solomon (14:58)

Yeah, the grand jury is just wrapping up its business for the day down in Richmond. We should know in the next 45 minutes whether or not an indictment's been handed up today or whether it will pass on to Tuesday for more discussion. What we do know is that there is pretty strong evidence, evidence that you and I talked about on your show a couple weeks ago. These are documents we surfaced earlier in September. The former director, James Comey, has always testified. He never asked anyone to leak classified information. But we showed the world a few weeks ago that there are documents showing his own chief counsel, the general counsel of the FBI at the time, James Baker, told the FBI and the Justice Department that in fact, Comey had instructed him through James Rebicki, the chief of staff at the time, to leak a piece of classified information in the final weeks before the 2016 election. Right in October, when you can have an influence on the election. That evidence has been in the FBI's possession for a long time. Cash. Patel found it, sent it over to the Justice Department. That prompted an investigation in Virginia. People say, why Virginia? And the answer is because when Comey testified back In September of 2020, it was in the middle of COVID You couldn't do things in person. So he testified from his home in Virginia. That opened up a different venue than Washington, D.C. it opens up the venue in Richmond, a more conservative federal court district, which will not bode well for Comey if he were to be indicted. So evidence was presented today. We know some FBI agents were there to be interviewed by the grand jury. We do not know yet what decision, if any, has been made, but we should know in the next 45 minutes. That's the guidance.

Eric Bolling (16:38)

So indicted. I was reading for perjury, though. Would this be other charges?

John Solomon (16:45)

No, I think all that's in the statute of limitations right now is that the September 30, 2020 testimony that Comey gave everything before that, going back to 16 and 17, when they were doing Russia collusion and submitting the bogus Steele dossier to the FISA court or to the intelligence community assessment to mislead the American people and the FISA judges. All of that is outside the statute of limitations. The only way that could be brought in is if at some point down the road, Bam Body decides to create a conspiracy case and treat the last decade as 10 years of conspiratorial efforts to get Donald Trump. That allows a statute of limitations to be extended. But right now, the case before the grand jury is a single count of perjury involving testimony on September 30, 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, when James Comey was asked and he doubled down saying, I stand by my testimony. I did not ask anyone to leak classified information, the grand jury is going to see that testimony and they're going to see the evidence that James Rebicki and James Baker gave that suggests that Comey wasn't telling the truth.

Eric Bolling (17:52)

So, so how can the grand jury decide quickly? Because the statute of limitations runs out in four and a half days.

John Solomon (18:01)

Yeah, listen, the opportunity to indict is today. They can do it today. If the grand jury wants to see more evidence, they will reconvene next Tuesday. Grand juries typically meet on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. So the next opening would most likely be next Tuesday. The statute of limitations would expire at the end of Tuesday night next week. And so there is a small window. You have to ask yourself, how could the Justice Department bump itself up against this deadline? That is a question. That is a meaningful question. Cash Patel had this evidence wrapped up a long time ago. The Justice Department has been slow to get to it. There are some reports today that Pam Bondi had some doubt about bringing this case. I don't have that confirmed, but, yeah.

Eric Bolling (18:44)

I hope that's not. Yeah, go ahead. I'm sorry to interrupt. Go ahead.

John Solomon (18:48)

The idea that we're waiting to the last minute is a, once again, an example of how effective the deep state inside the Justice Department can be. They can slow walk things. Even when you have an attorney general and FBI director that really want to get the job done. The FBI did its work weeks ago. Weeks ago. This was wrapped up and ready to go weeks ago. We reported on the bombshell documents weeks ago. We're up against the deadline. There's plenty of time, plenty of time to get.

Eric Bolling (19:13)

Begs the question. You just, you got to get it so you can get him indicted. So once you get him Indicted. Other. Other things can sprout from that. This is the way it works. Right then I'm thinking Clapper, I'm thinking Brennan, I'm thinking, I don't know, Christopher Wray even just. But just open the case so that it's the stop the clock. Right. So we can now start investigating. And once you find stuff that in an active investigation, you can use it. Correct? Am I getting it right?

John Solomon (19:41)

Listen, you could also turn James Comey state's witness, make a deal with him and have him testify against the Brennan or Obama, although I don't think Obama can be indicted under the current immunity ruling of the Supreme Court. But you could get meaningful testimony about the president. And so there's always that possibility. I always keep my expectations slim when it comes to the Justice Department.

Eric Bolling (20:02)

Hate to do this to my good friend John Saunders, but as we do it rav, we always make way for the president of the United States, folks. There he is.

