THE WAR ROOM WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON - APRIL 13th, 2026 (EP.#5295)

Summary

The War Room with Stephen K. Bannon – April 13, 2026 (Ep. 5295)

Podcast: Real America’s Voice / iHeartPodcasts
Date: April 13, 2026

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EPISODE OVERVIEW

This episode of The War Room with Stephen K. Bannon focuses on three major stories:

• Explosive allegations and new evidence around the Trump impeachment and “deep state” activities—with investigative reporting from John Solomon and analysis by Steve Bannon.
• America’s imposition of a naval blockade on Iran—with military and geopolitical perspectives from Captain Jim Fennell, and discussion of market reactions with Eric Bolling.
• Domestic battles over AI regulation, states’ rights, and American tech jobs—with investigative insights from political reporter Liz Mitchell.

Throughout, the tone is urgent, combative, and deeply skeptical of the mainstream narrative, with the panel framing current events as the continuation of a long struggle between "American patriots" and entrenched government/corporate interests.

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KEY DISCUSSION POINTS & INSIGHTS

1. BREAKING DEEP STATE REVELATIONS & TRUMP IMPEACHMENT SCANDAL

Key Segments:

• [02:56 – 13:18] John Solomon details newly declassified evidence implicating intelligence officials and a "Biden-connected" whistleblower in the Ukraine impeachment episode.

Main Points:

• The impeachment of President Trump was, according to John Solomon, the culmination of a continuous operation to undermine his presidency, stretching from “Russia collusion” through “Ukraine collusion.”

  “It was one continuous operation. That is what these documents make clear today.” (John Solomon, 02:56)

• New documents—declassified by Tulsi Gabbard—allegedly show the whistleblower had a “clear bias,” worked for Joe Biden, traveled with him to Ukraine, and hid key facts from Congress and the public.
• Inspector General Michael Atkinson is accused of withholding exculpatory evidence.

  “He did not tell Congress in his interview the full extent of what he knew and what was wrong with the whistleblower.” (John Solomon, 04:24)

• Alan Dershowitz, who represented Trump in the Senate impeachment trial, described this as a “travesty to justice” and a violation of standard adversarial legal procedure.

Memorable Quotes:

• “Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.” (Steve Bannon, 01:39)
• “It’s a wash, rinse, repeat cycle of abusive government power.” (John Solomon, 09:56)

Implications & Projections:

• Potential criminal indictments are discussed for John Brennan (obstructing Congress) and possibly James Comey.
• Bannon frames these as “crimes” covered up by media—a “conspiracy so vast” (12:27).
• A new Attorney General—Todd—is projected to accelerate these prosecutions ([14:30], confirmed).

  “After a decade of frustration, I think those on the conservative side who want some accountability are going to see a machinery capable of delivering it for the first time.” (John Solomon, 15:10)

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2. NAVAL BLOCKADE OF IRAN & GEOPOLITICAL RAMIFICATIONS

Key Segments:

• [17:06 – 29:06] Blockade details, Netanyahu’s speech, military strategy, and implications.
• [30:13 – 36:10] Further market/economic discussion.

Main Points:

• Naval Blockade Announcement:
  At 10:00am EDT, the U.S. Navy initiated a blockade in the North Arabian Sea/Gulf of Oman to control shipping to and from Iranian ports.
• Strategic Purpose:
  Panelists emphasize both the military and economic dimensions:

  “This is the implementation of economic warfare—but we’ll get to that later.” (Steve Bannon, 33:46)

• Netanyahu’s Speech:
  Netanyahu credits himself for bringing the U.S. into the conflict, but John Solomon cautions this is also political messaging ahead of Israeli elections ([17:48]).
• Operational Details:
  Captain Fennell describes the U.S. deployment, tightening control at the Strait of Hormuz, readiness to interdict Iranian tankers, and collaboration potential with Gulf allies ([25:37], 27:03).
• Iran’s Navy Destroyed:
  Trump’s statement:

  “Iran’s Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea completely obliterated—158 ships... If any of those ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated...” (Steve Bannon reading statement, 45:12)

Economic Effects:

• Oil price spikes to $105, subsides to $101–102, still well above Friday's close of $96 ([30:55], [46:46]).
• Eric Bolling:

  “The global oil market is massive. So they’re a little nervous... that’s why we’re not lower than $96 a barrel, because we’re not sure if there is going to be a response from the Iranians and what it might be.” (30:55)

• Allies in Europe, China, Russia, Australia are not participating—this is positioned as an “America alone” operation ([33:06]), but expected to bring results.
• Potential for major market disruption if conflict escalates; some trading houses have already lost billions ([51:05]).

Notable, Colorful Exchanges:

• “No puppies. No rainbows. No unicorns. No casseroles.” (Eric Bolling, 52:12, describing the War Room’s seriousness and contrast to “soft” news)

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3. DOMESTIC BATTLES: AI REGULATION & AMERICAN JOBS

Key Segments:

• [36:10 – 42:57] Liz Mitchell reports on White House influence over state AI legislation and programs disfavoring American workers.

Main Points:

• AI Legislation Pressure:
  The Trump White House (via staff and David Sacks) reportedly pressures states (MO, TN, UT, FL) to “soften” proposed AI regulations designed to protect children and limit deepfakes.
  • Threats of withholding broadband funding are cited if states don’t comply ([37:46], [39:05]).
  • Bannon:

    “People in the White House have threatened Missouri legislators that they will hold back broadband funding unless they do the bidding of the oligarchs and soften this battle.” (38:03)

• Concern Over Tech H1B/OPT Programs:
  Reporting on the “Optional Practical Training” (OPT) program, which, per Liz Mitchell and Sen. Scott, incentivizes hiring foreign students over American graduates, with national security implications ([42:04]).

