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Real America’s Voice
HEGSETH: “PROJECT FREEDOM” IS SEPARATE FROM IRAN WAR | WAR ROOM WITH STEVE BANNON AM EDITION
00:49:01
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- [00:00]
Steve Bannon
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:05]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
President Trump has directed US Central Command to restart the free flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz under the umbrella of Project Freedom. To be clear, this operation is separate and distinct from Operation Epic Fury. Project Freedom is defensive in nature, focused in scope, and temporary in duration, with one mission, protecting innocent commercial shipping from Iranian aggression. American forces won't need to enter Iranian waters or airspace. It's not necessary. We're not looking for a fight. But Iran also cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway. Iran is the clear aggressor, harassing civilian vessels, threatening mariners from every nation indiscriminately, and weaponizing a critical chokepoint for its own financial benefit. Or at least trying to. For too long, Iran has been harassing ships, shooting at civilian tankers from all nations, and trying to impose a tolling system. Iran's plan, a form of international extortion, is unacceptable. That ends with Project Freedom. Two US Commercial ships, along with American destroyers, have already safely transited the strait, showing the lane is clear. We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact. They said they control the strait. They do not. So American ships led the way, commercial and military, shouldering the initial risk from the front, as Americans always do. And right now, hundreds more ships from nations around the world are lining up to transit. Centcom, along with partner nations, is in active communication with hundreds of ships, shipping companies and insurers. All of these ships from all around the world want to get out of the Iranian trap that they have been stuck inside. As a direct gift from the United States to the world, we have established a powerful red, white and blue dome over the strait. American destroyers are on stations supported by hundreds of fighter jets, helicopters, drones and surveillance aircraft, providing 24,7 overwatch for peaceful commercial vessels. Except Iran's, of course, which is why our ironclad blockade remains in full effect as well. In fact, six ships tried to run the blockade out of Iranian ports as Project Freedom commenced, and they were all turned around.
- [02:49]
General Mark Milley
Sunday, at the direction of the President, CENTCOM initiated Project Freedom with the objective of facilitating the safe passage of international commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Over the past seven weeks, Iran's repeatedly threatened and attacked commercial shipping in the strait in order to effectively cut off commercial traffic and damage the global economy. By obstructing one of the world's most critical maritime checkpoints, a vital transit route for approximately one fifth of the global oil consumption, Iran is weaponizing the global supply chain. This action disregards established navigational rights and the law of the sea. And the regime led by the IRGC is effectively attempting to hold the entire global economy hostage.
- [03:37]
Steve Bannon
Thank you, Secretary Hexseth.
- [03:39]
Congressman Chip Roy
Last 24 hours or so, Iran's fired at us. We fired at Iran.
- [03:42]
Steve Bannon
I'm just going to ask you more
- [03:43]
Congressman Chip Roy
directly, is the ceasefire over?
- [03:47]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
No, the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately this is a separate and distinct project and we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively and we absolutely have. Iran knows that and ultimately the President is going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire. But certainly we would urge Iran to be prudent in the actions that they take to keep that underneath this threshold. This is about the straits, this is about freedom of navigation, this is about intervention, international waterways. This is about free flow of commerce. All the things that happened before and only Iran is contesting. So right now the ceasefire certainly holds, but we're going to be watching very, very closely right here.
- [04:33]
David Zier
Morning, Mr. Secretary. Mr. Chairman, David Zia, real America's voice. I wanted to ask you of any of the fast boats that have been either sunk or identified, are there any armaments larger than say small AK47 type stuff or any anti ship cruise missiles identified? And my second question is if there's a divide between the irgc, is there a way to get Tehran to agree to let us go after the IRGC that is doing these attacks without violating the ceasefire?
- [05:02]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Well, right now anything coming at our crafts, regardless of what's on it, has to be defended against and that's the case. I don't know what the exact armaments were on those fast boats.
- [05:12]
General Mark Milley
Small arms, nothing significant on the fast boats.
- [05:16]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Rifles are small machine guns. There were some small coastal cruise missiles shot down as well. So there's been, I think there's some frothiness in the beginning aspects of this that were dealt with very directly by our destroyers. And we're communicating both overtly and quietly to the Iranians to allow this defensive operation to happen on behalf of the world. There are some actions the IRGC takes sometimes that are outside the bounds of what maybe Iranian negotiators would like. That's their job, to rein that in and ultimately create a condition for a deal. Right? That's not something I talk about in these remarks, but that's happening in real time. Iran has an ability to make that deal. But what we're demonstrating with Project Freedom is they don't control the strait we know Iran is embarrassed by the fact that our blockade is holding and we can run ships through and we're going to help the world run ships through. And if they hold it at issue, the whole world knows who's doing it. It's not us. We're willing to open it up. It's Iran. And that creates a dilemma for them. We hope they make a deal.
- [06:19]
Steve Bannon
Tuesday the 5th of May in the Overlord 2026. Let's go right to David Zier. David, the buried lead in all that, I think is that when they talked about the ceasefire and the overall war, Pete said, Secretary War Hex has said that this is a separate and distinct project. What does that mean?
