Breaking Point with David Zere - February 7, 2026

Summary

Breaking Point with David Zier — February 7, 2026

Podcast: Real America’s Voice
Host: David Zier
Date: February 7, 2026
Platform: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Breaking Point" dives into hot-button U.S. issues: political developments ahead of the midterms, defense innovation and threats to national security, DOJ and immigration enforcement updates, and the continually fraught U.S.–Mexico border situation. David Zier interviews a range of guests—reporters and analysts with insider perspectives—from the Washington Examiner, CDM Press, and the U.S. Space Force. The episode’s tone is candid, energetic, and unapologetically skeptical toward prevailing mainstream narratives, with frequent reference to Trump administration policies and ongoing governmental infighting.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. David Zier’s Opening Remarks & the State of the Country

• Travel Updates: Zier shares anecdotes from recent travels covering Trump rallies, innovation in defense, and experiences in locations like Fort Bragg and Minneapolis (00:15–03:15).
• Civil Unrest in Minneapolis: Zier describes violent behavior from protestors:
  "We were attacked, assaulted, surrounded, throwing stuff at us, trying to break the windows of our van. It was really crazy." (01:08)
• Economic Perspective: Notes about GOP policies, Trump-era economic growth, and criticisms of Democrat tax burdens.
  • "The only one I see that’s making it easier for people out there is the GOP and Trump... The economy has grown over 5%. It’s amazing." (02:40)
  • Discusses the high cost of living, especially for seniors and first-time buyers, despite national economic improvements.

2. National Security: Defense Innovation and Space Force

2A. Space Force Recruiting (07:50–10:43)

• Interview with Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd (Space Force):
  • Space Force is the newest military branch (about five years old), focusing on satellite operations, engineering, and defending space assets.
  • Emphasis on cyber intelligence and joint operations with other military branches.
  • "A lot of the training is based around cyber intelligence and space operations... making sure our satellites are good to go and doing what is necessary to defend our nation." — TSgt. Travis Dowd (09:18)
  • Space Force comprises about 9,000 "guardians," with recruitment open to ages 17–42.

2B. Interview Highlights with El Todd Wood (CDM Press) (24:50–35:42)

• Defense Acquisition & Military Innovation:
  • Positive shifts in Pentagon culture toward rapid innovation and putting equipment into warfighters’ hands.
  • Describes cross-sector cooperation (military, academia, private industry) and mentions advances like frangible ammunition and drone technology from the Ukraine conflict.
  • "I am really impressed and I’m pleased, pleasantly surprised, but very pleased at the attitude that we’re going to support our war fighters and not just the contracts in Washington DC." — El Todd Wood (25:34)
  • Critiques on previous DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) efforts, advocating for a focus on merit and warfighting capability.
• Space Security Threats:
  • Zier and Wood discuss terrestrial-based lasers (China), potential WMDs in space (Russia), and hunter-killer satellites as rising threats.

3. Justice & Political Developments

3A. DOJ Actions in Fulton County, Georgia (12:50–18:33)

• Guest: Kalyn Deese (DOJ reporter, Washington Examiner)
• Fulton County Election Raid:
  • FBI seized materials and ballot machines; local officials "quite alarmed" and calling it a "threat to democracy."
  • Over 315,000 ballots had accountability issues—missing signatures.
  • County faces up to $1 million in fines.
  • Discussion about possible vindication for figures like Rudy Giuliani in light of new revelations.
  • "I think it definitely is beginning to show that anyone who was essentially mocking or, you know, taking people to the court for every penny... it's showing that those people were... trying to distract from what is actually going on..." — Kalyn Deese (15:29)
  • On criminal investigation pathways (evidence → grand jury → possible indictments), with focus on potential "conspiracy against rights of voters." (17:03)

3B. DOJ and Fraud Investigations in Minneapolis (18:33–23:39)

• Fraud Allegations:
  • Minneapolis U.S. Attorney office faces personnel shortages and slow progress on major fraud cases.
  • DOJ recently appointed a national fraud attorney, indicating a shift to broader anti-fraud focus.
  • Quotes unusual behavior from government attorney Julia Lee, exemplifying the challenging climate:
    "She was complaining how tough it was to get information from various agencies and told the judge put me in contempt so I can get 24 hours of sleep." (22:00)
• Administration/Federal–Local Dynamics:
  • Federal prosecutors are stretched thin, risking investigation delays.

4. Border & Immigration Enforcement

Interview with Anna Giratelli (Homeland Security Reporter, Washington Examiner) (36:42–47:43)

• DHS Unity Tour:
  • Gov. Kristi Noem in Nogales with border officials, projecting a united front amidst internal DHS infighting.
• Impact of New Strategies:
  • Tom Holman’s focus on jail/prison pick-ups reducing the need for ICE to enter neighborhoods.
  • "We're seeing unprecedented cooperation from counties." — Anna Giratelli (38:12)
  • ICE pulling 700 agents from Minneapolis as situation stabilizes, but citizen checkpoints and tensions persist.
• Societal Division:
  • Zier recalls seeing protestors using racial slurs against officers and describes demonstrations as fueled by privileged, misguided youth.
    "There were all these, like, spoiled women who came out of the McMansions and went to a liberal college. Now they're protesting wearing the shmata in the street, like Arafat..." (39:23)
  • Giratelli clarifies that 60% of Border Patrol are Hispanic, countering the public’s misconception of a white-dominated force.
• Operation Specifics:
  • ICE and Border Patrol now target specific individuals rather than broad sweeps.
  • Collateral arrests may still occur if undocumented individuals are present during enforcement actions.
  • "They're going after specific individuals, hoping they can get them in jails, if not then going into the community. And he said, we're still going to make collateral arrests." — Anna Giratelli (40:24)
• Border Wall Progress:
  • In Trump’s current term, 30 miles of new wall built in first year (previous term: none in first 30 months).
  • Internal memos reveal 100 miles of wall projects on hold due to unapproved contracts.
• Socioeconomic Concerns:
  • Zier mentions slumlord housing situations with dozens of migrants packed into single-family homes.
  • Giratelli explains operational background for “stash houses” and smuggling logistics (42:34).
• Body Camera Implementation:
  • Officers look forward to body cameras for protection and accountability, noting past incidents where personal phone footage was used in critical cases.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the economic divide:
  "The average refund is going to be like another thousand dollars in the pockets of Americans when they do their taxes in a couple of months. And there’s jobs being created. Economy has grown over 5%."
  — David Zier (02:40)

