Hour 3 - Massive Fraud Scandal in Minnesota

Summary

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The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – Hour 3

Episode Theme: Massive Fraud Scandal in Minnesota
Date: December 29, 2025
Host: John Cobelt (sitting in for Clay Travis and Buck Sexton)
Notable Guest: Joe Khalil (News Nation reporter)

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Episode Overview

This episode zeroes in on a staggering fraud scandal in Minnesota involving billions of taxpayer dollars siphoned off via fake nonprofits, primarily within the Somali immigrant community. John Cobelt, filling in as host, is joined by reporter Joe Khalil to dissect the latest bombshell: viral video evidence of non-existent daycare centers supposedly serving needy children but found empty and non-operational. The segment explores the scale of the fraud, failures of state oversight, the political implications for Governor Tim Walz, and reactions both locally and nationally.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Scope of the Minnesota Fraud Scandal

• What happened: Billions in Minnesota taxpayer funds, meant for programs like childcare and food assistance, were funneled to fake charities and nonprofits.
• Key demographic: Many of the fraudulent organizations were tied to the state's Somali immigrant community.
• Nick Shirley Investigation: Independent journalist Nick Shirley released a 42-minute viral video exposing numerous phony daycare centers, funded with over $110 million, which had no children, staff, or actual operations.
• Public Reaction: The video amassed 116 million views on X (formerly Twitter), sparking national outrage and attention from top officials, including the FBI and Vice President.

“Nick Shirley, a young independent journalist, released a 42 minute tape … Every single one of them were phony. Sometimes they were just signs outside a doorway. … There were no children being taken care of.”
— John Cobelt [03:18]

2. Investigative Journalism & Political Fallout

• Visual proof succeeds where print failed: The scandal had been reported in print (NYT front page a few weeks back), but the raw visual evidence caused resonance with the public and forced political attention.
• Governor Tim Walz Under Scrutiny: Tim Walz's administration is accused of years of inaction and inadequate oversight, even after COVID-era frauds were discovered and prosecuted.
• Ongoing Investigations: The Minnesota legislature and congressional committees (including the House Oversight Committee led by James Comer) are now probing deeper and considering subpoenas.

“It just seems like there’s been a lot of this going on and very few of these places have actually gotten the accountability you would hope for.”
— Joe Khalil [12:01]

3. Failures of Oversight and State Response

• Basic oversight missing: Questions arise as to how these centers were funded with no proper verification, site checks, or accountability.
• Nick Shirley’s method: With just an iPhone, a selfie stick, and public records dug up by his associate Dave, the journalist demonstrated the absence of legitimate activity at centers officially licensed for up to 99 children.
• State excuses vs. public disbelief: While the governor’s office claims certain fraudulent centers have been shut down, many more remain active. Public is not convinced these actions match the scale of the theft.

“Didn’t any Minnesota employees ever visit a childcare facility? … Don’t you send an inspector there? … You would have learned immediately because the doors were all locked and windows were blacked out.”
— John Cobelt [09:37]

4. Cultural and Media Reactions

• Community sensitivities: Reluctance to investigate fraud in the Somali community out of fear of being labeled racist led to media and official silence.
• Grassroots journalism vs. institutional failure: Nick Shirley’s solo investigation shamed local and national newsrooms who had the resources but not the initiative.
• Comic relief amid scandal: Accounts of bewildered Somali women and a panicked local woman (brandishing her phone as a “weapon” in protest) confronting the journalists at these sites.

“People were afraid that if you investigate Somalis, you’d be called racist. That’s the beginning and end of the story. That’s what the fear was. They’d be called racist. So there was no coverage being done.”
— John Cobelt [18:37]

5. Federal Response

• Homeland Security crackdown: As a result of public outcry, DHS initiated door-to-door searches for illegal aliens at the implicated fraud sites, as captured in social media posts and video evidence.
• Promise of accountability: DHS publicly affirmed that Americans "deserve answers ... and arrests when abuse is found."

