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- [00:00]
Ben Shapiro
Alrighty. We'll get to the latest in Minneapolis, where the state government of Minnesota seems to be threatening the federal government under Tim Walls. Astonishing stuff. The rhetoric of the left with regard to ICE keeps ratcheting up. And the latest in Iran. Plus, we're joined by the Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright. Big show for you today. For decades, Americans have been taught a version of history designed to shame them, silence them, make certain questions off limits. Well, that ends right now. Matt Walsh's new series, Real History with Matt Walsh premieres Monday, January 19, exclusively on Daily Wire. Plus, this series confronts the lies, emissions and propaganda baked into the history you were told not to challenge. And it starts with one of the biggest myths of all. Here's your first look at episode one. I thought I knew the story of slavery, who the villains were, who the victims were. I realized almost everything I'd been told was a lie. Why do they always avoid the inconvenient fact that Africans sold the slaves to Europeans? What were those African kingdoms like? And what grade will we learn about.
- [00:54]
Tim Walz
The millions of white Europeans dragged off in chains by North African pirates while.
- [00:58]
Ben Shapiro
The world looked away? Wins the lecture on black slaveholders in the South. It's time for the truth, the history they don't teach in public schools. It's Real History with Matt Walsh. Don't miss it. Season one of Real History with Matt Walsh premieres Monday, January 19th. Join now at DailyWire+.com so the situation in Minnesota continues to roil. We are looking at the very real possibility of a standoff between the state government led by Tim Walls, the former vice presidential candidate under Kamala Harris and current governor who just had to step away from a third term, run into Minnesota because of all of the allegations of fraud with which he was caught up. A standoff between that government and the federal government that is something now being pushed very hard by Tim Walls, even as new details emerge as to who is behind the Minneapolis ICE resistance movement. And new details emerge about Renee Good, who is the woman who was shot and killed by an ICE officer while apparently in the process of either attempting to escape ICE or to possibly run down an officer who was essentially on the front left bumper of her vehicle. According to the New York Post, Renee Good, the mom who was killed by a federal agent after veering her card toward him, was an anti ICE warrior and was part of a group of activists who worked to document and resist the federal immigration crackdown in Minnesota, according to the New York Post. And of course, obstruction of the law enforcement community in its pursuit of the enforcement of law is in and of itself a crime. Good move to the city last year. Linked up with anti ICE activists through her 6 year old son's Woke Charter School, which boasts that it puts social justice first and prioritizes, quote, involving kids in political and social activism. So I mean, number one, if you decide that you need to give up your life in pursuit of mildly hindering ICE in finding illegal immigrants from Somalia and deporting them, and you have a child at home, these are bad life decisions. Truly. A mother named Lisa, whose child attends the same school said she was a warrior. She died doing what was right. I know she was doing the right thing. I watched the video plenty of times. But I also know in my heart the woman she was, she was doing everything right. Well, again, I think it's very difficult to make the case that she was doing everything right when this happened. The very least, resisting law enforcement is a foolish move. And again, this seems to me more like a tragedy than like a quote unquote act of terror by the woman who is driving the car by Renee Goode. With that said, when you resist the police and when you create a situation in which the officer has a reasonable perception that you are trying to run him down with your motor vehicle, you getting shot is a predictable outcome of this thing. Good and her wife Rebecca, 40, were raising the boy together in the the mostly working class activist heavy neighborhood of South Minneapolis which features tree lined streets and a large number of homes with windows decked out in LGBTQ + divided by sign flags or signs depicting George Floyd, just as many others did in the lefty enclave. Good sense her son to a place called Southside Family Charter School. According to the New York Post, that is a K through 5 Academy opened in 1972 that from its inception has been unabashedly dedicated to social justice education, according to the co founder, a person named Susie Oppenheim. So she became involved in something called ICE Watch, which is a loose coalition of activists dedicated to disrupting ICE operations in the city. Apparently current event topics like the killing of George Floyd, regular parts of the curriculum. Last month students took a field trip where they learned about aboriginal issues, a reference to the indigenous people of faraway Australia. So apparently she was trained, quote, against these ICE agents. What to do, what not to do. It's a very thorough training. ICE Watch and adjacent groups can also turn confrontational with numerous instances of activists ramming agents with their cars in the past. So yes, this person was in fact a radical activist and she was a stay at home, mother of three who dabbled in poetry. And this is being portrayed by the media as having very little to do with activism, but apparently it has an awful lot to do with activism. The New York Post also has a report today and who is behind the Minneapolis ICE resistance movement? According to the New York Post, radical leftist groups, including one financed with $7.8 million from, wait for it, progressive billionaire George Soros, are behind the anti ICE protests in Minnesota Indivisible Twin Cities, which describes itself as a grassroots group, grassroots group of volunteers has led many of the protests against ICE raids in Minnesota, and that is an offshoot of something called the Indivisible project in Washington, D.C. which is a movement to defeat the Trump agenda, according to the Open Society foundation, which granted it something close to $8 million. That group was also behind the recent protests in favor of Nicolas Maduro from Venezuela and the no Kings demonstrations against the Trump administration throughout the country last year. Again, there seems to be some contradiction between no Kings and also yes, Venezuelan dictators. Other protest leaders include, wait for it, the Council on American Islamic Relations, an anti Israel group whose Minnesota chapter's executive director, Jaylani Hussein, has railed against ICE at protests. And the coalition of people who believe that Western civilization must be torn out by its roots is quite strong. It continues to march. The scavengers that I talk about in my book, they are quite real. And that coalition is well funded. Well, as all of this happens, the FBI is making the point that this is a federal issue, that because the ICE officer involved was a federal officer, federal law enforcement preempts state law enforcement issues. And so, according to the Wall Street Journal, Minnesota law enforcement officials said on Thursday the FBI blocked them from participating in an investigation into the fatal shooting of a woman by an ICE agent, intensifying the dispute between the state and federal government over the death. Minnesota Governor Tim Walls denounced the FBI, saying any probe that doesn't include state law enforcement cannot be trusted. I mean, I think it's fair to say that the opposite is also true. Any probe that includes a state law enforcement apparatus run by Tim Walls, who has already effectively declared this a murder, is not going to be a, a relevant or useful piece of law enforcement. That any