• On defense and military innovation:
  "I am really impressed... at the attitude that we’re going to support our war fighters and not just the contracts in Washington DC."
  — El Todd Wood (25:34)

• On the FBI raid in Fulton County:
  "It sounded like a funeral from their perspective... the officials over there are quite alarmed by this. They're, of course, hedging it as a threat to their democracy."
  — Kalyn Deese (13:12)

• On Minneapolis protests:
  "I was in the mix because there was all these, like, spoiled... women who came out of the McMansions and went to a liberal college. And now they're protesting wearing the shmata in the street, like Arafat..."
  — David Zier (39:23)

• On ICE enforcing immigration law:
  "They're going after specific individuals, hoping they can get them in jails, if not then going into the community."
  — Anna Giratelli (40:24)

• On Department of War/Defense priorities:
  "I wish we’d get a lot of that same innovative spirit in the service academies and more of the staff level positions... so we can train really good officers going forward."
  — El Todd Wood (28:42)

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• Opening Monologue & National Issues — 00:15–07:50
• Space Force Interview (Travis Dowd) — 07:50–10:43
• Fulton County Election Raid Discussed (Kalyn Deese) — 12:50–18:33
• Minneapolis DOJ/Fraud Issues (Kalyn Deese) — 18:33–23:39
• Defense Innovation (El Todd Wood) — 24:50–35:42
• Border & Immigration Insights (Anna Giratelli) — 36:42–47:43

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Additional Highlights

• International Affairs:
  • Brief mention of Lebanon, Syria, and Christian persecution by El Todd Wood; updates on the Ukraine conflict and Chinese influence in Latin America (particularly Panama).
• Tech & Surveillance:
  • Border tech now includes all-terrain sensors, lighting, above/below-ground surveillance, and hundreds of miles of “waterborne barrier.” (44:33)
• Accountability in Law Enforcement:
  • Body camera rollout in border enforcement to bolster transparency and safety.

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Conclusion

This "Breaking Point" episode provides an unflinching look at American politics, security, and border enforcement as seen through a populist, security-oriented lens. The flow of guests and fast-paced delivery ensures a deep dive into the practical realities—both at the policy and street levels—and highlights the show’s skepticism toward mainstream and establishment narratives. The focus is on empowering listeners with information that the host and guests claim is often downplayed or ignored elsewhere.

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Transcript

[David Zier]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Guaranteed Human.

[David Zier]

