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Real America’s Voice
Just the News No Noise with John Solomon and Amanda Head, February 25th, 2026
00:49:59
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- [00:00]
Rebecca Litwerk
This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human.
- [00:26]
John Solomon
Good evening, America. Happy Wednesday. Welcome to the latest edition, the day after the State of the Union edition of the Just the News no Noise TV show. I'm your host John Solomon reporting to you as always from the nation's capital. And we are going to break some big news on the show. Some of it you may have seen, some of it is moving right now@just the news.com let me get to the most urgent news that just happened just a few minutes ago. FBI officials confirmed to Just the News that the bureau spied on its former or its future director, Cash Patel, back when he was a private citizen in 2223 by getting his phone records. That's right. He wasn't the only one around President Trump that that happened to. They also did it to current White House Chief of staff Susie Wiles. Sources telling us that both of those phone record seizures were through grand jury subpoenas and were focused on allegations involving the classified documents case against President Trump. That's the one that eventually led to the raid and at Mar a Lago, then the appointment of Jack Smith, then the indictment of President Trump related to those documents that were found at his home, and then the dismissal of the case. Now, this is a pretty significant piece of information, not only because the bureau was spying on his future leader, but also because at the end of the day, there's no evidence that Cash Patel or Susie Wiles did anything wrong. They were never charged. They were never accused of any wrongdoing, but their phone records rifled through like now we know eight or nine members of Congress, scores of targets in the January 6th investigation, the dragnet of the FBI, the Justice Department, the intelligence community against all people who were conservative or associated with President Trump widens by the day, the behavior of those agencies, particularly under Joe Biden, becoming more troubling by the day. And on that note, a second story that I know you probably heard about, it was trending all day on social media. We're calling it the Fanny Files. That's right. Georgia's former prosecutor, the current Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis, was indeed plotting all along with the Biden White House, the Biden Justice Department and the January 6th Democrat Committee to plan her case against Donald Trump and his associates, those who were involved in protesting election results. Now, we all think in America we have protection from double jeopardy, meaning we're not going to be prosecuted twice for the same crimes. But what you see in the new documents that just the news obtained with the help of the America First Legal Institute, tremendous public interest law firm. We spent three years fighting for these documents. Fani Willis claimed they were privileged, claimed they should be redacted, claim we claimed we weren't entitled. We ultimately won them, 8,000 pages in all. You got to see them this morning. Is that the Biden White House worked with Fanny Willis and said, listen, we'll pierce President Trump's executive privilege. You can have anything you want. Now, that's very rare. Executive privilege is almost never pierced for a state prosecution or state civil case. Secondly, the Justice Department said, you want access to our people, no problem. We'll sign two e agreements and allow you to get our best people to testify before your state grand jury. Then the January 6th committee said, come on down, get any documents you want, any videos you want, we'll help you make the case. That happens. Then, as you're going to learn tomorrow, Fanny Willis office was offered a grant, literally. The Justice Department said, hey, just apply for this grant. We'll give it to you as a sole source. All right, so some money is exchanging during the same time frame. And then Jack Smith brings his federal case against Donald Trump. And then right after it, Fanny Willis just a few weeks later brings a state case, basically double jeopardizing Donald Trump and all of his colleagues in these cases, double draining the legal resources and the reputational stock that those people had by twice indicting them and then creating a dual barrel investigation and prosecution. Now, at the end of the day, both cases ended up getting dismissed, as you know, but millions of dollars in legal bills were spent, reputations were ruined. And now we're seeing a triumphant a triple headed siren. Working together Congressional Democrats, Justice Department and White House under Biden working with a Democrat prosecutor in Georgia to create that scenario. Pretty significant and serious stuff. Lots of people reacting to that. We're going to kick off the show in a few minutes with Chairman Barry Louderback, the man overseeing the January six investigation. This surprises him. He, he's going to give us his very latest. But before we do that, my amazing colleague Amanda Head, she covered that very long, very entertaining speech last night by President Trump. You got some day after thoughts about it, don't you?
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Amanda Head
Indeed I do. And I published them this morning at about 12 something middle of the night after my poor editor stayed up late to work on it. But I do want to focus for a moment on the president's address. And while some Democrats chose to boycott the speech altogether, several top party leaders were in attendance, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. And I want to highlight what may have been the sharpest moment of the night, where the President directly addresses both Democrats and Republicans. He looks at both parties and he calls on them to stand if they believe that the primary duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens. Take a look at.
- [05:51]
Darren Seldnick
So tonight, I'm inviting every legislature to join with my administration in reaffirming a fundamental principle. If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government
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John Solomon
is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.
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Amanda Head
That image, of course, spoke louder than any campaign ad ever could on live national television. The American people saw exactly where each party stands, stands or doesn't stand. Such a smart move from the President, but also a little bit risky. And I'm going to talk about that in a moment. So what's the Democrats response to why they decided to boycott the president's address and refuse to stand for the President's accomplishments? Here is Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley.
