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- [00:00]
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Toughest job interview in fitness that will push past physical and mental breaking points.
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You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.
- [00:24]
Clay Travis
This is where mindset comes in.
- [00:25]
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Someone will be eliminated.
- [00:28]
Buck Sexton
Pressure is coming down.
- [00:30]
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Buck Sexton
Watch it on prime video starting January 8th. Then the space hamster flew his hot air balloon all the way to the bottom of the ocean.
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- [02:09]
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- [02:37]
Clay Travis
Today, whether you're lighting a candle on the Menorah or placing Baby Jesus in the Nativity, we hope your holiday is full of grace, wonder, and love.
- [02:46]
Buck Sexton
And maybe even a little snow. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from all of us at the Clay and buck show. The Team 47 podcast is sponsored by.
- [02:56]
Clay Travis
Good Ranchers Making the American farm strong.
- [03:02]
Buck Sexton
Team 47 with Clay and Buck starts now.
- [03:07]
Clay Travis
These strikes on these lethal strikes on narco terrorist boats in the Caribbean. Secretary of War Hegseth addressed this just a moment ago. We wanted to let you hear from him. What's going on. Play 33.
- [03:21]
Pete Hegseth
And then it's getting after going after narco terrorists and designated terrorist organizations in our own hemisphere, as I've said, and I'll say again, we've only just begun striking narco boats and putting narco terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they've been poisoning the American people. And Joe Biden tried to approach it with kid gloves and allowed them to come across the border. Cartels take over community. 20 million people, hundreds of thousands of Americans poisoned. And President Trump said, no, we're taking the gloves off. We're taking the fight to these designated terror organizations, and it's exactly what we're doing. So we're stopping the drugs, we're striking the boats, we're defeating narco terrorists, and we're. And Peter, you may say one thing, that drugs coming in through the sea by sea are down 91%.
- [04:11]
Clay Travis
And I don't know who the 9% is.
- [04:13]
Pete Hegseth
I'm not sure either, sir, but down 91% by sea. We've had a bit of a pause because it's hard to find boats to strike right now, which is the entire point.
- [04:24]
Buck Sexton
Right.
- [04:24]
Pete Hegseth
Deterrence has to matter, not arrest and hand over and then do it again. The rinse and repeat approach of previous administrations. This is meant to get after that approach. And I will just end by saying, as President Trump always has our back. We always have the back of our commanders who are making decisions in difficult situations, and we do in this case. And all these strikes, they're making judgment calls and ensuring that they defend the American people. They've done the right things. We'll keep doing that, and we have their backs.
- [04:52]
Caller / Veteran
Mr. President, good job.
- [04:53]
Commercial Announcer
Thank you very much.
- [04:55]
Clay Travis
So, Clay, that's the latest, that was just moments ago from Secretary Warhead said that this, at this Cabinet meeting that they're holding. And I would just say, first of all, isn't it amazing when you just compare this. This is a little bit of A side note, but the transparency, the willingness to face the media, to discuss directly with the American people what's going on in this administration compared to. Imagine if it was just a random Tuesday and Joe Biden had all of his top people around, unscripted, just taking questions from the press. Clay, it would not have happened, as we all know. And we all know why. He had dementia. They were hiding him. The whole thing was a scam. The whole Biden administration was a scam, unfortunately, a scam on all the American people. And the stuff that's gone on with the border, as well as the mass importation of fentanyl, was hugely and dramatically worsened by the Biden scam. But, Clay, right now, you know, there's a lot of different polling on this, and you could try to. The way they craft these questions. I think by and large, Republicans are supportive of strikes on narco terrorist boats. Democrats obviously are not. That's not a surprise at all.
- [06:02]
And they're hoping that they can find a way to create a wedge within Trump supporters on this issue. I don't think that's going to happen. I think the regime change issue in Venezuela is where things get a little stickier for maga.