- [06:40]
David Zier
Project Freedom is there to get commercial shipping through in a defensive nature, I believe, and as opposed to epic fury, you know, to take out strategic and tactical targets throughout Iran. But this is a defensive measure. I thought it was interesting they pointed out 100 fighter jets in the skies coordinated by the 82nd Airborne with this next generation tactical networks. I thought that was fascinating having interacted at Fort Bragg with these guys. They're just the best. And I just got word, I think that four vessels crossed today. None of that, you know, up until a little while ago, I believe. But yeah, so my main question to him was also about these fast boats. You know, Defense News reported 1500 fast boats in February before the war started and 250 of them had anti ship cruise missiles. Where are they? And they confirmed that there's just small arms from these guys as well. And I also inquired about this fracture among the leadership which I guess could be incorporated into this defensive posture to go after IRGC targets that may be a threat still outside of Tehran claiming to want peace.
- [07:54]
Steve Bannon
Is the. Did they really answer your question? Because the way interpreted is that I've said that the people that are controlling the Gulf or controlling the Persian Gulf and are controlling particularly the straight Ahora moves don't exactly directly report to Tehran. They're kind of an entity unto their own. Did you feel you got an answer on that?
- [08:15]
David Zier
To a degree, I feel we did that. They acknowledged that these may be independent actors or listen, maybe Iran's talking at both sides of their mouth in Tehran, right? You know, a wink, wink, nod, nod to keep messing with the traffic and threatening our guys. But you know, that'll unfold and we're trying to maintain the cease fire, I guess going into the talks with China next week as well. But interesting developments, you know, UAE restricted airspace overnight warning pilots about traffic due to those other attacks. That happen? More sirens sounded in northern Israel overnight there as well. But I thought it was important also that Kane reminded us why we're there. Steve In 2024 in Jordan, near the Syrian border, three soldiers killed, Tower 22 by Iranian proxy groups, 718 engineers, Fort Moore, Georgia lost, you know, three US servicemen. Important to, you know, remember that as well. But, you know, I think they're answering what they can. They're not making policy out of the White House, they're enforcing it and putting it into effect. But they have dual roles now. And I also just want to point out these Aegis class, these systems, they have this 9.2 version of this defense system is really spectacular. They have a 10 series that's still based out of California. But these things can track all the traffic in and out of the Gulf. And I think between that and the combat air patrols and the tactical aircraft circling the Gulf and our Aegis class destroyers and these young talented men, I think they have a pretty good handle on facing threats. You know, one or two might get through, but to date they don't have any signs. And I would also ask if I had a follow up question, did China give them any parts for anti ship cruise missiles since the cease fire?
- [10:09]
Steve Bannon
No. I mean, and Scott Besson, it's already been said that this is going to be, at least so far, pretty aggressive discussions in Beijing about their, about their involvement because this is a great power struggle. However, Pete, I mean, here's the bottom line. Free navigation of the oceans. Yes, and the United States will always be there. But there have to be other countries. I mean, we've got Marco Rubio going to see Maloney. He's already said that she doesn't support the American effort here, that Europe's going to come up with some alternative. But the Europeans have to date shown no even inkling of interest in getting involved here. The United States Navy can't keep three carrier battle groups or two strike groups outside and keep running destroyers through their, what they said today was 1500 vessels. Those vessels service Europe and Asia. Virtually none of them come to the United States. At some point in time, this has got to stop. And I just don't understand why they say it's a separate project. The Iranians took the offensive in this war by striking into the Persian Gulf after the Israelis did. And then they closed the Straight or Hormuz. And so I'm kind of lost on the fact of how this is not looked at as inextricably linked. And the NATO nation's got to step up here. We can't, we can't sit there with those assets at that cost for month after month after month and keep it open unless the European nations are going to try to defend themselves, which is this to me is the primary defense of NATO keeping the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Hormuz open. Sir, thoughts?
- [11:47]
David Zier
Maybe we're moving the goalpost, hoping a deal breaks out, maybe trying to get to the China talks, but you know, I'm not convinced. And the reason I brought up to technology with the destroyers and with the 82nd Airborne is that I don't think Europe can do what we do. And maybe in some supporting role, you know, they could operate, but we have, you know, what it takes to do this. I mean, their carriers don't even have the combat air.
- [12:09]
Steve Bannon
But the other stuff, I got that, I got that, I got that. David, I understand that, okay, that's. You spend a trillion dollars a year to three and a half dollars a year, you're going to have advanced combat capability and we have the best trained troops. And I'm all for this blockade and starting it to get to a point, but this open ended nature, I mean this is why the Europeans, we got to put the pressure on them. Now. The reason they don't have that capability, their people get six weeks off in the summer. Their people retire at 50, their people have full health care, they have free university education, everything workers in the middle class in the United States don't have, they have why we paid for that combat capability and they refused to do it. Now it comes to a fact of something that has to be kept open for them. And for the Gulf Emirates, right. And for the Persians and the Chinese Communist Party in South Korea and Japan, it's time for the nations of the world, it's either of enough interest to them that they've got to step up and assist here in a meaningful way and eventually take it over. Or maybe the free navigation is not that big a deal to them. If it's not, we ought to come to that conclusion quickly. Anyway, David, where the great question today as usual. Where do they, where do folks get you in your reporting?