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Justin Fulcher
When an authoritarian proceeds to try to destroy a democratic republic and turn it into a strongman state, you need a high level of citizen protest and resistance. Otherwise, people think it's just acceptable and normal. And the next election really matters, because if the president succeeds in rigging the next election, which he's trying to do, then we can get an enduring strongman state and everything that we've honored and fought for for 200 years is destroyed. And we can't let that happen.
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Amanda Head
That has literally nothing to do with what the President said. And I think it's hard to understand how the Democrats relate to the President's America first agenda to authoritarianism. Since when is putting your own citizens first considered authoritarianism? But next, are tariffs really hurting our economy like Democrats and liberal media suggest? Here's Jameson Greer, our US Trade representative, giving us the truth on that. Every month From April through December 2025, the trade deficit, goods went down year on year.
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Barry Louderback
That's exactly what happened.
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John Solomon
So from April to December, the trade
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Amanda Head
deficit in goods went down by 17%. 1, 7%. When we look at, you know, is
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John Solomon
the trade policy, we're looking at the direction, the trend in the trade deficit.
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Amanda Head
So that's going the right way. 17% drop in the goods trade deficit since April 2025 is no accident. This is a result of President Trump's policies at work. It's a shame that the Democrats dislike President Trump so much that it clouds their judgment. But, John, I want to I want to ask you about this moment that we just showed a few moments ago with President Trump because that was a risky move because Democrats could have stood up and said, you know, we're not crazy like you say that we are. But they couldn't help themselves. They sat down. President Trump gambled, right?
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John Solomon
Oh, yeah. I think it's a safe bet. Wasn't too risky. I mean, we kind of see it every day, right. They can't applaud a young girl that survives a horrific traffic accident. They can't stand for a secure border, a safe city, a balanced budget. They can't stand. Yeah. They just can't do it. And I thought what the president did was he created the fulcrum upon which the 2026 election now will be debated. You're either a patriot who believes in these things and celebrate America's 250th birthday with pride and joy and appreciation for American exceptionalism, which the president put on, or you're a hatred, someone that thinks America's history is embarrassing, that we should bend our knee to global interests. And we don't applaud for survivors of victims. We don't celebrate our heroes. And by golly, we don't celebrate a closed border, a decline in crime and success on the foreign stage. Patriots versus Patriots. That's the 2026 headline tomorrow.
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Amanda Head
Along those lines, I think someone's going
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John Solomon
to do that now. All right. Speaking of patriots and the importance of what we've learned, much of what we learned about January six before we got these documents from Fanny Wells. His files came from our first guest tonight. He's the chairman of the select subcommittee on January six in the House Judiciary Committee. Great congressman for the state of Georgia. We talked to him a little bit ago. He's on the road. He was willing to dial in because the story is so big. Have a listen to what we talked about. All right, folks, getting back to the conversation at the top of the show. Yes, the Fanny Files. Very important stuff. Joining us now, the chairman of the House select subcommittee that's been looking at January six and all the shenanigans that went around it. He also represents the great state of Georgia. Chairman Barry Loudermock. Sir, good to have you on the show.
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Barry Louderback
It's good to be with you on the road today. But hey, this is so important, it's worth making a stop.
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John Solomon
We are grateful that you're with us. You had this right you right from the moment you started the J6 investigation for Republicans, you had a suspicion that the Biden White House, the Biden, justice department and the J6 Democrats. Well, they were in bad with all the states that were trying to bring junior cases to Jack Smith. When you look at these documents now, what's your top line assessment? Worse than we thought, I think.
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Barry Louderback
So the first inclination that we had that there was some type of coordination was during the previous investigation in the 118th Congress. I came across a loan document buried in some of the documents that they did preserve. And it was, in my opinion, something they probably forgot to take out. But it was a letter from Fani Willis to Chairman Thompson asking about him sharing some specific documents. Of course, when I asked the chairman about it, he didn't recall anything or if they provided documents, even though in their final report it referenced documents that they gave them. My issue is I want to know what they gave them, you know, and that's where I think our next step is very important.
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Amanda Head
Chairman, you have such an inter, you're, you're at an amazing intersection because you're from Georgia, so you're intimately familiar with her record and her behavior in Georgia, but you also obviously chaired up the committee that's looking into this. What, what it says to me that there was so much close coordination between what should have been two separate investigations is that they were willing to pin anything on any one, any reason, even if they weren't present at the time or had any involvement at all.
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Barry Louderback
They were so desperate, I mean, when you, when you go back and you look at this from a 35,000 foot level, they were so desperate to pin this on Republicans and specifically Donald Trump. Because if you go back, you look at the select committee on January 6, their goal was to make sure Donald Trump never held political office again. And if they could have put him in jail, they would have. But where we are right now, we're seeing that that was broader than just the Select Committee. Of course, Fani Willis was, she was so desperate to prosecute and imprison other people associated with Trump. They were willing, and we had the Biden White House going along with it, changing precedent that had ruled documents for centuries in this country. Right. Executive privilege. And they were so desperate to find something. And this is. John, Amanda, this is what strikes me is this tells me they weren't finding enough. They weren't finding enough to actually do what they were trying to do. So they were getting more desperate. And same thing with Fani Willis. She was so desperate, she was willing to do whatever. Even coordinating with select committee on January 6th. And some of the documentation that we're finding was late in the select committee's process, predominantly meaning they had already constructed their narrative. You know, they filed their final report in December of 2022. And this is when we really see a lot of coordination happening between the two, because they know that there's only a few weeks left before the Republicans take over. So they really have to get documentation and then start working with the Biden administration since they were going to actually continue on for two more years.