- [06:14]
Buck Sexton
Yeah, I think that's all connected. I do wonder, again, if this is on video. They are going to continue to kind of chip away at the overall story. And I would imagine we've seen a lot of the video attacks released on the ships. My surmise would be that the story will become the boat was still operable. There were, there was a possibility that the drugs would continue to be, you know, conduited on that boat. And so we ordered a second strike to end the, the feasibility of the boat's ability to do the job that it's trying to do. That's my bet as to what the story is going to be. In other words, they're going to say the, the physical structure itself was targeted for a second strike, not the potential survivors. But I, I do think this is going to turn into a. I do think it's going to turn a story. Now, this also, I think, goes on some level to who Democrats are going to bat for. Remember our good buddy Kilmar Abreu Garcia, who they initially attempted to make the face of Trump's deportation policy, Maryland Dad Kilmar Abreu Garcia, that story has vanished because I think they recognized, yeah, this is not really the focal point of a, a face to make people disagree with the policy. I don't think narco terrorists in boats are going to Be particularly sympathetic plaintiffs. And when I use that phrase, sympathetic plaintiffs, anybody out there who is a defense attorney has experienced this. When you file a lawsuit, you want to tell the best story of your lawsuit. Frequently involving moms. You know, ever notice how kids who file lawsuits are always honor roll students? You know, like, oh, this poor honor roll student was just disrespected. And in a visual era, isn't it amazing how often pretty girls are. You were talking about this. This NYU student who became a victim was attacked on the streets in New York City. It's become a story, these captivating stories. Because they're young, innocent, attractive people, they grab attention in a way that is, that is, that is captivating to many different people out there in the media. I mean, you can say, remember the Idaho killers? Those young, innocent kids.
- [08:57]
Clay Travis
Or Moscow, rather Moscow, Idaho.
- [08:59]
Buck Sexton
Outside of the University of Idaho Lake and Riley. I think one reason that it cuts through the noise. She's a young, innocent college nursing student who is murdered by an illegal immigrant. I think that it's hard to make people think, you know who I'm really concerned about? Narco terrorists. So I think the challenge cutting through this noise is. And it goes both ways, right? When you come to these stories, because right now they're trying to make a story, oh, look at this 19 year old college student who was deported. Oh, she. Can you believe this is happening? They're trying to find a story that is captivating young, innocent people. Most people, I don't think, see narco boat captain pilots and their staff that are trying to smuggle drugs into the country as particularly sympathetic plaintiffs. So I think that factors in here into how the media is going to be able to cover it.
- [09:57]
Clay Travis
I'm sure the administration is more than a little bit aware of this. But to your point, Clay, about the public's perception of these strikes and how they're going, as long as we're getting narco terrorists, I think the administrator. And we're certain of this, I think the administration is going to certainly have support of a lot of Republicans in this. They just got to make sure they don't pull a Biden administration with what we saw in Afghanistan where they blew up. If I remember a dad and seven kids in a car that they said was a suicide bomber's vehicle, and it was not seven children they blew up. And that was after we lost Marines because of the haphazard and disastrous withdrawal of the Biden administration. So we took losses. We lost our Marines to enemy. To an enemy attack, and then we blew up A car full of children because the Biden administration was so frantic to look like they had some idea of what they were doing in response to us losing some of our Marines in that earlier suicide bomber attack. So this is, look, this is, we're talking about a war on narco terrorists. This is high stakes stuff. And I know that Secretary warhegseth is very focused in on this right now. It's clearly a political, or rather the Democrats see this as a political opportunity to go after this administration. A lot of people weighing in on this one, Clay. I mean, here's Senator Chris Coons, Democrat, obviously, who's trying to use this as an attack play. Cut five.
- [11:30]
Buck Sexton
This incident that was just covered by the Washington Post in recent days suggests that a war crime may have been committed. And I think Secretary Hegseth likely gave the order. I know Admiral Bradley, he's the SOCOM commander.
- [11:44]
Clay Travis
He came up through the ranks.
- [11:46]
Buck Sexton
He is decorated, he's experienced, he's seasoned.
- [11:49]
Clay Travis
He was one of the first Americans.
- [11:51]
Buck Sexton
Into Afghanistan after 9 11. I'd be very surprised if he did this on his own without direct support or a command from the secretary.
- [12:01]
Clay Travis
And why it's worth, I think people hearing that is just. Clay, this is all about getting Hegseth. Yeah, this is a, this is a get Hegseth operation for the Democrats in the media now.
