The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Susan Crabtree on One-Party Rule, Corruption & California’s Collapse

Summary

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The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Susan Crabtree on One-Party Rule, Corruption & California’s Collapse

Podcast: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show – The Truth with Lisa Boothe
Date: January 20, 2026
Guests: Lisa Boothe (host), Susan Crabtree (award-winning investigative journalist)
Main Theme:
An in-depth examination of California as a cautionary example of one-party Democratic rule, political corruption, and policy collapse. Lisa interviews Susan Crabtree about her book Fool’s Gold, the roots and ripple effects of endemic California corruption, and the broader implications for American politics—including upcoming elections and national security.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the consequences of entrenched one-party (Democratic) control in California—highlighting political corruption, failing policies (notably around homelessness, wildfires, fraud), and the potential national impact as Governor Gavin Newsom’s political ambitions grow. Susan Crabtree brings exclusive insights from her investigative reporting and details from her book Fool’s Gold. The conversation also covers recent high-profile failures in Secret Service protection of public officials.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Vigilantism and One-Party Rule in Progressive Cities

Topic: How 'progressive' governance fuels policy failure

• Lisa Boothe: Points out the election of a "communist, a socialist" mayor in New York City and asks how representative this is of the Democratic Party's direction (04:15).
• Susan Crabtree:
  • Blames weak candidates and low voter turnout for radical local leadership:

    "You had no one jumping in and the Republican did not jump out. So you end up with the socialists ... This is what the people who did vote wanted in a bad scenario." (04:20)

  • Predicts "socialism on display" in New York governance, e.g., the new mayor raising bus prices while ignoring public safety.

2. Systemic Corruption & Media Complicity in California

Topic: What allows large-scale fraud and enduring policy failure

• Susan Crabtree:
  • Contrasts NY’s aggressive media with California’s compliant, "all-access" press environment:

    "Basically, the media is the extension of ... the one-party system." (05:44)

  • Cites staggering examples of California fraud and waste:
    • $72B in total fraud
    • $36–$40B in unemployment fraud during COVID
    • $24B unaccounted for in homelessness NGOs
    • "Halfway houses getting government funds that are run by felons"
  • Reveals taxpayers are repeatedly hit with higher taxes and energy prices, government officials benefiting from cozy relationships with regulated utilities and interest groups.

3. Political Impact: Redistricting & the 2026/2028 Races

Topic: How fraud and institutional rot could affect elections

• Susan Crabtree:
  • Predicts fraud and redistricting in California will have outsized national political effects:

    "They're gonna gain six seats just on redrawing the maps ... if that holds up in court." (08:19)

  • Argues redistricting fights may matter more than the fraud stories for near-term election dynamics, as polls show Democrats up statewide.

4. Case Study: Wildfires, Utilities, and Cronyism

Topic: The deadly and costly consequences of corruption

• Lisa Boothe: Asks how one-party rule feeds disasters like wildfires and homelessness (09:46).
• Susan Crabtree:
  • Details deep financial/political ties between Democratic leaders and utility companies responsible for wildfires.
  • Accuses Newsom and the state of backroom bailouts after fatal fires (Paradise, Palisades, Altadena), with little victim compensation:

    "[Newsom] has blood on his hands ... he organized a back room bailout for PGE after that Paradise fire." (12:09)

  • Blames policy failures (e.g., lack of brush clearing, poor maintenance), noting "no accountability" and a revolving door between regulators and industry.
  • Reveals attempts to cover up empty reservoirs and delayed emergency response, with outsized media attention from celebrities like Spencer Pratt (16:21).

5. Corruption vs. Ineptitude

Lisa Boothe: "How much would you put in the camp of corruption versus just ineptitude?" (16:13)

• Susan Crabtree: Both; lack of accountability enables corruption and incompetence. Highlights state cover-ups and the frequency of utility-caused fires—1,500 in six years:

  "[The WSJ] report ... there was 1,500 fires caused by utilities in a matter of six years. It was like one every one and a half days." (17:12)

  • Critiques state leaders for blaming climate change to deflect from real issues and their own political donors.