Hey, everybody. Welcome to Breaking Point. I'm David Zier. You're watching Real America's Voice News. I've had such an exciting three weeks, have been all over the Midwest and the South, Southeast of the United States, Fort Bragg, west Orlando, at spacecom in Iowa, Clive, Iowa, outside of Des Moines, Donald Trump covering him coming out for the midterm races. Really important stuff. And also, you know, I was on the ground two and a half weeks ago, Minneapolis, and you got crazy people out there. They're definitely crazy, but they want civil war. It's just plain and simple. Not everybody, but their behavior was atrocious and I was trying to keep it civilized. And we were attacked, assaulted, surrounded, throwing stuff at us, trying to break the windows of our van. It was really crazy. I'm going to get into that a little bit later. But I just wanted to say that I'm very grateful for real America's Voice News for giving me these opportunities as a front row to history. And also I love meeting with the great people across the country, the small business owners, the people who never ask for anything, the diner owners. I love going to diners with our camera crew. Brandon Jarvis has been with me a couple of weeks of the last few weeks. Really exciting. I've got great stuff coming up next week. I can't talk about it now, but you'll see next week. Very exciting what's going on here. But the only one I see that's making it easier for people out there is the GOP and Trump. It's not coming from the Democrats. You know, the average refund is going to be like another thousand dollars in the pockets of Americans when they do their taxes in a couple of months. And there's jobs being created. Economy has grown over 5%. It's amazing. Now, we haven't seen it yet because like I'm here in the Northeast, it's still cold. Home heating oil still at $4 a gallon. It's atrocious. But I've seen gas as low as A$95 in the Midwest. So it's going to come down. It's going to take more time. I hope it's in time for the midterms because the Democrats will set back this country if they take back Congress. And this isn't a political thing. This is what's going to happen. If they take back the House and God forbid they took back the Senate, they're going to make it a living hell for the president and they're going to reverse all this stuff and stuff that hasn't been codified yet in executive orders. But one thing, thank God Trump's executive order on defense acquisitions was codified in the NDAA with bipartisan support in the House Armed Services Committee and in Congress. That was important because I've been spending a lot of time, I was at Fort Bragg with the Joint Innovation Outpost with the hundred with the 18th Airborne Corps and the commander, Lieutenant General Greg Anderson, for the opening of the new Lieutenant General James Gavin Joint Innovation Outpost, cooperating with private industry and academia to get our war fighters the equipment and the defense systems and the weapons systems they need at speed and scale. I covered the Navy Rapid Capabilities office launch under John Phelan, who's an amazing individual along with like companies like Palantir for shipbuild Os so we can start delivering ship ships. We haven't been delivering ships. And a lot of stuff going on in that category. And I have a surprise for you next week and we'll talk about that more. But the local and state governments, the tax liability is suffocating to the average American. And when you turn around and by the time your homeowner's insurance, which is 4 or 5,6000 a year easily, it was $700 when I bought a house in 97, now I'm paying $4,500. It's crippling. It's crippling for seniors, people on static incomes, retirees, first time home buyers. And then take the local tax burden, right? You're paying 1,000amonth in taxes here, 7,000 a year on average. On Long Island, I'm paying 13 for a quarter of an acre. Every time you wake up, it's $1,500 before you paid your mortgage. So if rates don't come down back to 4%, we're going to struggle. And now things are going to get better. There are more jobs. There's 19 trillion in investment in manufacturing and stuff coming back to the United States. It's going to be a very good time in that regard. But the overhead is still crippling for the average American. We got to fix it here. And Trump was out in Clive, Iowa last week. I covered him speaking at a, you know, conference center. And it was a packed house, a lot of people. I spent a lot of time in Iowa on the ground. I spent probably a month total between the 2020, 2024 Iowa caucuses, the elections, the presidential elections. I love the people of Iowa. It's like my favorite state, Iowa. Nice. And these are great people. The hard working men and women over there. And the GOP's fourth quarter haul for vulnerable toss up GOP seats according to the Cook Political Report, was larger than the Dems. Their opponents this past fourth quarter of 2025 averaging about 780,000 in their haul versus 710,000 average for the Democrats. But the Dems are still poised to take back the House. Got to get on this right away. So Trump was in Clive, Iowa to back up Marionette Miller Meeks in a very liberal, moderate district in Iowa in the first district, third district. Zach none. He's a conservative guy, but some MAGA people aren't happy with him. But he does represent the farmers and he's doing some good things out there. And Miller Meek's also trying to get this E15 approved which will help the farmers, the corn farmers and the people at the gas pump. It could be 1530 cents cheaper. Now you can't use this fuel in your lawnmower, but if you have a car made after 2021, it could be very beneficial at the pump. And most people lease their cars now. So it's like, you know, it's not as bad. You don't have to worry about gumming up that engine too much. Right? But I got a great show for you today. We got so many great guests from the Washington Examiner. I've got Kalyn Deese from the doj reporter for the Washington Examiner. I got Anna Giratelli, she's a Homeland Security reporter with the examiner. And then I got El Todd Wood from CDM Press working on a lot of Department of War issues, really getting traction over there, explaining to the American people that what Trump is doing, what the military is doing, they got rid of the DEI stuff for now and it seems like they're all in unison and the branches. And my interview with the Space Command, Stephen Whiting, four star general last week was just stellar and eye opening because you know, we have threats in space hunter killer satellites. The Russians may have a WMD in space. The Chinese may have a terrestrial based laser weapon that can be used, you know, against our satellites in lower orbit. And we got to move everything up to geosynchronous levels. It's geo meo and leo. You know, the low orbit stuff is vulnerable. But right now I want to get to an interview I did with the great men and women of the U.S. space Force recruiting at in Orlando, Florida from last week. These guys assaulted the Earth. I love talking to them and watch this. Great men and women of the U.S.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Space Force are here and we have a tech sergeant Travis Dowd. How are you, sir?

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

I am great.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Good. How do you like Spacecom 2026?

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

It's been a great experience meeting a lot of different people, especially with the interest of what we're looking for when it comes to Space Force recruiting.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

So I interviewed the kids of the first robotics competition. They're like 14, they're like geniuses. You're gonna head over there and recruit them.

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

We have actually already talked to them. There are a couple over there, seniors in high school.

[David Zier]

Very, very cool.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

So tell us a little bit about Space Force. I interviewed General Steven Whiting, the head.

[David Zier]

Of US Space Command.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Now, Space Force is the personnel that gets used right in the different branches.

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

Yes. So Space Force is obviously our newest branch, about five years old. It's on the way of changing what we see today when it comes to military operations. They are controlling everything from our satellites in space to engineering them and protecting our access to space and our assets that we have.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Really critical now it seems like maybe 10, 15 years ago the threats weren't as real as today. China maybe as the terrestrials based laser that can hit our lower orbit stuff we've got maybe Hunter killer satellites and can dismantle satellites up there. Maybe Russia has a WMD that can knock down our stuff. So what's the role of Space Force? What kind of training do your troops get?

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

So a lot of the training is based around cyber intelligence and space operations. The cyber career fields are anything from making sure our satellites are good to go and doing what is necessary to defend our nation. The intelligence is gathering intel to make sure we know where specific satellites are, where our satellites are, and getting information to the correct people.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

And Space Force, you've played roles in other things like Maduro in Venezuela, the Iran bombing and other things. So do you work with in like a kind of a SOCOM aspect where you can work jointly with other branches?

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

So yes, I mean that's what we'll provide with what we have with satellites in space is the information they need to be able to do their day to day jobs.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

How many soldiers are there in Space Force?

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

So Space Force, we have our guardians. There's a little bit over 9,000 at this point and continuing to grow.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Okay, and where does somebody go if they're in high school or aspiring to be in the military? This is probably a really cool sector.

[David Zier]

To be in, right?