“Department of Homeland Security announced they’re launching door to door searches for illegal aliens at fraud sites in Minneapolis.”
— John Cobelt [18:37]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the viral video’s reach:
  “You realize, that is like super bowl sized numbers … that he got with a 42 minute video.”
  — John Cobelt [12:39]

• On media failure:
  “What do people do all day at all these newspapers and television stations?”
  — John Cobelt [18:37]

• On government explanations:
  “One of the child centers that was featured in the video had already been shut down under Tim Walz’s administration. I don’t think that fully accounts for the fact that this allegedly has been happening for several years now and has continued to happen.”
  — Joe Khalil [08:15]

• Absurdity of nonexistent childcare:
  “There wasn’t anything to shut down ... it was just storefronts and addresses. I guess that was ... you knew where to send the check.”
  — John Cobelt [11:43]

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Timestamps of Key Segments

• Introduction of Scandal Background and Nick Shirley's Video: [03:18]
• Interview with Joe Khalil (News Nation Reporter): [05:21]
• Discussion of Scale, Governor Response, and Systemic Failings: [07:49]
• Role of Media and Visuals in Public Outcry: [12:39]
• Details on Federal DHS Response: [18:37]
• Comic Anecdotes from the Investigation: [12:39], [18:37]

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Tone & Language

The tone is direct, incredulous, and at times caustic—consistent with John Cobelt's style. There’s heavy criticism of state and local government incompetence, skepticism about bureaucratic excuses, and a mix of humor and exasperation about media and public institutions.

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Conclusion

This episode unpacks a still-unfolding, massive fraud perpetrated under the noses of Minnesota officials, illustrating the power of independent journalism to spark national action when traditional institutions fail. It also highlights the political and social tensions of oversight, accountability, and the danger of identity politics shielding criminality. The hosts urge listeners to pay attention to grassroots reporting and demand real accountability from their leaders.

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Transcript

[Clay Travis]

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[Buck Sexton]

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[John Cobelt]

Welcome to the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show and I'm John Cobell, KFI Radio in Los Angeles, filling in today and happy to do it. I want to thank Clay and Buck and everybody connected with the show for letting me have this opportunity. And we're going to keep rolling along here. We've talked a lot in the first two hours about Gavin Newsom and the disaster that California has become under his rule. Another disaster is Tim Waltz, the governor of Minnesota. And this story took years to build, finally became a criminal case, a set of criminal cases just in the last year and now is exploded sky high because nobody can believe the extent of the fraud. And you've probably heard it's the Somali immigrant community was able to access billions and billions of dollars of tax money and they created all kinds of fake nonprofits. Fake, fake charities. These nonprofits are the scourge of the country. It's a scourge here in California and in Minnesota. And yesterday, well, just over the weekend, I should say, Nick Shirley, a young independent journalist, released a 42 minute tape where in one day he went to a series of these daycare centers that were funded by Minnesota taxpayers. It was $110 million of funding and he showed that every single one of them were phony. Sometimes they were just signs outside a doorway. On the side of a lot of them were industrial buildings, warehouse style buildings, windows blacked out, no employees, no children being taken care of. And it's just boosted this story to an even higher level. Joe Khalil from News Nation, which is a great cable TV news operation, is coming on with us now to tell us the latest. Joe, how are you? Hey, good.

[Joe Khalil]

How are you doing? Good to be with you.

[John Cobelt]

I'm all right. So what, what's going on ever since this new video was released. It's got 116 million views on on.