investigative body answerable to Tim Walls, who presided over the burning down of his own major city, Minneapolis, in 2020 over what I believe to be a fraudulent take on the George Floyd death. I don't really trust Tim Walls on that very much. Walls has obviously been upping the ante. He continues over and over and over to use extraordinary language with regard to ice. Yesterday, he announced that he would be staging the Minnesota National Guard. He put out a press statement, quote, governor Tim Walls has authorized the Minnesota National Guard to be staged and ready to support local and state law enforcement in protecting critical infrastructure and maintaining public safety following a shooting involving federal immigration enforcement agents in south Minneapolis. Now, will the National Guard be protecting infrastructure from rioters or are they there to obstruct ICE in their performance of their federal duties? That's a question because of the way that Walls is talking. Of course, the latter would be a crime. Walls said, quote, minnesotans have met the moment. Thousands of people have peacefully made their voices heard. Minnesota, thank you. We saw powerful peace. We have every reason to believe that the peace will hold. Yesterday I directed the National Guard to be ready should all of this be needed. By the way, Minnesota actually canceled classes. They actually canceled school in Minneapolis because of this, which is fairly incredible that a controversial shooting involving an activist who appears to have been aiming her car at an ICE agent, at the very least clipped the ICE agent before being shot. That that results in kids being released from school. Why? Because they're so afraid of riots and that that's going to take over the schools. If so, what does that say about Tim Walls's governance in the city? By the way, worth noting the the ICE agent who was involved in this shooting had apparently previously been rammed by a car. That is according to Daily Wire, the officer himself apparently was transported to a nearby hospital, was later released. Christy Gnome said that the agent involved had already been rammed by a car in a previous encounter, pointing out that ICE alone is facing a 1,300% increase in assaults against them and an 8,000% increase in death threats against ICE agents. In fact, DHS put out an entire list with evidence of the various attacks and assaults that have been performed on ICE agents. Earlier this year, a trend suspect rammed law enforcement a vehicle into a tree. There are two separate vehicular assaults in Chicago. In the pictures are evident. They're put out by Department of Homeland Security. An ICE officer was hit with a car, nearly crushing him. If you go back to September of last year, a sniper, as you'll recall, attacked an ICE facility in Dallas. So something quite dangerous is happening. When you create a permission structure that suggests that ICE is the problem. When you create that permission structure and you say that they are the Gestapo, that they are evil, that they are Nazis, then it shouldn't be a gigantic surprise when people start treating them as such and violence increases. Now in the Midst of all of this, the agent who is involved is actually unmasked online. You want to know why ICE agents are masked? The reason is because their lives come under threat thanks to actions like this. So the ICE agent apparently was unmasked, which puts his life at risk for sure. Get some more on this in a moment. First, you know, it's tough to relax for me. Like as a general rule, I get in bed at night. I really need to just let things go. I need to relax. And what I have found is that the only thing that makes that happen is Helix Sleep because I have to have the mattress that is right for me. Finding the right mattress doesn't have to be complicated. Our sponsor Helix makes it incredibly straightforward with their sleep quiz. It matches you to the perfect mattress based on your specific preferences and sleep needs. They're not just another mattress company either. Helix is the most awarded mattress brand out there with glowing reviews from major publications like Forbes and Wired folks, not just marketing hype. A study they conducted found 82% of participants actually saw an increase in their deep sleep cycle while sleeping on a Helix Sleep mattress, which is pretty impressive when you think about how crucial quality sleep is for everything else in life. Again, I've got that firm but breathable mattress. That means that my back doesn't ache when I wake up. And because it's breathable, I don't heat up at night. They even offer free shipping straight to your door at 120 night sleep trial so you can actually test it out in your own home. They back up everything with a limited lifetime warranty. Start sleeping right tonight by ordering a Helix mattress today. Head ON over to helixleep.com BEN for 27% off sitewide. That's helixleep.com BENfor 27% off site wide. Make sure you enter our show name after checkout so they know we sent you helixleep.com Ben and the Democrats just cannot stop upping the ante. So yesterday, Tim Walls again, the governor of Minnesota, who right now is in a world of hurt politically because of that Somali fraud. Remember, this ICE activity was initiated based on reports of not only Somali fraud, but illegal immigrants from Somalia engaged in fraud. Tim Walls compared this moment to the civil war is now the civil war. If you send ICE to enforce arrest warrants against criminals in the country today, Tim Wall says it's now a civil war.
- [12:46]
Tim Walz
When things looked really bleak, it was Minnesota's first that held that line for the nation on that July 3, 1863. And I think now we may be in that moment that the nation's looking to us to hold the line on democracy, to hold the line on decency, to hold the line on accountability, and more than that, to rise up as neighbors and simply say we can look out for one another, we can have differences, but we proved to the world going on 250 years that our democracy could hold. It feels to me like we're at one of those inflection points.
- [13:23]
Ben Shapiro
It's an inflection point like a civil war inflection point. Now, one of the things that I've said many, many times is that when you have high level politicians talking this way about the country, it is very bad for the country, truly bad. When you say we are at the point where we are, we are at blows of them, we are going to go to war with one another. It's a civil war that's about to break out. It's the end of the country. These sorts of things from political leaders turn into self perpetuating prophecies. They turn into self fulfilling prophecies. Because the more people believe that they can't get along with their neighbors and that there is no basis for a common Americanism, the more they are likely to see each other as enemies and not just sometimes political opponents. Yesterday, Tim Walls called for a moment of silence, which is to take place today, of course, use some pretty charged language in Minnesota.
- [14:11]
Tim Walz
I'm declaring tomorrow at 10am on January 9th. I'd ask everyone to pause for a moment of silence to remember Renee Goode, also to remember all that's good and right about this nation. And I'm gonna ask folks if they can. I'd ask employers to give their people some space. I'd ask each and every one to find a way to contribute in your community. Might be shoveling your neighbor's walk, it might be being at a food bank, it might be pausing to talk to someone you haven't talked to before, but to show the goodness, to rise up, to make sure that we're being very, very clear about this, that we expect our constitutional rights to be respected, that law enforcement is local, that we expect accountability of our elected leaders, and that we are not going to go quietly and we're not going to give up on those things that matter so much to us. And chief amongst those is human dignity, respect, rule of law, all of the things that we know make this country great.