- [13:23]
David Zier
Yeah, and Europe's running out of jet fuel. They need that open. They can follow me at Dave Zier on X and David Zier on all the other platforms.
- [13:33]
Eric Bolling
Thank you.
- [13:33]
Steve Bannon
David Zier, fantastic, great reporting over at the Pentagon. David Zier, always on the move. They're running out of jet fuel. But you know the Italian papers as we had Ben Harno, I'll try to Get Ben. On the second hour, if we have time, we are going to go to the White House. At the bottom of the hour, the president is going to sign a proclamation. And knowing the president, I think he may say a few words and he may take a couple of three questions. Supposed to be open media, so the White House pool will be there. I'm sure the president will engage with the media. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't. We're gonna have. Chip Roy is going to join us next. Chip Roy all over another visa scam, bringing it forward to the American people. Also house the race for attorney general going in the great state of Texas. Mitch Little is going to join us at a water park paid for by taxpayers in the community. The Muslims are taking it over for Muslim day only. How does that sit with you? Doesn't sit too well here in the war room. We're gonna get to all of it. Birch gold. Take your phone out, text Bannon B A N N O N at 989-898. You get the ultimate guide for investing in gold and precious metals in the age of Trump. This is free, no obligation. It'll make you a lot smarter. Fly Gold has been a hedge against times of financial instability for 3000 years of mankind's recorded history. Check it out today. Most importantly, talk to Philip Patrick and the team at Birchgold. Congressman Chip Roy next in the war room. Want to keep up with everything trendy from breaking news to shareable jokes, pop culture bites to viral food spots. It's all on TikTok. Download TikTok now to explore,
- [15:20]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
here's your host, Stephen K. Band.
- [15:24]
Steve Bannon
Okay, we're going to the White House, bottom of the hour. We're gonna get a. Between now and then, we're going to start with Chip Roy. Chip, you've put out something on this U visas. Another scam. I mean, I want a moratorium and all this stuff. But talk to us particularly. Why? This is probably one of the visas that scammed the most, sir.
- [15:45]
Congressman Chip Roy
Yeah, we agree. As you know, I introduced the pause act last fall to. To pause all immigration. I think we need a moratorium on every bit of it. It's ridiculous. H1BS are a massive problem, as you know. And now you've got these things called U visas, which some people are aware of, but not many. This is one that is ripe for abuse. I've had this drafted for months. I've just been kind of waiting, trying to figure out when I could introduce it. With all the noise going on and what we saw is something that happened in Austin last year where there was a citizen here in Austin, Texas, who was being accused of a crime he did not commit, which borne out in the evidence later, he was exonerated, and the person that was accusing him was an illegal alien. And then using that accusation of being a crime victim to get a U visa to stay in the country, we created this class where somebody who can claim that they're a crime victim get to then stay in the country, and then they're fraudulently able to backdoor that into staying for a long period of time. And whether they're a crime victim or not is obviously, you know, is an incentive to falsely accuse somebody. But even if they are a crime victim, there are other ways to be able to get some sort sort of relief before you're deported. For example, we have visas that say, look, if you're a witness to a crime, and we might want you to be able to convict this bad actor, then you might be able to get a delay in a temporary status to stay here. But we've got this visa. This rampant abuse, we've seen it now unfolding, and so we ought to get rid of it. And we don't need this class of visas. And so I introduced legislation to get rid of it. But. But look, I don't want to present false hope. I'm tired of that. And all of you know, the posse's getting sick and tired of it, as I am. You know, we introduced the pause act. We're not seeing movement. You know, I introduced a bill to get rid of the tax status for care. We're not seeing movement. I'll introduce this bill. We'll go make some noise on it. No movement. We introduced legislation to try to kill the kill switch to ban central bank digital currency. We did get that moved, only because we demanded it. We have a Republican conference that doesn't know how to figure out how to win too often. Now the House is doing stuff and the Senate's blocking us. But, you know, we're going to keep working. But I want to highlight the issue to try to make the case that we need wholesale reform on our immigration system and visas that are being abused.
- [18:05]
Steve Bannon
Well, first off, the reform is going to take a while. I think you just need a moratorium. These U visas, when you say crime victim, are they a crime victim in their home country, or is it being a crime victim here in the United States?
- [18:18]
Congressman Chip Roy
Well, they can allege, I think both. But the U visas here, for example, this man in Austin who was being accused of A crime that was where an illegal was then trying to use that to get this U visa to stay in the United States. And you know, thankfully I'm not using his name because I don't want him, you know, I don't want to make him have to deal with us any more than he was. But he thankfully was able to get exonerated and this individual now is no longer able to claim the visa. But it's been abused for years and under the Biden administration it was abused badly and it's still being abused now. So we should just get rid of it. We should get rid of that class of visas altogether.
- [18:57]
Steve Bannon
Hang on. So if somebody could come here illegally, then be say they're a victim of a crime and then apply for a visa to stay here indefinitely, is that part of this program?