6. Political Dynasties & ‘Cabal’ Culture

Topic: How elite San Francisco families drive state and national policy

• Susan Crabtree:
  • Explains the tight web of money and influence among the Gettys, Prizkers, Pelosis, and Newsoms—"part of a cabal in San Francisco to make the policies extremely liberal and not hold anybody accountable." (19:29)
  • Describes failed homelessness policies (i.e., “housing first,” direct cash or debit card incentives for addicts) that perpetuate, rather than solve, the problem.
  • Vivid quote:

    "The Hollywood Walk of Fame has now turned into a walk of shame. You have fentanyl zombies hanging out all over." (19:29)

7. Newsom's National Threat Level

Topic: How viable is Gavin Newsom for 2028?

• Lisa Boothe: Cites Newsom’s likely 2028 bid and asks how serious a contender he is (25:11).
• Susan Crabtree:
  • Troubled by his high polling despite the visible failures under his watch:

    "It's incredibly disturbing and mind boggling to think that that could be a possibility when we have the level of fraud. This happened under his watch." (25:35)

  • Reveals (from whistleblower reporting) Newsom released ~60,000 prisoners during COVID under false pretexts, which worsened California’s crime wave and led to "smash and grab" crises in major cities (25:44).

8. The Secret Service Crisis

Topic: Is the agency up to its protective job?

• Lisa Boothe: Shifts to recent Secret Service lapses, referencing Crabtree’s reporting on the Butler, PA, Trump assassination attempt and VP J.D. Vance’s home break-in (27:09).
• Susan Crabtree:
  • Expresses deep concern:

    "This is a troubled agency ... riddled with DEI under the Obama and the Biden administrations. And it hasn't changed. It's not changing enough, quickly enough." (27:40)

  • Explains the VP detail is stretched dangerously thin and is staffed disproportionately with inexperienced agents.
  • Criticizes agency priorities (sending staff to LGBTQ DEI conferences, even after high-profile failures):

    "They were running off the LGBTQ conferences in Australia ... Even one at Disney World right after the assassination attempts in July. They were sending out notices. Who wants to go to Disney World? Not kidding you. It's very serious." (28:42)

9. Was the Trump Assassination Attempt Preventable?

• Lisa Boothe: Wonders if failures were intentional or due to incompetence:

  "[Is] it ... all just incompetency ... or ... some of it was allowed to happen?" (30:07)

• Susan Crabtree:
  • Confirms the critical lapse was due to poor agent selection and training; says a "Latina lesbian partier" agent with little experience was left in charge of site security and faced minimal discipline—"they only gave him a slap on the wrist." (31:07)
  • Worries about politicized beliefs inside the Service and their willingness to protect the president:

    "If you have beliefs that are in direct opposition to the president and ... a significant portion of the country view him as Hitler, can we trust that ... they just failed to do it, or they just didn't care to protect President Trump?" (31:40)

10. FBI, Transparency, and Public Trust

Lisa Boothe & Susan Crabtree:

• Discuss the lack of transparency on Thomas Matthew Crooks, the Trump attempted assassin. Susan notes information came from media reporters, not the FBI, and speculates Trump’s campaign is avoiding the story—possibly for political reasons.
• Crabtree criticizes the Biden FBI for lying about Crooks' digital footprint, hiding his anti-Trump views:

  "The fact that they lied extensively about his digital footprint, the Biden FBI to Congress under oath, is really disconcerting. ... They tried to make him look like a right winger ... and they hid all of that from us. It's just outrageous." (36:38)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On endemic California fraud:

  "People complain about Minnesota's fraud. That is the tip of the California iceberg. ... We have $72 billion in fraud."
  — Susan Crabtree (05:44)

• On utility-caused wildfires:

  "The head of this ... in charge of the water and fire department ... was paid $750 grand. She worked at PG&E beforehand in the Green Policy Initiative space. It's a revolving door. ... Our electricity costs are going through the roof to pay for the wildfires that they cause. That's what's happened in California."
  — Susan Crabtree (11:10)

• On Hollywood's decline:

  "The Hollywood Walk of Fame is now turned into a walk of shame. You have fentanyl zombies hanging out all over."
  — Susan Crabtree (19:29)

• On Secret Service DEI focus:

  "They were running off the LGBTQ conferences in Australia ... Even one at Disney World right after the assassination attempts ... sending out notices. Who wants to go to Disney World? Not kidding you. It's very serious."
  — Susan Crabtree (28:42)

• On FBI misleading Congress:

  "They tried to make him [Crooks] look like a right winger ... and they hid all of that from us. It's just outrageous."
  — Susan Crabtree (36:38)

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Key Timestamps of Major Segments

• California vs. NY—why one party rule persists: 04:15–05:44
• Scope of California's fraud and corruption: 05:44–08:19
• Redistricting and election impacts: 08:19–09:46
• Detailed dive into wildfires, utilities, and political collusion: 10:00–12:41
• Corruption vs. incompetence in disasters: 16:13–17:12
• San Francisco families and elite networks: 19:29–21:52
• Gavin Newsom’s political prospects & crime wave: 25:11–27:09
• Secret Service failings post-Butler attempt: 27:40–32:11
• FBI/transparency on Thomas Crooks: 34:10–36:38

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Conclusion

This episode presents California as a microcosm for what critics see as the perils of unchecked progressive governance—spiraling fraud, elite cronyism, and deadly ineptitude—while warning the rest of the country as a national figure like Gavin Newsom rises. Susan Crabtree’s investigative experience gives the show a hard-edged, detail-heavy tone, underscoring her call that transparency, accountability, and a change in political direction are not just California issues, but crucial for American democracy and security.

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Transcript

[Susan Crabtree]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Lisa Booth]

Truth with Lisa Booth where we get to the heart of the issues that matter to you today. We have award winning investigative journalist Susan Crabtree, 2024 Dow Prize winner for her groundbreaking Secret Service reporting after the Butler assassination attempt. So she's going to be on the show. We'll also get her on the latest news with the Secret Service with a breakin happening at the Vice President J.D. vance's home as well. What do you need to know about that? What does that say about the Secret Service? But we're also going to dive into her explosive book Fool's Gold, the radical con artists and traitors who killed the California dream and now threaten us all. Obviously, this is of the utmost importance as we look ahead to to the 2028 presidential election with Gavin Newsom likely throwing his name in the hat for the Democratic primary. Also, we've seen the fraud taking place in Minnesota, but what you might not have heard about is the fraud taking place in California. Susan will let us know what we need to know. So stay tuned for Susan Crabtree. Well, Susan, unfortunately you look at places like New York City, we now have a, you know, a communist, a socialist as mayor. You know, how much do you think that's reflective of the direction the Democrat Party is going in versus just like a really liberal city that New York City is?

[Susan Crabtree]

Oh, I think it's reflective of there was. Thanks for having me on, Lisa.

[Lisa Booth]

Great to have you on, Susan.

[Susan Crabtree]

Thank you. This, this is reflective of there was a very bad candidates. I mean Andrew Cuomo, he, you know, he was guilty of killing seniors during COVID unnecessarily. And so you had no one jumping in and the Republican did not jump out. So you end up with the socialists. And I think the I think Speaker Johnson made this point that there was a very low voter turnout in that election. So this is what the people who did vote wanted in a bad scenario and this is what they're getting and it's going to be socialism on display. And we're already seeing some weird things about his he's raising the price of the buses as he's touting them when he really should be providing better safety for all public transportation. No one can even take the subway without fear, fearing their life in New York City.

