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This is an iHeart podcast.
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Guaranteed Human.
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Good evening, America. Happy Tuesday and welcome to the latest edition of Just THE News. No noise. I'm your host, John Solomon reporting to you from the nation's capital where today a federal grand jury indicted the suspected gunman at the White House Correspondents association annual dinner on four more charges, including attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump. Cole Thomas Allen, the alleged gunman, has been accused of attempting to assassinate Trump, assaulting an officer or employee of the United States with a deadly weapon and two other firearms related charges. By the way, the indictment makes clear the Washington Post or other news media who said that the Cole did. Cole Allen did not strike a officer with his gun. Well, today they make clear did. Now the charges come after Allen was placed under a suicide watch at a D.C. jail because he allegedly told the FBI that he expected to die during the shooting. Suicide watch protocols mandated Allen remain on a 24 hour lockdown in a safe cell. And moving to Iran now, where Secretary of War Pete Hector said this morning that the US Iran cease fire isn't over. It's still holding even as the two sides have exchanged occasional gunfire in and around the Strait of Hormuz exit. Also said the US Guiding vessels through the strait is a temporary solution. Now let's turn over to my amazing co host Amanda Head. She's been watching some other headlines. It was at the White House today for a pretty special briefing with Marco Rubio. He played press secretary today.
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He had a really good time doing it. Yes, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, he held that briefing at the White House and he answered questions regarding Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and a lot of different things. So listen to what he had to say on the end of Operation Epic Fury.
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Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives of that operation. And so the result has been that the United States has to do something about the fact that we're the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane which is within the straits of Hormuz to get product and to rescue these people that are trapped in there. And that's what we're undergoing now.
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So just because Operation Epic Fury is ending, it doesn't mean that we are out of the woods yet in regards to Iran. But we don't know what the administration's next move is. But earlier today, President Trump re established the presidential fitness test as part of the Make America Healthy Again movement. This is moving away from Michelle Obama's Let's Move initiative, which a lot of people argue did not really do a whole lot in terms of making America healthier. But this seemed to work. Check this out.
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From the late 1950s until 2013, grade schoolers across the country competed against each other in the Presidential Fitness Test. But others. And then we had the Obama administration. Wonderful, wonderful person. Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? We had the Obama administration, which phased out this wonderful tradition of physical fitness. Thank you, Barack, very much.
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Great job.
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And we're bringing it back. We're bringing it back. My administration is working very hard to defend America's cherished athletic traditions and pass our values of excellence and competitiveness to the next generation. So important.
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John, there's some amazing pictures and videos out there of the President on the South Lawn with a bunch of kids doing these types of physical fitness activities. When I was in grade school, I mean, you had to, you had to run the mile, you had to do push ups and pull ups, you had to climb a rope and. And that went away. And I think that we have been, you know, that has affected the health in this country. So I am so glad to see this coming back and imagine the incentive for kids across this country to get fit and to do well in these competitions.
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Hang out with the President in the Oval Office. There were some Oval Office. How cool is that?
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Listen, if I was a kid, I would have done it. You know, it's President Trump, but I would have done it for any president. That would be such a great opportunity. So I'm excited for kids.
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Yeah, I think it's a good deal. You know, I couldn't help when I was watching Marco Ruby feeling like that was a 2028 audition too. Now, obviously JD Vance is important, very substantial force too. But you just got a sense that he felt like he could fill out the podium someday.
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He was having a good time.
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Yeah, you could tell that was great stuff. Hey, one other thing I'm just keeping an eye on tonight. It looks like the D.C. metropolitan Police and to fire a bunch of police officials who doctored the crime statistics to make the crime situation in D.C. look less worse than it was. Now it's better because actually fixed it actually before it was bad, they just used the statistics. But people keep asking about what is when we get to get some accountability. Another example, we've had a lot of accountability in the last few weeks that's ongoing. Right now the DC Police union just put out a statement confirming that there would be termination. So we've got that up at just the news that. All right. While Amanda was out there checking out the President's news conference and with also with Marco Rubio, I had a chance to go spend some time with a former colleague of mine. We used to report together. We did a little Russia collusion stuff together. And today she's now the director of the White House National White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Sarah Carter has been quarterbacking a really significant. Okay, I think I may have lost. We had something going on there, guys. So a little bit ago, Sarah Carter and I had a conversation about the drug czar and the new policies that are going on there. A brand new fivefold attack on the war on drugs. Have a listen to what we talked about. All right, folks. Yesterday President Trump unveiled his five part strategy for tackling drug addiction in America. Starting with keeping the cartels out of the country, all the way through new ways of attacking addiction. The quarterback for that incredible plan is joining us right now. She's my former colleague as a journalist today, she's the director of the White House Office of National Control Policy and making a huge difference all across the world. She is Sarah Carter. Sarah, good to have you back on the show.
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Oh, great to be on with you, John. Thank you so much for having me on. And especially with such an important day and such an important strategy, a message for the American people that President Trump is going to be there right by your side, everyone in America, as we fight these cartels and we protect our children, our families, our communities and our nation from the poison and the scourge of drug addiction in America. So thank you very much.
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Oh my gosh, it's such a great honor. Every administration touches up their drug policy here and there. This isn't a touch up. This is a wholesale rethinking of every aspect of the war on drugs. Tell us some of the highlights. Are there really five major parts of the strategy correct?