Donald Trump (20:09)

Representatives and kings and all of the top leaders in the Middle East. And we had also a very good conversation with Bibi Netanyahu trying to get the hostages back. And we're trying to get the end of the Gaza situation. It's real, really bad, very bad. And we think it could happen, maybe it could happen pretty soon. We want the hostages back, we want the bodies back, and we want to have peace in that region. So we had some very good talks, as you know. I had President Erdogan here of Turkey, and we had a great meeting today. I think we had a meeting that was very conclusive in so many different things, things that we wanted, things that he wanted, and that was good. We'll be announcing that sometime later and he'll be making an announcement, too. But we had a great meeting with Turkey and they're very respected president and spent time. We had lunch and we had a lot of good discussions. So those two things. And we have some executive orders today to sign that are very important for the country. And we'll start off with one that's a proclamation and want to do that. Well, yes, sir.

White House Official (21:22)

So today is Gold, our Mothers and Families Day. This is an annual proclamation. This is to commemorate the fallen, those who have died for all of our freedoms and for our country and for their families who have suffered such grievous losses. But this is a proclamation commemorating Gold Star mothers and Gold Star families.

Donald Trump (21:42)

Yep. And they're great people, incredible people. What they've had to go through. Very few people could have gone through this kind of thing. Gold Star. Okay, thank you very Much. He'll put it over here.

White House Official (22:00)

Next. Sir, we have an executive order on TikTok. From the first days of your administration, you've charged a team from your, from your administration led by Vice President Vance with ensuring that we can preserve TikTok as a platform for the 170 million Americans who use it while ensuring that their data is properly protected, protected as required by law. With this executive order, you will be effectively bringing into effect the agreement that will save TikTok and ensure that it can operate safely and securely.

Donald Trump (22:28)

So this is interesting because I had a very good talk with President Xi. A lot of respect for him, hopefully his letter, respect for me too. And we talked about TikTok and other things, but we talked about TikTok and he gave us the go ahead. You know, it's run by American investors and American companies, great ones, great investors. The biggest. You don't get bigger, I don't imagine. And maybe I'll have jd. JD was very much involved and in charge of it. And maybe I'll have you say a few words about the deal. He would report back and the points of the deal I think are great for our country. So, J.D. do you want to give it a little talk, please?

Vice President Mike Pence (23:10)

Yes, sir.

Donald Trump (23:10)

Yeah.

Vice President Mike Pence (23:10)

So thank you, sir, for your leadership and for your help. We really couldn't have done this without the President actually ushering this deal over the finish line. There was some resistance on the Chinese side, but the fundamental thing that we wanted to accomplish is that we wanted to keep TikTok operating, but we also wanted to make sure that we protected Americans data privacy as required by law, both because it's the right thing to do, but also because it's a legal requirement of the law that was passed last year by Congress. So we think that we, we were able to do that. Of course we're going to keep on working at it. But this deal really does mean that Americans can use TikTok, but actually use it with more confidence than they had in the past because their data is going to be secure and it's not going to be used as a propaganda weapon against our fellow citizens. We're very excited about it. We appreciate the cooperation of everybody involved. And it's a big day.

Donald Trump (23:56)

And I think I can say that especially the young people, they really wanted this to happen. They did not want to have TikTok close. And I got, you know, a Little used to TikTok. I used it myself during the campaign and it was very successful because you know how I did with the young voter and Charlie Helped me a lot too. And he said to me, you should go on TikTok. And it actually had, because we got record votes with the young voter, as you know, for the election. So I was a little bit prejudiced in that way toward TikTok was very good and very meaningful. But we have American investors taking it over, running it, highly sophisticated, including Larry Ellison and Oracle, I guess is going to be a very. Play a very big role in terms of security, safety and everything else. So we have very good controls and literally I would get a call from friends of mine who were fathers of young people saying, could you do me a favor? Could you get it approved, please? My son is driving me crazy. So we're getting it done and they have a big audience and we have great American investors. And here's your final copy. Tick tock. You know, maybe if you want, we could take a couple of questions on TikTok and then we're going to get on to something completely different. Okay? Yeah. Mr. President. Jeff. Mr. Vice President, you mentioned that China was resistant. Can you describe where China is now or they. Are they fully on board with this? They're on board. I spoke with President Xi, we had a good talk. I told him what we were doing and he said go ahead with it. On the algorithm, it's still being leased coming from China. Are you satisfied that there's no security concerns? Yeah, I am. It would push disruptive. The biggest reason is that it's owned by Americans and very sophisticated Americans and people that love the country and very smart Americans too. So they don't want anything like that to happen. Yes, please. Thank you. Is there any operational relationship with Chinese entities or staff to execute the deal? With who? With the Chinese? I don't think so. Not that I know we're going to be. This is going to be American operated all the way. And great respect for President Xi and I very much appreciate that he approved the deal because to get it done properly, we really needed the support of China and the approval of China. Yes, ma'. Am. Mr. President, now that Americans will have operational control, do you want to see the algorithm suggest more MAGA related content prioritized? I always like MAGA related. If I could, I'd make it 100% MAGA related. It's actually a good question, but I would, yeah, if I could make it 100% MAGA, I would, but it's not going to work out that way, unfortunately. No, everyone's going to be treated fairly. Every group, every, every philosophy, every policy will be treated very Fairly. Thank you, Mr. President.