[Joe Khalil]

X. Yeah, it really made an impression, obviously. And I think, you know, for those who may not have been paying attention before, I think this recent video just added another layer to some of the allegations that we've been reporting on that several others have already been reporting on. And it got the attention of the vice president and the FB and several other high profile officials. What's different this time you referenced it here. Is this video particularly focused on child care centers. And if you go and watch, for those who haven't seen this video, this young independent journalist essentially is going from child care center to child care center. And these places have individually gotten hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not upwards of $1 million each every single year in Minnesota, taxpayer money. And you go there, this guy goes there and each one he can't find any children. There are no hallmarks of what you would expect at a child care center. You know, you think of playscapes or things like that outside, there's none of that. So, you know, the question becomes, are these actual legit childcare centers or you know, are these fronts for fraud? So that's the newest iteration of it. And again, getting a ton of attention. Beyond that, there have been already credible allegations and many actual prosecutions. Proven fraud where you had like hundreds of millions of dollars, some of it back in Covid that was supposed to go for food assistance for needy people in Minnesota that was diverted. In other cases it was Medicaid fraud that has been prosecuted under this administration. And we should also mention out of fairness too, that there were, you know, several dozen people within the Somali community prosecuted, investig, investigated, tried under the Biden administration's Department of justice and FBI as well. So, you know, these, these allegations, these stories are not brand new. Some of them go back again to Covid and people had been held accountable in 21, 2022. But right now what we're seeing is a continuation of it. And I think Governor Tim Walls, all of this has happened under, you know, his administration. He's obviously going to have to answer for this at some point.

[John Cobelt]

This is indefensible, though. I can't imagine that he, I'm sure he'll make a lot of sputtering noises, but there's no way to deny this existence because what Nick Shirley did is showed you the daycare centers and showed that the buildings were empty and there was no playground equipment and that there were no kids and there were no Workers. There were simply signs in a lot of the cases with locked doors. Yeah.

[Joe Khalil]

I mean. Yeah. And, you know, what the governor's office has told us is that he is aware of this stuff, that he has been investigating it, and that in fact, one of the child centers that was featured in the video had actually already been shut down under Tim Wall's administration. I don't think that that fully accounts for the fact that this allegedly has been happening for several years now and has continued to happen. And even now, I mean, if one of those centers was closed and because of fraud, that's. That's wonderful. But there are still several others that have been shown in that video that seemingly are operational, that have been getting millions and millions of dollars, you know, on an annual basis in Minnesota state funds. Those are taxpayer dollars. So, you know, what we're seeing right now is the state legislature is doing investigations into that, trying to rein in some of that. That fraud we're seeing here in Congress. From D.C. where I'm at, the House Oversight Committee says they're going to take this up. The chairman, James Comer, says they may even bring in officials from Minnesota and subpoena them and do investigations, potentially do depositions with these folks. So, you know, there is some action now that seemingly is happening now that probably should have been recognized and should have been happening more than it was, you know, even in the earlier stages of this.

[John Cobelt]

There's something comical about this, though. I mean, $9 billion out the door and suddenly it's like, well, we had no idea. We're shocked. This is outrageous. Didn't any Minnesota employees ever visit a childcare facility? I mean, we're talking about one of these licensed for 99 kids. Don't you send an inspector there, you know, a child services worker, just to make sure that the kids are all healthy and they're not being beaten and they're being fed decent food? I mean, isn't that routine for the government employees to provide on the scene oversight? And they would have learned immediately because the doors were all locked and windows were blacked out.

[Joe Khalil]

Yeah, that's the big. The big question is the how.

[John Cobelt]

Right?

[Joe Khalil]

That's the big question. How did this happen for so long and seemingly fly under the radar? How long have these schools been open? That's a question that the new video even did not answer, that we're trying to look into at News Nation ourselves. You know, how for so long was no one aware that these centers were opening and were getting funneled taxpayer dollars when they again, seemingly allegedly, you know, were a front for some kind of fraud allegation. And again, I go back to the fact that, you know, the COVID era schemes, many of them were uncovered and were. And you had 78 people that were investigated and prosecuted and indicted under the Biden doj. Presumably at that point, state officials might have had their, their ears perk up a bit and say, okay, maybe we need to also, you know, look at, I don't know, some of the other allegations of fraud. It's not that there has been silence. There have been people reportedly, at least over the last year that have been really raising questions about some of these childcare centers. And for whatever reason, only one that we know about has been sort of, you know, cracked down and closed, and the others are open. So how has this been going on for so long when there have been sign, obviously, and not the irony is.