- [15:09]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, this sort of bizarre Orwellian language that Tim Walls is using right there, he moves very quickly from, you know, we should take this moment of silence to go work at a food bank or talk to someone you've never talked to before. From there to we need to respect rule of law while overtly holding a moment of silence for a person who at the very least was involved in obstruction of the performance of law. When he says that law enforcement must be local, what he means is that federal law enforcement shouldn't do its job. And when he says that we should rise up, which is language that he uses right there in that video, when he says that we have an obligation to stand up for our constitutional rights. You do not have a constitutional right to be in this country illegally, nor do you have a constitutional right to thwart federal law enforcement in its pursuit of criminal illegal immigrants and their deportation. You do not have a right to do any of those things. All of this is part and parcel of course, of Tim Walls broader agenda, which is to label ICE Gestapo, which is what he did last year. Here he was In May of 2025, the Governor of Minnesota, Donald Trump's modern day Gestapo.
- [16:13]
Tim Walz
Gestapo is scooping folks up off the streets in unmarked vans, wearing masks, being shipped off to foreign torture dungeons. No chance to mount a defense, not even a chance to kiss a loved one goodbye. Just grabbed up by masked agents, shoved into those vans and disappeared. To be clear, there's no way for us to know whether they were actually criminals or not because they refused to give them a trial. We're supposed to just take their word for it.
- [16:40]
Ben Shapiro
Again, that was him in 2025 comparing ICE to the Gestapo. And then you wonder why people are out there confronting ice. And when you put people in a moral position where they feel they must confront federal law enforcement and do it over and over and over again. Basic rule, the more people are confronting law enforcement, the more there will be bad situations that emerge from those confrontations. This is just the way the world works. And again, listening to Tim Walls talk about morality is kind of astonishing considering that just last year he was saying that China might be the global moral authority, a true authoritarian state.
- [17:17]
Tim Walz
Who holds the moral authority? Who holds the ability to do that? Because we are not seen as a neutral actor and we maybe never were. I don't want to tell anybody that. I think there's a lot of people say you always leaned one way in this, but I think there was at least an attempt to be somewhat of the arbitrator in this. We saw President Carter do it with beginning and Sadat. We've had certain wins along the way that were are actually mutually beneficial both ways. Now I ask who that is, and I mean consistently, over and over again. We're going to have to face the reality it might be the Chinese.
- [17:54]
Ben Shapiro
I mean, unbelievable. Unbelievable. So that person is the person who's now the moral authority talking about authoritarianism. And remember, he presided over the riots in 2020 that shut down not only the city, but a large part of the country because he was unable to handle basic law enforcement function in his state. Meanwhile, the mayor of Minneapolis, who's been similarly outrageous, he told ICE to get the F out of here, which of course, as the mayor of a city, you do not have the law enforcement power to do. And then he suggested that Renee Goode had been murdered, which again, even if he wanted to take the pro Renee Good side of this equation, the claim that it wasn't at least disputed is insane. You can watch that tape and you can come away with varying interpretations. The point I made yesterday is that it is not about the intent of Renee Good when she is driving the car, whether or not the officer is prosecuted. It is about the intent of the officer and his reasonable perception that there is a deadly threat to his life. And again, all of that presumably will be investigated. There will be investigations held into where the shots were fired from. Were they fired from the front of the car? Were they fired from the side of the car? Which matters because presumably, if you fire from the front of the car while you are theoretically being run over, maybe there's an imminent danger of deadly threat if you're now to the side of the car, does the same rule now apply? Right, but calling it a plain case of murder is nuts. But this is the Minneapolis mayor, and we should remember that this is part and parcel of a generalized dislike for law enforcement, period. This is the same guy who was doing the ridiculous prostrating himself before the woke gods over George Floyd. Here he was back in 2020 at a struggle session. The Minneapolis mayor, you have to take responsibility here. I've been coming to grips with my own brokenness in this situation, my own.
- [19:52]
Kathy Hochul
Failures, my own shortcomings that I know.
- [19:54]
Ben Shapiro
There needs to be deep seated structural reform in terms of how the department operates. The systemically racist system needs to be revamped. That's who this pathetic person is. Truly pathetic. Well, he has a piece in the New York Times today calling the Trump administration liars. Quote, the actions of the ICE agents deployed to my city are dangerous and now even deadly. But that danger has been compounded by the administration's claim that the victim committed an act of domestic terrorism. The Trump Administration's false narrative about this week's shooting and the demonization of the victim are only part of a bigger lie. So again, I think that the categorization of the woman who was shot here, Renee Good, is a domestic terrorist. I don't see the evidence for that. I see evidence that she was violating federal law by impeding ICE in its pursuit of the law. And I think it's disputed as to whether she was trying to run over the person. Now you get to her intent. But what Jacob Fry says here is truly insane. Quote, the Trump administration's false narrative about this week's shooting and the demonization of the victim are only part of a bigger lie. It wants the American public to believe that ICE's heavily militarized crackdown across this country is an effort to keep cities like Minneapolis safe. It is not. It is about vilifying not just immigrants, but all who welcome them and their contributions to our communities. By defending the lie about this clearly avoidable shooting in Minneapolis, the administration is sending a message to the entire country. If you show up for your immigrant neighbors or even are simply present when those neighbors are taken, your rights will not be protected by the law and your life will be at risk. That is a lie. Renee Goode was parked for three solid minutes by the tape at a 90 degree angle to impede ICE officials from doing their job. That is a violation of the law. But Jacob Fry is trying to ratchet up the tensions again. The idea is that essentially ICE are the foot soldiers of the Trumpian authoritarian regime. And if you keep saying that over and over, of course people are going to go out and target federal law enforcement. Unfortunately, it is not just Tim Walls who is doing this. The Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, apparently described the shooting of Renee Good as state sponsored terrorism. On X, he wrote. For almost a year, Donald Trump's personal police force has rampaged across