- [12:09]
Buck Sexton
Well, look, the intent is not to, is not to make the country better. The intent is to get Hegseth. And I think that's the key here that we hit on to start the show. Hegseth is Target 1. Target 2 right now is Cash Patel and they have decided to focus all of their media attacks on that duo. And frankly, most everybody else has been either ignored or unscathed. You know, they tried probably Pam Bondi, I would say Buck is probably third on that list. We were talking about the target list, but I would say to a large extent the Pam Bondi attacks, actually a lot of them came from the right because of the ham handed way they initially handled the Epstein when they brought the influencers out and they had the briefing in the Epstein files and everything else. So some of that fire on Bondi came internally from the Republican Party. I think she's probably third on the list of, of cabinet member attacks. But clearly Hegseth, from the moment he was nominated has been target one. And Cash Patel, right now, I think his target too.
- [13:13]
Clay Travis
I will tell you that Democrats, from what I understand, Clay, one of the reasons Bondi is not higher on their list is they don't view her as, as effective as some of these other. I'm just, this is from a Democrat perspective. They know that Pete can handle the media isn't going to back down aligned with Trump. They know that Cash aligned with Trump, you know, isn't going to back down from media pressure and is trying reform a reform agenda there. I will say we do need to establish though if we're going to have people from administration speaking on this issue. Ok. Is it that the boat was still.
- [13:52]
Buck Sexton
We need the fact. That's my, that's my. We need to be clear because that's my argument.
- [13:56]
Clay Travis
I do think you have a very hard time if you're, if the argument is that this is a lethal threat against the United States because they're designated narco terrorists in a boat traveling to the U.S. fENTOL that's going to kill people. OK. That's the argument. They're operating under presidential authority. Once the boat is disabled there is no longer any chance of those drugs making it to the homeland. And they're, and these men are not in the fight. They are bobbing around in the water. I do not think you can follow up with finish them off. I do not think that that is covered under the laws of war, the Geneva Conventions or ethics. So there just needs to be clarity because I'm seeing people say yeah, if we have to hit them again, we hit them again. I think that's wrong. And if you, if you want to check how this went in World War II, the Nazis infamously the U boat commanders would machine gun survivors, including people in the US Navy, British Navy would machine gun them in the water. They were brought up on war crimes for that. They were not able to say well you could still swim and maybe make it to shore and then you could get back in the fight. So we do need to have some clarity on where the limits are here.
- [15:04]
Buck Sexton
Which is why my argument is boat is the target. If I, if I am lawyer Clay who is representing these individuals in a, in an investigation and look again this is where I come back to what is on tape, what is on audio, what evidence is out there. We haven't seen it fully at least.
- [15:22]
Clay Travis
To jump on your, on your, on your lawyer Clay point there. You know Clay from self defense perspective and someone you know who conceal carries here and does a fair amount of shooting and spends time with the two a community, community in South Florida, you always say stop the threat. You say when you call in if you have to defend yourself with a firearm, you say I'm the victim of a crime. You know, here's my address. Come. You do not say, yeah, some guy came in, I shot him, and then he was making his way out of my house, so I chased him on the front lawn. I put two in the back of his head. You're going to prison for a long time if you do that, as you should. So that's, you know what I mean? There's, there's a difference. There are limits.
- [16:00]
Buck Sexton
I kicked his gun away and then I put my gun up against his head and killed him. Like, that's not, you know, at some point when you eliminate the threat, you're not allowed to continue to pour more.
- [16:12]
Clay Travis
So I'm just going to say this. The facts to what Clay was saying, the facts are now, or rather the facts that are being put forward are, you know, they did not do a follow up strike to finish survivors off. That order was not given. This is what the Pentagon is saying. That order was not given. And the boat may still have been, you know, capable of continuing. That's why the second strike came. That all you could argue? I think, legally, I do not think we want to hear people from the pro Trump side of things saying there were a couple of guys who had already been hit with a missile who were in the middle of the ocean or middle of the Caribbean clinging to refuse, and we hit him again, by the way. I don't believe that that happened here. I think this is a hit piece. I just want to be clear. But there are people who are trying to say that that would be lawful too, just because they're on the team, so to speak. And I do not think that's a good place to go because you're opening yourself up to the other side saying you're, you're defense. You would, you would. Even if a war crime wasn't committed, Clay, we can. Which I don't believe it was. To be clear, we cannot have pro Trump people argue in favor of a clear war crime. That's not a good idea either.
- [17:15]
Caller / Veteran
Right.
- [17:16]
Clay Travis
Which is why clarity on this, I think, is so important.