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Absolutely. I think the most important part of the strategy and one of the parts that, I mean, I focused on heavily with my team here at ondcp. And I'm going to tell you, I could not do it without the incredible team here at the White House, our Office of National Drug Control Strategy. Everybody from detailees from the military, dea, working with our chief medical officer and everyone on board really made this strategy come to life, really did. And it was emerging threats. Emerging threats is number one. And it's there for a reason. John, you and I both know we've spent our careers as investigative journalists challenging what the status quo, looking for that story, finding out what our adversaries were doing. And many times it was far too late. The opioid epidemic in the United States, it was far too late for us to see what was happening. By the time people realized there was an epidemic and the pill mills were being taken out, all of a sudden you had the Jalisco cartel at the same time taking advantage of that and selling their heroin on the street like doordash. It was insane. And then from Jalisco cartel, we saw our adversaries, China, for example, the CCP and the movement of precursor chemicals coming into the Western hemisphere. The cartels using that and then pushing fake pills on our streets by the tonnage, where we saw the devastation in real lives. Souls lost over one every year. Men, women, children losing their lives. We don't want that anymore. So I was very adamant with the team here at the White House. We want to ensure that we stay ahead of whatever the enemy is going to throw at us. And that's why emerging threats became number one. Part of that is monitoring what's on our streets. And how do we do that? Well, we don't always get the truth from people because people who are using drugs don't always want to tell us that they're using drugs.
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So.
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So we monitor the sanitation, the sanitation sites and our wastewater, and that it's not going into people's homes, it's not invading people's privacy. But what we're able to do is go to the main sanitation sites. We're able to see what chemicals are in the compounds in the sanitation sites, in the wastewater, and we're able to extract that. And I can say that we've already had resounding results. Metatomidine was one of those results. Sadly, we were seeing an increase of mettomidine in the United States. And for the first time. For the first time, it's called rhino tranq on the streets because it's used for, you know, knocking out rhinoceroses, large animals like elephants and such, and used in farmland. But for the first time, the CDC and ONDCP issued a joint alert across the United States, warning first responders as well as doctors that this was out there. Please test for it. Please watch when people come into the or into the ER if they're on drugs, please test for it. So we know what's going on. And that has been a resounding success. We also just issued our first solo warning on orphans. So we're keeping a very close eye on the narcotics that are coming into the country. And the credit I give wholeheartedly to President Donald J. Trump and the Great team I have here at ondcp.
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Yeah, it's amazing work. I mean, the plan has everything from artificial intelligence, the very latest technology in the world, all the way down to implementing faith into drug recovery, which is something that's often been ignored but can be very powerful. Talk about that wide range of tools that are now in the plan.
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Well, first, artificial intelligence. We're at the cusp of human technology right now that we have never witnessed in human history. Right. This is one of the greatest changes in all time of human history. I think the. The only thing we can compare it to when you think of AI is maybe the Industrial revolution. And right now we're at the cusp of such incredible learning. So we want to use all the tools that we can, and we're going to be bringing in private industry. I'm very excited to be working very closely with private industry and how we tackle the drug crisis using the technology and the tools that we have today to stay ahead of our enemies. You know, John, one of the things that I think is really shocking to me, you know, and you don't think about this, is that the cartels are not gangs that are just as we imagine, you know, killing and maiming and pillaging villages only. No, these are very highly educated people, many of them sometimes in government, many of them in intelligence themselves. They've been bought out. They've been owned by the cartels. And these cartels have hundreds of billions of dollars with resources far greater than we can even imagine. And they're hiring people out of the colleges and universities. They're hiring experts in tech. They are working on ways of laund money like we've never seen before. So we want to stay ahead of them. We've got to get into that field. We've got to get the high tech, get the private industry in here so that we can.
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All right, everybody, we are cutting into that amazing interview, but only for the Vice President of the United States, who is at a manufacturing facility in Des Moines, Iowa, giving a speech there. Check it out.