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

It is, yes. So every Air Force recruiter is also a Space Force recruiter. And we can recruit for between the ages of 18, excuse me 17 to 42.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

You have a website, spaceforce.com.

[David Zier]

All right.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Sounds good, everybody. Travis Dowd, tech sergeant, U.S. space Force. Thank you so much for your time.

[Tech Sergeant Travis Dowd]

Appreciate it. Thank you.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

All right. Have a great show.

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[David Zier]

We'll be back with more Breaking Point right after this. Welcome back. You're watching Breaking POINT on real America's Voice News. I'm David Zier. We have a very exciting announcement. Amazon prime will be broadcasting on there in a distribution deal. We'll keep you posted with more information. And right now, I want to get to our next guest. I love talking to this guy. He's on the ground. He's in D.C. he's following issues all over the country for DOJ. And he is the DOJ reporter for the Washington Examiner. That's correct, Kalin.

[Kalyn Deese]

Yes, sir. Thanks for having me on.

[David Zier]

Yeah. Kalyn Deese, everybody. A lot happening across the country. Why don't we start with the this extraordinary thing that's transpired with the raid in Fulton County, Georgia. Is there going to be accountability for what Fanny Willis and everybody did down there? Finally.

[Kalyn Deese]

I think if you pay attention to what the tone was like during the raid from the Fulton county officials who were there on site watching the FBI taking out droves of boxes and looking at ballot machines. It sounded like a funeral from their perspective. And I think that it kind of gives a little bit of that tone indication that the officials over there are quite alarmed by this. They're, of course, hedging it as a threat to their democracy. But, you know, someone once told me, actually someone who works within Fulton county said, you know, never chalk up nefariousness to what could otherwise be ascribed to incompetence. But, you know, in either regard, it's a terrible atrocity. What's taken place in Fulton county with the management of the election systems there. We found out in December there was that issue with the ballot receipts that were taken account of or. And, you know, obviously, there was no signatures that were found on those tabulator receipts. And the problem with that is that those receipts accounted for 315,000 ballots. Right now, the county is staring down the barrel of upwards of a million dollars in fines for that, for that error that they did. And that's just really the tip of the iceberg. I mean, there's a real reason why the FBI would want to do something like this. And it kind of goes, you know, back to what the DOJ's broader effort has been over the past year, dating back into 2025, just how much they're focused right now on getting an account of this election, information that's coming, you know, voter roll records, things like that, that they're trying to get from some of these recalcitrant Democratic states. But the Fulton county raid was definitely, perhaps the tip of the iceberg. I'm not saying no to potentially other raids that could come down the pike as well.

[David Zier]

Now, Fulton county, as of a few hours ago, was demanding those documents back. What is the potential outcome here? Does this vindicate anybody like Giuliani or anybody? Does it? What can come out of this?

[Kalyn Deese]

So it really is one of those things where we're not quite sure about the implications as far as some of the folks that were dragged into those terrible lawfare suits, such as Giuliani, which, you know, fortunately, it seems like things are sort of on the up and up with that. But he still, you know, has suffered terrible, you know, having having his name dragged through, you know, the press headlines and things like that, all over concerns that seem to be almost vindicated at this point, just on the basis of there being a need for the FBI raid. I mean, a court approved this raid, and now we're looking at potentially there being hearings in the future that the county is trying to ask a judge for this material back. So that's sort of the next juncture that we're at. But, I mean, and the way that it sort of relates to all the other matters that you just referenced, I mean, I think it definitely is beginning to show that anyone who was essentially mocking or, you know, taking people to the court for every penny that they. That they own, such as Giuliani's case, I think that it's showing that those people were, you know, rather. Rather than, you know, looking in their own backyard, trying to, you know, point the finger and trying to distract from what is actually going on on the ground in Fulton County.

[David Zier]

Now, this information collected by doj, what would it go before a grand jury and there would be a decision to indict if they can get a majority. Is that what happens in side.

[Kalyn Deese]

Yeah, exactly. This. This information is being collected here for the purpose of a potential criminal investigation. We don't know yet if there, you know, is going to be criminal indictments, but there is certainly a lens that this is being looked into for potential criminal violations. But you're precisely right about this. There would be evidence that gets presented to a grand jury. The FBI would pass along the evidence that they find relevant to the attorneys, the prosecutors, and they would be the ones charged with making a presentation to a grand jury there in federal court. And they would then have to decide if, you know, a grand jury would decide if there's anything to prosecute. As far as what could actually be prosecuted on this, I mean, I think that there's definitely chances for potential, you know, I think as far as conspiracy against rights of voters, you know, that's not been you know, put forth by the Trump administration. But just looking at the basis of this, I mean, I think that when you're talking about ballots that were signed off on or that ballots that were still counted, yet there wasn't any actual signature verification of someone that took account for those. And you have the Secretary of State saying that that was all fine and dandy. I think that there's a bit of a need for a magnifying glass on that particular claim, and I think that that's potentially where some of this is focused on.

[David Zier]

Yeah. And Raffsenberg are running for governor. Right. So we'll see what happens with that. Let's shift gears to Minneapolis. Tell us about what's going on on the ground over there.