[John Cobelt]

Though, that there wasn't anything to shut down or there was nothing to close.

[Joe Khalil]

Right.

[John Cobelt]

Yeah, because it was empty without employees and without children. It was, it was just storefronts and addresses. I guess that was, you know, the address was on the form. So you knew where to send the check.

[Joe Khalil]

Yeah. I mean, and if you open a business, you open a child care center, you have to license it with the state. So, you know, it's not as if the state doesn't know, you know, where these places are or the names of them or the owners. You know, again, all of that is, is very well publicly documented. So, you know, it's, it's, it is at some point there, you know, it's got to be accountability. Again, we did get a response from the governor's office that he said, well, we are cracking down on this, but it just seems like there's been a lot of this going on and very few of these places have actually gotten the accountability that you would hope for.

[John Cobelt]

All right, Joe, thanks for coming on with us.

[Joe Khalil]

Of course. Good to be with you.

[John Cobelt]

Joe Kalil with News Nation Cable TV news channel on your system. You should really look at Nick Shirley's video. This is a case where people read news stories. And this was covered maybe in Minnesota some, but it was just the New York Times maybe two weeks ago, three weeks ago, that did a front page story and it finally blew up international attention. But I have noticed the way people process stories. A print story doesn't have an earth shaking effect. It does, you know, inside Washington and New York City in those circles, political circles, media circles. But to get the whole country to notice, there has to be some visuals. And with 116 million people watching Nick Shirley's video. You realize that is like super bowl sized numbers that he got with a 42 minute video. And it was shot I guess with, with his, with his iPhone. And there's no staff, I mean there's no CBS or NBC network, no cnn, no New York Times. It's one guy I think with a selfie stick pointing a camera as he's doing these interviews. And he had another man with him who had done a lot of the legwork to get the records from the state government website. And if I could, I'm trying to, trying to think of his name. First name was Dave. So it's. He was an older gray haired guy and Dave was obsessed with digging up the records on the Internet. And so you were able to follow in the video how much each of these child care sites received from the government. And then they started interviewing random people who occasionally would walk in and out, out. I'll tell you more about that when, when we come back because it was, some of this stuff was funny because there was a run ins with these little Somalian immigrant ladies who I guess had jobs there and they really freaked out when Nick Shirley started asking questions. We'll continue. John Cobalt from KFI Radio filling in today on the clay. Travis and Buck Sexton.

[Buck Sexton]

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[John Cobelt]

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[John Cobelt]

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[Clay Travis]

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[John Cobelt]