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NOTABLE QUOTES & MOMENTS WITH TIMESTAMP

• Steve Bannon on the Deep State & Impeachment:
  “This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we’re going medieval on these people.” (01:07)
• John Solomon on New Whistleblower Evidence:
  “We now know as of this morning for the first time, was based only on hearsay evidence... he was a Joe Biden sycophant.” (02:56)
• On Netanyahu’s Speech:
  “It’s not for international consumption. He’s trying to make the case that they should elect him... He’s facing prosecution for corruption, potentially goes to jail.” (John Solomon, 18:14)
• Captain Fennell on Naval Operations:
  “The United States is controlling anything that comes out of Iran... It doesn’t matter their flag... they will be identified in quarantine.” (27:50)
• Eric Bolling on Oil Markets:
  “OPEC production... down 7 million barrels a day. That is a massive number... I have a hunch this is the smartest war decision probably in my lifetime.” (34:03)
• Liz Mitchell on AI Regulation Pressure:
  “There is a threat here of losing broadband funding, which would be very bad for people in rural Missouri. This is something that his fellow members are very concerned about.” (37:46)
• Steve Bannon on U.S. Power:
  “It’s part of these nations sitting there going, I see what happened to Russia and Ukraine. I see what’s happening now... This economic warfare... has a downside to it. People are gonna sit there and go, hey, I don’t trust the Americans, they can shut me down at any time.” (49:10)

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TIMESTAMPS OF IMPORTANT SEGMENTS

• [02:56 – 13:18]: John Solomon on deep state operations and the new “whistleblower” revelations.
• [17:06 – 29:06]: Blockade of Iran, Netanyahu’s speech, military/geopolitical breakdown.
• [30:13 – 34:40]: Eric Bolling on oil markets, international response.
• [36:10 – 42:57]: Liz Mitchell on White House interference in state AI bills and foreign tech worker programs.
• [45:12 – 52:19]: Updates on the blockade, impact on capital markets, petrodollar concerns, and broader economic effects.

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PODCAST TONE AND STYLE

The conversational style is intense, conspiratorial, and action-oriented, with rhetoric focused on “fighting the deep state,” “holding the line,” and “economic warfare.” Bannon and his guests frequently cite sources and reporting, attribute blame, and use combative language. There is a strong undercurrent of skepticism toward the mainstream media and establishment government.

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CONCLUSION

This episode dynamically weaves threads of national security, political intrigue, American energy strategy, and technology policy through a highly charged populist-conservative lens. Listeners are pitched both breaking news stories and urgent calls to action, with significant attention to how government and elite interests compete with—and, in the guests’ view, often undermine—the common good.

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Guests:

• John Solomon (Just the News): Investigative journalist on “deep state” revelations
• Eric Bolling: Market commentator, economic analysis
• Captain Jim Fennell: U.S. Navy (Ret.), blockade strategy
• Liz Mitchell (Daily Signal): Reporting on AI and tech worker legislation

Host: Stephen K. Bannon

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Transcript

[Steve Bannon]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Steve Bannon]

this is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. There's not got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that.

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I know you try to do everything

[Liz Mitchell]

in the world to stop that, but

[Steve Bannon]

you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen. And where do people like that go

[Eric Bolling]

to share the big lie? MAGA Media I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.

[Steve Bannon]

Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.

[Public Ad Read / Sponsor]

War Room here's your host, Stephen K. Banner.

[Steve Bannon]

Foreign It's Monday the 13th of April in the year of our Lord 2026. We've got quite a day today. Moments ago, a naval blockade at 10:00am Eastern Daylight Time became enforced in the North Arabian Sea in the Gulf of Oman. Captain Fennell will be here momentarily to walk us through that. Eric Bolling's going to talk about the markets. What's the market reaction to all this and forecast on the economy. We'll get to all of that shortly. We have breaking news. John Solomon from just the news and one of our big shows here on Real America's Voice joins us John, you've got another breaking story this morning. Plus there's other information coming out even as we speak. Just, just, can you just go back? Let's do a level set of, of what you're breaking today and how it plays into what we've been talking about, the deep state, all these investigations, all these grand juries and what it means as additional information rolls out this week. Sir.

[John Solomon]

Yeah, listen, at 30,000 foot, sometimes we look at all the different scandals of the Democrats targeting President Trump and his followers and say, well, there's, you know, there's Russia collusion, then there's Ukraine. It was one continuous operation. That is what these documents make clear today. As soon as President Trump was cleared on Russia collusion by Bob Mueller, the deep state went right back to work. A CIA analyst filed a complaint that we now know as of this morning for the first time, was based only on hearsay evidence, was based on a whistleblower who had, was caught lying, giving a falsehood to his intelligence community recipients, the people who received his whistleblower, who had clear biases, including the fact that he worked for Joe Biden, Donald Trump's likely rival in 2020. And despite all that, they proceeded ahead and forwarded this allegation, these unfounded allegations from a biased and flawed whistleblower to Congress. And then that exculpatory evidence, that evidence that the president could have used to defend himself at the impeachment or the impeachment trial was kept from the American public, was kept from Congress. Does not look like even his lawyers knew that. How does that happen? Well, you start with a whistleblower that's tied to Joe Biden. That's what these documents that Tulsi Gabbard declassified at our request and gave to us this weekend show. He was a Joe Biden sycophant. He was actually on trips with Joe Biden to Ukraine. He was an advisor to the President. He disliked Republicans. He made fun of Republicans and badmouth them. He didn't want Devin Nunes to see his complaint in Congress. The then top Republican on House intelligence. So you have a biased, partisan whistleblower who then gives it to a deep state Inspector general, intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson, who then decides he's not going to tell Congress the full story about this whistleblower. A few minutes ago, shortly after our story broke overnight, Tulsi Gabbard released to the House Intelligence Committee some new evidence. It's the actual interview of Michael Atkinson. Michael Atkinson is the Inspector general who catches the whistleblower's complaint. Disseminates it to Congress and really kicks off the Ukraine impeachment or Russia collusion 2.0. He did not tell Congress in his interview the full extent of what he knew and what was wrong with the whistleblower. He didn't go into the biases of the Biden angle. All he said was he was a registered Democrat, didn't give any more detail than that. There were really significant details that people needed to make a judgment on his credibility before we tried to remove a president from office. But that was kept by Atkinson. So these two actors, a CIA analyst tied to Joe Biden and an Intelligence Committee inspector general, keep the public in the dark and allow that scandal to burgeon without the evidence of exculpatory evidence, without the evidence that would balance out the picture of who this man was and what was going on. I interviewed Alan Dershowitz for this story. He was one of the president's impeachment lawyers in 2019. He was a Democrat at the time. He said, listen, in an adversarial. Adversarial justice system, which by the way, includes impeachment, impeachment is a judicial proceeding in Congress. In fact, in this case, they were supposed to use the same rules that you use in federal court. They're called the rules of civil procedure. It is incumbent on the government to give up all exculpatory evidence. And that didn't happen here. Alex. Alan Dershowitz said, he said it was a travesty to justice, a travesty to the American people, that the government, particularly Michael Atkinson and this whistleblower, hid this exculpatory evidence from the President, the American people, quite frankly, the Senate jurors and the House impeachment managers. So that's where we are now. I expect a lot of developments in the next few hours on this story. I wouldn't be surprised if the name of the whistleblower eventually is released. And I also wouldn't be surprised if you start to see some actions taken based on these revelations. The President or his team could go to the Chief Justice, John Roberts. Remember, John Roberts presided over the impeachment proceedings. He was the trial judge and say, hey, the Democrats, Adam Schiff, the chief prosecutor, cheated on this. Maybe you should consider erasing or reversing the impeachment. You could also see the FBI or the new inspector general, Intelligence Committee. Take a look at whether what Michael Atkinson did by withholding some of the six scope of the evidence, whether that is a problem, whether it's prosecutable, whether it's an administrative thing. But I think you'll see some significant follow up to these revelations today.