Vice President Mike Pence (26:55)

You know the valuation, you know the.

Donald Trump (26:57)

American company is going to be valued in the billions. Well, they valued it very highly. They're paying a big number. Do you want to talk, Scott? Do you want to say something about value?

Scott (27:05)

Well, I'll put the Vice president and.

Donald Trump (27:08)

Then trading, I can follow up. You'll say something? Sure.

Vice President Mike Pence (27:10)

Well, first of all, I would say all credit goes to Secretary of the Treasury. Couldn't got it done without Scott. Also couldn't have got it done without Sean Cooksey on my team. So thanks to them, the company will be valued around $14 billion. We actually think this is a good deal for investors. But ultimately the investors are going to make the determination about what they want to invest in and what they think is a proper value. The most important thing is that it does protect Americans data security. It ensures technology TikTok is still accessible. And on this question of the algorithm, which we've heard this a lot, what this deal ensures is that the American entity and the American investors will actually control the algorithm. We don't want this used as a propaganda tool by any foreign government. We want to make sure that our people and our investors actually make these decisions based on what's good for their business as opposed to what's good for another government's propaganda arm. So that's what we've done with this deal. I think it's very good for the American people. And as the President said, young people love this. We actually want everybody to access this, whether they're MAGA or not. We just want it to be fair. We want it to be fair to everybody. And we think that's what's going to happen with this new arrangement.

Donald Trump (28:13)

Well, the U.S. government.

Scott (28:14)

And just to follow up on the Vice President, there were two pieces to the transaction. The Vice President's office has worked since the spring for the commercial transaction between the investor groups and then treasury and, and a group including the Vice President's office were in Madrid two weeks ago to negotiate with the Chinese. And it was a result of President Trump's close relationship with Party Chair Xi that we were able to get this across the line. We created a framework for Party Chair Xi to agree. And then on the leader's call, Xi and President Trump discussed the final arrangement. So it was 1, 2 and that was the final piece.

Donald Trump (28:59)

Will the US government get any kind of annual payment as a result of this deal? Taxes. It's going to make money and we're going to get a lot of money in taxes. And you know, China wanted to See this go. This is a great legacy for China too. I thought President Xi was great in terms of his approval. We probably could have done it a different way, but it wouldn't have been the same. It wouldn't have been the same security at all. But I appreciated that he approved it.

Vice President Mike Pence (29:28)

Aside from taxes, there's no part of.

Donald Trump (29:30)

The deal that is like a payment.

White House Official (29:33)

To the U.S. government.

Donald Trump (29:34)

Well, we're going to be announcing different things, but the US comes out great and I think China comes out great because they're going to have a very important legacy and they have many other deals. You know, they have deals with us and they have deals in here, in this country and you know, they want to be treated fairly also. So, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, the US company could change the algorithm to push different content is that the.

Vice President Mike Pence (29:58)

US Company will have control over how the algorithm pushes content to users. And that was a very important part of it. We thought it was necessary for the national security element of the law. We also just think it's important to protect American users. Again, we want users to use this platform the way they want to. We want the business to make decisions, decisions about content based on the interest of the business and based on the interest of the users. And that's what we think will happen with this new arrangement.

Donald Trump (30:20)

And they're paying a lot of money and I think hopefully it's going to be a great deal. They're very sophisticated people. You'll see a list. Have you seen a list yet of the people? Well, you've been reading about it though. It's. I know Michael Dell's involved and Rupert Murdoch's involved and a lot of, and let's see, we have probably four or five absolutely world class investors that love the country and they made a lot of money with the country and many of them are in a somewhat related business. So it works out pretty well. And they're going to be very careful about all of these questions that you've been asking. Who else beyond Dallas Murdoch?