More of the Clay Travis Buck Sexton show. John Cobelt filling in today from KFI radio in Los Angeles. And we were just talking with Joe Khalil from News Nation. A reporter there on the Minnesota scandal involving the billions of dollars that were stolen by these Somali migrants in these nonprofit organizations took the money for child care centers to feed children, and none of these programs existed. I. I was just looking. Oh, well, let me tell you about this headline first, because this just came out. I don't want to. New York Post has it on their front page. Department of Homeland Security announced they're launching door to door searches for illegal aliens at fraud sites in Minneapolis. It just started this morning. DHS on the ground in Minneapolis going door to door, according to a post on X by dhs. And it showed a video of two agents entering the nicollet tobacco and vape shop in Burnsville, 17 miles south of Minneapolis. And Homeland Security also wrote that the American people deserve answers on how their tax money is being used and arrests when abuse is found. And if you haven't seen it, 116 million people have already watched this local young journalist named Nick Shirley, who just in an afternoon, walking around with another local man, they found all these empty childcare centers that collectively were taking $110 million in government money, many of it federal government money, and absolutely nobody there. What they would run into is occasionally some Somali migrant women. I wouldn't call them employees. I don't know who they were, but some of them were inside the empty offices. They didn't, they weren't doing any work, but maybe they were, you know, collecting the money, filling out paperwork, I'm not sure. But they were dressed in traditional Somali garbage. And they would become enraged when Nick and Dave would approach them and ask them questions and just start screaming at them, like hysterically. And another person screaming at him was a white woman with severe looking with those heavy, dark rimmed glasses. And she showed up with her phone. And don't you love the way people use their phones as weapons? They try to intimidate you and frighten you by pointing a camera at you. And I've never understood that because Nick and Dave weren't doing anything. They were standing out. They weren't even. They weren't on the property. They weren't inside somebody's office. They were standing in a parking lot. And she's screaming, ice, ice. I mean, she's screeching, don't let them in. Don't let them in. It's like an absolute crazy woman. It's amazing how many mentally ill, deranged people are walking around. How they got aware of what Nick was doing, I don't know. But I marvel. I mean, if we. Even in its desiccated state, we added up all the employees of all the major networks, all the local stations in Minneapolis, all the major newspapers, magazines, Internet news sites, everything. And you stacked up their budget and the number of employees and all the resources they have. And then look at Nick, Shirley and Dave and. And their selfie stick camera and a little tiny toy microphone he was holding. What do people do all day at all these newspapers and television stations? What do they do? And it shows you the tremendous amount of not just bias, but intentional lack of reporting. This is the biggest story that Minnesota's had in a long time with a governor who was running for vice president. And it'd been going on for years. And people. People were afraid that if you investigate Somalis, you'd be called racist. That's the beginning and end of the story. That's what the fear was. They'd be called racist. So there was no coverage being done. All right, we got more coming up. I'm gonna do one more rundown of all the worst, all the categories where California is the highest, the most, or the worst, and they're all bad categories. That continues on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. I'm John Cobelt.

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[Buck Sexton]

Buck Sexton here, the entire Clay and Buck Show. Wish you and your family a. A warm Christmas season and a joyful new Year.

[John Cobelt]