[Steve Bannon]

So because just to pull the camera back for a second, you had, you had Crossfire Hurricane, you had trying to stop him beforehand. You had the Russia collusion hoax after he was in office. And essentially that is Obama in this coup that failing. You had people seconded to the National Security Council. This is why we tried to bottom blow it so quickly. You had people, we had Sergeant Higgins give a memo with this whistleblower's name as the top guy. Here's my point. I know going to the Chief justice and all that, but these are crimes. The deep state and the CIA and other elements, they 100% understood what they were doing, how they were doing it, the people they were doing it with. And it was covered up, right? First of all, the action itself is illegal. Then it was covered up in the media. Msnbc, the New York Times, all the reports that came up, Pulitzer, I think there were two Pulitzer Prize given for this. The Washington Post in the New York Times. This, as you say, this is the biggest crime. And it all, it all rolls into the stealing of the 2020 election. It's all of a piece. So as this comes out either a couple hours later or over the next few days, and Tulsi Gabbard's doing, I think, an amazing job of standing in the breach here and trying to do this. John. Well, who is going to take the bit and say, hey, this is even bigger, I think, than the grand jury that's going on by Brennan. This is the single and it's all one continuous piece from a deep state that's relentless, and they're still relentless today because they have been held accountable. Who is the perfect person to take the bit here and assist President Trump in ridding us of this process and ridding us of these people. Sir.

[John Solomon]

Yeah. So I think the President has a team in place to do that. I think he will nominate as early as tomorrow Todd to be the next Attorney General that will lock in an attorney general that he trusts. He's got Cash Patel at the FBI who developed the grand conspiracy case. And I want to walk through that in a second. And then he's got this pretty rugged team down in Florida that's a really tough, well trained and well experienced prosecution team that's building the case. And the case goes like this. It's a wash, rinse, repeat cycle of abusive government power. Hillary Clinton has a Russia problem. They hang a fake Russia story on Donald Trump and then turn it into a criminal investigation. Joe Biden has a Ukraine corruption problem. I break those stories in the hill. In early 2019, they try to hang a fake Ukraine impeachment scandal on President Trump which results in both a criminal investigation of certain people and impeachment of the president. In 2021. Joe Biden has a classified documents problem. They go and create a classified documents investigation of Donald Trump. And then in 2023, as it's 2022 and 23, as it's clear Joe Biden has a mental acuity problem, they ramp up Arctic Frost and try to create a criminal prosecution out of the President's speech, arguing that what was twice done before legally in the United States, submitting alternate electors to the Senate in a contested election was somehow this time criminal. That's the Walsh rinse Pete cycle. It's the same actors all the way through. You got Eric Swalwell, you got Adam Schiff, you got John Brennan, you've got this whistleblower who starts with Biden all the way back in 2014 and 15 and it's still going. And 2019 and 20. I think you're going to see a new attorney General, the current FBI who wrote the conspiracy case memo and this team down in Florida really escalate their move towards a large conspiracy case. I think you'll see in the next month two big things. A decision on whether to indict John Brennan for obstructing Congress. That's a big name, it's a big charge. They're looking at some new evidence that came from the national security adviser, the President, from Mike Rogers, and possibly bringing new charges against James Comey. There's a lot of activity on that. And then when you start to get those people under indictment, you may make a deal. Once you get one insider to flip, just like you do in the mob or the drug cartels, you then are able to put all the conspirators together in one big conspiracy. That's the strategy and that's what's playing out day in and day out in Florida right now. Some new resources are being sent down to Florida, including a veteran prosecutor, has years of experience as an independent counsel and a U.S. attorney in earlier times. They're beefing up the, the, the House in Florida to go big on this investigation.

[Steve Bannon]

This folks, when you talk about Watergate, it's a second tier burglary. I mean Nixon was right and you look at the. But they moved. They moved. They removed him by the same type of lawfare, Jeff Shepard lays it out with Sirica, the House, all of it, which is the foreshadowing of this. That's the reality, but it's tiny compared to this. This is a, to quote in the 1950s, McCarthy, a conspiracy so vast. That's why you need a couple of very smart people that can hold the narrative as they pursue the prosecutions because they're going to try to dissipate the power of this. And for the President, this could be his most lasting of everything he does. The most lasting legacy is the shattering of the deep state because they understood from the beginning what a threat he was to the system, were they not. John Solomon.