Vice President Mike Pence (31:00)

Well, it's a blue chip group of investors and we'll be announcing more about who exactly is involved in the deal in the days to come.

Donald Trump (31:07)

Oracle is playing a very big part.

Vice President Mike Pence (31:09)

That's right, sir.

Donald Trump (31:09)

And Oracle really understands this and I think they're actually, and they've been involved for quite a while running it for the people, the previous people. And so it's really, I think it's going to be very well protected, very, very prestigious deal actually on that point.

Vice President Mike Pence (31:25)

Mr. President, as the President said, Oracle has Actually had a role in housing the data for a long time, even when the entity was controlled by the ByteDance organization in China. So Oracle had a pretty interesting perspective on what was necessary to actually create true data privacy protections for Americans. They were a very important part of getting this thing done. Mr. President, you told us a couple.

Donald Trump (31:47)

Weeks ago you thought that the security.

Vice President Mike Pence (31:48)

Concerns were overrated, but were there legitimate.

Oscar Ramirez (31:51)

Concerns when it comes to safety?

Donald Trump (31:54)

From my standpoint, no. Because the people that own it are, you know, they're not China centric, they're USA centric, and they're very smart people. I guess you could say it about everything. Everything is what's. What's secure. Nowadays. Things that you think are totally secure turn out not to be. But I think in this case, it's going to be as secure as you could be because of the ownership and the people. And they have a big investment. You know, it's to their advantage to make sure it's good and safe. Yeah. Anybody else, do you have a question now behind you? Well, I just want to say, do you think this move and getting this deal done, Mr. President, do you think this honors the legacy of Charlie Kirk? You mentioned that he specifically pushed you to get involved with TikTok and your campaign helped you win young voters. Do you think this deal honors him to win? Well, I think it's a good thing. It's a good sign. We're doing very well, as you know, with the trade deals. We're doing very well with China and a lot of them. We were never treated properly. We were for four years, actually, but we were never treated very properly by other countries. And we're doing well. We've never done this well. We have because of the tariffs that are coming and the deals that are being made. $950 billion in one case, 950 billion where previously they paid nothing. We have, as you know, In Japan, it's 550 billion. South Korea's $350 billion. That's up front. And one of the things I can say, I announced it lightly before, but we're taking in tremendous amounts of money with tariffs. We've never seen anything like it. Nobody's. No country has ever seen anything like it. I'm going to devote a little bit of that money, a little bit of the tariff money to our farmers. Our farmers have been incredible. They are the ones that let us survive and eat and enjoy our lives. Right? Eat too much, maybe in some cases like mine. But I will tell you, we're going to take some of the tariff money, relatively small amount, but a lot for the farmers. And we're going to help the farmers out a little bit because during this transition period, a period where we're taking in incredible amounts of money, will have a little bit of a shortfall with the farmers until the tariffs kick in, because they haven't kicked in for the farmers yet. And I decided before, and I spoke to all of the people here that I want to make a contribution out of the tariff money, a small percentage of it, but it's a lot for the farmers. It will make the farmers feel very good. Just help them through the transition and ultimately they're going to be making a fortune. They may be. Will be one of the top. One of the top in the whole world in terms of percentage gotten from the tariffs we're taking in. But we have so much coming in. It's a very small thing, but I want to, in fact, just get the word out to the farmer because they'll be struggling until the transition is complete. Then after that they're going to do, I think, better than they've ever done before. Last time I told, I said, get yourself a larger tractor and more land. And that was when they were doing very poorly and they ended up doing. They did very well. That was with the deal we made with China. Unfortunately, Biden forgot about the deal and he never enforced. I enforced it till the end and China was very honorable, but when Biden came in, he didn't enforce it. So when you don't enforce a deal, they don't do it. So it was terrible. What Biden was very bad to the farmers of our country. So we're going to be doing that. It's an honor to do it, too. Brian, did you have a question? I was just going to say, what's your message to the millions of small businesses here in the US that really rely on TikTok to reach their end user, to market their service and their products? Well, thank you for that question because honestly, we were getting hit up. They use it for virtual advertising and they pay very little for it and nothing for it. And small businesses have become very successful because of TikTok. And we didn't think of that. You know, when everyone's saying, oh, TikTok and this and that. But over the last six months I was called by so many people saying they're going to go out of business if they can because they use it virtually as a advertising tool and without it, they wouldn't have anything. They wouldn't be able to get the word out about their good product or whatever it is they're selling. So it's a very important thing for small business. It's another reason I wanted to do the deal so badly. So let's go to another subject now if we might. Okay. And we'll was going to ask you about farmers though. Yes, go ahead. What does that look like? Is that going to be direct checks to farmers or is it going to be. Well, we haven't decided that. We'll be dealing with Brooke later and Secretary of Agriculture and we'll figure out how to get money to the farmers. And again, this comes out of the large amount, hundreds of billions of dollars of tariff money that's pouring into the country. The tariffs. Remember when I said a long time ago I said greatest word. It's my favorite word in the world. Then I had to say I was forced to say other things. Of course, rightfully so. Love, family, religion. I think I put tariff number five. I was forced because the fake news did a big number on me. It's one of those little. But let's say it's my fifth favorite word word, terror. But it's making our country very rich. And when our country is rich, I'm able to help the farmers and I'm able to help even other countries that are in trouble, you know, but we're able to help people that are in trouble. Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, it's all a benefit of this tremendous amount. And I hear numbers coming in today. Scott, Scott, where the numbers were very high, right?