Hello, John. This is Ron from Mesa, Arizona. I heard your name on the radio this morning and I kept saying, john Cobelt. Cobalt. Cobalt. And I remembered I left California in 2014 to come to Arizona to help my mother. And you were my daily fix. And after I got here and saw the prices, I never went back to California. I miss it. I really do. Oh, thank you, Ron. Yes, we have a lot of California refugees around the. Around the country. We got this from Cameron, too. What a great surprise to turn on Buck and Clay in here. John. He is the best. He is. What a nice surprise. Good job, John. We love you. Oh, thank you very much. Cameron's from New York City, too. I can't tell you how many people have fled California. Actually, I can, but I don't have the exact number in my. I believe I saw the other day that about 2 million plus people have fled California since the year 2000 and last 25 years, 2 million people fled, largely replaced by illegal aliens. No joke. And so a lot of them were conservative to middle of the road voters, Republican independent voters. And when they started fleeing, and maybe that was the plan, that's when Democrats started winning elections by lopsided margins and started getting these super majorities in California, in the assembly and in the state Senate. By the way, did I mention who I am here? It's John Cobalt from KFI Radio filling in on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show. Sometimes they just go off and it takes me 10 minutes. But you know, I told everybody formatics is not my strong point. In any event, we've, we've heard from so many people over the years who follow the podcast. In fact, if you're interested, you could follow us on social media at John Cobalt Radio at John Cobelt Radio. And you spell it K O B Y L T. And we have a, we have a video on YouTube now we post a segment every day. And you subscribe to the John Cobelt show by going to YouTube.com YouTube.com we've got a podcast on the iHeartRadio app and we it is to service all the Californians who have fled and they've gone to all the obvious states, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and everywhere where else. And it's, it's a shame, but it wears you down. And I'm going to give you a list. And this is on Gavin Newsom over the last eight years and then before that, Jerry Brown was the governor for eight years. And this is what they collectively created. During one of the commercial breaks just this morning, I tried to think off the top of my head all the categories that California performs the worst in negative categories where they have the highest whatever or the most whatever. Do you know we have the worst inflation in the whole country and it's even worse than that in Los Angeles County. At the same time, we have the highest unemployment rate. The nation's unemployment rate is about 4.4% in California it's 5.6 in LA County, 5.9. Where if the nation had the numbers we did you you'd be. People see people screaming in the streets. Yet much of the country is doing quite well. Constant criticism level to Trump, constant nonsense. It's California that's in the dumper. 5.6% statewide unemployment, 59 in LA County. Listen to this. We have the highest income tax. You know, the income tax on the wealthy is like 13 to 14%. And you may be saying, well those are wealthy people. I don't Care. We also have the highest income tax on middle class people as well. Everyone thinks it's just loaded on the rich tech Bros in Northern California and it is. But the middle class really gets soaked badly. Only Oregon is near the top with us. We have the highest gas tax. I told you, gas is averaging almost 430 a gallon. We have the highest sales tax, we got the triple crown, highest income, highest gas, highest sales. There's people packing up right now. You can hear them. As I go through this list as I talked extensively earlier in the show, we have the most homeless. You know we have a 190,000 homeless people. 190,000 and we have 70,000 in LA county and about 45,000 in LA City. And let me tell you what they do with homeless numbers. This may shock you but they, they lie about them because Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles came out and claimed to have this new program and we've reduced homelessness by 3%, 5%, you know, some little single digit number and released all those statistics. They, they do a point in time count, that's what they call it where they actually walk through the streets and alleys and count the bodies laying around. 1, 2, 3. So they put out their numbers and then the RAND Corporation did their own count and they took three of the, the sections with the highest homelessness like Venice, Hollywood and they found out that Karen Bass had undercounted by 40%. So she releases a set of numbers and then a private research group, a think tank says I don't know, why don't we count them ourselves? And you miss by 40% in one of the districts. They just make stuff up. It's like the made up crime numbers in Washington D.C. you probably heard about that the other day when they didn't want Trump to barge into Washington. Well look at the crime is actually down. No books were cooked. The police lied. Well books are cooked in la. The mayor lies. We have the most illegal aliens. Oh boy, I forgot that one. And this is one of the biggest. Can't believe it took me two and a half hours to get here. Do you know we spend, no kidding, $13 billion a year on illegal alien health care. If you make it into California from any one of the 200 countries in the world, you get across that border, your first foot. You step here, you have guaranteed health care until the day you die. No kidding. He knew Gavin Newsom just started this last year and he said it was going to cost 6 billion and it turned out to cost more than double that. It's at 13 billion. And then he said, oh, we have this bad budget deficit. The budget deficit for this coming year is $18 billion. And illegal alien health care is almost three quarters of it. Every from birth to death. You go to the emergency rooms in California. It is filled with illegal migrants. Filled. In fact, a lot of people go, well, I'm not gonna, I'm gonna go to the emergency room. I'll just stay at home and die. Because who wants to sit in a three hour line? And I'm not making this stuff up. It's true, I've seen it. So we've got a legal ailment, health care. Now how is this going to play when he runs as a national candidate? I mean, Trump demolished Biden and Kamala Harris. There were two big issues, inflation and immigration. And after being told for years, you know, this story, Biden kept claiming, well, I need Congress to pass a law. Trump did it in what, about eight minutes, borders completely shut. And now Gavin Newsom is going to come and say, well, I'm giving illegal aliens free health care. I mean absolutely free. The hell, how do you run on that? We have the highest housing prices. You hear the new trendy line of the day is affordability. No, homes are more costly here than anywhere else. Why? Because it's very difficult to build homes. There is so much environmental regulation and nonsense that developers often just give up. The only way to lower housing prices anywhere is to, is to build more housing. It is the purest supply and demand industry. Right. If you have a hundred houses with 98 people, you're, you're gonna, you're, you're gonna, the seller is going to be able to dictate the price? No, the buyer is going to dictate the price. But you know, if you have 150 people, what's going to happen here? The seller dictate, dictates the price. So we have the highest housing prices, we have the highest rental prices. California schools are 30th, but in the cities we have dozens and dozens of schools that are, that are the absolute worst. California roads, 48th place, a quarter of the roads in poor condition. Now, when you pay taxes, what do you want? Right, you're paying the highest taxes, highest gas, highest sales. Right. Highest income. What do you want? You want smooth roads? We don't have that. Okay, a quarter of them poor. And then you want a school system. Most of them are bad, below average to disastrous. You want a police department? Well, in la, our police department is almost, well, it's been defunded. They successfully defunded the police in Los Angeles. We have, we're supposed to have 10,000, we have 8,000. The Olympics are coming and we really need 12,000. So we're one third short. It's true. Oh, the fire department, which nobody knew until we had the big Palisades fire. Do you know we have half a fire department? Half a fire department. You're supposed to have like, like two firefighters for every thousand residents. Some formula like that. We have less than one firefighter. We have 0.9. We're supposed to have two. We have 0.9. So we have 50% of a fire department. In case you're wondering why that one of the many reasons why the fire got out of control. We don't have the bodies. And there were 40 fire trucks that were busted on the day of the big fire. Broken. Why weren't they fixed? We don't have the mechanics. We don't have the firefighters. We don't have the mechanics. We don't have the fire trucks. We don't have. We have 2/3 of a police department. And when you pay these kinds of taxes, you want police, fire, schools, roads, right? Those are, those are the big ones. We got none of that. We got roads that look like they're from Afghanistan. We've got. But, but illegal aliens get free health care. U.S. residents don't get cradle to grave free health care. Right? That's what constantly the fight is about in Washington D.C. trying to insure everybody. But in California, no problem. Any foreigner comes stumbling in here and by the way, you're, it's, it's hard to deport people here, as you saw, because you have these sanctuary city, sanctuary state nonsense and the local politicians deploy shock troops to interfere with ice and they start riots. Those riots that we had in June here were started by these taxpayer funded, pro illegal alien organizations that Karen Bass would hold press conferences with. All right, we'll wrap up. Coming up next, John Cobelt from KFI Radio in for Clay Travis and Buck Sexton.