- [17:20]
Commercial Announcer
Ten athletes will face the toughest job interview in fitness. That will push past physical and mental breaking points.
- [17:30]
You are the fittest of the fit. Only one of you will leave here with an IFIT contract for $250,000.
- [17:39]
Clay Travis
This is when mindset comes in.
- [17:40]
Commercial Announcer
Someone will be eliminated.
- [17:43]
Buck Sexton
Pressure is coming down.
- [17:45]
Meco Mini Plus Advertiser
This is trainer games.
- [17:47]
Buck Sexton
Watch it on prime video starting January 8th.
- [17:51]
Shh.
- [17:52]
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- [18:20]
Commercial Announcer
Come for the Black Friday seasonal savings. Stay for the award winning reporting for a limited time access to the Washington Post is just 99 cents. That's unlimited access to all of the posts for only 99 cents every four weeks. That's a great deal for the first year. After that it'll cost $12 every four weeks. You can cancel anytime. But don't wait. This Black Friday seasonal offer won't be here for long. Go to washingtonpost.com iheart and grab this deal before it's gone. That's washingtonpost.com iheart bring incredible sound into.
- [18:52]
Whimsound Advertiser
Every corner of your home this holiday with the new Whimsound smart speaker. Get high resolution Audio with a 1.8-inch touchscreen, smart control and modern design in one powerful speaker for just 299. From Quiet Mornings to lively holiday gatherings. Whin sound makes every moment sound better and feel better too. Get the gift of the season for the music enthusiast in your life or for yourself. Wimbledon Sound beautifully designed, effortlessly connected. Shop now at Amazon and search whimsound. That's wiimsound.
- [19:21]
Commercial Announcer
This holiday season, give the gift. Everyone will gather around a Vizio Smart TV now available at Walmart. From a super sized 100 inch TV to QLED TVs of all sizes, Vizio delivers breathtaking color and crystal clear picture quality that takes entertainment to the next level. Plus with Watch Free plus built in, they can enjoy free live and on demand TV right out of the box. Have a music lover on your list. They can stream their favorite music on the iHeartRadio app ready to go on every Vizio TV. The perfect gift is waiting. Head to Walmart.com and discover Vizio TVs today.
- [19:53]
Buck Sexton
You're listening to Team 47 with clay and Buck. I I understand the argument that hey, I'm concerned about American authority. I don't really understand it as it pertains to the drug boat strikes in international waters. And so I look, you can make that argument but that doesn't seem like something that I think is going to, pardon the expression here, blow up in Trump's face. Linda in Florida, you want to react. A lot of you want to react. By the way, loaded lines right now.
- [20:31]
Caller Linda
Hi, I do. Thank you guys. So for four years I lived with Biden letting in 20 million illegals crossing our border illegally breaking our laws. And, you know, and everybody knew about it. The media knew about it, they discussed it, but we didn't give it oxygen. Like we're giving this narco terrorist two guys to 20 billion. Do the math, okay? And all we do is we're brow beating this two narco terrorists to death, literally. And, and, and, you know, we just keep discussing it and who cares about the two guys in the water? They were bad guys, but so were the 20 million that.
- [21:15]
Buck Sexton
Okay, Linda, let me play, Let me play devil's advocate here. If, if it were to be reported and confirmed that the narco terrorists, which I agree are bad guys, were floating in the water and we ordered a helicopter to go in and to mow them down as they floated. Slaughter. You wouldn't have an issue with that?
- [21:39]
Caller Linda
I wouldn't have an issue with that at all after letting in 20 million illegals crossing my border that are.
- [21:48]
Buck Sexton
Is that your granddaughter in the background there?
- [21:51]
Caller Linda
No, no, no. I've got three dogs that are laying around.
- [21:54]
Buck Sexton
Oh, okay.
- [21:55]
Clay Travis
So I tell you something, those dogs don't mess around. Those are well behaved dogs. They're not getting out of.
- [21:59]
Buck Sexton
Well, I was going to say Linda, Linda is. Is running her ship with a. With it. With a browbeat. Thank you for the call there. Look, that would be a crime, okay? So I appreciate if, if I had given the order, I want Linda on my jury because I appreciate that she is the Nathan Jess up there. She. She is. You're damn right I ordered the code red. So thank you, Linda, for that call. That would be illegal. That would be a violation. That would be a war crime. So I don't think if there were American soldiers floating around in the waters off the shore of a foreign country and they ordered for the American soldiers to be summarily executed or American citizens, I think a lot of people would say, yeah, we have an issue with that, and it would be illegal. That, to me, is not what occurred here.