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I want to give. First of all, before we really get started here, I've got a few. A few shout outs here and a few words of gratitude. First of all, I have to say thank you to Congressman Nunn for the kind introduction. That was an amazing. It's probably the best introduction I think I've ever gotten in my life. But most importantly, for being a good fighter for the people of this district. Because when you send somebody to Congress, you're never, ever gonna agree with every single thing. That they do. But you deserve to know that when they're in the halls of power, and especially when the cameras are off, they're thinking about you, about your families and about your future. And a guy that you have serving this district, Congressman Nunn, is one of those guys who does the right thing, not just when the cameras are on, but when the cameras are off, too. And remember, when the President, United States, at the State of the Union address, asked everybody please stand if you agree with the statement that America's government ought to be fighting for America's citizens rather than illegal aliens, Congressman Nunn was standing up and fighting for you. And none of the Congressional Democrats can raise their hand. So along with Zach Nunn, we have got President Trump endorsed, and of course, endorsed by me, too, endorsed candidates for Congress. We've got Chris McGowan in the room. Where is Chris? Please stand up and be recognized. Chris, thank you for everything. I saw Chris backstage. He said he doesn't really have an opponent. And I said, that must be nice. Of course, we ran against Kamala Harris and Tim Wallace last election, so not all that different. But that's okay. That's okay. We have got Joe Mitchell in the House. Where is Joe? Please stand up, Joe. Thank you. I've got to give a special note of thanks to our incredible Agriculture Secretary in Washington, Brooke Rollins. My dear friend, Brooke, thank you for everything that you do. We've got your great governor here in Iowa, Kim Reynolds. Kim, thank you so much for being here. We've got Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufman. Jeff, please stand up and say hello. Thank you, Jeff. I asked Jeff backstage, I said, how these elections going? And Jeff said, they're going great, so they better be. We've got Iowa AG Brita Byrd, the great Britta Byrd. Britta, thank you. Iowa secretary of state paul pate. Thank you, paul. Congressman randy feenstra. Randy, thank you. And then I want to recognize some of the great Iowa State lawmakers that we have. I will read their names here. We've got Senate President Amy Sinclair, President Pro Tem Ken Rosenboom. We've got Lynn Evans with us. Where's Lynn? Thank you, Lynn. And we got Sherilyn Westridge. Where's Sherrilyn at? She. She. She took off sick, I guess, today, but she's doing a great job. We're grateful to her. And then we got some Iowa House members, too. And I promise, this is the last group. We've got Brooks Bowdoin or Brooke Bowdoin. Where's Brooke at? Thank you, Brooke. We've got Heather Hora. Thank you, Heather. We got Bill. Gustav Bill. Thank you so much. We got charlie thompson. Charlie. Thank you. Derek Wolf. Thank you for being here. Derek. Kevin Allens. Where's Kevin? Okay. He's got the same cold that our other friend did. Steven Bradley. Where's Stephen Bradley? Thank you, Steven. And finally, Mark Cisneros. Mark, thank you so much for your leadership and thanks for being here. Look, I'm here today to talk a little bit about the stakes in November of 2026, because I think that we have done a lot in Washington, D.C. to be proud of. We're going to talk about it, but the fundamental question for us in this election is actually not any specific question of public policy. It's not any particular issue. It's fundamentally, do you want people in Washington, D.C. who fight for you, who fight for the people of this district, or who fight for corruption and fraud? Because I'm 41 years old and for the first time in my entire life, I think we have seen a major political party in the United States of America completely go off the rails. They're not just talking about different views on taxes or on regulation or on the Clean Water Act. As important as all those things are, they're talking about who does the government actually stand and fight for. When the President, United States asked the entire Congress to stand for the simple principle that the people's government ought fight for the American people first, what did we see? We saw every single Congressional Democrat sit on their hands. They didn't care about you. They didn't care about the people of this district. They didn't care about the farmers or the factory workers or the people who actually make this country run. Because now we have in Washington, D.C. a Democrat Party that is so focused on illegal immigration, that is so focused on people who don't have the legal right to be here, that is so focused on fraud because so many of their friends get rich from fraud that they forgot to look after you. And whatever your political views, whether you're a sensible Republican, Independent or even a sensible Democrat, because I know we got a lot of those in Iowa, not in Washington, D.C. i think that you deserve to have a president of the United States and a Congressman like Zach Dunn who fights for you every single day. And that's what he's been doing. Now, let me just give you a very concrete example of what fighting for you looks like. This is not just. This is not abstract. This is not words written on a paper. This is real people's lives, and this is real dollars and cents. A few years ago, I talked to the owners of this factory who told me the great products that they were making, they were paying their workers a good wage. They were building a great business right here in Iowa. You know, this company was started in 2009, the year that I graduated from college. Sorry for anybody, makes me kind of young. But here's the thing. To start a business in 2009 was a tough thing to do. It was the middle of the global financial crisis. You had to take some real risk. And what did this business find? After building a great business, after paying hundreds of people a solid wage, what did this business find? That foreign countries, in particular the People's Republic of China, was dumping goods, undercutting the wages of the workers of this factory and driving this place out of business. They were using cheap labor, sometimes slave labor, to try to steal jobs from the hard working people of this district and this factory floor. And for my entire life, we had presidents and politicians of both parties who didn't do a single thing to stop and said, oh, by the way, absolutely, bring those cheap goods into our country. Bring those things that were built by hands of slaves rather than the hands of our own workers. And of course, we knew that when they drove those factories out of business, then they'd come in and jack up the price right after. So what happened? For 41 years, we all know the story. The factories closed down. My hometown. This is the story of my hometown, where I grew up in a community that was proud, where people built things, where new homes were being made. And by the time I graduated from high school, the manufacturers were laying people off. Those big, beautiful factories were shuttering their doors. And we never had a political movement that said enough is enough, until Donald J. Trump and Zach Nunn came along. And you know what we said? The Democrats, every day, they will tell you they will fight against our policies to try to bring back American manufacturing. They will fight against our policies that try to fight