[John Solomon]

That's what it was. Everything as, as Alan Dershowitz wrote in his book, it was all about getting Trump. They had to stop Trump because he was a threat not only to the way business was done as usual in Washington, but he was a threat to the Democratic Party. He peeled away core constituencies of the Democratic Party, Hispanics and black males and working class and union workers. And they had to stop him because he could crush the monopoly that the Democrats had over their constituencies for 50 years. And so it's a 10 year conspiracy when you look at it. There are dozens of common players across the four wash, rinse, repeat cycles. And there are more than a thousand victims that I've been able to put together on a list. More than a thousand people had their civil liberties violated, had their privacy intruded upon. Even though they were always innocent, they never did anything wrong. But their phone records were taken, their lives were turned upside down, their reputations were smeared and destroyed. There has to be some recompense for that. And it starts with charging the people who did it and then revising the system so it can't be done again to a future president.

[Steve Bannon]

Real quickly, you dropped a bomb on us, Todd. You think tomorrow Todd will be designated

[John Solomon]

as early as Tom.

[Steve Bannon]

As the attorney general will go up as early as tomorrow.

[John Solomon]

I do.

[Steve Bannon]

Another bombshell.

[Eric Bolling]

Yeah.

[John Solomon]

Just real quickly, you know, I think Todd really gets the conspiracy case. I think he understands it. I think Pam struggled with it. I think Todd really gets it. I think you'll see an acceleration of what's going on and there'll be some satisfaction knowing that there's real activity, meaningful actions being taken, that there's a great relationship between him and Cash Patel. The prosecutors in Florida are in lockstep. They've been working this since October, really aggressively. I think it'll be a good thing. After a decade of frustration, I think those on the conservative side who want some accountability are going to see a machinery capable of, of delivering it for the first time.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah, Todd was in the trenches. That's why I think Todd understands it. John, you got the show. Where do people go first for your social media and for just the news, all the reporting?

[John Solomon]

You bet. Jay Solomon reports on all social media, just the news.com and I'm lucky enough, as you mentioned, to follow you every day at six o' clock right here on Real America's Voice.

[Steve Bannon]

We'll pitch the ball to you today. John Solomon, thank you for breaking this.

[Liz Mitchell]

Thank you for coming on early in the morning.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, we're going to come back. Our traditional cold open will be in the next block. Eric Bowling, Captain for now, a blockade has been instituted starting to be implemented by the United States Navy. We'll break it all down for you next.

[Public Ad Read / Sponsor]

Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc, SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures Benjamin

[Steve Bannon]

Netanyahu had a speech yesterday.

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I just want to read you a

[Steve Bannon]

line from it in which he said he's talking about Iran. He said, but if I told you a year ago that our pilots, men and women, would fly in Iran, who would have believed it? If I told you a year ago that the United States of America, the strongest power in the world, would fight by our side, shoulder to shoulder, wing to wing for nearly 40 days against the common enemy, who would have believed it? But all of this happened because we initiated, we acted, we attacked, end quote. Telling Benjamin Netanyahu is saying the part that Is the case that we're not, it's not quite clear why America is in this war. It's very clear to Benjamin Netanyahu why America is in this war.

[John Solomon]

Yeah, he, and this is a case that, that he's been trying to make to a succession of American presidents for decades. For decades. But let's also remember Benjamin Netanyahu has an election coming up. Yes. So he also is speaking to a domestic audience. This is not for the, not for international consumption. He's speaking to a domestic audience. He's trying to make the case that they should elect him and make him elect his coalition again, make him prime minister again. So he is trying to, and he

[Steve Bannon]

has remarkable complexity in this because it's not just about him winning. If he were not to win or if this war were to end, he's

[John Solomon]

facing prosecution, he faces prosecution for corruption, potentially goes to jail. His political career is over. So the stakes are very high for him and he needs to, to persuade the voters that he is acting in the best interests of Israel and they can trust him to keep Israel safe. So it suits his narrative also to tell his voters that, look, I was able to bring the United States into this conflict.

[Ali (Middle East Expert)]

One of the things that you have to look out for is, of course, the geography of the place that you're, that we're looking at here. And that's the Strait of Hormuz in this case. So theoretically, from a geographical standp, this is going to be easier to do than let's say Venezuela or Cuba. But there's a lot of traffic that is supposed to go through the Strait of Hormuz. You know, on average 135 ships a day before the war. So there's a lot that has to be controlled here. And so what the blockade would probably look like is that the US Forces would principally be focused in the southern approaches, basically from the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea into the Strait of Hormuz, that 21 mile wide gap that we're seeing right there. And the other part of it, the northern part, may very well be controlled by the Emirati and Saudi and other Gulf Arab states. So what they're, what they would have to do is they'd have to work together. Now, the President of the United States has not said anything about the Saudis or the Emiratis or the Bahrainis or anybody else getting involved in this. So that's, you know, that would make it easier if they did. But, but let's assume for a second that the US Was the sole country to do this, they would have to have basically a fleet of destroyers out there coupled with at least one, preferably two aircraft carriers that could maintain maritime surveillance over the area. And then what they're trying to do is they're trying to prevent any ships that paid Iranian tolls from getting through the Strait of Hormuz. So if that's the case, that could set us up for a conflict not only between Iran and the United States, which is already happening, but also potentially with other countries such as China, which have paid tolls that, that allow their ships to go through. So it's an area where we have to be very careful what happens next. But that's basically what, what this blockade would look like on the surface. It's simple. In fact, it's going to be really complicated.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah. You know, here we are in the middle of a war that is going spectacularly well. I mean, Iran will not be a nuclear threat, at least in our lifetimes. Now, of course, we have to wrap it up. They've got enriched uranium and other things going on. And the President's going to handle that. I'm sure he's going to handle it very, very well, as he has the rest of it. But first, I want to congratulate him. I want to congratulate his cabinet. I want to congratulate the military. You're doing a fantastic job. I know we're not done, but you're doing a fantastic job.