[Lisa Booth]

Well, and this kind of gets to because you look at places like New York, I know you wrote the bull the Book Fool's Gold looking at California and the politicians there as well. But we have these areas where there's one party rule. But you know, instead of changing course, it's like they're doubling down on the policies that have led to a failed city or a failed state. Why do you think that is? Or are they just not connecting the dots? Do they not care or why does this sort of keep happening?

[Susan Crabtree]

Very little accountability, especially in California. You do have a lot of media presence in New York City, so they do get pounded by the New York Post and other publications. But in California that's not the case. Basically, the media is the extension of it's all access journalism, extension of the one party system. And so you've had people complain about Minnesota's fraud. That is the tip of the California iceberg. There was a recent cartoon, a political cartoon that showed California, we have $72 billion in fraud. And you have people like Democratic Representative Ro Khanna of California calling for bipartisan congressional hearings for an independent audit of California state spending because you have so much fraud. We're talking high speed rail, 36 billion, upwards of 40 billion in unemployment, fraud during COVID homelessness, NGOs, 24 billion unaccounted for. This is just about what we know of in California. Forget it. There's halfway houses, we write about it in our book that getting government funds that are run by felons. This is California fraud epidemic. And so people are outraged about Minnesota. You can't even believe what's going on in my state. That's why we wrote the book with Peter Schweitzer's top researcher, Jed McPhatter. Everybody knows about California's failed policies. They don't know about the corruption that's going on in the state. And the taxpayers just keep upping the taxes, upping the energy prices. And it's all corrupt out here with the politicians in bed with the utilities that cause most of the wildfires and taking political donations. I just. You would not believe that the outrageous things that are going on here, our insurance commissioner running off to LGBTQ conferences on the taxpayer's dime, globetrotting all over the world, it's just, there's no accountability.

[Lisa Booth]

Do you think that, you know, because obviously the Minnesota fraud scandal has sort of taken over at least, you know, media to the right. Um, and then now you're mentioning the California fraud that isn't being discussed as much. Do you think this will more broadly be an issue heading into the midterms? We've already seen Governor Tim Wallace announce that he's not running for reelection in Minnesota. You know how much of this is going to be a broader political issue heading into the midterms? And do you think it'll matter with voters?

[Susan Crabtree]

Well, on the midterms, you know, this is the historically bad midterms for the party that's in power. You know, the midterms after a very favorable presidential election when both parties control, you're gonna be set to lose. I do think this fraud epidemic is changing the dynamic of the news coverage. I think people are outraged about it. We're already seeing political fallout, as you mentioned. But really what's gonna change the dynamic is the result of these fights over redistricting like the one in California. Prop 50. Newsom gets to tout his success on that. We're talking nine more seats in California. Well, I would say four to six more Democratic seats and taking away. Republicans only have nine in California out of 51 right now. So they're gonna gain six seats just on redrawing the maps. Okay, so if that holds up in court, we're looking at these court cases. There's one in Los Angeles Federal District Court right now the Republican California Party is challenging. So I'm take a look at what this district court does that probably uphold it. But then I want to see what the Supreme Court does. So I think that's going to be really affecting the dynamic more than the political wins. Because every poll I've seen recently has Democrats up in the last month from anywhere from +1 to +16.

[Lisa Booth]

Walk us through that corruption and one party rule and how in California and how it's contributed to some of these crises like the wildfires and the homelessness and rising crime. Walk us through the connection with all that.