Scott (37:40)

The, the economic numbers were off the charts, sir, unfortunately.

Donald Trump (37:44)

Right. Because this is the only country in the world where you announce great numbers and the stock market goes down. Because when you announce great numbers, they immediately want to take that success away by raising the interest rates. Why can't they, you announce great numbers and let them lower the interest rate so you can make numbers. This is the only country in the world they announced. We just, I don't know if you heard. Could you just tell them what the number was?

Scott (38:08)

And it was 3.8% growth, the biggest in years. And the important thing, as the president says this is going to be non inflationary growth just like it was in its first term. So strong growth, low inflation, real wage gains. And to the question on small business, small business owners optimism under President Trump last week hit a multi year high, multi year high. So small businesses Main street is back under President Trump.

Donald Trump (38:41)

But is it crazy? So I saw the market was down a little bit today. I mean, in all fairness, I don't feel guilty because we've set every record you can imagine. But it was down. And I say, oh, the numbers must be good, meaning the growth numbers are phenomenal. And again, this is during but a little bit of pre, the heavy, you know, the really success and the money pouring into our country through the tariffs. And I just say, why can't we have great numbers and lower the interest rates so we have even greater numbers? So people were saying, oh, the numbers are so good they're going to have to raise interest rates. That doesn't have to happen. And there's no inflation. We have really. I mean, the only thing we have is great success. We're having unbelievable success. So the numbers are much higher than anticipated, except for by me and Scott and some of the other people. And they'll get a lot higher than that too. But I don't want to every time we have good numbers say let's take all the juice out by raising interest rates. It's so backwards. It's so backwards, Mr. President.

Scott (39:47)

They don't appreciate, appreciate the importance of the third leg of your stool because trade, taxes and deregulation allows for significant upside growth without inflation. So eventually the people at the Fed will be able to focus on this like Alan Greenspan did in the 90s. You can have strong growth and low inflation. And I think we get the stock market up Wall Street, Main street, both.

Eric Bolling (40:09)

Doing well and low inch.

Donald Trump (40:11)