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

The US Military is expected to begin imposing a blockade on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Central Command. It's slightly more nuanced than the President first announced. Central Command says the US Plans to block all shipping traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports beginning at 10am Eastern. President Trump ordered this after negotiations with Iran fell apart this weekend. Vice President J.D. vance left those talks in Pakistan, saying that the United States had put forth its best and final offer. Still, despite this, President Trump told reporters last night that he believes that the ceasefire with Iran is still holding.

[Steve Bannon]

Ceasefire holding? I would say it's holding. Well, their military is holding, destroyed. Their whole navy is underwater. You know that 158 ships are gone. Their navy's gone. Most of their mind droppers are gone.

[John Solomon]

They broke their word.

[Steve Bannon]

They broke their promise. And remember, their promise was that they were going to open the Harmonious Strait. They didn't do it. They lied.

[Liz Mitchell]

Look, it's, I think it's a step in the right direction. Mika puts pressure on Iran. The idea that they would control what's going through the strait and would collect Hundreds of millions of dollars a day in the process since is untenable, I would argue. And don't, don't forget, before this war, what was the Achilles heel of the Iranian government? It was their economy. The war has made a bad situation worse. So where we have leverage over Iran is not with continued applications of military force. It's with enhanced economic pressure. So I think this is a step in the right direction. I would couple this with a diplomatic initiative. Say we're going to essentially block the strait until everybody gets to use it. We also want to see some kind of a new authority. The Iranians could participate with all the local countries about what the ground rules are for using the states. Maybe even there could be a small toll that would be shared by all the neighboring countries. But this is, to me, far better than. Think about me seizing Carg island or trying to escort individual tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Those would have been military and political nightmares. So I think this is a smart move and it puts pressure on Ronnie. I, quite honestly, I wish we had done it before the meetings in Islamabad. And indeed, my biggest problem with the talks is that we didn't focus on the Strait. We've got time to deal with the nuclear issue. We've got time to deal with some of the other issues. Iranian support for proxies. The issue that's untenable for the United States and the world is the impact of the war on the global economy. So this ought to be upfront. We need to sequence the approach to the two negotiations. So I actually think this could create a backdrop to successful talks.

[Steve Bannon]

The goal of this war at the outset was regime change very clearly. I mean, on the first day of the war, Israel and the United States eliminated the leadership of the Islamic Republic, including Ayatollah Khamenei. I think the assumption was that it was a shallow state. Once you took out the upper echelon, people would rise up and you'd have regime change. Well, that hasn't happened. What's the goal now? The one paramount objective is to reopen the strait, which, as you rightly note, was open before the war started. So the Iranians now have got to the US to the position where we are negotiating under economic pressure. So they've totally turned the tables on us. And what I worry about, though, Ali, is that the type of deal that Iran would take right now is worse

[Eric Bolling]

than the Iran nuclear.

[Steve Bannon]

100% worse. Right. And is Trump going to be willing to do that? He might be humiliated if he does that.

[John Solomon]

And so I worry that the logic

[Steve Bannon]

still points in the direction of potential military escalation where the US May be pulled into another ground war in the Middle East. What a. Okay. The equivalent of boots on the ground for the Navy is this, is this naval blockade. Captain Fennell joins us. Captain, you've heard a lot over the weekend. It's easy to do, it's impossible to do. Walk us through what is actually happening now as at 10 o' clock we commenced this, this blockade, sir.

[Captain Jim Fennell]

Well, Steve, I think in strategic terms, I think the President's announcement was much like the Iranians saying that they were going to put or control the strait or put mines in the strait. It, it has the same deterrent effect in a way against Iran, which is to say their ability to control what's going on and have ships come in and out, even through their toll booth, are now going to be interdicted. I think that's a strategic point operationally. It was just reported here in the last two hours that the USS George W. Bush has gone through the Strait of Gibraltar. So we have now three aircraft carriers in the theater of operations. So that means associated with those aircraft carriers is a number of Aegis destroyers and independent steaming destroyers are already out there, like the Michael Murphy that transited through the strait a few days ago. So we are now setting up the, essentially a choke point outside of the strait and we have put out a notice to mariners. I haven't actually seen the actual notice to mariners, but the United Kingdom's Maritime Trade Office put out their assessment of it and basically said the restrictions encompass the entirety of the Iranian coastline, including ports and energy infrastructure. Transit passage through the Strait of Hormuz is to or from non Iranian destination is not reported to be impeded by these measures. However, vessels may encounter military presence, directed communications or right of visit procedures during passage. What that means is, and I will note that the CENTCOM statement was very clear and they said in accordance we're giving our direction that we're going to implement this blockade as of 10:00 Eastern Time today in accordance with the President's proclamation. And then you have the further details. And so there's been some online discussion about, well, the President said it's a total blockade. Everything has stopped. CENTCOM said they're only going to control what comes out of Iran and not target any other ships. I think we'll find out the details as these days go along. But the most important thing is that now the United States is controlling anything that comes out of Iran. And as we've talked in previous episodes. Iran has 28 flagged tankers that they own that runs most of the money that comes from, you know, that they own themselves. So those tankers are certainly open for interdiction. There's 12 of them right now in the Gulf of Oman that are sitting fully loaded outside in the Gulf of Vermont. I expect those will be put under some kind of quarantine. And then I've also heard a lot of comments about, well, how can we do this? How hard will it be? How will we know? Well, I can tell you from experience that the fifth Fleet Director of intelligence there in Bahrain and his team and those back in Tampa, they know every ship that's coming in and out of Iran and they were tracking them and they knew who they are. And those ships will be identified and it doesn't matter their flag. It doesn't matter if they're Iranian or not. When they come out, they will be identified in quarantine.

[Steve Bannon]

Captain Hangover so we're getting more into this. Eric Bowling's also with us about capital markets. Liz Mitchell also joins us.