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John Solomon
Yeah, no doubt about it. All right. We look at the J6 collusion between the Biden White House, the Biden justice department and the J6 and these local state prosecutors in the larger light of weaponization in our system and our Fourth Amendment protected judicial system, you're supposed to be protected from double jeopardy, meaning you don't get charged for the same crimes in two different jurisdictions. But it looks like that's what the Democrats are trying to do, which is to not only create double or to create jeopardy in two places for defendants, maybe to bank their break their bank or break their will, but also to just drain the resources and the attention span of their lawyers and others. Does this ability for Georgia to bring essentially the same Jack Smith case as the federal case, but in a different jurisdiction far from Washington, does this look to you like a form of abuse? And what reforms could potentially be ahead that we should look at in the Justice Department, the FBI, and other places to prevent this in the future?
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Barry Louderback
Well, it does have the appearance of double jeopardy, but you got to go back and you look at what their goal was. Their goal was to put this, as they called, act of insurrection on the shoulders of Republicans. That's why they came after me with some fictitious claim that I led the insurrectionists on reconnaissance tours. And by the way, as much as they use insurrection and even in these documents the word insurrection is used, there was not a single person that was ever indicted or even the charges of insurrection brought up on them. So as much as it's used, it's interesting that they didn't even try to apply that to anyone there. But your question plays back to their desperation to pin this on Republicans. If they can't get it one way, let's get it another. Let's just throw everything against the wall and hope that something sticks. As far as what we're going to have to do about it, we need to really look at from Congress. We need to look at how the Department of Justice, even Congress, has been used in weaponizing. We see it happening right now. I mean, if you look at the dysfunction of Congress. It's because we're so focused on using legislation as a tool to beat the other side up instead of finding what can we agree on. We need to fix this for the betterment of the country. They start looking at, especially the Democrats. And you saw this last night in the State of the Union. They couldn't stand for anything. Their hatred for Trump is so great, they wouldn't even stand to acknowledge a young girl who was, you know, severely injured by an illegal alien. And it isn't that they don't care about the girl, it's just they hate Trump so much more. And this is what was driving the Fani Willis's, the Liz Cheney's, everyone who. And Jack Smith was just their disdain for Donald Trump and Republicans. So we really have to look at it through Congress, through the eyes of what can we do to stop this weaponization and bring more accountability. Because I've even found out now that even the Department of Justice was looking into some areas that I was not aware they were looking in. I knew that the select committee on January 6, they were looking into members of Congress, it appears now, and I'm talking about members of the House, that Arctic Frost was even delving in, looking at members of Congress regarding January 6th.
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John Solomon
Wow.
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Amanda Head
Mr. Chairman, I think a lot of people agree with you that there's got to be another look at how this is done. Would that also include examining and possibly rejiggering the processes? Because we do have processes in this country for document collection. And when it comes to, you know, an investigation, a state investigation in Georgia, bypassing Congress, just going straight to the DOJ to get these documents to coordinate, that seems. That seems like a gross. A gross abuse of power.
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Barry Louderback
It is. Because these are congressional documents. Okay. They were looking for documents that were collected through the process of the select committee on January 6, Pelosi's committee, at least the documents that they kept. And this is another question I have, because we know, as my committee has proven, that any document that didn't uphold their predetermined narrative, those just seemed to disappear. They were not made public. What. And this one, I want to know, what did they give Fani Willis? Did they give her everything? I can bet you they didn't give her the documents that they wanted to make sure never saw the light of day. Right. But the fact that these documents were shared in the way they were with the Department of Justice, and then the Department of Justice shared them, that's a huge problem. It was the same problem I had is when we found out that House documents were sent to the White House and Homeland Security for them to archive, not the House. This is what the select committee did to keep us from finding those documents. And so it is a huge problem when it comes to document management that has to be fixed.
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John Solomon
Yeah. So important, one last question for you, sir, before we let you go tomorrow. These same documents are going to show that as Fanny Wallace was coordinating with the Biden White House to get executive privilege wave and get the Justice Department to give two exemptions so that federal workers could come testify in there and get the documents from the J6 committee that the Biden Justice Department dangled a financial care basically offering and inviting Fani Wells's office to apply for what they called a sole source grant, meaning a grant that would ultimately not have any competition because they were the only one able to get it.
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Justin Fulcher
Right.
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John Solomon
What should we be concerned about that and what might you look into on that?