We want low interest rates. There's no reason that every time we announce these record numbers, these numbers are way above projection by, you know, all the great geniuses out there. I knew this was going to happen. So they had 71 different people and only two got it right. Me and another gentleman from, I think my wonderful Wharton School of finance, actually. So anyway, but I really want you to look at that. Every time we have good numbers, they say this is a good time because they're guarding against inflation. That may happen in two years from now. We have to change. We have to change our thinking. We should be rewarded for good numbers, not penalized. So, Mr. President, is that 3.8? Is that the start of a 3% growth for the entire year? You know, the number was projected at 2 because we're in a little bit of a transition period. But that transition period is ending faster than we thought on tariffs. The money coming in is much greater than people thought. And there's no inflation. Essentially, there's no inflation. We just went through the worst inflation in the history of our country under sleepy Joe Biden. He was sleeping and the Inflation was really bad. Worst ever, they say, 48 years. I'll take that, too. But I think it was probably the worst inflation we ever had because of spending and energy going through the roof and everything else. By the way, energy is way down. And you're going to really be impressed when you hear what happened today with President Erdogan of Turkey. I think it's great for both countries. I think it's great. We have great relationships with a lot of countries. And you may be even more happy when you find out, because we spoke with Bibi Netanyahu today, and we spoke to all the leaders in the Middle east who are great people, and we're getting pretty close to having a deal on Gaza and maybe even peace, which would be the first time in about, what, 2,000 years, I think, in the region. I'd say the first in. Steve, what would you say? First in 2000 years or maybe 1000? President 2 Millennium. It's a long time. Yeah, you go ahead. Did Erdogan agree to stop buying Russian oil? I don't want to say that, but if I want him to, he will. Yeah, but he didn't make that. Well, I didn't say, okay, you stop. But I believe. Yeah, I believe he will stop it. Yeah. You know why? Because he can buy from a lot of other people. He can buy from a lot of other people, you know, who really can't is Hungary. Hungry's got, you know, they're landlocked and they don't have a nice ocean where ships can sail in from all over the world. You know, they have one pipeline coming. Because I spoke with. He's a great guy. He's a great friend of mine. But, you know, that's a harder one for them. And, and Slovakia, too. They're sort of married to one pipeline. So I just, I just don't want to have people go blaming them when, you know, I. We spoke to them at length today, and it seems like that, you know, for them it's a little. But that's not. Yeah, Turkey has a lot of options. He's a great president, a very smart man, and he's going to take. He's going to take. He's going to do what's right. But we had a very good conversation having to do with the purchase of military equipment, et cetera. Any other things. Would you make a. Would you make a deal on F35s, Mr. President? I will be able to easily, if I want. So we may. We may do that. Yeah. But not yet. Well, it depends. He's going to do something for us. Yeah, please do. The US Government sanctions on Turkey. Can I ask you, We're a few days away, by the way. Here we go with this guy. Go ahead, let's go. Let's hear the question from the end of the fiscal year and a potential shutdown. Right. Is there going to be a government shutdown? Could be, yeah. Because the Democrats are crazed. They don't know what they're doing. They want to have the border opened up so that criminals can pour in. You know, we're doing unbelievable. Borders closed and people are coming into our country legally. They want to have, they continue to want to have men and women sports. They continue, want to have transgender for everyone. They want to raise everybody's taxes. At a number that's not sustainable. Is the only time in the world I've ever seen a party that wants to raise taxes. You know, I grew up in a family where I'd watch politics and I always liked it from the time I was very young. But I'd always see politicians say, we will lower your taxes. These guys, they campaign on raising your taxes, but they want to raise taxes very substantially. The one thing they're concerned about, about, I mean, look, Republicans have total control of Washington. You guys have control of the House, the Senate. There's you. Well, when you say control. So we need 60 votes for this and we have 53 Republicans. So we need seven Democrats. And those seven Democrats and others are.

White House Official (44:51)

Asking for an extension of a tax.

Donald Trump (44:53)

Credit on people who get the Affordable.

White House Official (44:56)

Care act and some other government backed health care.

Donald Trump (44:59)

So are you willing? Well, what they're really asking for is they want to pay for illegal aliens that have come into our country by the millions and get onto the rolls and they want to pay. And our people don't want to do that. Our people are taxed enough. You know, we just approved the largest tax decrease ever in the history of our country, including the extension of the previous Trump, you know, Trump tax cuts, the tax cuts that we just approved. They want to use those tax cuts to give the money to illegal aliens. People that came into our country illegally and that are leaving the country. You know, there's been a self deportation because of what we've been doing. That's been incredible.

Eric Bolling (45:39)

Okay.

Donald Trump (45:39)

Yeah, please. Secretary Hexer is inviting military leaders from all around the country on Tuesday. Will you also be there from all around the country to what? To Virginia, the generals and admirals of Virginia, for a big meeting. Well, I know, I, I love it. I mean, I think it's great. Let him be friendly. Let him be friendly with the generals and admirals from all over the world. Why? Is there something. No, but is there something wrong with. What is it about? Will you be there personally as well? And what is it? Well, I'll be there if they want me. But why is that such a big deal? I mean he's. The fact that we're getting along with the generals and admirals from all I'm remember, I'm the President of peace. It's good to get along. It's good. You act like this is a bad thing. Isn't it nice that people are coming from all over the world to be with us?

Vice President Mike Pence (46:26)

It's not particularly unusual that generals who report to the Secretary of War and then to the President, United States are coming to speak with the Secretary of War. It's actually not unusual at all. And I think it's odd that you guys have made it into such a big story.

Donald Trump (46:38)

Is it a big story? I mean, is that.