[Susan Crabtree]

Sure thing. So I write in the book extensively, even before the Palisades fire, I wrote a whole chapter on it was called up in Smoke. It is called up and Smoke. And it's about the how the Democrats are in bed with the utilities companies that cause most of the fires. Pge, which is one of the. Gavin Newssenser was until he decided not he wasn't going to take money directly from it anymore. And neither was his wife's documentary Gender justice films that she sells to schools, public schools across the country. And they make a profit from it. They take money from PG and E. The Democratic Party politicians take millions of dollars from the utilities and never hold them accountable. The PGE itself caused the deadliest fire in paradise, which is in 2017, which was the canary in the coal mine for The Palisades and the Eaton fires, the Altadena fires in last January. A year ago. A year ago. Right about now. And so they didn't do anything about that. They didn't do anything about clearing the brush, holding the utilities accountable to make sure that they keep their machinery up to date. That particular fire which leveled the beautiful town of Paradise, a very wooded area in Northern California, it and killed 84 people. I mean way more than the Palisades and the Altadena fires. But they didn't do anything to hold those utility companies in check. And now we have so called Edison causing Altadena fire. And there was 19 people who died in that fire compared to about a dozen in Palisades. No, no deaths. Of course we don't want to see any deaths from fires, but it was just ineptitude. And guess who? The head of this woman named Quinones, Janice Quinones, who was in charge of those? The Water and Fire department in Los Angeles. Guess where she, she was paid 750 grand. She worked at PG&E beforehand in the Green Policy Initiative space. It's a revolving door. They're hiking our utility rates. Our electricity costs are going through the roof to pay for the wildfires that they cause. That's what's happened in California. And Gavin Newsom's hands are completely dirty on this. He has blood on his hands because the, he, he organized a back room bailout for PGE after that paradise fire. So the insurance, the pump, the people, the victims didn't get compensated properly and they still haven't.

[Lisa Booth]

And I know we're seeing that with the Palisades fire as well, you know, well not even accusations, but empty reservoirs that should have been filled that were not, you know, we are to get rid of brush that you know they should have that they didn't. Got to take a quick commercial break. More Susan Crabtree on the other side.

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[Lisa Booth]

You know how much would you put in the camp of corruption versus just ineptitude.

[Susan Crabtree]

It's both because there's no accountability. It's a sad, sad truth of the matter. No one realized that that water reservoir wasn't filled for a year ahead of wildfire season. And also they tried to cover up the fact that it was on state land where that the previous fire that was arson caused it was still smoldering. And now you have firefight saying coming out publicly with, you know, Spencer Pratt, reality TV star, is doing the most to bring attention to this. Never had that on my bingo card list.

[Lisa Booth]

I used to watch the Hills and the other one, the one that started it all. Why am I blanking?

[Susan Crabtree]

I know I can't say I did, but he has my attention now.

[Lisa Booth]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to watch that show back in the day, but. Yeah, sorry, continue. Yeah, I didn't have that on my bingo card either.

[Susan Crabtree]

Yeah, it's like vicious. He's vicious in those shows. And now he's turning that, you know, that attitude, that aggressive attitude towards some accountability in California, which is. It's refreshing to see he and Adam Carolla and some others. But yeah, it is. Who. Why wouldn't you ask what reservoirs? That all the reservoirs should be filled before a huge wildfire like that. And they are covering up, you know, that it was on state land that that smoldering wildfire was taking place. But I'll tell you that this PG and E and the utilities that caused the SoCal Edison fire, that caused the Eaton fire, that was so called Edison, they caused. The Wall Street Journal did a report, and this is in my, cited in my book, that there was 1500 fires caused by utilities in a matter of six years. It was like one every one and a half days. This is. And it just kept going on and on. And then they talk about climate change and you know, former Speaker Pelosi, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris all scream climate change about these fires. That that's what's really the culprit here. When they, all of them did nothing to hold PGE accountable after that paradise fire and we had smoke. There has been UCLA and Stanford studies showing that all the efforts to, you know, improve carbon emissions in the state for the last decade was wiped out by those fires, the set of fires in 2007. So every time you have a major fire, all those efforts to wipe out the carbon emissions that they're limiting, you know, in 2030, we can't have. You can't sell anything but EVs in California. And they're limiting consumer choice and they're hiking our gas rates, but they're not holding the real culprits of most of the fires accountable. This is typical.