- [19:11]
Congressman Chip Roy
Yes, that's how stupid we are. I mean, we keep creating ways for the third world to come to the United States. We keep creating ways for people to come here, abuse our system, use our benefits and then, you know, we just allow them to stay here indefinitely. It's insane, Steve. I mean, like, you know, we can sidebar here on the Islam issue and the march of Islam into the United States. You know, I think you're gonna have Mitch Little on. He's a great American, he's a great representative in the legislature in Texas, one of our up and coming rock stars in Tex Texas who's standing up and trying to fight this. But we're doing it to ourselves. That's why the ultimate solution right now, like we did in the 1920s, is to effectively pause our immigration. You know, we have 53 million foreign born people here in the United States. There's no surprise why they're abusing the system, right? It's like, you know, I heard President Trump recently who's basically, I think, recognizing the extent to which the size of our government is enabling a lot of the fraud, right? And we saw this under Doge and under Elon. You know, people say, well gosh, Chip, how's there so much fraud? Why aren't you guys doing something about it? Well, I mean, I'm trying. We passed legislation, the big beautiful bill. But when you have a government that is this big, then there's gonna be rampant fraud. When you have visas that are just being given out to anybody. When we open the doors to anybody to come here, of course there's gonna be rampant fraud. So we should get rid of the U visas, we should reform H1BS and freeze those. Eli Crane, a good friend of the show. Eli's got a great bill on that front. And we should just pause immigration altogether, like my pause act.
- [20:45]
Steve Bannon
So your frustration is what led. Look, as you remember, I tried to talk behind the scenes. Chippewa doing this because we need him in the House. But you said, hey, Texas needs me more right now. You've got a crisis in Texas on Sharia law. You've got this whole thing with the Islamic situation where we get to this pool, this community pool that's being taken over. Mitchell's going to join us. You got the H1B problem, which I tell people when you go to Texas, it's right below the Islamic. The illegal aliens. They're coming after Texas because they understand it's the jewel in the crown of the union, that if you turn Texas purple, even take it over by other means and shatter it and shatter the people there, that you will effectively have amazing, incredible leverage to control the United States of America, this republic. So as the Attorney General, how are you taking all your frustration on Capitol Hill with the massive bureaucracy there? What do you intend to do as the Attorney General of the great state of Texas?
- [21:46]
Congressman Chip Roy
Well, Steve, first of all, you know, we're crisscrossing the state of Texas. You know, we're in Texas this week, we're not in Washington. And, you know, I was visiting with a bunch of great Tea Party conservatives in Montgomery county, north of Houston. Let me tell you something about Montgomery County. They did a poll at an elementary school recently about what language is spoken at home. And English came in fourth, Steve. Fourth place behind Spanish, Farsi. I don't know if it was Urdu or what the third one was, but it's insane. This is what we're dealing with in Texas. Yes, the issue of H1BS is significant, particularly in Collin county and north of Dallas, where there's massive fraud. We've seen Sarah Gonzalez has been highlighting that and doing a lot of reporting on that in Dallas, Fort Worth. And it's expansive and we've got to address that. But obviously, the issue of the March of Islam across Texas is the Number one issue. 330 mosques. Epic City is taking a lot of the news. But the reality is it's something that you gotta have somebody who is not only have the backbone, but has the legal acumen and the experience as someone who's a constitutional lawyer to stand up and declare what needs to be declared and to push the legislature and the leadership of the state to declare that we are, in fact, a Christian nation. We are, in fact, a Christian state. We are built upon Judeo Christian principles. And the March of Islam is a political ideology in which they openly declare that they want to wage jihad on Western civilization. If you won't acknowledge that, then you can't win the war. So, Steve, like, I'll do all the same stuff. We'll fight the, you know, sort of Al Capone and tax evasion stuff, right? So we use municipal utility districts and the Texas Workforce Commission rules and deceptive Trade Practices act and whatever statutes. We have to go stop things like Epic City and to stop these jihadis who are effectively using the first amendment to hide behind. But when you've got a legislature that will pass frankly, naive bills, including my opponent Maeve Middleton, putting forward a bill that would have made it easier for mosque to have a compound with housing development on it because of religious liberty, without being smart about that, you're actually fueling mosques. When we have legislators that say we need prayer in schools that really results in, you know, five day of prayers with Muslim kids sitting on prayer mats pointing to Mecca, then, you know, you've got a real problem. And you've got to have someone who will come in and speak truth. Like, we're at D day right now. We've got to make a decision. Are we going to defend our way of life or not? You cannot win a war you do not acknowledge exists. And look, I am proud to be running for attorney general. It's hard to leave my friends in the Freedom Caucus, but we've got to have leadership in the state of Texas right now. And if we lose Texas, then this country's toast. It is the front lines against this march of Islam. It's the front lines against the Marxists who are putting criminals on our streets. It's the front line of the corporatists with data centers that are stepping all over, you know, our beautiful hill country and water and our grid. It's the front lines for open borders when you have a different kind of president or secretary. And the consequences of open borders, which is another thing that we need to do, which is go after Plyler veto, where illegal aliens are getting approved free education because the supreme Court said so.
- [25:10]
Steve Bannon
Early voting, correct me if I'm wrong, I think starts on the 18th. Is that correct? Of May. Is that early voting?