[Buck Sexton]

Let me be blunt. Gold is up around 40% this year. That's not speculation, that's reality. If a portion of your savings isn't diversified into gold, you're missing the boat. Here are the facts. Inflation is still too high, our dollar still recovering, and the federal government debt is not going down. This is why central banks are flocking to gold. They're the ones driving prices up to record highs. But it's not too late. I recently bought more gold from Birch Gold Group. And you can get in the door. Now Birch Gold will help you convert an existing IRA or 401k into a tax sheltered IRA. In gold you don't pay a dime out of pocket. Just text my name Buck to 989898 and claim your free info kit. There's no obligation, just useful information. The best indicator of the future is the past. Gold has historically been a safe haven. I've got gold in my home. Safe gold bars, gold coins. You can too my friends. Birch Gold Group is who you should contact. Birch Gold makes owning physical gold very easy. Text Buck to 989898 now to claim your free info kit on Gold Text Buck to 989898 did you know Microsoft.

[Commercial Announcer]

Has officially ended Support for Windows 10? Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop, voted PCMag's Reader's Choice top laptop brand for 2025. Thin and ultra lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere and Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades. Visit LGUSA.com iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11. PCMag reader's choice used with permission. All rights reserved.

[Trainer Games Promo Voice]

Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.

[John Cobelt]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Promo Voice]

Someone will be eliminated.

[John Cobelt]

Pressure is coming down. Trainer Games on Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[Clay Travis]

Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball Season 2, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5 on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[Public Investing Promo Voice]

Max 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, 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 EFTs 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 S I PC 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 investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comDisclosures welcome Final.