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Barry Louderback
Well, money talks. We always look at the money and where the money flows and what was that money that used for, especially if the grant was given. And I'm just speculating here, but if the grant was given to enhance her investigation into Trump, that's, that's a real significant problem as far as I concerned. And one other thing about the way the documents are handled and the exemption from certain documents, we have to make sure that the law applies equally to everyone. If you go back and you look at several programs that Obama was involved in, this executive privilege was not waived, it was upheld. This was for Biden administration to waive executive privilege for Trump's documents. That was unprecedented and it could have a significant change forever in this country. So we have to get back to a place to where justice means equal application of the law to everyone, regardless of party.
- [20:49]
John Solomon
Such a great point. They waived the president's. A current president waives a past president's executive privilege for a state case, not even a federal case, not even a national case, but a state case. Pretty, pretty remarkable. Mr. Chairman, we would not know half of what we know about the truth of January6 if it weren't for your determined efforts. I have a funny feeling we're going to learn a lot more based on the things we talked about today. But great to have you show. Always an honor to talk with you.
- [21:13]
Barry Louderback
Well, thank you. And again, people wouldn't know it unless you were out there willing to share it.
- [21:18]
John Solomon
Thank you, sir. Very kind of you to say so. All right, folks, we got a lot more ahead of for you, but first, a quick commercial break. Be back right after these messages. If you're the purchasing manager at a
- [21:31]
Barry Louderback
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- [21:33]
John Solomon
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Barry Louderback
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John Solomon
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Barry Louderback
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John Solomon
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- [21:49]
Barry Louderback
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- [21:54]
John Solomon
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Amanda Head
Welcome back, everybody. As we have been discussing, the president gave a remarkable speech last night. Just barely a year into his second term. He has completely turned the economy around. The economy is beginning to roar, our borders are finally secure, and now the President is fighting to bring back fair elections. So here are a few questions. Why is Iran accusing the president of big lies following his State of the Union speech? And as the U. S. Iran conflict continues to escalate, what's next for the administration and our national security? So joining us to discuss this and more is former senior adviser to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, Justin Fulcher. Justin, thanks so much for being here.
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Justin Fulcher
Thanks for having me.
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Amanda Head
All right, so I actually want to ask you about something that someone else said, not President Trump. Last night after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was briefed by Secretary Rubio, he spoke to the press very, very briefly. He didn't provide any criticism of President Trump or what he heard. He just said, this is very serious. The president is going to have to make his case to the American people. I, I was very surprised by, first of all, how abbreviated his response was to the media. What do you think? What do you think his thought is when it comes to what the president is proposing and what do you think that is?
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Justin Fulcher
Well, I think as he summarized. Well, I mean, President Trump is of course, weighing all the options on the table, from diplomacy to military and kinetic actions. And I think as Chuck Schumer stated very succinctly, I mean, this is a complicated situation and there are a lot of different courses of action. But ultimately, I think it's a good sign that while the situation is complex, it's a hat tip to President Trump for handling that with, with ease.
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John Solomon
So, Justin, one of the things that we're seeing in the media are reports that China wants to give hypersonic missiles to Iran to make it tougher for us to attack. We see some reports of concerns about biological weapons programs we might not have known about or chemical weapons programs. And then there's always the lingering and always concerning worry about nuclear weapons, though we probably set that back a big way in the July operation last year. Are there concerns on the ground that Iran may have some capabilities or some things up their sleeve that could be disturbing to Americans beyond what we already know about them?
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Justin Fulcher
Well, I think Iran has shown that, you know, they do have capabilities that could be very threatening to the United States and our allies. I mean, whether it's, you know, the enrichment of uranium and their nuclear program, but also, you know, in other areas that, that you mentioned and alluded to. I think ultimately we need to take these reports seriously. And President Trump has been very clear from the beginning that he may business when he. He talks about, you know, both, you know, stopping the nuclear program, but ultimately, you know, ensuring that that doesn't continue and whether there are other threats like, you know, biological or others. I think we cannot underestimate what Iran is capable of, and we need to take those threats seriously.
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John Solomon
That's a good point.
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Amanda Head
Well, China's not the only game in town who has been trying to help Iran. Venezuela, well, was not anymore, since our extraction, Nicolas Maduro, I think we all thought knew that this was going to negatively impact Iran, and it did in the aftermath. Is it still. Is it still negatively impacting them?
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Justin Fulcher
Well, I think so. I think Venezuela was a very good signal. And our successful operation there showed that even with Russian and Chinese capabilities on the ground, no country is safe from American military power. And I think that's a lesson that Iran has certainly taken to heart. And I think any country that aligns with, with China or Russia that we shot, we saw firsthand how the US Military was able to overcome any of those capabilities. And I think Iran would be no different.
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John Solomon
Justin, one of the questions would be, all right, it was clear what the mission for the military was last July, and that was to neutralize and set back by years the nuclear weapons program. If we fail at negotiations or if Iran refuses, we shouldn't say we fail, but Iran refuses negotiate meaningfully and we do take military action. Is the stated goal going to be regime change and we're done with this, we're going to create the circumstances by which the Iranian people can overthrow their mothers. Will that be the stated goal, you think?