- [25:16]
Congressman Chip Roy
That's right, Steve. May 18th. And then May 26th is election day. So we're basically two weeks out from early voting and three weeks from today is election day. We're doing great. We're getting a lot of polling data that's in our favor. We've gone up on the air. My opponent has not had any negative ads run against him until about five days ago. And now we're doing it and we're going to make clear what the truth is. And look, you know, I trust the people of Texas and I trust God. And look, we got a country to go save, a state to go save. And that's why I'm running. Chiproy.com chiproytx on X Twitter and keep doing what you're doing, Steve. We gotta and look, while I'm in Congress, I'm gonna keep running through the tape like Paul said, you gotta finish the race. And I'm gonna keep fighting this year to try to do what we can, try to fight Pfizer reforms, central bank, digital currency, try to make sure we're holding spending in check. But it's, you know, it's a tough environment up there, as you know, with the Senate refusing to do anything at all useful while they let the fake filibuster strangle themselves.
- [26:15]
Steve Bannon
Has the Senate, I just want to make sure I got this right because I heard some noise last night. Have they totally abandoned the Save America Act? Is there any possibility they're going to get up on their hind legs and let's try to get this thing done?
- [26:29]
Congressman Chip Roy
Yeah, I don't believe that they're going to do anything to either go to a 51 vote threshold or to do what Mike Lee and I would call a talking filibuster to force action on the floor and let them run out all the speeches. And that's what I think they ought to be doing. Or for example, on the, on the lack of funding for ICE and Border Patrol, why didn't they just say, look, when you've got a shutdown and you got Democrats jamming us, we are going to set the vote at 51 votes for a continuing resolution. Like what would have been wrong with that? Right. But they won't do anything. The answer to your question is is no, they're not moving the SAVE Act. Thune is letting a handful of members like Mitch McConnell block us and they ought to stand up and fight.
- [27:07]
Steve Bannon
Chip Roy, thank you for joining us. I know you're busy. Get back to work. And running for attorney general of the state of Texas, Mitch Little from Texas joins us next. Hi.
- [27:19]
Narrator/Reporter
Commenters online both within Texas and beyond are outraged after it was announced that a taxpayer funded water park in the Dallas Fort Worth area was rented out to hold a Muslims only, which will feature halal food, modest clothing requirements and a private prayer area what are critics saying on social media about Epic waters and the June 1st event to celebrate Eid? Here's what you need to know. The top ranked Epic Waters indoor water park in Grand Prairie, Texas is facing a firestorm of criticism after a flyer linked to the Waterworld suggested it was holding a Muslim only event which features strict religious clothing requirements and recommendations for patrons to practice haya or modesty, by maintaining personal space and lowering the gaze around members of the opposite sex. The third annual iteration of the event will be held at a massive 80,000 square foot indoor water park opened in 2017 at a cost of $88 million, which is funded by a 0.25% sales tax residents approved at the ballot box in 2014. The event, known as DFW EPIC Eid, noted three times on an initial version of a flyer that attendance was strictly for Muslims, but the event's organizer, Aminah Knight, told the Post the inquir prompted her to revisit the advert to, quote, make it clearer that this is a modest dress only event centered around celebrating Eid. The FAQ for the event says, quote, the entire water park has been exclusively reserved for Muslims. Although the event website says men and women will not be separated during the event, it notes, quote, we ask all attendees to uphold Islamic etiquette just as they do in other mixed gender spaces and encourages all visitors to follow a modest dress code to, quote, help preserve a spiritually mindful and welcoming atmosphere for all. The website also offers suggestions such as an entire what to wear section of the site, complete with purchase links for modesty approved swimwear for girls, boys and toddlers. Event tickets are being advertised for $55
- [29:20]
Steve Bannon
a pim or thank you. Mitchell joins us. He's in the Texas House from Denton, Texas. Mitchell, can you explain to us what in the hell is going on, sir?
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Mitch Little
It's a great question, Steve. So this was brought to my attention two or three days ago by my good friend Sarah Gonzalez. She posted the advertisement. What became obvious very quickly was we had a Muslim exclusive event at a taxpayer owned facility. The City of Grand Prairie operates Epic Waters, which is a large indoor water park. It's managed privately. It is open for rental events. The thing that sent everybody into an uproar was the fact that this is a Muslim exclusive event and I found out it was a third annual such event. I hadn't heard about the two prior ones, but I think this is a very serious civil rights violation that's going on here. The United States Civil Rights Act Section 2 provides that if you're making a public accommodation, whether it's a restaurant or a hotel or an entertainment venue like Epic Waters, you're not permitted to exclude people on the basis of race, religion, etc. And I think people are locally shocked at what's going on here. This is another step forward of a totalizing ideology that is not just religious in nature,
- [30:45]
Steve Bannon
this political. Because it's a political system, it's not a religion. They are pushing the envelope everywhere. And it seems like unless people like you and leaders like you or these great, you know, the people associated with places like Patriot Mobile and other, these Christian based organizations, whether it's the Texas Education Board for the school books or the situation here, these people are on, they are very aggressive and they're going to use every law that we've got to try to protect themselves as they try to go for Sharia supremacy. What is the, what are the, what's the political class there doing to stop this? Not just this day, right. And stopping this, but what are they doing overall to basically get on a counteroffensive? Sir.