[John Cobelt]

Segment here on the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. I'm John Cobalt from KFI Radio and thank thanks again to Clay and Buck and everyone connected to the show for letting me fill in today. It's, it's really been a good time. I, I want to close with one more incredibly stupid idea that is floating around in California and that may turn some people on. The idea of a wealth tax on billionaires. The hatred that some people have for billionaires is, is actually mind boggling to me. I don't think most people hate billionaires, but certainly the loudest progressive elements have created this hysteria against them. And when I hear people making comments, I always ask them, it's like, well, do you buy products from Amazon? Well, yeah. Well, if a guy like Jeff Bezos invests, invents Amazon and then, you know, puts in decades of his life into building this company which provides a service that clearly billions of people want to use, first of all, it's a little hypocritical. Hypocritical to be using it yourself. Secondly, what do you care? You didn't think of the idea. You didn't build the company. He did. Remember those famous photos of Bezos sitting in a garage with a, a vinyl sign on the back wall that said Amazon? He's got a card table in front of him and a computer. He built it literally from the back of a garage. And look what it is today. And I always want to say to people, but I don't want to be mean and cruel. It's like, well, what did you do today? The day he was sitting in that garage, you know, back in the mid-90s as Amazon was chest, it was embryonic in its size. What did you do that day and what did you do the day after that? The same thing with Elon Musk. It's like Elon Musk sends, sends rockets into space. He builds the only electric car that anybody seems to want. He's coming up with with brain trips that might allow paralyzed people to walk again. What did you do today? It's A free country. You could do what you want. You want to sit all day and drink beer, have at it. But then you start shaking your fist at billionaires. Makes me absolutely crazy, because I am. I do remember a day when people admired those who accomplished stuff instead of wanting to steal from them. And here's what the unions in California want to do. They want to put a ballot initiative to tax billionaires 5% of their assets. 5%. And this is all their stock holdings on paper, what they call unrealized gains. It's not stocks that they cash out. It's what the stock is worth on paper. And then you have to pay the tax. Of course, you know, the next day it could drop 30%. Oh, well, you've already had to pay the tax. And it would be a tax on all your bank accounts, all your real estate, all your possessions, your artwork, your cars, everything. And that's what the California unions want. And then the billionaires are saying, well, then we're moving out of California. And the reply is, oh, no, you're not. Oh, yeah, they will. A lot of very wealthy people already moved out of California. And then you have no revenue to run the state. Then the state truly collapses, because half the revenue tax revenue in California income, half of it comes from the top 1%. All right, we are done here. John Cobalt, KFI radio in for Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton. Thank you for having me.

[Commercial Announcer]

Clay, Travis and Buck Sexton on the.

[Buck Sexton]

Front lines of truth.

[Commercial Announcer]

Did you know Microsoft has officially ended Support for Windows 10? Upgrade to Windows 11 with an LG Gram laptop voted PCMag's Reader's Choice Top Laptop Brand for 2025. Thin and ultra light, lightweight, the LG Gram keeps you productive anywhere. And Windows 11 gives you access to free security updates and ongoing feature upgrades. Visit lg USA.com iHeart for great seasonal savings on LG Gram laptops with Windows 11 PC Mag Reader's Choice. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

[Trainer Games Promo Voice]

Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking point. You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract worth $250,000.

[John Cobelt]

This is where mindset comes in.

[Trainer Games Promo Voice]

Someone will be eliminated.

[John Cobelt]

Pressure is coming down. Trainer games on Prime Video January 8th. Watch the trailer on trainergames.com Season 2.

[Clay Travis]

Of Unrivaled Basketball is here and the talent is unreal. Paige Beckers, Nafiza Collier, Kelsey Plumb, Brianna Stewart and more are back to redefine the game. Unrivaled basketball season two, sponsored by Samsung Galaxy, tips off January 5 on TNT, TruTV and HBO.

[Public Investing Promo Voice]

Max 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 EFTs 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 S I 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 investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail] Disclosures A new year.

[Trainer Games Promo Voice]

Is on the horizon and your 2026 savings start here. Right now you can access the Washington post for just $2 every four weeks. Head into the new year with six months of savings at the special intro rate. After that, it'll cost $12 every four weeks. Cancel anytime. You'll get unlimited access to trusted journalism that helps you understand the year ahead and the world around you. Now's the perfect time to subscribe because great habits and great savings start together. Go to washingtonpost.com iheart that's washingtonpost.com iheart and start your year informed with the Post.

[Clay Travis]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.