- [22:58]
Clay Travis
However, yes, it would be a war crime. In fact, it actually would be.
- [23:03]
Buck Sexton
There.
- [23:04]
Clay Travis
There is. Even with really bad people. And even if Trump is in charge, we do need to understand there is such a thing as a war crime. We are saying one was not committed here because they did not do anything wrong based on the fact that. But to my point, Clay, that I keep making it, People need to understand. We just had a caller who was like, I mean, if we have to machine gun them in the water, no big deal. No, that's not good.
- [23:31]
Buck Sexton
I will argue my Jury, if I'm Colonel Jessup, I will say that is a war crime. And for people out there who say, ok, this is not a big story, they are, I mean, the lead story right now on MSNBC and CNN is about the boat strikes. Now, I think the communication here. We should also mention the Cabinet meeting live on Fox News has been going on now, Buck, for nearly two hours. So our entire show, Trump has been allowing his Cabinet members to field questions from everybody out there. Joe in Florida, retired Air Force colonel, fighter pilot. What's your take on the story so far as you can tell?
- [24:18]
Caller / Veteran
Hi. Well, first of all, I heard a previous caller say undeclared war, but we've been fighting the, quote. Well, we've not been fighting, but we've been participating in the, quote, war on drugs for 50 years or so. You know, I came back from Vietnam, I flew 153 combat missions over there in Phantoms, came back to Homestead Air Base, and then we would sit on the air defense alert pad, intercept drug airplanes that were flying into our territory, many of which were actually over the Everglades, over our dirt, throwing out at that time bales of marijuana. And we would try to get the tail number of the airplane to identify them. Sometimes these same guys would just fly in daytime and that made it easy to identify the tail number. But generally they would get rid of that airplane and move on to something else that over time that progressed to I was a F16 operational test pilot where I worked on the program to outfit the airplanes with night vision goggles. And then we could join on these guys at night, look at the guy, look at the load, look at the airplane's tail number, hand them off to customs. And that air bridge where they would fly drugs into the country basically was reduced, I can't say shut down, but it was greatly reduced. And then let me ask you this.
- [25:49]
Buck Sexton
Colonel, and thank you for all the work that you did in the Air Force. What would have happened if you had, you know, if you had ordered you, you shoot down one of those planes. There are guys floating, hanging on to the refuge of the plane. And you said, we're going to go by for another pass. We want to machine gun those guys in the water holding on to the, holding on to the refuse.
- [26:15]
Caller / Veteran
Well, if I shut them down, I would do it in such a way there'd be no survivors.
- [26:19]
Buck Sexton
That's a great answer. But if, and by the way, I appreciate that answer, but if there were, and you said we're going to go by and I want you to lean out my tail gunner here, whoever's with you, and I want you to pick off those survivors. And it later came out that you had done that. Do you think you would have had the ability to make that decision legally?
- [26:44]
Caller / Veteran
You know, I, I would like. Let me put on my colonel sat.
- [26:49]
Buck Sexton
Now.
- [26:49]
Caller / Veteran
I would love to have the survivors, from an intel standpoint.
- [26:53]
Clay Travis
Yeah.
- [26:53]
Caller / Veteran
In fact, talk guys about why are you still doing this? What are they doing to motivate you to go out and risk your lives because you know you stand a good chance of dying.
- [27:05]
I'm not a Navy guy. I'm an air force guy, but I'm a top gun graduate, so I do want to make the bad guys go away and pay for their crimes. You know, in Vietnam, I had a guy on the Mekong river shoot at me as I flew by him. And so I went back, and he and I discussed the merits of 20 millimeter versus AK47. And he was not a happy camper.
- [27:31]
Clay Travis
Yeah.
- [27:34]
Caller / Veteran
You know, as far as the navy rules of engagement and the international rules, I hate to admit it, but I'm pretty much clueless on that.
- [27:41]
Buck Sexton
Thank you for the call, and thank you for all the service. And I love that the number of people we have listed the best callers.
- [27:47]
Clay Travis
Callers are awesome.
- [27:48]
Buck Sexton
I mean, are you kidding me? Top gun pilots who flew and look, I like to have Linda on my jury in this situation.