back against those people who would dump that stuff into our communities. And you know what we say? We say that our tax policy ought to be pretty simple. And that's exactly what it has been. If you're building right here in Iowa, if you're making something right here in Iowa, if you're working every single day right here in Iowa, you deserve a tax cut. And that's exactly what we delivered with Congressman Nunn. But if you're a foreign country dumping that garbage into our country, if you're trying to undercut the wages of Iowa workers, if you're trying to steal the jobs from Iowa farmers and Iowa manufacturers. You know what you're going to do? You're going to pay a big fat tariff before you bring anything into our country, because we're protecting the jobs of our workers and our people for a change. And that's all this is about. When you hear the Democrats attack the Trump administration's tax policies, that's what they're attacking. They're attacking the policies that make it harder for people to steal your jobs, and they're attacking the policies that give you more money to keep in your own pocket. Now, I talked to again, the factory owners just, just a couple of hours ago, a couple minutes ago, I should say, you know what they told me? They told me that the working families tax cuts, the tax cuts made possible by Congressman Nunn, that they meant that their business had a lot more money that they could give to workers and higher bonuses and higher salaries, that they could hire more people, that they could expand and create new jobs that didn't exist before. Isn't it nice to have a government that finally is fighting for you instead of fighting against you? And that's what we're trying to have in Washington, D.C. Now. There is so much, so much I'm proud of, so much that is moving in the right direction. Do you know, when I, when I was going around the campaign trail in 2024, one of the number one things that young people said to me, young Americans in particular, is that they couldn't afford to buy a home, they couldn't afford their rent, if that's what they wanted to do. And, you know, for the first time, we've seen, in over five years, for eight months running, we have seen the cost of rent come down in the United States of America. Our young people are starting to get close. They're making progress. They're starting to get to the point where they can finally afford their slice of the American dream. And you know why we did that and you know how we did it. It's actually not that complicated. A simple principle. American homes ought to belong to American families, not foreign investors, not foreign owners, and not Chinese investors who are buying up our farmland. Again, it's not rocket science. It's a simple principle that if you have a government that fights for you, it can make your life easier. It can make it easier for you to start a business or to work at an amazing job. We didn't do anything that was particularly difficult. We did something that was simple and common sense. And I think that's what defines the Republican Party in Washington right now. Is it simply about common sense? You want to lower the cost of homes for American families. Here's, here's a simple thing. Why don't you stop giving 30 million homes to illegal aliens? Why don't you seal the border and make sure those homes go to American families for a change? That's how you lower the cost of housing. If you want to make it easier for young American to start a family or to get a good job, stop giving jobs to foreign companies and stop giving jobs to foreign countries and protect the good, well paying jobs that exist right here in the United States of America. And that's what we did. And here's the final thing. When we talk about standing for you. Again, whatever your views on a specific policy, there is maybe no more important issue than how about when you pay your taxes, taxes to the federal government. We just had tax day just a couple of weeks ago. How about you have a government that actually takes those resources as what they are, Your sweat, your tears, your time away from your family and protects every single one of those dollars. And that's what we're doing by going after fraud finally in the federal government. And let me just give you a couple of examples. We had let fraud become so rampant in this country that people were able to get rich not by creating something amazing, not by employing something, not by building something beautiful with their hands. They were able to get rich by defrauding every single person in this room. And they were taking money that should go to America's low income families, to America's elderly, to people who are struggling in our communities. They were stealing it out of their pocket and stealing it out of your pocket so they could get rich. Let me give you just a couple of examples. There was a program in suburban Minneapolis. It's actually a national program, but it was taken advantage of in suburban Minneapolis, where what we do is that we make it possible. The American people and their generosity make it possible for the parents of young children who are autistic to get access to after school services. And I think that's a cool thing because Americans, we take care of one another. But you know what happened? That money wasn't going to the parents of autistic children. That money was going to Somalian fraudsters. Because somebody figured out in the, in the illegal immigrant community that if they went around and said that all of the children in a particular household had that particular problem, then they could collect a lot of money from the federal government. And so what happened? You paid your Taxes. Those people got rich. And the families who needed those services never got to access those services. They were stolen from, and you were stolen from, and your government didn't do a single thing about it until. Until Donald J. Trump and Congressman Nunn came along. What we did. What we did is very simple. We went to the state of Minnesota and said, we want you to audit the people who are getting access to these funds. And if you're not willing to confirm that the people who are getting and getting these benefits actually deserve these benefits, then you're not getting another dime of federal money. We cut them off, and that's exactly what we got to do. And it. Ladies and gentlemen, people have asked me, you know, I'm the leader of the fraud task force in Washington, and people have asked me, is that a hard job? And I say, well, let me think. Finding fraud in the federal government, it's kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite. Every. Every week, I get a report from the task force. You know, we have our weekly meeting, and I am shocked every single day by the things that we find. Just one of. One of the all stars on our fraud task force is our great Agriculture Secretary, Brooke Rollins. And Brooke. And Brooke has found out that we've got 355,000 people on SNAP benefits receiving double benefits, that we've got 186,000 dead people getting SNAP benefits, 186,000 dead Americans getting food stamps right now. Now, I know the fake news media is going to say that the big headline from this speech is JD Vance proposes that we take away food stamps. That's what they're going to say. I actually think that we should take food stamps away from dead people. I'm guilty of that. I think that's a reasonable. I also was talking to Brooke backstage, and she said. She said, you know, that there are people who are. Who have lamb. This is not a joke. There are people who have Lamborghinis who currently receive SNAP benefits. I said, huh, that's interesting. You know, I'm a pretty conservative guy, but I would think that like 95% of the United States of America would agree that if you are wealthy enough to afford a Lamborghini, then you are wealthy enough to not receive SNAP benefits from the American people. Is that common sense? And I could go down and down the list. We just served 22. 