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[Steve Bannon]

Eric Bolling Things are a little dicey yesterday when you were on the show when the markets opened last night, kind of some instability. Where are we today as now the Navy's about to implement this and of course Jim Fennell just tells us that this may be more precise than a broad blockade. Our allies, it may be that Saudi Arabia, Qatar, uae, Kuwait and Bahrain may all be able to ship in and out. It may just be the Iranian ports and to the Iranian customers like the Chinese Communist Party in India. What's happening? What are the global markets telling us even as we speak, Sir, Gyrating.

[Eric Bolling]

Steve, last night when I spoke to you, we were 100, 560 a barrel. That's $8, $9 higher, versus Friday's settlement. We opened about the same price, 104, 105 today. It's now traded down to 101. Now, mind you, we finished Friday at 96 a barrel, so we're still about 3.4% higher, but it was a lot worse. And the markets were getting slammed this morning. The Dow Jones is still down a couple hundred. NASDAQ has turned around. It's showing some green. Fourteen ships transited the straight yesterday. On Sunday, there may be more. And you're right, the uae, the Bahrain, Saudi Arabian vessels destined to and out of those countries will be allowed to go the way we understand it. And so I think that's easing some of the price. Price, I guess, strength or higher prices. Iranians are calling this illegal and they're calling it piracy. So they haven't responded yet. So this is what I'm talking about. It's a little nervous. Oil market right now, and these guys are the biggest players on the planet, bigger than the equity markets. The global oil market is massive. So they're a little nervous. That's why we're not lower than $96 a barrel, because we're not sure if there is going to be a response from the Iranians and what it might be. Impartiality. Trump has called this will be impartiality administered, which means nothing to do with civilians. Okay, so it has. They have to really define that this is only the infrastructure. The oil that they're selling that would benefit the military. They need to distinguish that. I think they've done that. I think the world is breathing at least a momentary sigh of relief. I will note that it's England, Spain, China, Russia and Australia have said we're not participating. EU is holding out, but we're not participating. That's very interesting. One final thought, Steve. OPEC production right now is down.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on, hang on, hang on. Yeah, hang on, hang on, hang on. Don't bury the lead. The English, you know, what was I raining about on Saturday and Sunday shows where after the NATO meeting, where's the World Navy? Where's the French navy, Where's the Italian navy? Right. They told us yesterday they're not part of this. They're going to have a meeting and talk about it. But they've essentially told us that this is a us this is a United States problem. Correct?

[Eric Bolling]

Yeah. Until it starts to work, Steve. Just like when the initial obliterating the Iranians nuclear capabilities, they didn't want any part of it until it was done in a couple of hours. And then they said we'll help you. And Trump said no thanks, we got this. I think the same thing will happen. I believe in this blockade. I think this is the smartest alternative. I'm so happy for Hegseth and Trump and the folks who are making the decisions in the Situation Room that they came up with the one thing that could take the strait out of control of the strait out of the Iranians hands and bring it back into ours. Just enforce it. If they're able to enforce it, this is going to be a monster.

[John Solomon]

Great idea.

[Eric Bolling]

Without having to put boots on the ground or obliterating civilizations.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah.

[Eric Bolling]

You were going to say I don't

[Steve Bannon]

want to give away, I don't want to give away inside baseball. But I think Scott Besant, Secretary of Treasury, had a big hand at this. I think this is the implementation of economic warfare. But we'll get to that later. You were about to say before I cut you off on the opec, OPEC

[Eric Bolling]

demand, OPEC production, OPEC OPEC delivery and production is down 7 million barrels a day. That is a massive number. That's a huge draw on global crude oil production, supplies, demand. While the OPEC has predicted their demand would be up one and a half million barrels from a full slate of oil being delivered. So demand is going up, supply is coming down, prices are going to stay a lot higher. I would definitely see how the blockade works. I have a hunch this is the smartest war decision probably in my lifetime.

[Steve Bannon]

Eric, hang on for a second because I want to get back to you about are the markets now looking at 100 as the old is 100, the new 50. Right. President Trump's economic plan is predicated upon full spectrum energy dominance with oil with a four or five handle in front of it, not not at $100. We'll get to that in a moment. Captain Fennell will give us more detail on the blockade itself and has actually implemented. If somebody says hey and they're not going to heave to, what happens? You put a shot across their bow or is the United States Navy in The marine detachments actually bored like the old days. We'll get to that in a second. Liz Troutman, Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell joins us. I know you've got time constraints, but there were two stories you broke over the weekend I want to make sure people read today and talk about. The first is about artificial intelligence. It was a lot of confusion. I've had people reaching out to me all weekend about what exactly happened with the White House political team in the state of Tennessee. And some of these other folks are just saying, hey, look, you know, the guidance you're given is totally with the oligarchs. And this artificial intelligence, we can't do that with our people. Politically, it's not feasible. It's also not the right thing to do. So what exactly happened? Did political people at the White House or David Sacks, who I thought had been given his walking papers, did they actually try to get in the middle of Tennessee and some of these other states that are coming forward with legislation to protect children? Ma' am,

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

Yes. So we already knew this is something that was happening. I have written in the past about Utah and Florida, where the Trump administration has gotten involved in these states and in AI legislation, usually legislation that has safeguards for children and has called people in power or sent emails or memos that would lead to the bill being killed. And it has been revealed now that this is happening in two more states, Tennessee and Missouri. In Missouri, I spoke to State Senator Joe Nicola, who introduced a bill to put a variety of transparency and safety limitations on AI, saying that AI doesn't have personhood, limiting potential deep fake videos made by AI and saying that the AI is the one who would have the responsibility for such illegal images. And he got a call. He had a call with someone in the White House Intergovernment affairs office and was told that he needed to soften the bill in a variety of different ways. They felt that it was too strongly worded. And so he is now working on his 11th version of the bill. But he was very frustrated by this involvement, said it inspires him even more to limit AI and protect his constituents. And then secondly, in Tennessee, if you can believe it, Tennessee state senator actually.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on, hang on. Let's hang. Yeah, hang on one second. That's one of the first, he's not going to soften it, though. They reach out to him and they want him to soften it. Is he going to dig in and say, I can't do this, or is he going to try to soften it for the White House?