- [27:59]
But you have to make the story. Look, here's what I think is, if you want me to say, Clay, I.
- [28:05]
Clay Travis
I, I appreciate what Linda said. Linda wants to go full Genghis Khan on the enemies of civilization, and I get that. But there are some challenges.
- [28:13]
Buck Sexton
Is not. Is not a crazy cat lady for Kamala Harris. I, I feel very confident. I, I would like Linda in my foxhole with me. Let me say this.
- [28:22]
Clay Travis
This.
- [28:22]
Buck Sexton
I think really what this represents. I love the call where he said, hey, I'm not going to leave any survivors. Right. They don't want to have to rescue these guys, because if they rescue them and bring them in as combatants, they can challenge the policy in court.
- [28:40]
Clay Travis
And by the way, I think they go to Clay, do they go to Gitmo? Where do they go?
- [28:45]
Buck Sexton
It's a great question.
- [28:46]
Clay Travis
Where do we put them?
- [28:47]
Buck Sexton
That's right.
- [28:49]
Clay Travis
I think Gitmo may be the answer. Although, you know, we've been trying to shut Gitmo down, but we can't shut it down because that's war on terror stuff.
- [28:56]
Buck Sexton
Look, we can't even execute the 911 terrorist. You know, they still, you Know this. We've talked about it with some. They haven't even been able to prosecute the guys who were in Gitmo because they're worried about the interrogation tactics that were used on them, such that I don't even know what the absolute latest on that story was, but it was, hey, we're not gonna go for the death penalty. They're gonna admit complicity in all of the deaths. It's been 24, what, 24 years since 9, 11. And those guys are still living in relative comfort now in. In Cuba. And we can't even prosecute them. So I guarantee you they do not want to have these guys in possession for the next 20 years. So when they said, again, they should do a better job of communicating on this, but when they said finish them off, they meant the boat. That's the legal argument. And they wanted to make sure that the boat was not able to continue its mission to deliver drugs to the country. The Team 47 podcast is sponsored by.
- [30:02]
Clay Travis
Good ranchers Making the American farm strong Again.
- [30:07]
Buck Sexton
You're listening to team 47 with Clay and Buck.
- [30:13]
Clay Travis
The implications of this, first of all, aren't just about the attempts to undermine and attack Hegseth and with him, this administration. There's also this issue of what this does to Venezuela. And increasingly we have what seems to be a de facto regime change policy in place. Now, regime change and nation building are not necessarily things that go hand in hand, but they often do. And so this is going to start to bring up some very important and difficult conversations, I think, if Maduro goes. But here we have Secretary Hegseth just, just moments ago, getting into the details of this strike that has been widely reported on. Let's listen to the Secretary of War.
- [30:59]
Pete Hegseth
I didn't stick around for the hour and two hours, whatever, where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs. So I moved on to my next meeting. A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the. Which he had the complete authority to do. And by the way, Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat. He sunk the boat. Sunk the boat and eliminated the threat. And he was the right call. We have his back. And the American people are safer because narco terrorists know you can't breach drugs through the water and eventually on land, if necessary. To the American people, we will eliminate that threat and we're proud to do it.
- [31:40]
Clay Travis
So you didn't see any survivors?
- [31:42]
Buck Sexton
To be clear, after that first strike.
- [31:44]
Pete Hegseth
I did not personally see survivors. But I stand because the thing was on fire. It was exploded and fire, smoke, you can't see anything. You got digital. This is called the fog of war. This is what you and the press don't understand. You sit in your air conditioned offices or up on Capitol Hill and you nitpick and you plant fake stories in the Washington Post about kill everybody phrases on anonymous sources not based in anything, not based in any truth at all. And then you want to throw out really irresponsible terms about American heroes, about the judgment that they made. I wrote a whole book on this topic. Because of what politicians and the press does to war fighters, President Trump has, has empowered commanders, commanders to do what is necessary, which is dark and difficult things in the dead of night on behalf of the American people. We support them and we will stop the poisoning of the American people.
- [32:35]
Buck Sexton
Okay, that's a better answer. I still think, and this is the lawyer in me, Buck, I want a clear, concise, direct description of what the Admiral did. And it may be the case that, that they haven't talked in detail about this decision, but that's, that would help to end this story. I believe, once and for all.