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Justin Fulcher
Well, President Trump has, as I said, a lot of things, but regime change has not been a core focus at all. It's always a focus on the nuclear program in Iran and also, you know, more recently, the killing of innocent civilians that were protesting against the Iranian regime. So I think while there's lots of discussion about regime change. I think ultimately the objective stays the same, which is under no circumstances should Iran be allowed to develop nuclear weapons or advanced nuclear capabilities. And last time we saw with Operation Midnight Hammer, those were very limited and precise precision strikes. But ultimately, perhaps a broader military campaign would be required. But ultimately, I think the objectives remain the same.
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Amanda Head
Would another strike like what we saw last July, would, would that be the nail in the coffin for the Ayatollah?
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Rebecca Litwerk
Because it certainly.
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Amanda Head
I mean, they're like cockroaches. You can't blow them out with the apocalypse.
- [27:30]
Justin Fulcher
It certainly seems like they're, they're quite resilient, but I think they're definitely on the back, back foot. And as we've seen, those strikes were incredibly effective. And I could only imagine, you know, what Iran is thinking right now with the very limited strikes last time, but imagine, you know, 5, 10x, even greater military capabilities that could be deployed. We've seen F22s deployed to Israel and we've seen one of the largest military deployments in recent history throughout the region. So I think it's very clear that President Trump is preparing for all situations. And while we can't count Iran out, they are an adversary and they do have real capabilities that could cause harm to Americans. Our American military might is incredibly strong and prepared for all of those contingencies.
- [28:19]
John Solomon
Sir, before we let you go. After the bungled, failed withdrawal from Afghanistan, so many people in our military who served felt depressed. They felt ashamed a little bit. They wondered if their service had been meant anything in that 20 year war. Last night, the exceptional heroism that was honored time and again for the men and women of the uniform was so poignant. How important was that for the morale and for the future leaders of the military? To see a Commander in chief embrace greatness and heroism where it occurs almost all the time in our great military,
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Justin Fulcher
I think it was incredibly important and a true, just such a humbling thing to witness of how the President just honored these great warriors. I mean, these are folks that are completely silent professionals operating behind the scenes. They're definitely not seeking it for the public glory. But I think President Trump incorporating that into the State of the Union was such a powerful reminder, not just for the American military, but for the American people on how important our way of life is because of those willing to put their lives on the line to protect our freedom at home and abroad.
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Amanda Head
Yeah, so well said, Justin. We love having your perspective here. Former Pentagon official and senior advisor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Justin Fulcher. Thanks So much for being with us tonight.
- [29:40]
Justin Fulcher
Thank you.
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Amanda Head
Absolutely. All right, everybody. Coming up next, we continue our discussion on Iran and what the administration can do to support veterans across America and more.
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Darren Seldnick
Stay tuned.
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John Solomon
Welcome back, America. We're going to stay in America's favorite five sided building. Yep, the Pentagon, where the new War Department is making such remarkable change. You saw the president celebrating that last night with all the successes from procurement reform to refocusing on war fighting to getting to the next generation of weaponry and capability. Secretary Pete Hettseff has made an enormous, enormous change in such a short period of time. His former Deputy Chief of staff is here to join us. We love him every time he comes on the show. Darren Seldnick. Darren, great to have you.
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Darren Seldnick
Great to be on. Thanks for having me on.
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John Solomon
Some of my sources tell me that in the discussions in the last few days, there's been some concern that China might move some hypersonic movement missiles to Iran to give them a better chance to embarrass the United States or attack back. It's a reminder that a few years ago we were a lot, quite a bit behind on hypersonic missiles. I know we're starting to catch up. And Pete, excess is moving quicker. But when we look at that moment, how much were we set back by the Biden administration's failure to focus on future warfare fighting?
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Darren Seldnick
Well, when we came in there and I was there from day one, what a disaster. So people say, hey, how can we get rid of these generals? They were like bureaucrat generals. They weren't war fighters. That's why we have General Dan Kane, who's doing a wonderful job. So we got Mike Duffy over heading up acquisitions under secretary. But whether it was acquisitions of hypersonic missiles or military health care system, everything had just gone laid to waste for four years. They were more interested in DEI and woke, which is some of the stuff that I handled when I was doing the personnel before I came, Deputy Chief of Staff. And so I mean, one of the things that Hexath is, has done is like cut the bureaucracy, cut the excuses, get it done, and get it done now. And I got to tell you, if, if we had tried to do the Iran raid that we did or potential that we're looking for during Biden, I don't think they could have done it. We inherited a disaster. I mean, it would have been like the Jimmy Carter thing. But we got rid of the woke. Everyone is laser focused on being warriors and, and reestablishing that warrior ethic. And so that is why we had such a Successful. That's why we have successful Venezuela. Those are things that I would have been doubtful, you know, two years ago, three years ago. I mean, you know, the previous chairman was a nice guy, but he was an administrator. He was not. He was not a General Patton, not a warrior, not a Dan Kane. And so that's what we had to get, that warrior ethics. And we have to have leaders. You know, I'm retired military, retired Air Force. If you don't have the leadership, you don't have nothing. And, you know, there's an old joke that there's a reason there's a river between dod, you know, Dow. So, you know, they were like, getting rid of that river. They were just making another federal agency. Can't have that. You don't have a second chance.