[Lisa Booth]

You know, I want to talk about your book highlights some of the connections between these prominent California Democrats like Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, et cetera, and alleged associations with criminals and con artists or foreign interests. Which of these revelations do you find the most compelling and why?

[Susan Crabtree]

Well, it's the, it's also all the San Francisco families. You know, it's the Gettys, the Prickers, and even JV Prixer's family is supporting Newsom from the, from the get go. And if you look at any of his donations to his wife's documentaries, nonprofits, she writes, she makes these gender justice pro trans documentaries. Even though Gavin Newsom has said he's moving to the middle on trans, it's not true. He, they all control. It's part of a cabal in San Francisco to make the policies extremely liberal and not hold anybody accountable. In terms of homelessness, for instance, you know, Gavin Newsom's been trying to fight, saying he's fighting homelessness for years and years and years, but he has pursued homeless housing first policies which don't do anything. I mean, they've been handing out even cash on debit cards in San Francisco for addicts and in exchange for turning in needles and things like this, it only perpetuates the problem. And you have fentanyl zombies taking over. The Hollywood Walk of Fame is now turned into a walk of shame. You have fentanyl zombies hanging out all over Hollywood and in San Francisco, it's in the Tenderloin District. It's just horrible. So, yeah, those moneyed families are the ones in Pelosi, as you know, is related by marriage is to Gavin Newsom that, that marriage has since been divorced. They're divorced, but I think it was and Gavin Newsom's aunt was married into a Pelosi. It's all, they're all intertwined in San Francisco. And so they brought their values to the rest of the state. I grew up here in the 80s and the state was, was much more purple and certainly Southern California was way more red because of the, because of the aerospace industry and the bases down here. And you eliminated all that and you let, and then even Reagan, I'm a huge Reagan fan, grew up with Reagan as my governor and my president. And he provided so much amnesty. And with the floodgates, you just had a very, the, the floodgates were overrun with illegal immigrants in California and now you have the sanctuary city laws contributing to the one party state and no accountability.

[Lisa Booth]

Quick break. Stay with us. If you like what you're hearing, please share on social media or send it to family and friends.

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[Lisa Booth]

In watching Gavin Newsom, how much of a threat do you think he is politically? You know, it's pretty. I mean I think Stevie Wonder can see that he's going to run in 28, right? So it's like in observing him and also seeing California and writing about California being a failed state, how viable of a contender is he for the Democrat primary and then even beyond in a general election?

[Susan Crabtree]

I think all of the recent polls show he's, you know, out there in the lead and it's incredibly disturbing and mind boggling to think that that could be a possibility when we have the level of fraud. This happened under his watch. And I'll just tell you one thing that's really interesting and doesn't get a lot of press but we did write about it in my book of a whistleblower told me that he let out some it's about we don't have any exact numbers because they won't give an the state Department of Corrections won't give them to us. Even though we filed open records requests, we keep putting this off. They let out about 60,000 criminals during COVID and Gavin Newsom told the citizens of his state that he did so because they were going to have Covid running rampant in the prison system which actually was the opposite was true the prison he was lying, completely lying and he had people telling him the liaison I spoke to the liaison from the prisons to the governor's office, he was my whistleblower and he told me that he was telling the governor's office that is not true. They were had a lower Covid rate in the prison system. And then you wondered why there were all these smash and grabs after during COVID and afterwards. And there was a crime epidemic in San Francisco and Oakland and. And even stores, all kinds, the targets. And the Nordstrom's, so many stores have left San Francisco.

[Lisa Booth]

That's why I didn't realize that. That's crazy. It's like they're insane. I wanted to ask you too, because there's been some recent news that I know you've been reporting on about an incident involving the Vice president and his Cincinnati home. You also broke a lot of news after the assassination attempts on President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. From what you've investigated and learned about the Secret Service, I mean, are they able to keep our elected officials safe and the president, the vice president and their families safe?