22 investigatory procedures, the Department of Justice. We went from discovering what happened in Minneapolis to serving 22, you know, subpoenas so that we could go after the fraud. That's happening in Minneapolis. And we did that in just three months. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, when we find crime, those people are going to go to prison for defrauding you, because that's exactly how it should be. Now, the last thing I want to talk about, my friends, is we know that under the Biden administration, Iowa farmers and farmers all over the United States of America were hit, and they were hit hard. What we've done, using the President's trade authorities and using his incredible trade policies, is that we have doubled the export market for Iowa farmers in just 18 months. And that is an amazing thing, because what happened for years is that people would dump their agricultural products into the United States of America, but said, you're not allowed to sell great Iowa product overseas. Well, we flipped that on its head. We told all those countries, you're done dumping that crap in the United States of America. And if you don't want to pay a higher tariff rate, you better let Iowa farmers sell into your country. And every single one of them have let Iowa farmers sell into their country again. It's amazing what happens when you got a president and a congressman who's fighting for you instead of fighting against you. And that is the record that we've had over the past 18 months. So let me. Let me. Let me just say. Let me say a couple more things here. So, one, I was flipping around in my notes here because I've been trying to find the name of the person that Zachary running against, because we're gonna. We're gonna make fun of her a little bit now. Now, here, here. Here's the problem. You know, I'm sure. Well, I don't know anything about her. What I do know is her voting record. I know what she has chosen to prioritize. And it's not you, it's not your families, and it's not this district. Because here, here's the thing. There, There are problems and there are challenges. You know, one of the things I'm proud of stuff, the President's leadership, we had American families about thirteen hundred dollars richer from the day that he took office until today. That's between the working families, tax cuts, that's lowering the cost of rent. That's all that stuff combined. Now, that's the good news. Let me give you the bad news. The honest piece of this is that under the Biden administration, under the Biden administration, the average American family lost about $3,000. So on the one hand, we got a great record to brag on. On the other hand, because of the hole that the Biden administration, the Democrats put us in. We got a lot more work to do. Okay? But we're. We recognize that work. We're excited about that work. That's why you sent us to Washington, D.C. that's why you sent Zach to Washington, D.C. was to work on these problems. We know right now that we've got a lot of Iowa farmers that would love to sell more E15 into the market, and we're fighting every day to help them. Now, I said that I did not Even see the E15 crew we got over here. I need one of those T shirts. But the congressman has got legislation that's working right now, and we're working on it every single day because, number one, we want Iowa farmers to have access to more markets. But number two, we want everybody, all of our fellow citizens across our 50 great states to benefit from what's made right here in Iowa. That's why we're fighting for E15. We also know. We also know that a lot of our farmers are struggling with high fertilizer prices. I'm aware of that. As the President, United States has said, we got a little. A little blip in the Middle East. We got to take care of some business on the foreign policy side. But you know what we're doing? Simultaneously, we're working with a congressman, and we're finding ways every single day to make sure that you guys and the farmers of this great state get access to the products that they need. We're working on it. We're working on it every single day. Now, when I see that, when I see Iowa farmers who need to get that E15 to market. What is this? What is. Zach, you're going to have to help me out with her name here. I lost my page here. Okay. All right. Okay. There we go. Sarah Trone Garriott. There he is. I'm on the wrong page here. So while Zach is fighting to make sure, for the benefit of Iowa, but frankly for the benefit of the whole country, that we get more E15 into the market all over the United States of America, his opponent voted to push biological males in girls sports as early as kindergarten. Okay. While he fought very hard for the working families tax cut to make sure that you got to keep more of your hard earned money and why you guys, in fact, are going to have the biggest tax refund season. Are starting to have the biggest tax refund season in American history. He was fighting for more money in your pocket. She was voting against banning gender transition surgeries for minors. She was voting against Schools giving parental notification if students start changing their pronouns. Now we all hear that and we all think that's pretty crazy. But recognize that not everybody agrees with us. Here's the thing, even if you don't think that's crazy, why is that the priority of a woman who wants to represent you in Washington D.C. why? Why isn't she working to increase your take home pay? Why isn't she fighting for the farmers to get more of that E15 all over the United States of America? Why isn't she fighting to lower housing costs for the people of this district, the people of the state and the people of the United States of America? And it goes back to the question that I asked at the very beginning of this discussion. We have two parties in Washington D.C. and I hate to say this because I was raised by, by blue collar union Democrats, my mamaw and papaw, they said that, you know, back when they were voting in the 80s and 90s, the man and woman who raised me, mamaw and papaw said we're for Democrats because Democrats are for working people. And I don't think that's true anymore, my friends. And it's a heartbreaking thing. It's heartbreaking for a kid who came from a union Democrat family to realize that Democrats these days, they seem to care more about gender transition than they do about you keeping more of your hard earned money. And I really do believe this, that there are Democrats like my mama and papa all over the great state of Iowa. But I hate to say it, and I hate to break it to you, but there are none Left in Washington D.C. the Democrats in Washington D.C. they want to, they want to trade stocks, insider trading for money just like Nancy Pelosi did. The best part, the best part of the State of Union address is when the President United States called out Nancy Pelosi for her stock trading. And I look over at her and she has got the sourest look I have ever seen on a human being's face. Turns out Nancy Pelosi likes nothing less than being called out for her insider stock trading. You know, just talking about that, the State of the Union, this beautiful six year old girl, you may remember this, it was a few months ago, but it was a very revealing moment about who our respective political parties stand for. Because this little girl had been shot by an illegal alien, but she had survived miraculously. She was