- [32:44]
John Solomon
Yeah, that's a great point.
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Amanda Head
Great point, Darren. When a company refuses to innovate, that's when their competitors step in and they really, you know, step. Step on the gas. It's the same thing with military. When militaries don't innovate, that's when you see our competition, but also that's when you see conflict cropping up, as we did during the Biden administration. How far behind are we when it comes to innovation? I know, obviously, the hypersonic missiles, the F47, which I was in the Oval Office to see the unveiling of, we're desperately trying to catch up, but it seems like there's a lot to do.
- [33:12]
Darren Seldnick
Well, there is a lot to do. You can't undo four years in one year. But we've made great strides. My son, for example, works for Raytheon. He's working on the Golden Dome. And so they're trying to catch up there. And you still have some of the old. Even the military bureaucracy that is like, hey, we don't want to get along. And that's where the careers. A lot of good careers. But that's where the politicals are sitting there and pushing them and clearing away the dead work and making examples of those who won't go ahead and move forward on this stuff like that. Lot to catch up. Fortunately, we got a great team. The secretaries are great. The undersecretaries are great. Whether it's readiness with tata, whether it's Mike Duffy on acquisition, they are moving ahead. Bureaucracy is a hard thing to change. Our deputy secretary, Steve Feinberg, great guy, knows his. Knows his stuff and is, you know, behind the scenes. I mean, these guys are working 24 7.
- [34:07]
John Solomon
Yeah, you can see it. You can see it in the transformation last night. Americans got to look into the eyes of the. Of true American heroes. Pilot that has his leg shot so badly he's bleeding out and he's still flying that chopper out to get Maduro and the team out. A World War II or me, a Korean War veteran who rescues 150 people. And we hear about the military every day. We hear it sort of, sort of storified when you look in the eyes of those guys, when they stood up and you got to see them, that pilot standing with that, the walker as he's trying to heal back. What. What moment does that do, not only for Americans people to look into the eyes of a real American hero, but for our allies across the world and for our men and women who oftentimes during the Biden years didn't get any recognition.
- [34:49]
Darren Seldnick
Right. You know, it's. It's one of those challenges. You, you're on active duty and everyone talks about how great you are and you get discounts, and then the day you are off active duty is like you're invisible.
- [35:01]
John Solomon
Yeah.
- [35:02]
Darren Seldnick
And so, you know, this is the first time, this is the first president I've seen really provide that straightforward recognition. Look, I worked for President Bush as well, and he was a veteran, too. But no one loves our veterans and our active duty and shows it more than President Trump. I mean, when I worked in the White House, Trump won and met with them. I mean, that was his top concern. And that's how we got the mission act is making sure, hey, if we have our combat troops get hurt, I'm going to give everything they need to get done. And so it's, you know, that recognition by the president himself in coming to the State of the Union. I mean, so it's not just some guy who's given a lot of money or something like that. It's really making sure that Purple Heart's put on the recognition to the pilot. You cannot understand how much both the active duty Reserve, National Guard and the veterans appreciate that. A veteran, a president who really appreciates his military and his veterans and, and shows it and goes out of his way to do it and it's just not been done before.
- [36:04]
John Solomon
Yeah. Never saw something like that last night. That was incredible.
- [36:07]
Darren Seldnick
It's an amazing. By a president who truly loves the troops and put them first.
- [36:11]
John Solomon
Yeah.
- [36:13]
Amanda Head
He never misses an opportunity to talk about it. I want to go back to the bureaucracy thing for a moment because so oftentimes it's tied to waste, fraud and abuse. And I know you've spoken out about this $40 million a week that goes to Afghanistan. A lot of it ends up with the Taliban. That is a direct result of, you know, too much waste, fraud and abuse in the system. How do we fix it? It's definitely not just Afghanistan.
- [36:35]
Darren Seldnick
Well, I tell you, it's hard to fix because it's so embedded. Look, you have a very thin layer of politicals. You have a very thick layer. The State Department's one of the worst cases and that's how a lot this money gets distributed. You know, and trying to Americanize and stuff like that. Doge was a good step in the right place. We need to take that initial Doge effort and that initial Doge thought we need to institutionalize that. And I think we need the administration to put together more tiger teams that are getting rid of the fraud, waste and abuse. Government is self sustaining and they are very wasteful because it's easy to spend other people's money.
- [37:21]
John Solomon
Yeah.
- [37:22]
Darren Seldnick
And it's not. We don't have to ask for more money if we actually properly spend the money we have. It's a problem. It's a big problem in DAW where we were addressing it. It's a big problem in the va and so we need to do it. I mean, and some of it is just outright not caring, but some of it is just applying industry practices and best practices. I talked to Oracle about getting a better government discount. So it's not necessarily hard, it's not necessarily taking away benefits. It's not taking away. But every dollar you spend better in the Dow is a dollar you're spending for another plane, another ship, rather than wastefuling it on something that's not needed. Every dollar that you save by being more efficient in VA is money spent on veterans healthcare. I mean, let me give you an example. It brought to me. DOD gets a great discount, $18 for Express Scripts from Walgreens. VA spending 28 bucks. So all we have to do is apply that same contract to VA, which they don't know about. We're saving $10, we're saving $1.4 billion.