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Mitch Little
What was fast, what was fascinating about the response to this, Steve, is once Republicans and conservatives kind of brought this to public attention, a couple of really odd things happened. One, the organizer of the event manipulated or changed the advertisement graphic from Muslims only to modest dress only. But if you go to the website, it makes it obvious it's just Muslims who are going to be allowed to attend this event. But the backlash that was going on online, it wasn't from Muslims. It was from largely white Democrat progressive liberals. And so we start asking the question, why is that group politically aligned with what the Muslims are trying to do? And from my perspective, it's because white progressive liberals are using Islam and its influence on our culture like an acid to break down the bonds that exist in our society. Like the fundamental norms of not denying people access to public buildings on the basis of either race or religion. You know, you had Chip Roy right on before me. Chip is one of the few people who understands that we are in an existential crisis. This is a battle that we are on the front lines of. I think a lot of Republicans are asleep about the significance of this, Steve. Grand Prairie is primarily under Democrat control as a municipality, but it's surrounded by Republicans in Tarrant county, in Denton County, Dallas County, Collin County. We have got to link arms and address this problem because the main issue is the culture is totalizing. Can you imagine if you had an event where they rented out Epic Waters and then said, you know what the rest of us religions got together today and we decided no Catholics or Jews at the water park today. We rented it. It's a private event. We're just going to exclude you. It's unthinkable in American society because we've created a culture where that's not legally permissible. And this acid that is dissolving our bonds between us as Americans is. Is doing its work.
- [33:35]
Steve Bannon
So what action can be taken here to make sure this event doesn't happen?
- [33:40]
Mitch Little
What I think ought to immediately happen, I think the United States Department of Justice, its Civil Rights division, should be intervening. They should absolutely be talking to the organizer of this event. They should be on top of Grand Prairie with subpoenas, if necessary, filing suit to intervene. I'd love to see the Attorney General's office get involved with regard to the civil rights violation as well as we need people to act in government because it's. I think the event is scheduled for June 1st. This is coming up quickly. And this is not the type of thing that should move forward in the state of Texas. If we're really under Republican leadership, then our Republican statewide leaders and our Republican national leaders need to. Need to get on the horse.
- [34:20]
Steve Bannon
Okay. And you're correct. We're in touch with all those people. So I'm assured that action is going to be taken. Mitchell, where do people go to keep up with you, sir?
- [34:30]
Mitch Little
Yeah. Best place to find me is mitchlittlefortexas.com or you can follow me at realmitchlittle on Twitter. I'm amazed at how we are fighting this battle.
- [34:42]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Every day.
- [34:43]
Mitch Little
We, as a state legislature, the conservative legislators, are talking about this issue literally every single day, Steve, in some format or another. We've got to get some legislator appointed downrange and we've got to do something as Republicans in Texas to staunch the flow of this. I'm thankful that Representative Roy is working inside of Congress to try to deal with the immigration problem. This is a problem that has been foisted upon us by the federal government and its permissive immigration structure. This is something that we need as a country to do something about it.
- [35:16]
Steve Bannon
Now, Peter McIlveney, who is in London and one of the best experts about how London has fallen to Islam. And they are a minority now, but they control it. They have to leverage the command by negation to control it. This is why in the Commons that Starmer didn't open the air base to us and the initial assault into Iran. He said he needed six to eight hours to get political cover. Peter McElveen had looked at Texas and he says the simple basic problem you have is the business community, the conservative business community is in bed with this Islamic invasion. Whether it's Halil, food, the real estate, all of it, that's the central problem. And until we address that and lance that boil Mitch, it's going to be a very tough struggle. Politics.
- [36:04]
Mitch Little
This is something that you've talked about before many times, Steve. It's the rent seeking behavior. It's how do we divorce ourselves from the desire to just have more of everything and, and go back to where we were culturally before this. We have to negate those economic incentives and understand that this red green alliance will absolutely eat us from the inside out if we don't take it on headfirst.
- [36:32]
Steve Bannon
The Marxist jihadist red green alliance. And they know exactly what they're doing. They're very tough, they're very focused and they have the business community working with them because like you said, it's rent seeking behavior. Mitch Little, thank you so much for joining us. I know you're incredibly busy, so thank you, sir.
- [36:47]
Mitch Little
Thank you, Steve.
- [36:49]
Steve Bannon
We are going to be shifting the show down to Texas before the, before the early voting starts. We'll give you more updates on that. It's this all important runoff election with the Senate, the attorney general, all of it. We'll get to that. Eric Bolling joins us. Eric, like I said, the president's supposed to come out and sign a proclamation if he takes questions from the media. We're going to jump in there because they had a fascinating press conference. First off, what's your, what's your view on this, on, on the Pentagon's Secretary Warheadseth and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Kaine. Your thoughts what you heard this morning?