Vice President Mike Pence (46:40)

I mean, I don't think it is, sir.

Donald Trump (46:42)

I would think it's. No, but isn't it a good story? I mean, you know, we're respected from all over the world as a military force. You know, I rebuilt the military during my first term even though we gave a chunk of it away to Afghanistan. But we're talking Afghanistan too, by the way, about Bagram and about that. But that's a very small amount compared to what we rebuilt it by. But I rebuilt the military and we're very respected. We have the strongest military anywhere in the world. Without question. We have the greatest equipment in the world. We're selling the equipment to other, other countries and a lot of generals want to be here and they want to look at. They're also going to be touring equipment sites, they're going to be talking about the newest weapons, etc. Etc. But I think it's great when generals and top people want to come to the United States to be with our now called Secretary of War. Does everybody like the name? I do. You said something really interesting this week about Ukraine that you think thought Ukraine can get back all the territory that Russia had taken. Yeah, they have a shot at it because Russia prompted you to change your thoughts on. Well, because I've been watching the way Russia's and what Russia has been doing. I'm very dissatisfied with what Russia is doing and what President Putin is doing. I haven't liked it at all. He's killing people for no reason whatsoever. And they are doing, they are doing very poorly. Considering they've. They have put it all out on the line. They are. Their economy is going to hell. They're bombing the hell out of everything. And they picking up very little territory, if any. In fact, they're losing some territory. So I think it's been very bad for the reputation of Russia. This war should have been over. If this were our war, we would have had it over in one week. But you didn't use it. And they're getting into fourth year, Jeff. They're getting into the fourth year now. Four year of fighting. And you see what they've taken in the last month. They've taken very little. And you've been reporting the bombing, all the drones all over the place. 900 drones coming into certain areas like Kiev in one night. And with all of that work, they've taken over very little. So I'm very disappointed in President Putin. I thought I. I saw seven wars. In fact. We have a great leader coming, the Prime Minister of Pakistan coming. And the field marshal. Pakistan Field marshal is a very great guy, and so is the Prime Minister. Both. And they're coming. And they may be in this room right now. I don't know, because we're late. And I said maybe they'd like to join the. They actually may be somewhere in the beautiful. In the beautiful Oval Office. Yeah. Place behind you. You promised leaders this week that you would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. Is that something that you saw? I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank. No, I will not allow it. It's not going to happen. Did you speak with Netanyahu about this? Yeah, but I'm not going to allow it. Whether I spoke to him or not, I did. But I'm not allowing Israel to annex the West Bank. There's been enough. It's time to stop now. Okay? Yes, please. Jasmine Crockett recently. Jasmine Crockett. Jasmine. Remember what I said? Is she a relation to the late, great Davy Crockett? I don't think so. Jasmine Crockett, let me tell you, before you even ask, she's a very low IQ person. I mean, if we ever had to pass an aptitude test, that's the one should take one, because she shouldn't even be in the crowd. So I have no idea what you're going to, but I don't think we should waste our time. This is a low IQ person who I can't even believe is a congressperson. Between her and Ilman Omar and the group. You know, I met the head of Somalia. Did you know that. And I suggested that maybe he'd like to take her back. And he. He said, I don't want her. Okay, what else? Go ahead. You want. Let's hear what. Let's hear what Kravkin said. She compared ice rigs to slave patrol. I want to ask you to slave. To slave patrol. I want to ask you, do you think that there should be consequences for members of Congress who make these types of comparisons or use these siblings? Yeah, Well, I think she's gone over the line. And I think a lot of the people. Look, the Democrats have become radical left lunatics. They have policies that nobody's going to buy. And, you know, I see what's going on in New York. We're going. We're going to have a. Perhaps a Communist mayor because it's split up. You know, if the people would get together and have one candidate, they'd have a. Think, a pretty good chance. But it looks like maybe they're not going to do that. But we're going to end up with a Communist mayor. It's not even believable. My beautiful New York. When I left New York to become president, it was a great place, but it was the beginning of bad things because we had. De Blasio, had just started as mayor. And I said, this guy's a bad. This guy's a real nut job. Went to Harvard to teach management. Can you believe it? He went to Harvard to teach city management, along with the mayor of Chicago who went to Harvard to teach. The two of them are teaching how to manage a city into. Manage it into hell is what they did. But that was the beginning. And now we're going to go a step further. Now we're going with the Communists. Can I be honest? I think it's the greatest thing to ever happen to the Republican Party. I really do. I think if a Communist takes over New York City, I