in amazing condition. She was a sweet, just a really cute kid. And you know, I'm the father of a six year old boy. He's actually here with Me, he's backstage. And this girl was so proud. She was proud to be there in the chamber and she gives her dad a big hug and the Republicans all stand and cheer and the Democrats all sit on their hands and I remember thinking to myself, what is wrong with you that you cannot stand up and cheer for a six year old girl who survived an assassin's boy? What is wrong with you that you cannot vote to give more money in the pockets of Iowa farmers and Iowa factory workers? What is wrong with you when you cannot stand up for the Americans who, some of whom literally have taken bullets in the United States of America, but you fight every single day for illegal immigrants who have no right to be in the United States in the first place? And what does it say about a political party that they have fought more against our anti fraud efforts than they ever did to protect your dollars and to protect the benefits of the people who use those. Use those benefits. My friends, this is not a normal election. This is not a normal political environment. This is a contest between a party that wants to take all of your money and give it to illegal aliens and a contest between gentlemen like Zach Nunn who fight every single day for you. I have a simple question here which is do you want somebody who votes to give your money to illegal aliens? Do you want somebody who votes to raise your taxes? Do you want somebody who supports defrauding you and taking money away from poor kids so they can give it to the fraudsters? Then do we want crazy far left Democrats in Washington D.C. here's what we do want. Do we want somebody who fights for you every single day? Do we want somebody who has put more money in your pocket? Do we want somebody who gives E15 all over the United States of America so Iowa farmers can profit from it? So what do we want? We want Congressman Zach Nun and you got to get him to Washington D.C. So let me just say one more thing, my friends, and then I will hit the road. You know, like I said, I've got my six year old son back there. And the backstory of why, by the way, I started in Washington D.C. we flew from Washington to Ohio. I voted in Ohio's primary today. From Ohio. That's right. The media asked me who I voted for. None of your business. Went from Ohio to Oklahoma City to do a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee. And then I came here to be with all of you this evening. And you know my, I can't wait to tell my wife when we get home that we've watched about nine episodes of X Men. And my son has eaten four chocolate chip cookies. She's going to be very pleased, going to be very pleased with the vice president. But here's the thing. It kind of just worked out. I wasn't planning this, but I've got my six year old because last week I took his little sister on a trip. He was feeling a little jealous and you know, when he's a kindergartner, it's not like missing schools. No offense, but one day a kindergarten is not going to cause him any problems. So he came out with me today and we've had such a good day and it's just been an amazing thing. I always enjoy coming out and doing events like this, but to do it with your 6 year old son by your side is really an amazing and amazing thing. But as it happened, when we landed here in Des Moines, at the airport there in Des Moines, we met a couple of gold star families from Iowa. And a couple of you probably know this, maybe all of you know this, that in, you know, what's going on in the Middle east, this, this operation in Iran, Iowa has borne a heavier burden maybe than any other state in the union. This, this great state has lost about half of our kia. And I know that you all will join me in saying that we love them and we're proud of them and we're praying for them every single day. Thank you. But, but also on the tarmac, a couple of gold star families met me. A couple of families who've lost people just in the last, you know, nine or so months. One in Iran and then, and then one in Syria about nine or so months ago. And I was, I was talking to them and one of them told me. I had no idea. I didn't, you know, I didn't plan to see them, but they were here and of course I was honored to see them. It's an amazing thing as a vice president, United States, to meet the parents and the families of the people who put on a uniform and sacrificed their life for this country. And so I'm always happy to do it, always honored to do it. But one family, and I won't use their name, I don't know how political they are, if they're political at all. But they told me that their son's birthday was today. And so I get in the car with my little six year old, you know, and I look into those big eyes. His eyes remind me of his mother's eyes. And I think to myself, what an amazing blessing it is to be Able to be a father in the freest and most prosperous country anywhere in the history of the world. And. I thought to myself, what would I say, what would I say if this beautiful six year old boy got older and decided, like his dad, to put on the uniform of his country and like so many of you here, decided to put on the uniform of his country? And I thought to myself, on the one hand, I'd be so proud of him. I'd be so proud of him. But on the other hand, I'd be so terrified that what happened to those two families would happen to this boy. And it hit me that every time we lose somebody, every time somebody goes overseas and sacrifices their life, every time that a person gives the ultimate sacrifice to the United States of America, we often read about it as a line on a newspaper or online. But there's a father and there's a mother and there's a grandma and aunts and uncles and a whole crew of people who love them the same way that we all love every single member of our family. And you take that love and you set that on one side and you consider the balance that all of us owe. Because on the other side is we have to meet their sacrifice by carrying something forward that they can't carry forward. We have to make this country worthy of that sacrifice. You remember that movie, Saving Private Ryan? It's one of my favorite movies. And at the very end, right before one of the soldiers takes his last breath, he looks up and he says, earn this. What he means is all that love, all that was taken away from those families, all that was taken away from so many of the people who've put on the uniform and sacrificed for this country. We have to earn it. Now, so much of that is how you live your life. So much of that is, you know, Congressman Zach Nunn being a good husband and father and his beautiful family here, I think what you guys have, six or seven. Six. She is a saint, Zach. She is a saint. Part of that is how we go to work and treat our employees and what we build and make with our hands and with our minds. Part of it is how we go to church and give back to our community. But part of how we earn that incredible sacrifice given to all of us is by making this country's politics and government worthy of the people who put on the uniform and will never see their loved ones again. And part of what we have to do, my friends, is, is every single day we have to send people to Washington. I'm not saying you have to agree with every single issue. I'm saying that you got to send people to Washington who wake up every single day and recognize that they fight for you. That's how we honor this sacrifice. That's how we make this country great again. And that's how we make 250 years of American history and American patriots proud. God bless you guys, and thank you for having me in Iowa.