- [37:26]
Eric Bolling
Yeah, I think they're, they're clearly fighting conflict or war in the Middle east. In the, in the, in the Gulf, the strait of horror moves, but they're also fighting the PR war with the American people and I think they're winning. I think a lot of people are hearing what they, they want to hear. They want to hear a tough talking secretary of war and a tough talking president. I mean President TRUMP, when those six or seven fast boats were destroyed by U.S. navy in the, in the Gulf overnight, President Trump came out and says we're ready to wipe Iran off the face of the map. I mean, so it's heightened rhetoric. It may be at the American people's public opinion or maybe at the Iranians. You were talking earlier with. I can't Remember who, but who's really running it and is it, is it these band of pirates? Well, the IRGC will tell you it's them. If I may, Steve, if you want this, I'll give you this very quickly. As you know, I talk to a lot of the biggest traders on the planet and they spend millions upon millions of dollars for the best information. Not what they're reading, not what Reuters tells them. They have people in the, the Strait in the Middle east telling them what's going on. In fact, and he was kind enough to share this to me, I will not tell you who it is or not the oil company. I will say it's a major integrated oil company from producer all the way through refined gasoline refining. 66 days of the war. 11 ships, Steve, in the last 24 hours have transited the Strait of Hormuz. That's up from three when we spoke yesterday. Vessels, 250 vessels are waiting to transit it. 100 of them are VLCCs or crude carriers. 100 of them are bulk carriers, you know, the container ships. And then there are 50 others. I will point out not only is 20% of the world crude oil passing through there, they're holding up 24, 25% of the global liquefied natural gas trade as well. So that's a huge thing is as countries and economies go off of crude oil, they're going on to a hydrocarbon, but it's natural gas because it burns cleaner, makes everyone kind of happy. Daily transport rates are up about 80%. But that's not the kicker. The kicker is the war premium. They actually charge vessels for a war premium, which was a few cents on a barrel of oil prior to the, to the conflict. It's up to $15 per barrel. Now remember, these are VLCC, these are oil barrels. They're 42 gallon barrels, not the 55 gallon drums that you see in a gas station. These are 42 gallons. So that translates into about 40 cents per gallon on the pump. Just an additional, just legally to pass through the Gulf. Forget what they're charging, what the pirates are charging as well. We're, we're at 4.48. Remember when I said 450 a long time ago and it was like, oh, you're panicking. I was called a panic because they said 450. Guys, I'm not on I here. Steve, you and I had a little bit of a back and forth yesterday and frankly people were coming at me because they listened to Steve Ban. But let me tell you, there's Two things here at play.
- [40:25]
Steve Bannon
I'm trying to disabuse you. I'm trying to disabuse you of the fantasies you have about free market.
- [40:30]
Eric Bolling
You know what it was when you tagged me to FOX News and news acts when they, they don't hear anything else. So but, but here's the reality. I'm just being, I'm being a fair straight shooter economist, oil, 35 years in the oil business. Here's what you got. You're going to come up against a break. You want to do this real quick when you get back?
- [40:47]
Steve Bannon
Yeah, yeah. No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to hold it to after the break. We're taking a short commercial break. It's time for you to have talked to Philip Patrick and his team. Look at all the different ways, 401ks, IRAs, rollover tax deferred, all of it. The methodologies of how you get into physical gold and why physical gold is a hedge against the declining purchasing power of the US Dollar which is the backbone of the world's financial system. Burch Gold.com promo code Bannon.
- [41:24]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Here's your host, Stephen K. Band Want
- [41:28]
Steve Bannon
to thank everything we're doing down in Texas. We had Chip on and Mitch Little earlier in the hour. Of course, this Islamic invasion, the Sharia law, Sharia law, supremacists trying to stop that. Also the H1B visas. I mean the fights down in Texas are for all the marbles. I want to thank patriot mobile 972 patriot call right now and you'll talk to one of the customer service people that have an East Texas accent or happen to be a U.S. citizen. They'll walk you through why it's the best phone service in the world right now. Also they'll walk you through the support they give to conservative causes, causes that, that you support. It's a Christian based company on Christian values. And, and you can't get two finer people than Glenn and Jenny Story. Just absolutely magnificent. Eric Bolling, that was a pretty good report. Particularly now we know I think they're how they're 1500 because yesterday Captain Fennell thought it might be 800 people were saying it's 2000. I think there's now agreed upon there's 1500 of these vessels, whether very large cruise carriers or some of these massive cargo container ships and everything in between that need to get out of there. And I think they said Today something like 20,000 crew members tied up. The question gets to be to keep, to get it open and keep it open is A. This is a massive undertaking. I'm so proud of the United States Navy not just to do the blockade, but actually open up the strait. But this is really helping the NATO. The eu. Suez Canal, Red Sea straight ahead, moves Persian Gulf North Arabian Sea is helping East Asia, particularly the Chinese Communist Party and in NATO. When are we going to start getting some assistance here? I only see American combatants. I don't see any rural navy. I don't see any French navy. I don't see the Italian navy. And in fact, Marco, and Marco, I think, is going to hold the press conference today because the press secretary is out on maternity leave having her second child. The. But he's headed to Rome. I'm just quoting the Italian papers that Ben Harnoit brought us through yesterday like a supplicant to talk to both the Pope and a supplicant to talk to Meloni about the Italians jumping in here and helping out. Sir.