America. Again, describing ICE as Trump's personal police force is totally crazy. I'm sorry, that's wild. That is a crazy statement and it's obviously meant to draw comparisons to authoritarian leaders who have ramrod control of a storm abtelon right their own sa to go and do their specific bidding. And that's nonsense. It's just nonsense. ICE has to abide by federal law. If they do not abide by federal law, then presumably they will be prosecuted. The Governor of California wrote his administration has driven extremism and cruelty while discarding basic safeguards and accountability. Now a 37 year old US citizen is dead again, ignoring the circumstances of the death are key to this. I've said that I think that this is a confused and confusing situation. I don't think it's absolutely 100% clear cut what Renee Good was trying to do. I do think that there is a very, very good case that the officer had a reasonable and objective fear for his life when he fired the shot that killed her. The shots that killed her. But ignoring that, what, what she was doing, what, why she was there in the first place, makes it sound as though ICE broke down Renee Good's door and just shot her in her living room. And that is not what happened. On his press office X account he added state sponsored terrorism. State sponsored terrorism. I mean truly state sponsored terrorism, right? Terrorism is an attempt to effectuate a political end through violence. Okay? That is what terrorism is definitionally through non legal violence. Not law enforcement. Law enforcement. It is not state sponsored terrorism. If the cops even accidentally shoot someone. That is not state sponsored terrorism. Or if they do so under disputed circumstances, State sponsored terrorism would be that you initiate the law enforcement authorities to go do something broad scale illegal. What is ICE doing that is broad scale illegal, according to Gavin Newsom. State sponsored. I mean, because that makes every ICE age and a state sponsored terrorist, does it not? Like what? What exactly are we talking about here? What are we talking about here? This is crazy. And not only is it crazy, it's dangerous. It really is. Top level politicians should not be talking like this. They should not. The notion that is now being promoted by apparently every major Democrat that ICE never should have been in Minneapolis in the first place in order to again effectuate federal law with regard to immigration is crazy. But this is what they're doing. Kathy Hochul in New York doing the same thing.
- [24:49]
Kathy Hochul
I've asked an ICE agent, why are you wearing the mask? When I was down there at the 26 Federal Plaza, I said, why do you wear the mask? No other law enforcement does this. Our police don't do it. Our FBI agents don't do it. Why are you doing this? And they said, because we get doxxed, our family gets harassed, etc. I said, why do you think you are more than anybody else? I mean, come on, you're just trying to scare people. You're terrorizing people yourselves and I don't want to see that. So we don't need that here. We're doing just fine in New York. The mayor and I will stand together and reject any efforts to try and militarize our streets. But they never should have been in Minneapolis in the first place.
- [25:28]
Ben Shapiro
Why should they never have been in Minneapolis in the first place? Why? Because they were effectuating the law. Why? I need. I need an explanation. But again, this is all part and parcel of a broader left wing argument that we are now living under a dictatorship. Which of course is not even remotely true. Because if we were, Tim Walls would not be doing what he's doing. Neither would Kathy Hochul. Neither would Jacob Fry. Here's Joy Behar making the person, the dumb person's case on all of this. As per our usual arrangement.
- [25:56]
Kathy Hochul
Just this last week, I'm just going to give you a summary of what we've been through. One week, Pete Hegsett started an illegal war for oil in Venezuela. Right. Stephen Miller threatened a military takeover of Greenland, RFK Jr. Slash childhood vaccine recommendations. And I shot and killed a United States citizen in Minneapolis. Yeah, that sort of adds up to me like a dictatorship in the making.
- [26:23]
Ben Shapiro
That we are now in it.
- [26:25]
Kathy Hochul
We are in it now.
- [26:30]
Ben Shapiro
A dictatorship in the making. Again, you keep saying this stuff. You keep saying this stuff and then you wonder why people are ramming cars into ICE agents. Because you're telling them, you are telling them that they are a threat to, to your family. They're telling, you are telling these people that ICE is a threat to Americans families. Now, we've talked about permission structures for violence. We've talked about it over and over again on the show, particularly since the death of Charlie Kirk. We've talked about there are specific ideologies that lead to an increase in violence. Those ideologies posit that there is some sort of conspiratorial force out to get you, that there is specific danger to you and people like you, and that the only way to prevent that force from harming you is to preemptively harm them. And there are certain ideologies that are caught up in this. They threaten your identity, therefore they must be killed. That is why it took a person who is pro trans radicalism, apparently to shoot Charlie. Okay, well, the same thing is true here. If you keep saying over and over and over that ICE is not just a threat to illegal immigrants, which of course it is, because that is their job, but that it is a threat to all Americans, that they are here to promote violence. They are here to threaten you just for walking down the street, according to Jacob Fry, that if you're on the very street where something is happening with ice, you have to be afraid for your life. Why are you possibly wondering why people are trying to assassinate ICE officers? This is insane stuff. It really is terrible. And all Democrats have to do, all they have to do is suggest that the way that President Trump is going about enforcing federal immigration law is over the top, unspecific and blunderbuss. Right. That that's. If they were, if I were going to try to steel man the Democratic position, a position with which I disagree, the case that I would be making is President Trump should be focusing in on true threats to the American people, meaning criminal illegal immigrants, until he gets rid of all the criminal illegal immigrants. Deploying large scale ICE raids to go and get people who are participating in welfare fraud should not be top, top, top priority. Yes, they should be deported, but that can be done in a less militant way or a less obvious way, and it's less effective if you actually show up en masse to do this sort of stuff. You can make that case. You could. Now, I don't think it's a particularly strong case, but that is a case that you can make. You can make the case that the Trump administration has been too overt in its sort of propagandizing on behalf of the joys of deportations, refusing to acknowledge the pain of people. Right. This is something that Democrats typically say about law enforcement. Okay, fine, you'd be wrong, but that's at least an argument. But making the case that ICE itself is a threat to the American way of life because they are doing their jobs, is crazy, crazy and dangerous. Well, Kristi Noem over at the Department of Homeland Security, she made clear, again, that if people try to attack police officers or ICE officers, they'll be prosecuted.