A
All right, everybody, that was the vice president in Des Moines, Iowa, kicking things off heading into midterm season. We are in full swing. So we have a little bit more on the other side of this break, but we're going to take a moment and we'll see you on the other side. Welcome back, everybody. The public standoff between the president and Pope Leo continues as Secretary of State Marco Rubio is planning to meet the pontiff later this week. And meanwhile, the Supreme Court recently restored access to abortion pills. And now there are reports that some publicly traded companies are partnering with Planned Parenthood to distribute those abortion pills. But at least one of them, cvs, is pushing back on it. So joining us to discuss this and More is CEO and president of 40 Days for Life, Sean Carney. Sean, welcome to the show. Thanks for being here.
G
It's good to be back. Thanks for having me.
B
All right.
A
I have spoken to a number of my dear Catholic friends, one of whom is sitting next to me, and the consensus seems to be that Pope Leo maybe should just stop stepping in politics, stick to pontiff matters and let that be it. But this public spat is seeming to continue. Is Secretary of State Marco Rubio going to be able to smooth things over?
G
I hope so. I don't think any of us expect President Trump to be prudent. That's not one of his virtues. But it should be one of Pope Leos, particularly with Daniel dealing with Trump. I just wish this would have started in a different way. I mean, certainly popes are, you know, can criticize Presidents John Paul II ridiculed Bill and Hillary Clinton five feet away from them at the, at the Denver Airport in the early 90s. So it's not the first time this happens. But, but President Trump has been by far the most pro Catholic president in the history of our country. And, and I wish it would have started out with just a little bit of, of of gratitude for what he's done for Catholics, for overturning Roe v. Wade, for defending the Sisters of life and when they were persecuted by the doj, for helping the little sisters of the poor when he had them in the Rose garden back in 2018. You know, he has more faithful Catholics working in his administration than all previous presidents combined. And Catholicism's going well in the United States as a result of a lot of the religious, you know, liberty that President Trump has protected. We see an all time high of, of conversions to the faith. It just feels like when you look at Europe and you look at different parts of the world, Catholicism in America is booming. And it started as a very anti Catholic country and we see quite the opposite. So the timing on this is bad.
C
It is, yeah. It maybe was a collision that we could expect to come. I think there's a couple things that lie beneath this. One is obviously the Catholic Charities was a major recipient of federal tax dollars when it came to processing illegal immigrants, moving them to the interior country. How much do you think that plays into this on both sides of the equation?
G
Well, I think it does because it's money. But I think when you look in the pews and you talk to Catholics and certainly you look at election returns, the immigration issue just doesn't have the moral weight for Catholics as other issues. The church clearly teaches states have a right to defend themselves, to have borders. This is basic stuff. It's not really that controversial. And when look at the moral issues that Catholics weight, whether it be gender, certainly abortion, and all the great progress that the pro life movement has made, a traditional marriage, those are the things that are, that are so detrimental to our minorities, they're so detrimental to, to the family and to all Americans. And that's what has gotten the main focus. But for the bishops, they have focused on immigration more than any other issue. I think they've definitely made more public statements. There is a financial part to this. There's no doubt. We can't live with our head in the sand. And I think that that's either driving it or motivating it.
A
Sean, the Supreme Court restored access to the abortion pill. And you know, regardless of where you land on the moral side of the argument, which, I mean, obviously we all stand on the same side of that, but this is a public health issue because all oftentimes when someone has access to this abortion drug, there is not a pre appointment, there's not a post appointment, and this is not something to just be tossed back with a glass of water and just to let the results happen. This is something that should be monitored. What is the recourse for this?
G
Well, they want you to believe that. They want you to believe that. It's like taking an Advil after college kids go out and drink and take Advils for their hangovers, no big deal. And it's a quick fix. And it's not in the experience of the women who have had abortions who now talk about, you know, they took these pills at home, it was extremely painful. They can't go into their bathroom anymore in their apartment because of what they witnessed. Some women are passing the babies in movie theaters or at the prom. It's absolutely horrific. And frankly, nobody from Big Pharma or Planned Parenthood or anybody on the left was advocating for the radical deregulation of abortion pills just a few years ago. But it is a knee jerk reaction to the overturning of Roe vs Wade. Whether they hate the fact that the Supreme Court did that, whether they hate Trump, whatever it is, they have endangered so many women by passing these things out like Skittles and, you know, Planned Parenthood officially partnered with CVS to, to become one of the largest distributors of abortion in the state of New York. And, you know, this is just really dangerous when you have publicly traded companies getting involved in the distribution and carrying out of abortion pills that have only been deregulated, you know, for, for just a couple of years. And so this is a huge problem we're definitely working with, with so many people in Washington as the FDA investigates how these abortion pills were ever, you know, passed in the first place. But we know they're dangerous to the unborn. They kill the unborn baby in, in a very, you know, graphic and violent way. But they certainly have psychological and physical ramifications for the women who are taking these drugs. Yeah.