[Kalyn Deese]

Yeah, so we saw today that decision that was made and announced by the border czar, Tom Holman, sort of winding back around 700 personnel, immigration personnel on the ground. Yeah. But the look that I've been taking on Minneapolis is a little bit more focused on what's going on in the U.S. attorney's office there. Part of my investigation has been looking and seeing what at all is the U.S. attorney's office doing with this groundbreaking breaking amount of fraud allegations that sort of tipped off the Minnesota becoming a national news story and also what is taking place currently with ongoing fraud investigations. The gist of this is that there's a bit of a dilemma right now with certain prosecutors, some of them who have been there for a long time taking a bow out leaving the office. We saw that earlier last month with one of the lead prosecutors that just announced a recent fraud indictment in December that involved Medicare fraud. That individual is no longer with the U.S. attorney's office. And we're also seeing reports this week about additional departures. One of the things that really sort of gives you an idea of how dire the situation is is that the last I reported, which was this report that came out on Monday, there was not a public information officer even stationed at that, at that U.S. attorney's office. And that's a problem for us because we can't get all the information that we need about, you know, simple questions like, you know, what is your all's office doing with some of these fraud investigations? So if anyone has a question right now about why there hasn't been any new fraud, major fraud busts coming, part of it is that fraud cases typically take a longer time to investigate before any charges are announced. That's a normal sort of course of action. But the other thing is, is that there might be, at least in the interim, a bit of a hold up on being able to run some of these investigations out of the office simply due to personnel losses. And that's not a, that's not a good thing across the board. So the doj, you know, I think is, you know, doing everything that they can. They just announced, you know, this, this new appointment, this sort of overarching, you know, fraud attorney that's going to be handling, you know, fraud matters on a national level last week. But that doesn't really, that's, that's, that's just sort of, you know, addressing the issue that we are going to be tackling fraud on a national level. That's, that's, that, that's a promising sign. But if these local offices are lacking personnel, that's definitely a negative sign. And they need to be, you know, dragging all resources that they can to, you know, fill these spots, even if they're on a temporary basis, you know, even maybe assigning some attorneys from the D.C. main office to come in and handle some of these cases or else we could see some delays happening.

[David Zier]

Were you referring to Julia Lee who left? She was a government attorney representing doj, she's no longer there. She was complaining how tough it was to get information from various agencies and told the judge put me in contempt so I can get 24 hours of sleep.

[Kalyn Deese]

That's the thing, David, is I wasn't even talking about the Julie Lee situation. But that's a completely separate matter. And definitely her comments, I would say, are you can't describe them as anything beyond just bizarre. I mean, I think that in a lot of ways those types of comments are not reflecting in a good way back on the administration. But I don't think that that's the administration's fault. That's an individual person's fault. And that also pertain to a case, I believe it was involving one of these immigration related matters. So, yeah, that's the thing is, on the ground, the biggest, I think, takeaway that what the administration's been doing is working on these immigration related cases, getting people off the streets who are illegally in the country. But the backstop on that is you have this Chief Judge Schultz, who for whatever reason decided to go and compile what I would kind of call sort of a propagandistic representations, charting out all these different, you know, cases where he was saying this is where the administration violated court orders and there's no evidence that they actually violated the court orders. It's just this judge's perspective.

[David Zier]

Kaylin, we're out of time. 10 seconds. Where can people follow you on socials?

[Kalyn Deese]

Check me out on X. It's Kaylin Deese. Underscore. That's K A E L A N D E S E. Underscore.

[David Zier]

Thank you, thank you. So informative. We'll have you back and have a great one. Thank you again, Kaylin.

[Kalyn Deese]

Appreciate it.

[David Zier]

All right, everybody, we'll be back with El Todd Wood from cd. You know, I've been really focusing on the Department of War. Right. Rapid capabilities, Trump's defense acquisition order, getting stuff delivered to our war fighters at speed and scale. And somebody I've gotten to know as New Media in the Pentagon, and we've been asking the tough questions and we've been traveling the country. I just saw him at Fort Bragg. I want to bring on the CEO of CDM Press, El Todd Wood. How are you, sir?

[El Todd Wood]

Welcome. Thank you for having me back. I really appreciate it.

[David Zier]

Yeah, I know you're always up on what's going on. You know, you spent 20 years flying choppers, MH53s. Right. For special ops.

[El Todd Wood]

That's correct.

[David Zier]

Into. Into theaters. And so I know, you know, you know, the Defense side of things. So it's, it's great to meet you, you know, at the Pentagon in December and then we saw each other at Fort Bragg about a week ago and I know you were on the war room about that. And we interacted with Lieutenant General Greg Anderson, the head of the 18th Airborne Corps about getting stuff into the war fighters hands in cooperation with private industry, academia. It's a great thing, right? It's a great attitude. I feel like in the Pentagon going.

[El Todd Wood]

On, I am really impressed and I'm pleased, pleasantly surprised, but very pleased at the attitude that we're going to support our war fighters and not just the contracts in Washington D.C. you know, you and I heard where they're putting industry and academia and the military all in one room enforcing solutions for the warfighter on the front in the period of weeks, you know, he mentioned frangible ammunition, he mentioned drone cases that were very easily carried to the front by the troops. So I was pleasantly surprised. What about you?

[David Zier]

Yeah, I, I put that on my show last week when the dragon's lair members of Airborne anyone can come up with ideas. They sat in a room and they figured out instead of having this big drone case, you know, thrown out of the back of a C130 or whatever, these guys would parachute in with this kit they had designed by private industry that fits the drone right. Attached to their gear. Giving them the initiative on the ground over the enemy in combat. Right.

[El Todd Wood]

Well, you know, we're getting a lot. But yes, we're getting a lot of tactics and innovation and just ingenuity coming out of the eastern front in Donbass in Ukraine. From netting to protect against first person drones to all kinds of different ways to try to shoot them down, to protection to. We've seen a lot of thermal gear to protect your, you know, your heat signature so you can move around on the battlefield without being seen because that's what happens. Right. Once they spot you, you're almost dead. So it's, it's critical to stay concealed and be able to move. Right now they can't move. They're holed up and if they move they get killed. So it's a big, big problem for our troops.