- [29:23]
Kathy Hochul
We are warning anyone, if you think you can harm an individual, a citizen of the United States or a law enforcement officer, we will fine you and bring you to justice. If you lay a finger on one of our officers, we will catch you, we will prosecute you, and you will feel the full extent of the law.
- [29:42]
Ben Shapiro
So, again, that's what law enforcement should do. Obviously, J.D. vance, Vice President of the United States, has been taking a lead role in combating a lot of the rhetoric coming from the left over ice. So yesterday he said that the video is clear, and then he slammed the media for its coverage.
- [29:59]
J.D. Vance
The way that the media, by and large has reported this story has been an absolute disgrace. And it puts our law enforcement officers at risk every single day. What that headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg. So you think maybe he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile. What that headline leaves out is that that woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America. What that headline leaves out is that that woman has is part of a broader left wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job. If the media wants to tell the truth, they ought to tell the truth that a group of left wing radicals have been working tirelessly, sometimes using domestic terror techniques to try to make it impossible for the President of the United States to do what the American people elected him to do, which is enforce our immigration laws. The President stands with ice. I stand with ice. We stand with all of our law enforcement officers.
- [31:08]
Ben Shapiro
Again, I think that a huge part of that is true. When he says nobody debates that she was aiming the car at the officer, that's under debate because it's possible that she was trying to avoid the officer. But she did hit the officer with the car. She nudged the officer, at the very least with the front bumper of the car. On tape. The Vice President also went off on Tim Walls. Our very own Mary Margaret Olihan asked him the question over in the White House press room. I wanted to read a quote from Tim Waltz earlier today. He said, when things looked bleak, it.
- [31:38]
Kathy Hochul
Was Minnesota's first that held the line for the nation on July 3, 1863. And I think we may be in that moment now. Can you comment on his rhetoric and Mayor Jacob Fry and whether they want to see unrest in Minneapolis?
- [31:51]
J.D. Vance
Well, that's very tough rhetoric from a guy who just quit because his fraudulent activities have been uncovered. Look, Tim Walsh is a joke. His entire administration has been a joke. The idea that he's some sort of freedom fighter, he's not. He's a guy who has enabled fraud and maybe in fact has participated in fraud. That's what this new Assistant Attorney General position is going to find out.
- [32:10]
Ben Shapiro
Hey, so again, if the two polarized positions here are Democrats say all law enforcement bad, and Republicans say, well, this lady was violating the law and was aiming her car at the, at the police officer, again, it is amazing to me the Democrats are going to take the law enforcement is bad position. That is an insane position to take. Just politically speaking, it's bad. JD Vance also pointed out that yes, the death is a tragedy, but it's a tragedy not just personally. It's a tragedy of far left ideology that obscures the realities about what law enforcement is doing.
- [32:43]
J.D. Vance
The simple fact is what you see is what you get in this case, you have a woman who is trying to obstruct a legitimate law enforcement operation. Nobody debates that. You have a woman who aimed her car at a law enforcement officer and pressed on the accelerator. Nobody debates that. I can believe that her death is a tragedy while also recognizing that it's a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshaled an entire movie movement, a lunatic fringe, against our law enforcement officers.
- [33:14]
Ben Shapiro
Again, yeah, the vice president is not wrong here. Well, again, a lot of this is also tied up in what's going on in terms of the fraud cases in Minnesota. The reason that Tim Walls is going so hard here is because Tim Walls just had to step away from his third term run because of the fraud in which he has been caught up. A fraud largely emanating from the Somali community, which, of course, is the community at issue in these immigration raids from ice. Again, all this is tied up with the massive fraud scandal that has engulfed the state of Minnesota. According to Scott Besant, the IRS has uncovered somewhere between 300 and $600 billion in fraud on a national level. At this point, we're not, we're not.
- [33:54]
Scott Bessant
Going to have that. We are going to hold people accountable. We're going to press this to the full extent possible. And like I said, I think that this may just be it's cold day outside, so this could be the tip of the iceberg here in Minnesota, but it's probably may not be as prevalent, but the dollars may be bigger and larger in other states.
- [34:20]
Ben Shapiro
Scott Bessant, the Treasury Secretary, also is now going to use mechanisms for cutting down on fraud, to cut down on remittances if you're on public assistance. The idea being if you're receiving welfare, you shouldn't take American taxpayer dollars that are meant to help you and then send those over to Al Shabaab and Somalia.
- [34:37]
Scott Bessant
If a certain amount of money gets wired. So we're lowering that to 3,000 and we're also targeting the two counties here and we're going to do enhanced surveillance. And from now on, anyone who wires money out from one of these money service businesses has to check a box saying whether they are on public assistance. And if you are on public assistance, we are going to start pushing that. You cannot wire money out of the country.
- [35:09]
Ben Shapiro
And the Department of Homeland Security, by the way, has now unleashed investigators to go door to door collecting evidence and investigating fraud in Minneapolis and across the country. According to their X account, the Trump administration will follow the law and is not afraid to use Denaturalization and deportation. If you're complicit in defrauding the American people, they say your days are numbered. Fraud is the thing that is lying at the root of an enormous amount of this. The vice president, J.D. vance, he said yesterday that there will be the creation of a new Assistant Attorney General dedicated specifically to prosecution of fraud.
- [35:41]
J.D. Vance
We have over 1500 subpoenas that the Department of Justice has issued to get to the heart of the fraud ring. We've done almost 100 indictments, most mostly Somali immigrants, but also a few others. And of course, we're looking in with broad investigatory authority to a number of the instances of wrongdoing that we've seen in Minneapolis. But we also want to expand this. We know that the fraud isn't just happening in Minneapolis. It's also happening in states like Ohio. It's happening in states like California. And so what we're doing in order to help coordinate this remarkable interagency effort from the Trump administration administration, but also to make sure that we prosecute the bag bad guys and do it as swiftly and efficiently as possible, is we are creating a new Assistant Attorney General position who will have nationwide jurisdiction over the issue of fraud.