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

Well, there is A threat here of losing broadband funding, which would be very bad for people in rural Missouri. This is something that his fellow members are very concerned about. And so.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on, hang on, slow down. Hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on. People in the White House have threatened Missouri legislators that they will hold back broadband funding unless they do the bidding of the oligarchs and soften this battle. I just want to make sure we understand the stakes here because this is not a small thing. I'm also not sure the President's getting perfect information from these oligarchs and the David Sacks of the world. And was it kratiotes, all these guys, they're all giving him the oligarchs position. He does. The White House is not reading the room right now. The country's in a revolt against this. Whether it's data centers or whether it's children's, make sure that they're protected as well. There's families protected, and they're getting bad information. I just want to make sure. In your reporting, you're saying they threaten this guy with withholding, which is a central part of the MAGA program of the populist program is broadband for rural areas. You're saying they're threatened withholding that unless he softens this to kowtow to the oligarchs.

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

Well, if you read that December 11th executive order which first established that state laws that were, quote, unquote, onerous to AI would be preempted in that law, it says that states that have these onerous laws could lose broadband funding. And so this is something that Joe Nicola was. Had a conversation with his colleagues about. And they said, we don't want to risk losing this broadband funding. It's extremely important to our constituents, and they don't want to risk it.

[Steve Bannon]

Wow. Horrendous. I don't think this is. I don't think the operant term there is. Operant term there is onerous. I don't think this is not onerous. They're trying to stand up for families and kids, are they not? And parents.

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

Yes. This bill doesn't. I mean, it doesn't seem like it puts too strong of limits on AI to a variety of people in the AI safety movement talking about how AI doesn't have a soul, it can never be a human. And really, the big focus of this is these deep, deep fake images, which I think is a huge concern for lots of parents around the country, that now you can make an image that looks like anything is happening. And so Putting a limit on this and saying that it would be the duty of care is on the AI company that allows this to happen is something that I think a lot of people can support. But there are, of course, concerns that we're hearing now about this

[Steve Bannon]

and particularly given this, the meeting that Besant and that Scott and Powell had with the banks about the Mythos. The Mythos new Mythos cyber weapon. Right. It could. It could basically take down a bank in seconds. It's. It scared people to the. To the mirror of their souls about the concerns here. It realizes this AI is completely out of control right now. Totally out of control. People should just know that. At least I know you got to bounce. I gotta get. The other story is that, by the way, there are other legislatures too. I just want.

[Captain Jim Fennell]

There.

[Steve Bannon]

There are other people they're reaching out to, whether it's Tennessee or other places, and trying to put pressure on them. We'll get to that. But I want to get. We've had Rosemary Jenks on here with this out of control H1B visas and taking jobs from American kids. American tech workers. 12 million STEM workers are out of the labor force. And at the same time AI is eating up jobs. We've got these guys going for these visas more and more and more. One of the worst part of it, as Rosemary Jenks talks about, is opt this situation where you have all these foreign students and they can get in underneath the regulations on H1BS. This is one of the reasons that corporations game the system. Is it Senator Scott? Definitely. We have somebody in the Senate stepping up to this. You have an exclusive about this. About. He's stepping up to say this. Another program's destroying American kids and American workers and we got to stop it.

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

Yeah. So this optional practical training program gives a tax incentive to employers to hire foreign students. And so he's saying not only does this harm American college graduates who are facing very high unemployment rates, it also gives a leg up to communist China because UCSIS has said that there is a threat of Chinese Communist Party coming in, sending foreign students. Those foreign students then use the OPT program to get tech jobs, physics jobs, programs where they're going to learn a lot about American innovation and they're going to be able to take that information back to China, which could use that to beat the United States. So not only does this harm American college graduates, it also harms national security. And so Senator Scott is urging the White House, urging DHS to do something about this.

[Steve Bannon]

This is part of. I'll get into after the break. This is part of the ecosystem. They say, oh, it's a Sputnik moment, the Chinese Communist Party. You have a tool right there that Scott's saying we've created the entire ecosystem for the ccp. Not just to finance them debt and equity financing, also to provide them with chips and to provide them with training back here in the companies and the labs and most specifically taking billets from kids in these colleges. Then train them up and they go back and this is why they're they're competitive in AI. Liz, I know you got to bounce. Where do people go? What's your social media get all your reporting scoop after scoop? Ma', am,

[Liz Mitchell (continued) / Political Reporter]

you can read my work@daily signal.com and follow me on X at the Liz Mitchell.

[Steve Bannon]

Nobody's on top of this AI fiasco more than Liz Mitchell. Thank you ma'. Am. Appreciate you. Short break. Take your phone out. Text Bannon 989-898 Ultimate Guide for Investing in Gold and Precious Metals in the Age of Trump with all the 401k IRAs, it's free, no obligation. You talk to Philip Patrick and the team.

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Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI, it all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETA with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures War Room here's your host, Stephen K. Band.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, breaking news. I'm gonna get Eric Bowling back in here and Captain Fennell. Breaking news. President, United States Commander in Chief and I quote, Iran's Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea completely obliterated 158ships what we have not hit are the small number of what they call fast attack ships because we did not consider them much of a threat. Warning if any of those ships come anywhere close to our blockade they will be immediately eliminated using the same system of kill that we use during the drug dealers on boats at sea. It is quick and brutal. P.S. 98.2% of drugs coming into the United States by ocean or sea have stopped. Thank you for your attention in this matter. President Donald J. Trump. Eric Bolling Capital markets Right now one of my concerns is that in the Wall Street Journal's got this big piece out on petrodollar like your thoughts on but or an opinion piece about the petrodollar is and you see the president right there. That's gonna I think rural markets a little bit more. But they're saying hey he's, he's gonna be very serious about this. He's going to take some ships, he's going to take some warships down, maybe even take a tanker down. You never know that right now the price is at 100. President Trump's economic plan works if it's at 50. Besant has been one of the biggest advocates of this blockade to kind of use this as a forcing function, particularly against the Chinese Communist Party. Your thoughts on a Monday before you punch out and get ready for your show.