[David Zier]

Yeah, I know that was a focus of yours, protecting our planes. So something like happened that happened over by in Siberia or the Kamchatka peninsula when they bombed all those bombers with drones. Right. To have netting protecting our assets. Are we exposed? Are they addressing this?

[El Todd Wood]

I think they are. There was a release yesterday, we put it up on armedforces press about Maybe you saw it that there's.

[David Zier]

Yeah, they saw that.

[El Todd Wood]

A lot of money and 20, 25 different companies to try to bid for these different contracts and become innovative. And it's just fantastic. You know, they get it on the ground in the offices of the Department of War all the way up to the secretary. And I just, I wish the, I wish we'd get a lot of that same innovative spirit and some of the service academies and more of the staff level positions because maybe it was just going to take time to get those people that were training down the field into those staff positions. We just got a new dean at the Air Force Academy. He's a war fighter, F15 driver, very smart guy, doctorate and astronautical engineer. And I'm hoping he's going to push out a lot of this DEI stuff in the staff positions, in the educational positions in the Department of War so we can train really good officers going forward.

[David Zier]

It's pretty neat stuff. I was at spacecom Expo in Orlando half of last week and you know, I sat down with Space Force guys and put a lot of interviews up from defense contractors and the Artemis mission and all this cooperation between civilian and military space ports from all over the world popping up. You know, we tested this XB1 boom jet that could break the sound barrier with no noise. It'll revolutionize aviation for civilian and military. Also hypersonic transports being tested at the Mojave spaceport, I think. So I sat down with Commanding General Four Star General Steven Whiting last week. I played the interview about space command and threats in space. And you know, the Chinese may have a terrestrial laser that can hit low, low orbit stuff. The Russians may have a WMD in space. There's reports potentially there's hunter killer satellites. Other countries have ASAT technology that could shoot down a satellite from the upper atmosphere. And you know, kind of like we do with the F15, right. You know, I feel like they're listening to us in the media and really interacting with us. What's your, what's your take on this?

[El Todd Wood]

Well, you know, we were at Fort Bragg in the seat of innovation for the army, you know, grunt on the ground. And I did get that impression. You and I talked to some of the same people and you know, they were very much focused on us giving them good questions for them to get better. But also I think there's a trust level there. You know, David, we're not going in there trying to catch them and catch classified information and put it out or trying to make them look bad or give them a headline that gets them fired. I think a trust has been built that we are there to report on what they're doing in a fair way. We're going to ask tough questions, but they're not going to be gotcha questions. There are going to be questions that can actually help our military get better, which is what, you know, journalists used to do back in the day in World War II and before.

[David Zier]

Yeah, it's a, it's an exciting time with the Trump administration in a second term and what's going on here. It's like you can't even keep up with it. We have about four minutes. Tell us about some of the other issues that you're engaged in.

[El Todd Wood]

Well, you know, our big, I guess it's how we cut our teeth as a company back in 2019 when we really got going in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. There's a lot going on there. There's all of this information coming out that Zelensky's right hand man, your mock, who was his closest advisor, has been involved in some of this, I'll call it dark arts, if you will. And this is coming from the first press secretary that was under Zelensky for two years. So this has really thrown the political, domestic political scene in Ukraine into a tizzy because essentially it's showing them who's been ruling them for several years and it's really angered a lot of people. So we're focused on that. We're focused on trying to report as accurately as we can on this, getting this war closed down and helping the administration do that. But also the Middle East, I'm going to be going to the Middle east again soon, Lebanon and maybe other areas and try to just tell people what's going on the ground, give them all the information they can make their own decision. You know, we're not going to be rah rah for either team. We're just going to be providing information.

[David Zier]

Yeah, I know last time we spoke you were concerned about Christian persecution in Beirut where they lived alongside everybody for a long time. And any updates on that you're going to wait and see when you get on the ground?

[El Todd Wood]

Well, I'm trying to get into Syria and meet some of those people. That's a, you know, it's not something you can do lightly. So we're working on that. I will be in Beirut and meeting with other, some of the same Christian leaders trying to get an update on what's happening and we'll be reporting on that in depth. And we may go to Israel like I Said we may go to Syria. I'm talking to some people in Iraq. These are areas that Christians have been liquidated, essentially. Lebanon is really the only rump state left.

[David Zier]

Yeah. And about a quarter million refugees fled Syria.

[El Todd Wood]

Right.

[David Zier]

When the government was taken down right. After the 2012 civil war. Right.

[El Todd Wood]

Actually, there's about close to 2 million Sunni Syrian refugees that are still there. They're being paid to stay there by the UN and by other NGOs. It's a real problem for the Christian community.

[David Zier]

Interesting. Yeah, I've been following that. And, you know, I talked to Bridget Gabriel, you know, grew up in a bomb shelter over there under persecution by the Muslims over there. And. And she's a Lebanese Christian. Right. Was rescued by Israeli soldiers. I just wanted to touch on two things.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Quick.

[David Zier]

We have about a minute and a half. You were talking about Devil worship by Yermak and. And Medyadev says Zelensky will be killed.

[El Todd Wood]

Yes. That if you, if you haven't read Master in the Margarita, it's one of the greatest Russian master novels out there by Volkakov. And there's a line in the book where this woman is going to clean this flat, where they're going to. The devil's going to kill this guy and another guy tries to stop him and the devil says, well, Anoushka has already spilled the oil and that means his head is going to come off no matter what. And so that's what Medyada Medvedev said, former president of Russia this week. And essentially we're going to get Zelensky no matter what. The. The die is already cast, so that is something to watch. And also, yeah, I mentioned your mock Zelinsky's alleged homosexual lover, but also advisor working with water from corpses and making all this magic bracelets and it's bizarre. That's who we're dealing with over there.