- [36:33]
Ben Shapiro
Apparently, according to KSTP.com as well, Minnesota DHS employees backdated and created documentation in a behavioral health grant program. Fraud in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, this sort of stuff is incredibly, incredibly common. The Equality Learning center, which of course was the center of a huge amount of ire, given the video from Nick Shirley, that went essentially door to door to these various daycare facilities that he claimed were defrauding the Minnesotan taxpayer. Apparently they have now closed. Officially. That would be the Quality Leering Center. You remember that they're signed, was missing an N. Quality Leadering center closed on Tuesday, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services licensing records. And they're unable to reopen without reapplying for a license. Apparently the biggest problem for Democrats, what's amazing, truly, if you're a Democrat and if you believe in bigger government spending, more welfare, more taxpayer money flowing from certain people to other people, you should hate fraud, right? You should be very anti fraud because fraud totally undermines your program. Fraud means that the money that you want to go to this poor person is instead going to this person who is buying himself a Mercedes. Fraud means that the money that you are saying to the taxpayer, we are taking from you to give to this other person who's poor. That money's not going to the poor guy. It's Going to somebody who's bilking you, they should be the angriest about fraud. In the same way, if I found out that someone was embezzling from our company, I would be very, very, very angry as an owner of the company. If you are a Democrat and you quote, unquote, own the government, you should be upset about people embezzling, which is what that is from the government. And yet Democrats are very, very defensive about fraud. They seem not to care very much about fraud. In fact, they seem to facilitate the fraud in many cases, which is totally crazy. Unless you believe that the fraud is sort of the point that the way that they want to spread money around is corrupt. Because otherwise they should be angry. Right. They should be the first in line to say fraudsters need to be prosecuted. They should be deploying law enforcement themselves to crack down on the fraud. It's their programs, after all. They want to claim credit for them. Well, the mayor of Seattle doesn't feel that way. The mayor of Seattle was asked about looking into fraud claims and she said, nah, not so interested, eh? Yeah, I mean, I think the fear in the Somali community is real. The fear in immigrant communities are real. So we're taking that very seriously.
- [38:55]
Scott Bessant
Along those lines, have you asked anyone.
- [38:57]
Ben Shapiro
To follow up on the fraud claims either to. To the Department of Immigrant and Refugee affairs or spd? No. Okay. And again, I think one of the reasons they don't want to look into the fraud is because an inherent part of growing the government this big and making it this intrusive is more fraud is more fraud. New York, by the way, is talking about initiating larger programs, larger programs that will be replete with even more fraud. So Kathy Hochul and Zoran Mamdani have announced a plan to make New York child care universal. The amount of Mandani, by the way, says that he wants to focus specifically on home based providers. A home based providers that would be like you pay somebody in their home to stay in their home to care for children, or you hire grandma to care for the kids or whatever. This is a system that is a begging for fraud, begging for it. Here is Zormandani happy to facilitate the defrauding of the taxpayer not only when we make pre k truly universal, but expand this care to include all two and three year olds across the city. As the governor said, we will deliver two care by working in partnership with childcare providers, especially home based providers. They're very excited about the home based providers because you know how hard it is to monitor that. It's almost Impossible to monitor home based providers that you're sponsoring with welfare dollars because they're in the home. How do you do it? Really, really, really difficult. By the way, there was a report released in August 2024 in New York in which the state comptroller, Thomas DiNapoli, revealed that over the past couple of decades, audits of private preschool special education providers, that is a minor, like tiny subset of child care providers, identified $113 million in mismanaged or fraudulent expenses. The federal government alleges billions of dollars in mismanagement and fraud here, which would not be surprising in the slightest. Meanwhile, Kathy Hochul says New York is going to spend $4.5 billion on child care. How much of that is going to flow to actual child care and how much of that is going to flow to people who are defrauding the system?
- [41:10]
Kathy Hochul
Oh, this year we're committing an additional 1.7 billion in what we call recurring spending, something my budget director Hay needs, but meaning we're committed. And so that means our total child care investment this year will be $4.5 billion in the state of New York.
- [41:30]
Ben Shapiro
And by the way, she's going to have to tap existing funding because she doesn't want to increase the taxes. So we'll see how that works out for her. And according to the New York Times, if and when the funding is secured, the city and state would have to tackle an enormous operational challenge. The that would involve hiring and training scores of teachers and constructing a high quality unified system out of a scattered existing network of childcare providers in schools, daycare centers and private homes. But he says that he wants more private homes involved. This is going to be a disaster area. It's going to be a disaster area. Hochul wants to spend an additional nearly $2 billion on the expansion plan. And this is just going to spread the fraud like wildfire. It is. It is what? It's going to satisfy people who will then create, you would imagine, unions to bilk the taxpayer of even more money. And state growth cannot happen without high levels of fraud. And that is one of the reasons why people are very against even investigating fraud in blue states where they should be again, the most in favor of cracking down on fraud. Well, meanwhile, on the international front, protests in Iran have continued to roil the country. In fact, the Iranian government apparently shut down the Internet last night entirely, which is usually a cover for them massacring people. Large scale protests are an amazing thing, but if they don't materialize in terms of actual power, then we've Seen this show before where the Iranian government simply goes out in the streets and starts murdering people willy nilly. It happened in 2022. It happened back in 2009 under Barack Obama. Would not be a shock to see something like that happen again. President Trump has made clear he, he does not want to see that happen again. Yesterday he was on with Hugh Hewitt and he said that Imran knows that if they engage in this sort of slaughter of people, that the United States will in fact, stop them from doing that.
- [43:17]
Donald Trump
As you know probably better than anybody, they're doing very poorly. And I have let them know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots, they have lots of riots. If they do it, we're going to hit them very hard.
- [43:32]
Ben Shapiro
Now, President Trump was asked also by Hugh Hewitt about meeting with Reza Pahlavi, who is the son of the former shah. And he has sort of taken a very public position as the protest leader. Again, it's unclear how many of the protesters there are supportive of the return of a shadam or whether it is an entirely different movement. Trump himself says that's not really the issue. The issue here is the protests themselves. Would you meet with Crown Prince Pavlavi, who is the heir to the constitutional monarchy? He doesn't want to rule.