- [38:22]
John Solomon
That's big money. President Trump made a big statement last night. His number two is going to be in charge of this fraud watch and his fixing. That's a big statement to the American people that you can take the Vice President and say you're in charge, get it done. Darren, I think this is what you said when you got to there. You weren't sure we could do it a mission like Venezuela or Iran in less than a year. It happened in, in both of those cases. You played a big role in that as one of the key people Hexaf said in to get this started. Great to have you on the show today.
- [38:48]
Darren Seldnick
Thanks again. Thanks.
- [38:49]
John Solomon
We love having you on every time. Come in anytime you want. This is fun. All right, folks, we got more ahead. We're going to have a big special tomorrow now, a whole show about one issue. You don't think about it, but those tin cans that you put your food in, they're in the middle of a major tussle between the world and America. We're going to dive into that with a real mom right after these next messages.
- [39:17]
Amanda Head
Welcome back, everybody. The president's plan to establish long term financial security for millions of newborn children through his Trump accounts has been discussed here before. What makes TODAY special is that we have a mother who is a Trump account holder. And we're going to talk to her about her experience with that process and how President Trump's policies, policies aimed at making America afford again, are having a positive impact in Florida. Joining us now to discuss that and also what John teased a moment ago, this struggle for tin cans because everybody buys these for casseroles, for salsa. So we got to talk about that chair for Moms for Liberty, Rebecca Litwerk. Rebecca, thanks so much for being with us.
- [39:53]
Rebecca Litwerk
Hi, thanks for having us. I don't mean to correct, but it's moms for America. But we are moms for liberty, too. Liberty.
- [40:00]
Amanda Head
Freedom, absolutely. And it probably said America. I probably just glossed over it. Rebecca, thank you so much for being with us. Have you noticed that tin cans, those types of things at the grocery store? Because President Trump is all about affordability. He emphasized that over and over again last night. Have you noticed that those have been more expensive?
- [40:19]
Rebecca Litwerk
Absolutely. It's funny you asked that specific question about the tin cans because I'm down in Palm Beach County, Florida. But the last two months, we've gotten really cold days. And whenever that happens, I love to bring out my mom's recipe of good old American chili. And growing up, my mom fed me and my six brothers and sisters. So a total of seven. One of her staples was chili because it was very inexpensive to make. And when I was going to the grocery store over the last couple months, my what once was $20 and under pot of American chili is not that anymore. It's, it's more around 30 to 35, sometimes $40 depending on, you know, when I add the meat because meat has gone up, too. But it seems, it seems very silly when we're talking about canned tomatoes and canned beans, things that you don't normally think about, but they've become expensive. Another meal that I love to make for my 6 year old son, his favorite is Mac and cheese with a can of peas. Mac and cheese and peas. And that was normally like a three to five dollars meal and it's now easily six to seven dollars. So I've definitely noticed a rise in those, in those canned goods.
- [41:47]
John Solomon
I don't know, I'm actually, next time I'm West Palm Beach, I'm gonna look you up and see if we can go do lunch together. Because chili and Mac and cheese with pizza sounds really good, but there's a real, there's a real issue here, right? And it's not that our farmers foods are getting more expensive, is that we have this temporary sort of disruption in the marketplace. For years we didn't focus on tin plate, which is the sort of steel that we use to make those cans. It comes from overseas. President Trump's trying to rebalance the economy and get more fair trade for America. And so we put some tariffs and the system wasn't really ready to inherit or in house all of this tin plate production. When you learn that, and I know you do, you're studied up on this, it's kind of amazing that something like food is affected downstream from that. How do we get more Americans educated on how the system is sort of woven together and we need to fix it?
- [42:37]
Rebecca Litwerk
You know, that's a great question. One of the things that we do in Moms for America is I gather women, specifically moms, in my home once a month and we study up on our history. We fall in love with the Constitution all over again. We really equip ourselves as moms. That way we can teach our children, you know, all these great things about our country, you know, the divine blessing of self governance that comes, you know, not from Washington. It comes from us teaching our children in the home. And, and so this has been already a topic in our home about the grocery prices. I'm like, where are you shopping? Because where I'm shopping and a lot of us, what I'm finding is we don't have the extra time to go and search out these stores where we can find a few cents cheaper. But I've actually dug in that way I can go and share with my, with my mom community that all the way back to like the Pittsburgh Steelers like we were once, you know, you know, like dominating in the steel game. And so. But, you know, all of us, we really do have faith in the administration, we have hope that he will, you know, hear us. And, you know, I speak for all the moms and the parents that are feeding our kids. Like, it needs to be more comfortable again when we're talking, especially when we're talking about just like canned foods. But, yeah, I'm doing my part. That way I can educate my Moms for America group.