C
Sean, before we let you go, what advice would you have for Marco Rubio when he meets with the Pope? It seems like a reboot is possible because you're right, there's more in common than the separates them. Where do you think that conversation can be most constructive?
G
But it's going to be positive that they're on the same side on the big issues, the family, the unborn. Pope Leo, he knows all the progress that President Trump has made for Catholics in America. He knows the statistics of so many people coming into the church. He knows the weaponization of the DOJ that happened under Biden. Towards pro life Americans, towards Catholic Americans, there is much more in common. What's not in common is definitely getting the headlines because it's sort of a dramatic battle. But I think Rubio will go calm the waters and realize, look on the big picture stuff that we need to work in 50 or 100 years in our country and around the world. They are completely aligned Yeah, I think that's right.
A
The secretary does seem to be somewhat of a smoothing over type of agent when it comes to these types of contentious.
G
He's Cuban, he's easygoing, he's funny. He'll do a great job.
A
Absolutely. Absolutely. Great take on that. CEO and President of 40 Days for Life, Shawn Carney. Thanks so much for being with us tonight. John, have you seen any of the outfits from the Met gala? What's your favorite?
C
Not one. Not one. I'm just not a fashion sort of guy. I wear the same thing every day.
A
I'll just call Judy because I bet she's got her favorite, so I bet she was at least watching. All right, everybody, that's all the time we have for this evening. But we will be back tomorrow night at 6pm Eastern right here on Real America's Voice.
This episode delivers a comprehensive review of the latest political, social, and cultural developments, focusing on breaking news out of Washington—including a high-profile indictment, new federal health and fitness initiatives, updates on the war on drugs, and ongoing domestic and foreign policy debates. Special interviews offer insights into the Trump administration’s anti-drug efforts, while the episode culminates with a live address by Vice President JD Vance from Iowa as election season heats up.
[00:27-01:45]
Notable Quote:
"The charges come after Allen was placed under a suicide watch... the indictment makes clear... the Washington Post or other news media who said Cole Allen did not strike an officer with his gun—well, today they make clear: he did."
— John Solomon, [00:27]
[01:46-02:20]
Notable Quote:
"Operation Epic Fury is concluded. We achieved the objectives... the United States has to do something about the fact that we're the only nation on earth that can do anything to open up a lane, which is within the straits of Hormuz."
— Marco Rubio, [02:01]
[02:20-03:52]
Notable Quote:
"We're bringing it back. My administration is working very hard to defend America's cherished athletic traditions and pass our values of excellence and competitiveness to the next generation. So important."
— President Trump (quoted audio), [03:11]
[03:57-04:18]
[05:35-11:43]
Notable Quotes:
"Every administration touches up their drug policy here and there. This isn't a touch-up. This is a wholesale rethinking of every aspect of the war on drugs."
— John Solomon, [06:22]
"Emerging threats is number one... the opioid epidemic was far too late for us to see what was happening... That's why emerging threats became number one. Part of that is monitoring what's on our streets... We monitor the sanitation sites and our wastewater."
— Sarah Carter, [06:37-08:33]
"We're at the cusp of human technology right now that we have never witnessed in human history... We're going to be bringing in private industry... to tackle the drug crisis."
— Sarah Carter, [10:15]
Notable Quotes:
“If you're building right here in Iowa… you deserve a tax cut… But if you're a foreign country dumping… you’re going to pay a big fat tariff.”
— JD Vance, [Live speech (~13:00-20:00*)]
"Finding fraud in the federal government, it's kind of like fishing in a barrel with dynamite."
— JD Vance, [Fraud/safety net anecdotes, ~35:00*]
“Every time we lose somebody, every time somebody goes overseas and sacrifices their life… you have to meet their sacrifice by carrying something forward that they can’t carry forward. We have to make this country worthy of that sacrifice… That’s how we make this country great again.”
— JD Vance, [~45:00*]
*(Timestamps approximate due to lengthy uninterrupted remarks.)
[47:46-55:30]
Notable Quote:
"President Trump has been by far the most pro-Catholic president in the history of our country… I wish [the conflict] would have started out with just a little bit of gratitude."
— Sean Carney, [49:25]
"They want you to believe that [abortion pill] is like taking an Advil… in the experience of the women who have had abortions… it was extremely painful… it's absolutely horrific."
— Sean Carney, [52:43]
"Rubio will go calm the waters and realize, look, on the big-picture stuff… they are completely aligned."
— Sean Carney, [54:38]
For listeners seeking a sweeping overview of current American politics—the intersection of policy, culture, and campaign drama—this episode encapsulates the Trump administration’s priorities in 2026: law-and-order, public health, attack on fraud, hardline border security, and emboldened stances on faith and family. With passionate, often combative language, the hosts and guests challenge mainstream narratives and foreground the perspectives animating the Real America's Voice network.