- [44:04]
Tim Walz
He would be a, you know, symbolic.
- [44:05]
Ben Shapiro
Ruler like King Charles.
- [44:08]
Donald Trump
Well, I've watched him and he seems like a nice person, but I'm not sure that it would be appropriate at this point to do that as president. I think that we should let everybody go out there and we see who emerges. I'm not sure necessarily that I, it would be an appropriate thing to do.
- [44:28]
Ben Shapiro
President Trump did say that he is following closely what has been happening in Iran and that if Iran goes out and starts shooting people in the streets, that there will be consequences to that.
- [44:37]
Donald Trump
In the past, they've started shooting the hell out of people. And all of a sudden, people without any weapons whatsoever standing there and you have machine guns gunning them down, or they grab, take them to prisons and then hang them and kill them. So they played rough. And I said, if they do that, we're going to hit them very hard. We're going to hit them hard. We're ready to do it. If they do that, we're going to hit them hard. And so far, for the most part, there's been some of it, but for the most part they haven't. There have been people killed, some of them. The crowds are so big that some of them have had really like, we're stomped on, literally. It was. It was terrible. The crowds are just, they're massive. The enthusiasm to overturn that regime is incredible. But there's been people killed, but it's more from death by. It's literally stomping. It's people running in a certain direction. So we'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. They know, though, that it's a stampede as I guess the best word they have, like a stampede. You talk about stampede for cattle, but the people are stampeding and you're losing a lot of people with the stampedes. There's so many. There's so many people protesting. Nobody's ever seen anything like what's happening right now.
- [45:58]
Ben Shapiro
Now, again, it may be that those protests turn into a full scale regime change. It may also be that you require somebody in the irgc, in the Iranian echelon to end the Ayatollah's rule. It is true that if there were some sort of security umbrella provided by the west to prevent protesters from being mowed down in the streets, that would fundamentally change the game. Presumably, that is why Ayatollah Khamenei is lashing out at President Trump. He gave a speech last night in the middle of the Internet blackout in which he essentially told the Iranians that President Trump is the bad guy, which is something Iranians do not believe is a general rule. His hands stained with the blood of over 1,000 of Iranians in the 12 day war. Over 1,000 people from apart from generals, scientists and others, from masses of people. They were martyred. And he said that I ordered, I commanded the war. So he admitted that his hands or stained the blood of Iranians. But he claims that he supports the Iranian people and a number of people without experience that do not pay attention, without vigilance, believe what he says and acts according to his will. Well, of course, the Israeli operation last year was designed to defenestrate the Iranian nuclear facilities. It was a highly targeted operation directed at, at the irgc, in particular the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Khamenei, in those remarks, said Trump should mind his own business. We will not tolerate protesters serving foreign interests. Now, what's amazing is that these protesters are in fact, not propped up by foreign interests. These protesters are apparently in the millions out there protesting in the streets against the Iranian regime that has been unable not only to provide security, but unable to provide even water and power. Here is some of the video from the protests. This would have been the night before last. You can see these are million, massive, massive protests. In fact, in one city called Kabad. The lion and sun flag, which was the flag of the Iranian government prior to the takeover of the country by the ayatollahs, was raised in Khuramabad in Lauristan Province. You can see that happening. So we may be on the verge of something major. And then again it may be that the Iranians roll out the guns and start mowing people down and the west doesn't respond, which would be true to the west form over the course of the last several decades. We'll find out in fairly short order. Meanwhile, the United States continues to pursue a change of policy in Venezuela. Obviously the the goal is to have the existing structure in Venezuela change its behavior leading to elections. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessant was speaking at the Minnesota Economic Club and he said this is not in any way like the Iraq war, which of course is true. The Iraq war required hundreds of thousands of American troops. This is not, here's Scott Besant explaining.
- [49:04]
Scott Bessant
This is the anti Iraq and anti in Iraq. The Iraq had a big bureaucracy like hundred, hundred of years, hundreds of years. And it was just wiped out and it was chaos. So for now we want to stabilize the existing structure and then go from there.
- [49:30]
Ben Shapiro
Joining us online is Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Yesterday the President released a fact sheet talking about Venezuela, the oil industry in Venezuela. Secretary Wright, thanks so much for the time, really appreciate it.
- [49:43]
Chris Wright
Thanks for having me, Ben.
- [49:46]
Ben Shapiro
So let's talk about why first of all the United States is even interested in oil from Venezuela. The sort of general perception in the United States is that we are fully oil independent, we don't need more oil. Is there a difference between Venezuelan oil and the other kind of oil that we are fracking? For example, in Pennsylvania.
- [50:03]
Chris Wright
There is the Venezuelan oil is more viscous, it's heavier crude, it's perfect for asphalt and making certain products, but also in general it's cheaper. So when a lot of our refineries were built in the 60s and 70s, Venezuela was a major oil supplier to the United States. And we built refineries. It's more capital, more intense refineries that can process this cheaper high viscosity crude. And then of course, Venezuela over the ensuing decades has fallen off a cliff, destroyed its country through socialism and top down control. And so we have to find that heavy viscous crude elsewhere. So yeah, it's beneficial for the US refineries, but really the short term agenda with Venezuela is stop the criminality, stop the import of drugs and gangs and violence into the United States. It's just Made our hemisphere a worse place to do business and a worse place to prosper. We want to fix Venezuela because that's good for Americans. Of course, it'll be good for Venezuelans, too.
- [51:05]
Ben Shapiro
So, Secretary, looking at the. The release that you've put out at the Energy Department, you say that it's going to help unleash prosperity and peace across the Western Hemisphere, this current US Venezuela energy deal, which would leave the United States in charge essentially of oil sales and disbursements there from. Explain how that would work.