- [32:55]
Clay Travis
It's hard to sound objective, talking about Pete because you and I both know Pete and we're personally friends with Pete. We've, I've known Pete now for almost 15 years. So I just, I say that because I think we need to be honest about where we come from, especially talking with some of these public figures who we know on a personal level. And I know Pete loves the country and I know he loves the war fighters in the United States military like his own family. And so I bring all of that to this discussion, too. All right. That said.
- [33:31]
I think that the problem that he's running into here a little bit, Clay, is when you start to say things again, I'm looking at this like the enemy here in the media, which he's addressing very clearly. He's saying, you guys are a bunch of jerks who don't understand anything. But when he says things like fog of war, that they're going to take that now and say, so you don't know if there were survivors or not. That's what they're. That's the next stage. Now, I think in this process, it went from the order to kill survivors to now you're saying fog of war. Again, I understand from the very beginning. So you don't need to call in and say what he did is totally lawful. I believe that Pete Hegseth and the, and the JSOC here, joint Special Operations Command, I think they operated in a lawful fashion. I am just saying the way this is turning into a story is leaving bits of daylight here with the facts as presented, the narrative as constructed from the top of the, of the Pentagon hierarchy. And when you say things like, you.
- [34:33]
Buck Sexton
Know, fog of war, I get it.
- [34:35]
Clay Travis
I know what he's saying. But they're going to say, so you don't even know if there were, you know, there was smoke, you know, there could have been survivors. You know, this is the next, this is the next phase of it, I think totally.
- [34:46]
Buck Sexton
And this is why I say, and this is me speaking as a former criminal defense attorney. Your story has to be consistent and you have to stick to it and you have to put it out there and it has to be ironclad in terms of you being able to prove what exactly it is.
- [35:06]
And I just think the story of we had to hit the boat a second time because it had not been completely obliterated and there were still drugs there, and they could have brought another boat in and gotten those drugs off, and they could have still come to the United States. The purpose of the mission was to ensure that that boat is completely obliterated and there are no drugs that survived the attack. The first attack, it did, we put in a second one. That's what happened. I don't know anything about the people that were on the boat, frankly. I don't care about them because they were terrorists trying to kill people in the United States. They may have survived, they may not have, but I know that boat didn't. And the drugs are gone. That's my answer. That's a pretty good one. I wish it had been given.
- [35:50]
Clay Travis
Yeah, stop the threat. This is a threat that's identified. A threat that we can lawfully use the United States military to address. And Secretary of War Hegseth and his. Those below him in the chain of command who were directly involved in the strike. They were operating to stop the threat against the American people. And if two missiles is what it required to stop the threat, then that is what it required. But this is why, again, you know, the specificity of the same thing in a self defense case. If somebody came at me, Clay, in my own home, which would be a very bad idea because I do have a lot of guns here and I am pretty trained up these days. But if somebody came at me in my own home and I. And I put one in them, and then they say, well, why did you. Why did you actually unload your whole magazine into this person who was coming at you, let's say with a knife or something. I would say because in the moment, that's what I believe to stop the threat against my life. That's the answer, yes. Right. It doesn't whether it's one bullet or 10 bullets. I acted to stop the threat against me and my family. What you don't want to get into is, well, I hit him five times. But then I thought, you know what, I got to get some headshots in here to make sure he's not moving anymore. You don't want to in a self defense situation say anything like that. This is those of you, you don't have to know law of war necessarily to understand how this. When you're talking about use of force, you gotta be very specific about why you're using that force. And I, I've sat through the classes, I've sat through the discuss. We had this in the CIA. We had to have conversations about lethal force. Right. This is, you have to understand what the framework is for using violence against another human being.
- [37:27]
Buck Sexton
Always the threat wasn't eliminated with the first strike, so we had to have a second strike to eliminate the threat. This is not very complicated, but again, when they start nitpicking at you. I appreciate the fact that Pete recognizes he's the target here. Somebody, I think this is important, leaked probably very classified information to a large extent to the Washington Post, which may or may not be accurate. But somebody obviously has Pete as the target here. They're attempting to come after him, the Admiral and the President. I mean their intent here matters. And so again, I, I think you have to eliminate this story to the best of your ability.
- [38:13]
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Clay Travis
This is where mindset comes in.
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Buck Sexton
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Clay Travis
Bottom of the ocean.
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