think that's. That's a gift to the Republican Party. It's sad for New York, but it's a gift. And New York will recover because, you know, sometimes you need a shock like that to straighten you out. But it's. Politically, it's probably a very good thing, Mr. President. Immigration, crime and the World Cup. Actually, that's a lot of. That's a lot of. You have a number of cities that are pushing back against your immigration deportation move as well as your crime initiatives. Some of those cities, I don't think they're very much. Some of those cities have World cup games. Yeah. San Francisco, they're going to be Very. They're going to be very secure. Secure. But could those gains move if they don't cooperate with your crime? Well, that's an interesting. I guess, but we're going to make sure they're safe. They're run by radical left lunatics and that don't know what they're doing. Look at Washington D.C. i just got numbers. There's like no crime in Washington D.C. you, Jeff, will not be mugged walking down the street. You can walk down the street with your family, you can walk down your street with your wife, your daughter, your son, and you're not going to be. We took out 1700 career criminals that we're not allowing back. And we have this city in great shape. You know, there was a time when every single. Not long ago, when every single week you'd have at least one murder. And look what's happening with Washington. It's safe. I went to dinner in Washington just to prove a point. I gave a press conference in the middle of a street. I wouldn't say Secret Service was thrilled, but I did it. And here I am. Look, Washington, D.C. is such a great example of what can be done. We did it in 12 days. We made it very safe in 12 days. And now it's much safer than that. One other thing, I drove around Washington over the weekend and I said, look at the difference. The grass looked great. Everything looked great. You know, we had a lot of our National Guard, and we didn't ask them to do it. They did it themselves. They're proud, they're great. And they were picking up paper, they were cleaning. The place looked really beautiful. So we have a great Washington D.C. we, as you probably know, we're going into Memphis and we're going into some other cities, and very soon we're going to go into Chicago. It will be safe for the World Cup. If I think it isn't safe, we'll move it into a different city. Absolutely. We'll take the world. If I think it's not. It's actually a very fair question. If I think it's not safe, we're going to move it out of that city. If, like the governor of Illinois who is, you know, look, last week, between last week and the week before, 11 murders and 38 people were shot. And he gets up and he says, this is a very safe. And then he says, crime is better. The reason crime is better is because cash put about five months ago, a whole team of FBI people there to get ready for when we go in. And they've lowered it A little bit, you know, like 20, 25%, which isn't good enough, but it's a good start. But that was only put there because they're preparing for us to go in. And they've done, by the way, they've done a good job. So then Pritzker gets up. We've lowered crime 25. It's because the FBI was there. So, no, if any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World cup or for the Olympics, you know, where they have Olympic overthrow. Right. But for the World cup in particular, because they're playing in so many cities, we won't allow it to go. We'll move it around a little bit, but I hope that's not going to happen. Yeah. Director Patel this morning indicated that the shooter in Dallas had been using an app to track ice. Does your administration have any plans to take down those apps or get them removed or any. Well, I can't tell you about that, but it tells you when they want to wear masks or they want to hide a little bit, why that's so important. But these are great patriots, the ice. And what a tough job they have. What an unbelievably tough job they have. And think of it, what are they doing? They're taking hardcore criminals out of our country and putting them back. These were largely criminals that were given to us by Joe Biden and his group of radical maniacs that surrounded this desk, just like these people surround the desk now. But they're not maniacs. They're very solid people.

Vice President Mike Pence (56:17)

Thank you, sir.

Donald Trump (56:20)

I'm glad I prefaced. But they're great. We have a great cabinet. We have great people. And he didn't have great people. He had terrible people. Look at Afghanistan. Look at. Look at the people he had running our military. That. That could happen. The most embarrassment, embarrassing day in the history of our country was Afghanistan. And 13 young people died. They don't ever talk about the 38 that were horribly wounded with legs and arms and everything else. Really horribly wounded. So the country's respected. Like it's probably almost never been respected before. I think we're respected at a level. And a year ago, it was a dead country. We had a dead country. A year ago, this country was dying. It was really. It was. It was really in bad shape. Let's talk about the next subject. Can we.

White House Official (57:10)

One of the most powerful deterrents we have to violent crime is the death penalty. As you said, your administration has taken bold, decisive steps to ensure that Washington, D.C. is once again a safe and secure city for its residents and all who visit. This is a presidential memorandum that directs your attorney.

Donald Trump (57:28)

This is an iHeart podcast.