- [51:24]
Chris Wright
Yes. So, look, people for 25 years have tried to stop the slide to destruction that Venezuela has been in. And President Trump just found a more creative idea, that there have been sanctions on Venezuelan oil, but unfortunately, they're just poorly enforced. The president said, look, they're so dependent on oil sales and drug sales as a side business, but their biggest cash source is oil sales. We're going to enforce the sanctions and embargo their oil, seal off their ability to export oil. Boy, that got a big change in the ability to dialogue with the Venezuelan government. So the agreement now is, all right, you're going to be able to sell your oil, but we're going to sell your oil. So we're just going to control the flow of Venezuelan oil. When the United States sells it, we're going to get a much higher price than the Venezuelans would get. It's not black market, it's not shadow market. It's not a criminal regime that's on the other side of that transaction. It's the United States government. So we're going to sell that oil into the marketplace, generate more money than they would have, put it in accounts that are controlled by the United States government, and then at our discretion, just deliver those funds to Venezuela. So it's gonna bring more money into the country, but it's gonna be massive US Influence that we're only gonna deliver the money and continue this arrangement if they make rapid progress on reforms, end the criminality, end the threats to the United States, start a restore rule of law back in Venezuela. I think the president is right. We're gonna be able to use this tool to drive them in a positive direction that's gonna benefit Americans and it's gonna benefit Venezuelans as well.
- [53:05]
Ben Shapiro
Well, it's that latter part that I think is extraordinarily important. A lot of critics of the president's action against Nicolas Maduro have suggested that nothing is fundamentally gonna change on the ground in Venezuela, that Maduro will be gone, but Venezuela will continue to be a socialist Dictatorship. Because of course, the vice president of Venezuela who has now taken over Del Rodriguez is an ardent socialist herself. In public, she's made very pro Maduro statements, even after the extradition of the drug offender, that is Nicolas Maduro. So the case that the administration seems to be making, correct me if I'm wrong, is that given the fact that the vast majority of income possible to Venezuela will now be flowing through American hands, that money just doesn't get to Venezuela unless reforms occur that move Venezuela in the direction of rule of law and future elections.
- [53:52]
Chris Wright
Very well stated, Ben. That's exactly the thing. And there's huge incentives here if they start to move in those positive directions. What does that mean? That means American businesses are going to go back into Venezuela. Venezuela's oil production is going to grow again, which is going to generate more revenue, more money for them. But you're right, we're going to use that leverage. This money is only flowing if things improve in Venezuela. Their interactions with the United States change dramatically and they start to improve their country. Ultimately, this is a process that will take some time, but at the end of the day, we want to see representative government, democracy, freedom, pro American government in power in Venezuela. That's a transition from where they are today. Absolutely. That's a process. But we want to do that through a process where without it becoming a failed state or going back to the narco terrorist. Terrorist state it's been for the last 20 years.
- [54:52]
Ben Shapiro
So, Secretary, one of the other questions that's arisen here is getting American companies involved in the oil industry in Venezuela requires a level of stability and an assurance that things aren't going to take a turn for the worse, that that Venezuela isn't going to renationalize its oil fields as soon as, for example, President Trump is out of office or the United States is not going to simply walk away from this arrangement and leave American companies who do require years and years of investment in order to see any sort of recapitalization holding the bag. What sort of measures is the Trump administration looking forward to taking for the long term that ensure the security of investments and that in that transitional process.
- [55:30]
Chris Wright
Yes. And so there's talk about, oh, they need, you know, tens of billions of dollars to rebuild massive infrastructure. That's true. And that'll take a long time. That's not going to start next week. But what is going to happen? Chevron's been there for 100 years, continuously now going to have a constructive Venezuelan government, a more active involvement from the US Government. Can Chevron Expand and grow their operations. Like starting tomorrow? Yes, they can. Do they want to do that? Yes, they do. So it's not a matter of the government having to twist anyone's arm or make stuff or even give them guarantees. They just see President Trump and the US Government's involvement automatically makes business conditions better in Venezuela. And they've been operating under the existing conditions. These are improving business conditions today. And companies that recently left or been looking to go in, they're like, hey, now I think is a good time. People are going to go in slowly. The rate of investment is going to pick up from near nothing to a meaningful amounts. But the $10 billion, you know, 10 year development projects, they may not start for another year or two, but that's okay. The trajectory has been only downward. The trajectory immediately is going to be upward. Ben, I've guessed we could have 30, 40, 50% higher Venezuelan oil production 12 to 18 months from now than we have today. In fact, I think it's quite likely that will happen.
- [56:55]
Ben Shapiro
That Secretary of Energy, Chris, Chris Wright again, it's, it's an amazing thing the Trump administration has done. We look forward to the fulfilling of that sort of potential. Secretary, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
- [57:07]
Chris Wright
Thanks so much, Ben.
- [57:08]
Ben Shapiro
Appreciate you. Alrighty. Coming up, we are going to talk about what's going on in Cuba, which may be ready to fall as well. Plus, Conan o' Brien says something true about comedy. And we'll have some economic updates first, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member. Use Coach Shapiro checkout for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.
- [57:29]
Donald Trump
What was it like, Marin, to be alone with God?
- [57:38]
Ben Shapiro
Is that who you think I was alone with? Martin, I knew your father.
- [57:46]
Tim Walz
I am yet convinced that he was.
- [57:48]
Ben Shapiro
Not of this world.
- [57:52]
Donald Trump
All men know of the great Taliesin.
- [57:55]
Ben Shapiro
You are my father. That the gods should war for my soul. Princess Garrus, savior of our people. I know what the bull God offered you. I was offered the same. And there is a new pirate work in the world. I've seen it. A God who. He sacrifices what he loves for us.
- [58:18]
Kathy Hochul
We are each given only one life. Singer.
- [58:21]
Ben Shapiro
No, we're given another. I learned of Yazu the Christ and I have become his follower. He's waiting on a miracle. And I think you can give him one. Trust in Yezu. He is the only hope for men like us. Fate of Britain ever rests in the hands of the Great Light. Great Light.
- [58:42]
Kathy Hochul
Great darkness. Such things mattered to me then.
- [58:46]
Ben Shapiro
What matters to you now? Mistress of lies.
- [58:50]
Kathy Hochul
You, nephew. The sword of a High King. How many lives must be lost before you accept the power you were born to wield? So cling to the bright promises of.
- [59:08]
Ben Shapiro
A God who has abandoned you. I cannot take up that sword again. You know what you must do. Great life, forgive me. The time has come to be reborn.