[Susan Crabtree]

That's a very good question. And I don't think enough people are paying attention to it. I wanted to see congressional hearings to make sure that reforms were happening in the Secret Service. And I tried to give Sean Kern, the new director, the benefit of the doubt and that he was gonna institute reforms. But I will tell you that he's not a reform agent. And people have complained about what's going on at the FBI. And there's all kinds of whistleblowers coming out of the woodwork about the FBI not reforming it. Now, I have. That's not my expertise. But the Secret Service, I know for a fact, because I've been covering it for good 15 years, that this is a troubled agency that was riddled with DEI under the Obama and the Biden administrations. And it hasn't changed. It's not changing enough, quickly enough. And they have a terrible recruitment problem going on. So they have a huge manpower issue. And the VP detail is the worst. They are only have. They have hundreds of agents less than the presidential detail, and they're working five to six days a week when the presidential detail is only working 2 to 3. I've heard complaints and complaints about this and the standards. They can't keep enough senior agents on these staffs, so they have to rely on these junior agents who have little experience and new recruits. And they're lowering the standards to get people. They're given 50 grand out, too, as bonus, signing bonuses and trying to keep agents by giving them 40 grand to stay on. But it's not working. Unlike Hegseth, he hasn't done enough Shankaran to reform the agency and get rid of the DEI problems that people are running off. Like I said about in California, the same thing was happening at the Secret Service. They were running off the LGBTQ conferences in Australia that were designed to try to get the agency to be more pro trans. That was the agenda at these law enforcement conferences that they were allowing people to go to. Even one at Disney World right after the assassination attempts in July. They were sending out notices. Who wants to go to Disney World? Not kidding you. It's very serious. And it wouldn't be so. It would be funny if it wouldn't. If it wasn't so serious.

[Lisa Booth]

You look at the security lapses on that day in Butler, Pennsylvania.

[Susan Crabtree]

It'S like.

[Lisa Booth]

It'S almost hard to fathom that it was all just incompetency. You know, like it, like it. It, you know, ventures into raising the question if, like, some of it was allowed to happen.

[Susan Crabtree]

I think people, think people have suggested that to me. I don't think that Kim Cheadle Biden's. Well, I was actually Jill Biden's handpicked director of the Secret Service. I don't think she's that corrupt. I don't. I still am. We're still learning more about Thomas Crooks, which is disconcerting considering I thought we would learn everything about him and about his cell phone contacts and texts after the new FBI directors came in. We have. We haven't. We had to learn it from, from Miranda Devine and others, and they're reporting. But, yeah, I honestly, it's. It is ineptitude. I'm telling you, it was an ineptitude that day. It was a storm. I'm not, I'm not saying that Thomas Crooks. I don't know if he was working alone. That's what Cash Patel and Dan Bongino have said. But. And they've looked into it. You know, I tend to believe Dan and Cash on their investigations. But, you know, I know for a fact that there were two inexperienced women agents involved that were put in charge. One specifically, who's Latina lesbian partier, who posted social media from her, from her assignments, including at Mar a Lago, and guess what? She's back on the job right now. They only gave him a slap on the wrist.

[Lisa Booth]

It's like one of those things where I'd like to believe that the people in the job desire to keep the president safe. But if you have beliefs that are in direct opposition to the president and we're in a political environment where, you know, a significant portion of the country view him as Hitler, can we trust that the individuals who failed to do their job that day, that they just failed to do it, or they just didn't care to protect President Trump?