[Eric Bolling]

I thought Steve are the 98.2% of drugs.

[John Solomon]

He is.

[Eric Bolling]

He's very precise. Is the 90.2. I love. You gotta love him. I mean so the fast boats, the little boats that, you know Stevie could take out with a, with one or two little, you know, you could even probably take it out with a 50 caliber. I don't think this is going to roil the markets, remove the markets. It hasn't yet. So we were at 105 when we first started trading this morning. We're at 102 or so. 101, 102 versus a 96 settlement on Friday. It's all wait and see what the Iranians have. Do they have anything to combat this blockade and are they stupid enough to use it? And then what will be the response? So I think the oil market will stick around the hundred dollar. It'll trade between 90 and 110 for a while until we find out exactly what the Iranians have to respond. If they don't then you may start to trail off and then equity markets can go higher. Also there's been a flight to the US dollar recently since the last 45 days or so. Always happens in wartime. Whether it's US involved or other major countries involved. Remember, when an oil producing country is involved that royals the world, the global markets, the equity markets, all markets, because energy is integral into every single economy in world. So with producing countries, producing nations involved, especially OPEC nations involved in it will have a bigger impact. So this flight to dollar out of other assets into the US dollar, seemingly the safest currency on the planet, has happened. And what it does is it puts a bit of a downward price on assets like gold. You'll probably talk to Philip Patrick about that. I'm pretty sure he'll say with the new strength in the dollar, that's putting a little bit of an anchor on gold right now. But when things start to clear up, when the straits starts to open up, when people breathe the sigh of relief that there's going to be no destruction or boots on the ground or civilizations going away, I think you'll see that flow out of the US dollar. The problem is brics countries have been trying to move away from the US dollar as the global reserve currency. I think central banks are also not sure where it's headed because they're buying gold instead of US dollars. The US dollar Treasuries are at the lowest they've been in maybe decades and their, their Treasuries of gold has been at the highest because they want to make sure if, if it's not going to be the dollar, if it's going to be the yuan or some Brics Euro or BRICS currency, then the dollar will substantially lose its value. And that, Steve, is a very, very negative impact on, on our economy as well as others, but mostly ours.

[Steve Bannon]

It's, it's, it's, it's part of these nations sitting there going, I see what happened to Russia and Ukraine. I see what's happening now. It's like I said, this economic warfare, which I'm a big proponent of because I think it gets you there without having to go kinetic. And I think this blockade is an instrument of economic warfare. It has a downside to it. People are gonna sit there and go, hey, the Americans are too powerful. I want to get away from the dollar and into gold because I don't trust the Americans. They can shut me down at any time. Before I leave you, as we talk on here for the audience to understand, we talk about these capital markets, talk about the commodities markets. You are, there are speculators out there, but principally these are very sophisticated people that are trying to project into the future and try to hedge their risk. They're trying to mitigate the risk of their businesses, whether that's a refinery, fertilizer, et cetera. That's why these markets are so massive. A bunch of articles over the weekend of, of people that were on the wrong side of trades, right? Whether thinking President Trump was going to do a civilizational takedown or whatever. Just walk me through what the. Because you, you've had this phrase, I see dead people. Walk me through some of these trades. And if you get on the wrong side of it, you could have some of these trading firms absolutely eviscerated, sir.

[Eric Bolling]

Yeah, they're. They're a couple that got smoked. In fact, the biggest one, vtol, is a international. I would call them a broker. But they see all both sides of the market. They're not a speculator at all. They'll hook up a buyer with a seller. They'll allow transportation, though buyers and sellers meet with the transportation in between. And they got caught with a bunch of. They got caught with crude oil that they had sold at 50, $60 a barrel, stuck in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the market is going up for crude oil and they have to replace it because they have commitments to deliver the oil. So they had to go out and buy oil at 100, 105, $110 a barrel. They lost several billion dollars, many billions of dollars. And there are other firms that are doing that too, and those aren't even speculators. The speculators are a gnat on a horse's ass, so to speak, in the oil market. The oil market is massive, Massive. Bigger than the currency market, bigger than almost every single market in the world. It is a massive market because it's global. Every company, every product we use. And I think when you disrupt that or you have a fear of disrupting that, it has ripple effects into all the others. So I wouldn't point the finger at speculators. I would say no one knows what's going on, including the pros. I told you, I talked to brokers, I talked to traders, I talked to refiners, I talked to transporters. And they all have. Everything's a caveat. Everything. But it could always go to 110, 120 or $150 a barrel if things continue.

[Steve Bannon]

Eric Bolling, where do we get you? Where do we track you during the day and talk to me about the shows.

[Eric Bolling]

Yeah, we do the 4 o' clock into you right here in real America. His voice Steven at Eric Bowling everywhere. But you're doing some amazing work. You're breaking ground, dude. You, you're talking about things that are happening down the road, not in the rearview mirror.

[Steve Bannon]

And no puppies. No puppies in the world.

[Eric Bolling]

No cooking segments, no rainbows, no unicorns, no casseroles.

[Steve Bannon]

No casseroles. Thank you very much, Eric Bowling. Appreciate you. On a Monday, Captain Fennell is going to stick around. We're going to talk more about this blockade. Plus we're going to go inside the wire. The issues facing the United States of America and fighters across this country that are winning. Inspiration about using your energy, inspiration if you're dealing with Medicare, if you're of a certain age and I think a couple of three War Room Posse members, maybe call 845 War Room special number set up by Chapter, a new company that uses data to look at every permutation in these Medicare plans to make sure you've got the best. Optimize your Medicare 845 war room. Do it and do it today. Short break.