[David Zier]

In about 30 seconds. What's going on in Panama?

[El Todd Wood]

Big situation where China got kicked out of the port essentially by the Supreme Court. So you have China move into Panama. When we use sovereign action against Chinese economic bullying, which is a new tactic, you know, they can't really pay it off and get out from under a lot of these contracts, but they can use their court system to essentially use imminent domain and take back their infrastructure no matter what the economic deal is. This is a big change in Latin America. It's obviously coming with support from Trump and I'm glad to see it. It's a really good development.

[David Zier]

Yeah, there's a sea change going on because that never would have happened under Biden. Right. So it's very interesting. Where can our viewers follow you, Todd?

[El Todd Wood]

CDM Press is our main site. If you go to the top menu, you can see all our regional sites from the US all the way to the Middle east and Eastern Europe. We've got a lot there to go through. If you just put us in your scan a few times a day, follow our social media, it'd be a big help to us as we grow since we were deplatformed heavily a few years ago. Thank you very much.

[David Zier]

All right. El Todd Wood, CDM Press, thank you so much for joining us. And we'll have you back when you get back from Beirut. Thank you.

[El Todd Wood]

All right.

[David Zier]

Take care. Yeah, we love having him on. Just a wealth of knowledge out there. So when we come back, I have Anna Giratelli from the Washington Examiner. She's a Homeland Security reporter. And we're going to talk about what's going on down at the border and other issues. You're watching Breaking Point on real America's Voice News. Thanks for joining us.

[El Todd Wood]

We'll be right.

[David Zier]

Hey, welcome back. You're watching Breaking Point. Unreal America's Voice News. I'm David Zier. Hope you learned a lot from today's show. We're trying to educate our audience on what's going on without all the hyperbole and everything. You know, we've got great experts on, including my next guest as usual, Anna Giratelli, a Homeland Security reporter for the Washington Examiner. How are you?

[Anna Giratelli]

Good, David. Thanks so much for having me.

[David Zier]

You're very welcome. A lot going on. I've been traveling crisscross in the Midwest, in the south, and, you know, a lot of exciting things going on. One thing I saw was Kristi Noem was in Nogales. Did you get to participate in that?

[Anna Giratelli]

She was. She was there today with other border officials, the head of ice, the head of Customs and Border Protection, the head of Border Patrol. And what I'm told is it was a unity tour to look united as a united front for dhs, given the reports that the Washington examiner and others have been leading about infighting within DHS with career law enforcement officials. But I was, I was not there on the ground. I just got back from Minneapolis.

[David Zier]

I understand that because of Tom Holman's efforts and a little bit different strategy, you know, as much as you can get out of some of these blue city, blue governor type situations, that they're making progress around the country, there's something like, I think like 70 new cities that have agreed, because the big problem is they're not holding these criminals when they commit a crime. They're letting them out the back door, giving them lower charges.

[Anna Giratelli]

And.

[David Zier]

And they're creating this situation where ICE has to go into the neighborhoods to look for these people when they could have just picked them up in the neighborhood at the precinct or at the county jail. Right. Have you seen that increased cooperation?

[Anna Giratelli]

You know, I can speak to Minneapolis, and we're certainly seeing, according to the administration, a lot of progress there. And that was something that the border czar, Tom Homan, had said from the very beginning. If you would just let us in the county jails, let us in the state prisons, and we could apprehend people once their sentences are served or once they make bail, then we don't need to go out into the communities. And so Mr. Homan has had the same message from several weeks ago before he was the one overseeing this operation in Minneapolis now. And he said today that we're seeing unprecedented cooperation from counties, and they're going to be reducing 700 Border Patrol and ICE pulling them away from Minneapolis today. So there's still a little over 2,000 there. But it doesn't look like Minneapolis is about to be cleared up just yet. I know my colleague just reported today, Mia Cathol, that 1,000 roadblocks, checkpoints by citizens are going to be set up in Minneapolis, allegedly in the coming weeks. So they're doubling down as the federal government is sort of loosening up and saying, we're getting what we want.

[David Zier]

Yeah, they're disgusting. They're calling black ICE offices the N word, you know, and it's, like, so crazy. I saw that in the ICE protest in the city last year. I got knocked around a little bit over there. I was in the mix because there was all these, like, spoiled excuse. You know, you're. You're. You're a great woman. But there were all these, like, spoiled women who came out of the McMansions and went to a liberal college. And now they're protesting wearing the shmata in the street, like Arafat, you know, protesting ice, but there were no Hispanics protesting ice. And then there were, like, these, you know, young guys who were really aggressive in the protest, and the police took off their gloves with them, and they were able to do it. But the protesters were calling the cops, who are, like, three quarters of them were Indian, Chinese, Mexican, black women. They weren't all these white guys. And they're calling them the N word in the street. It's just so disgusting. I Just wanted to point that out. So tell us, tell. What's the latest?

[Anna Giratelli]

Yeah, I was going to say 60% of Border Patrol are Hispanic and most of them do are recruited from border communities. So it is not, you know, it's very different than I think the public sometimes is even aware of. But certainly the situation in Minneapolis is getting, I think, better, getting better results. Now, what Tom Homan has said is that were going to be going after specific targets, which under Greg Bevino, they were sometimes just going at large, sometimes going into a Home Depot parking lot and asking people for papers. And that causes a lot of fear in the community. And not that that's not what DHS wanted to do, but there's a better way to do it. Tom Holman said. And so they're going after specific individuals, hoping they can get them in jails, if not then going into the community. And he said, we're still going to make collateral arrests. So if we go into a home to find a specific individual, there's other people there. We're going to look at their immigration papers. And if we have to enforce immigration laws, then we're going to. But we're not going to be seeing what is so often mischaracterized by other media as ICE just walking through the streets and grabbing people. They know who they're going after. ICE has always stuck to looking for specific individuals. It's Border Patrol that was a little more liberal in how they were arresting people and finding people.