[Susan Crabtree]

Well, I think Cheadle did not Care enough, Obviously, we know from the reports, my own reporting, others, that Sean Curran repeatedly, he was the head of the Trump detail. In fact, you know, we have the head of the Trump detail. And I'm sorry to say this, but he allowed this to happen. It was his detail. He allowed that party or inexperienced woman agent to be in charge of security that day. And she did not put anybody on the roof of the AGR building. So he has some blame. But yet Trump appoints him. It's kind of my, that to me, was not a great decision and I still give him bands of doubt. But I, but I'm still waiting a year later for the reforms that really need to be put in place to raise the standards at the Secret Service. So, yeah, I mean, I honestly think that it was bad policies and manpower issues that contributed to this because the Secret Service, since that big Cartagena prostitute scandal in the 2012 and the fallout over that, has had terrible recruiting problems and senior male, a lot of male agents have left. And so Hegseth is having a recruiting bonanza by raising the standards and saying, we're not going to cater to all these, you know, DEI initiatives. Those are gone. And he's, he's having a recruiting bonanza. And the same is not happening at the Secret Service. He just, he, Sean Curran promoted Cheadle's chief of staff. He tried to get Cheadle's security clearance to be renewed until I stopped it with Senator Ron Johnson speaking out with my reporting. He kept acting director Ron Rowe, who was tapped by Mayorkas to be the acting director after the assassination attempt and Cheetah left. He kept them on the payroll until he hit his retirement date. All these things don't signal change, don't signal reform.

[Lisa Booth]

And then before we go, why do you think we haven't learned more about Matthew Thomas Crooks?

[Susan Crabtree]

I was very taken aback when you had new information come out about him that wasn't from the FBI directly. And I passed around about that and my sources told me it's because Trump himself didn't want the, wanted to move on from that and is worried about the midterms and wants to talk about affordability, which is the number one topic of concern to Americans. Of course that's a good idea. But if you do that, then you are, you are vulnerable to these stories coming out a different way and you make yourself look stupid. I mean, it's, it's, you are going to have egg in your face if these, these stories come out a different way, which they did. And so I Don't understand why they didn't control the narrative a little bit and then provide more transparency. I was very disappointed with that.

[Lisa Booth]

Well, it's like the same thing with the Epstein files. Sometimes it's better just to get everything out there because to your point, if not, it makes everything look more suspicious or if there's something to cover up and maybe there's not, I don't know. But, you know, I think it's fair to find it all very oddly.

[Susan Crabtree]

I, yeah, I, I When that came out, Tucker Carlson's report was blockbuster report. We were waiting to see his. They said Christopher Wray, the FBI under Biden lied extensively about Thomas Crooks digital footprint and why they didn't want to rectify that and be more transparent with the American people. When the new leadership came in, I don't know. I know they had their hands full. I know they did. But I believe it was the President himself is what I understand wanting to push forward and not look back, not keep talking about the attempts against him. But as you know, if you don't really go over things, then you just let conspiracies, you know, just spiral out of control.

[Lisa Booth]

Or maybe they're not conspiracies, you know, maybe, I mean, sometimes, you know, I mean, the government has a history of, you know, both left and right of not getting things out there that, you know, perhaps he does have ties to other things that, you know, and maybe it's with intention that the information's not getting out there. Right. So it's, you know, sometimes these things aren't always conspiracies, you know, sometimes the conspiracies to cover it up.

[Susan Crabtree]

Yes. I mean, the fact that they lied extensively about his digital footprint, the Biden FBI to Congress under oath is really disconcerting. They tried to make him look like a right winger when he was he switched Thomas Crooks and around Covid time he completely switched. And he's anti Trump, became anti Trump and there's evidence of it. I mean they're just is blatant YouTube posts, open commentary, open source and they hid all of that from us. It's just outrageous. Outrageous.

[Lisa Booth]

Heard Thomas Matthew Crooks. I think I said Matthew Thomas Crooks earlier. Thomas Matthew Crooks. Very strange stuff. Susan Crabtree, thanks for always digging in and getting to the bottom of things. We appreciate and everyone go check out her new book as well, Fool's Gold, a great book. Very interesting stuff. The radical con artists and traitors who killed the California dream and now threaten us all your time.

[Susan Crabtree]

Susan, the always on top of things. Thanks so much for having me.

[Lisa Booth]

Those Susan Crabtree. Appreciate her for making the time to come on the show. Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week. Also want to thank my producer John Cassio for putting the show together. Until next time.

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