- [43:54]
Eric Bolling
Yeah. I figure here, Marco, in between going to Italy and doing the press conference, he'll be painting the walls of the White House because he literally does just about everything Trump doesn't do. Can I throw something very quickly? Part of this again, this proprietary document that. That my. The head trader sent me. Regional impact heat map. Japan, 90% heat with this closure. South Korea, 80%. Our friends, however, China, 50% heat. India, 60% heat. In the EU, 30 heat. The point is, they're taking a lot of heat with. With this oil coming off the world markets. Briefly, yesterday we had this little discussion about, well, there's those who believe. Let's get this thing open. I'm in that camp. I wish we had just made a deal early. People jumped on me, calling me, oh, you idiot. You know they hate us. They want to deliver a nuke. I think at that point, you may have agreed. But then yesterday, Steve, you remember when Mr. Miyagi had the pebble and Karate Kid had to snatch it and he couldn't for a long time. Well, you're my Mr. Miyagi. You're my True North. You're my OG Conservative. They may have snatched the pebble from you, my friend, because yesterday you were complaining about. Yes, but the high price of diesel fuel, which is very relevant. Very relevant. You can't have both. You can't have lower gas and diesel prices and a regime change in the same moment. You can have either or, but you're going to sacrifice one or the other. There's literally no out. There's no easy out. At this point of, yes, we can get gas prices lower. For the midterms. But, yeah, we'll also get these fanatical Muslims who just want to kill us, and they'll die before we win anything to. To. To relent. So it's one or the other.
- [45:35]
Steve Bannon
They're fanatical Muslims. And by the way, Tehran compared to Texas, Tehran's a 10th priority. Marco Rubio told you at the microphone before he went to the Witness Protection program as Secretary of State, National Security Advisor of why we attacked because there was an imminent attack on Israel. The Secretary of State said it, and then as soon as he said it, he went to the Witness Protection program. I keep saying, what happening in tehran is a 10th priority compared to what's happening in the United States in the state of Texas and in Minnesota, in New York City. And your beloved New York City is now run by Marxist jihadists. I also. I don't. I don't understand. But hang on. I still don't understand you. Still. The question is, why are we shipping 14 million barrels per day to go to Europe and other places into Asia when. And we're still importing. And I realize we're just importing it from Mexico and from Canada, but we're importing still 13 million. Is it 13? I think 13 million barrels a day.
- [46:36]
Eric Bolling
Seven.
- [46:37]
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
Producing.
- [46:37]
Eric Bolling
13. We're importing seven.
- [46:39]
Steve Bannon
Yeah, seven. Seven. So we're exporting 14, which is great for the producers here, but if you want to get prices down here, don't you take that excess production and flood the markets here in the United States?
- [46:52]
Eric Bolling
Of course you do, but there's only. Well, I can only. We have a free market system, which we had a discussion about yesterday, which I believe in. I don't think we should mess with it when we tinker with it. When government gets involved in price fixing, supply fixing, you're messing with the free market. And just have this one thought for what?
- [47:10]
Steve Bannon
Okay, okay, hang on a second. Yeah. We have three carrier battle groups that are there to try to keep things open and take down this regime that's intruding into the free. This, this. This fantasy that you live by and people live by, and I hate to say it is from the Fox News in your Wall street days, but no, there's nothing on Earth. There's no. There's no. There's no law.
- [47:33]
Eric Bolling
The universe says, hey, gloves above the belt. The ref said, keep the gloves above the belt.
- [47:40]
Steve Bannon
Why can't you at least agree? When we get the 14 million barrels a day and we put it in the United States, diesel's gonna come next. I don't care.
- [47:48]
Eric Bolling
Democrat in office and then they have the the House of Representatives.
- [47:52]
Steve Bannon
I worry about them.
- [47:54]
Eric Bolling
You know what?
- [47:56]
Steve Bannon
I'll worry about that. I'll worry about that.
- [47:58]
Eric Bolling
You can't right now.
- [48:00]
Steve Bannon
We're out of control. It's called America. No, it's called America first economic policy. I don't care about shipping into Europe.
- [48:09]
Eric Bolling
Steve, you don't want government to be a dictator. In our mind markets, they can play so many games with us from top to bottom. What we can say what about when the Democrats government say that the the go.
- [48:20]
Steve Bannon
The government is in every market we've got. It's look at AI, look at all this.
- [48:25]
Eric Bolling
Let's make it more. Let's make it.
- [48:27]
Steve Bannon
Hang on, hang on. Do you have to bounce? Because I want to keep you for that.
- [48:31]
Eric Bolling
I got to get to Orlando. I love you, brother. We put we'll put the gloves on
- [48:36]
Steve Bannon
and above the bell, above the belt. Now hopefully I'll see this afternoon I'm doing the five o' clock show. Natalie is going on assignment. So I'll see you. I'll see you. We'll do, we'll do the transition. Eric Bolling, Love you, brother. I'll eventually convince you that that 14 million barrel is going to be used here in the United States of America. I just don't get it. America first economic policy. American citizens come first. The country comes first. Everybody else, you take it as you can get it. Short commercial break Back in the Warm in just a moment.