[David Zier]

Yeah. There was two things I wanted to point out. This stupid movie, one battle after another was. Was so brutal. It was like. It's like they made like, all the Border Patrol, like these white men, all white men, and they're all racist. And I was down on the border. 60% were women and Hispanic, you know. Right. So the whole thing's B.S. but, you know, we have a situation like a Long Island. I'm a builder on Long Island. I'm in the building industry for like 40 years. And, you know, they were illegals, were living like these landlords, these slumlords. There was a house near me that had 66. 66 illegal aliens living in a house, like a little house, you know, and that's what's going on. So if I went there, they would have a field day. Right? Unbelievable.

[Anna Giratelli]

Yeah, it's. That's. I mean, we. I've seen it so many times with stash houses, which is on the border. You come over, you get away from Border Patrol, you don't want to get caught. And what the Smugglers will do, will put you in a house they have or an apartment or sometimes like a really, really low end motel and they'll put 20 people or so in like a hotel room and say wait, wait a day, wait a couple days until your ride's going to come that's going to take you from here to the next city and then you ride from that place to this place. And you know, smugglers, I've seen it and border patrol always says this but people are treated as a commodity. So it's, it's unfortunate. It's terrible.

[David Zier]

Yeah, definitely. So you have any other breaking news or any other stories you're working on?

[Anna Giratelli]

We broke a story last night about the border wall progress. You know, it's In Trump's first 30 months, in his first term, he hadn't built a mile of new wall. And in this first year they've, they've hit about 30 miles. So by, by far exceeding where they were last term. That said, the secretary of dhs, Christy Noem, wanted to take a victory lap and celebrate that. But we, we got a memo last night from CBP which is overseeing construction and said 100 miles of wall has been held up since December because the secretary has not approved those contracts projects for Del Rio, Big Bend and Laredo in Texas. And so DHS pushed back strongly said they don't have the contracts. But the memo we have from, and unfortunately we couldn't publish the memo but it was, it's from the top administration officials overseeing the border wall. So these are folks who know what they're doing who are saying this is, this is where it' so again more, more infighting within dhs.

[David Zier]

Are they going to build more section before the midterms in case they lose the house?

[Anna Giratelli]

They are. They, they certainly are. They have, they have 46 or 43 or 46, I'm forgetting right now, billion in funding for the border wall and that includes all terrain, roads, technology, underground cameras that are just incredible lighting did the buoys that are going in 538 miles of waterborne barrier. So so much more than a wall. But certainly a wall is a part of that.

[David Zier]

I have a question for you. This guy Chongli Tao in Minneapolis, he was wearing shorts and they brought him out of his house to arrest him. He had to walk like what, 17ft to the car or whatever. They're like outraged by this, you know, oh this so you dehumanizing everything. Didn't this guy try to sell his own son? Do you know the story behind that?

[Anna Giratelli]

I Believe the last thing I saw was I believe they were looking for someone who looked very similar to him. And from what I recall, I don't think he had documentation or proof or there might have been a language barrier. So they took him into custody, brought him in, realized this is not the person, and then brought him back to his. His home. But my first thought when I saw that when I woke up every day in Minneapolis, the wind chill was negative 15. And it's. Maybe it's me as a woman, I said, they could have put some clothes on them. It's incredibly cold there. It's an incredibly difficult place to be outside operating in law enforcement, whether you're a local, state, or federal. And protesters as well as are out there day and with whistles trying to draw attention to ICE and border patrol.

[David Zier]

Yeah, it's gotta be very stressful going into that situation for the ICE guys too. Right. And there's so many elements going on. And 2 billion cameras.

[Anna Giratelli]

They're excited to get the body cameras. They're really looking forward to that because, I mean, even with the Renee Good killing, you had the footage that vindicated that ICE officer. He didn't have a body cam. It was. He was using his phone.

[David Zier]

Yeah.

[Anna Giratelli]

Filming it. And I mean, I spoke with someone else at DHS who said he should have been focused 100% on being able to grab his gun and other things, but he was that concerned about having, you know, being able to explain in case something did happen, and that that was to his benefit in the end. But that's why they. They want these body cameras, because agents and officers don't want to be holding a video and knowing that, you know, their futures could depend on if they film or not.

[David Zier]

Well, it wasn't the first time he'd been. He would have been dragged by a car or something, you know, so. And he was hit and he did suffer some internal injuries. And anyway, I want to thank you so much, Anna, for coming on and I'm always grateful for your time. And can I have you back as soon as, you know, we get back on the ground here?

[Anna Giratelli]

You sure can. I'm happy to join you.

[David Zier]

All right, Anna Jarretta, everybody. Homeland Security reporter for the Washington Examiner. And thanks for all your great info.

[Anna Giratelli]

Thanks so much, David.

[David Zier]

All right, everybody, Hope you enjoyed the show today. That's it for Breaking Point this week. I know you want more. I'm David Zier. I'll see you next week. I got something really exciting going on. I'll be able to share it with you next week and good stuff. So thank you for watching and we'll see you next time. This is an iHeart podcast.

[Interviewer/Host Assistant]

Guaranteed Human.