- [44:24]
Amanda Head
Rebecca, before we let you go, you know, I think that for a lot of Americans, cans are considered an economical choice. Like you said, with chili for me, with taco soup, it's a great option when you're trying to feed a big family. If moms in America are priced out of the can market, what do you do?
- [44:45]
Rebecca Litwerk
Honestly, we just have to make adjustments. I mean, what else can we do? We just have to say, I mean, if our grocery prices are still this high, we're just going to have to, it's going to be uncomfortable for a little bit. And, you know, even if you're buying generic, the generic prices have gone up. And so I just want to say hold out hope, because I have, I am confident that this will get worked out. But again, yeah, it's just going to kind of disrupt every other part of our life where we're spending so much money at the grocery store, we can't afford to do other things.
- [45:23]
John Solomon
But funny feeling, when the Trump administration hears from moms, when it hears from steel makers and can makers and from farmers who are all affected by this, they're going to listen. They're always very, very pragmatic. Tomorrow we're going to, I think, expand. They are. And I think tomorrow we're going to have a whole show that really dives into. It's a really fascinating ecosystem. We didn't know, but great to have Rebecca on. This is awesome.
- [45:43]
Amanda Head
Moms for America. Rebecca lit work. Thanks so much for being with us. And I loved having your perspective.
- [45:48]
Rebecca Litwerk
Thank you, guys. See you soon.
- [45:50]
Amanda Head
Bye. Absolutely. All right, everybody. Coming up next, Kamala Harris says President Trump's speech was full of lies. While US Senator Fetterman gives his remarks reasons as to why he shook President Trump's hand after the address. More on that next.
- [46:07]
John Solomon
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- [47:22]
Amanda Head
Welcome back, everybody. Still more reactions coming into President Trump's State of the Union speech last night. And John, I am shocked to my core that former Vice President Kamala Harris did not have something nice to say. Everybody, check it out.
- [47:36]
Rebecca Litwerk
I watched.
- [47:39]
Amanda Head
Was full of lies. And you know, when he wasn't lying, he was.
- [47:44]
Rebecca Litwerk
It reminded me of our kids going
- [47:46]
Amanda Head
to show and tell at school.
- [47:48]
Barry Louderback
It was nothing that was true about
- [47:52]
Amanda Head
really how the American people right now,
- [47:54]
Rebecca Litwerk
so many are suffering,
- [47:58]
Amanda Head
inflation is transitory. It was a smooth withdrawal from Afghanistan. Those to me sound like lies. Not what President Trump said.
- [48:05]
John Solomon
President Biden's mental acuity was just fine. I think she vouched for the guy until she didn't.
- [48:09]
Barry Louderback
Right.
- [48:10]
Darren Seldnick
Remember her book?
- [48:10]
John Solomon
She kind of backs away from it. Listen, the Democrats, Democrats have that as one of our sounding bearers right now. And then they put out a governor yesterday said, I'm all for affordability. Why my party in Virginia is about to tax the living dickens out of you is a party that has a real problem getting its message and its visuals and its people straight. I don't think it was a good night for Democrats at all. In fact, there's a moment where you see Hakeem Jeffries leaping over and he's telling someone. It's pretty clear we've been toasted it tonight. They knew last night. They took us lacking and there's no amount of talking points that are going to extract them from that.
- [48:45]
Amanda Head
Well, when your whole platform is we hate Trump and not your own policies, then yeah, that's exactly what's going to happen. But you know who didn't have a terrible night even though he has a D next to his name? Senator John Fetterman, because he's one of the few Democrats who actually tries to make sense of what's happening on both sides of the aisle and make his own decision. He shook and he wore a suit. He shook President Trump's hand. A lot of people gave him grief for that. And here's his explanation.
- [49:09]
John Solomon
You don't have to agree with everything. You can be in a different party. You know, I think it's just basic respect and courtesy. You know, whether it's for the office or whether it's just kind of, I mean, I can't think we can get to the place where, I mean, the State of the Union can't turn into like the spring, the Springer show.
- [49:33]
Amanda Head
John, basic respect, as he spoke about, used to be something that both parties had for the president, no matter who was in power. And what's ironic, that's an old school mentality. But John Fetterman is one of the newest members of the Senate.
- [49:44]
John Solomon
I thought his description of the Democrats behavior as a Springer Show, Jerry Springer show was right. There was screaming, yelling, silliness, walking out, not waiting for the president to leave the chamber and leaving early. He got it right. I mean, listen, this guy. If the Democratic Party ever figures itself out, guys like John Fetterman could be really important forces in bringing the Democratic Party back. But right now, now it's in the hands of people like Ilhan Omar, AOC
- [50:09]
Amanda Head
and you and the media is in the hands of people like Joy Behar, who said that President Trump's speech made her physically ill. Oh, the histrionics.
- [50:18]
John Solomon
I know what they feel like when they're watching her show.
- [50:21]
Amanda Head
That absolutely true. All right, everybody, that's going to do it for us tonight. We appreciate you being with us. We're going to be back here tomorrow night at 6pm Eastern.
- [50:34]
Rebecca Litwerk
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.